Ugh- this is so not cool. I bought this very unused boat in Baltimore. On the hard for two years. Dry as a bone. We went in, dropped about 6k on upgrades and whatnot. Dropped it in the water and took off down the Bay. We ended up as far as the Cape Fear River on the North/South Carolina boder. The boat is tied up at Wrightsville Beach.
I'm a parplegic- wife, the dog, and me were trying to get as far as the Bahamas- and then I was to put together a 'How To' book. In North Carolina disaster struck. I managed to set my left leg on fire. By the time I realized what was going on it was burned to the 3rd degree. Docs patched it up as best they could and decided the LAST thing that was going to happen to me was more sailing on my boat- so- my wife decided to pack us all up (she does stuff like that) and back in Germany we go. I continue to heal- and it will- but the boat sits- That's criminal.
Somone needs to buy this boat from me and take off south. I kid you not. All you need is groceries. The thing is absolutely cool. The cosmetics suck. There is much crazing of the gel coat on deck and some monkey decided to try to paint the hull once- wrong. But aside from that it rocks. If you want to go to weather for any length of time I suggest buying a new main. But, as it was to be down hill all the way? It didn't matter- i hung the 422 rag out there and it did just fine.
I think there is still pasta and canned soup on board- I had to leave a couple of hats and some shoes as well. If anyone has the time to keep going south or lives in the area...send me a note. I have no digital photos of what what we did- but a ton of print photos and stuff- if you want some cool mail from germany- send me a note.- hell i even have receipts.
Oh- also...there is a brand new (this is cooler than the ariel) wooden, Grand Banks dory...with oars....colored buff and green of course. It was built by the Apprentice Shop in Rockland Maine. We picked it up before we left.
The Ariel has a new Merc 6 in the well, two deep batteries- a new solar panel- the boat is a dream as it's never been raced- no one has drilled a bunch of holes in the thing- virgin!
alright- send a note to Wylie39 AT frontiernet (DOT) net. I'll send you an equipment list.
thanks- and I'll be back.
chris gibbs