Hello from Charleston, SC - stinkpot here...

[dacust]

I've been posting in here for a few days, and figured I should introduce myself.

I'm from Woodstock, GA but keep my 1982 Sea Ray SRV360 in Charleston. I get down there about every other weekend.

I have had boats for years but I have no open water experience. First boat bigger than 16' was a 36' 1966 Pacemaker, wood hull, gas engines, that I bought in NJ and brought down to Charleston through the ditch. Later I traded up to plastic and diesels, a brought it from Big Pine Key about 100 miles across the gulf, through the Okeechobee and then up.

I'm wanting to bring it up to Chattanooga (1800 miles) so it'll be closer to home so I can use it more, and so I can work on it easier. I figure I'll probably retire to a sailboat for open water cruising, but that's a few years down the road. I thought I'd hang out in here a while, both for good information that applies to both power and sail, and to get a better flavor for the sailing experience.

A friend of mine has a little O'Day he will probably let me borrow (been sitting in his yard for years), so I can start learning a little about sailing (and someone gave me an old windsurfer I can play with, as well.) Or I may go the sailing club route.

My web page is here: DACUST . It has various stuff on it, including photos of some of my boats and photos of the Pacemaker before I gave it away. Oh, and a short story of my trip from NJ to Charleston.

Anyway, hello, and I'm already enjoying the forum. Been reading through LOTS of the threads.

-dan

[dcstrng]

Welcome… haven’t been here very long myself… one of my first boats was a Pacemaker, albeit a 26’ flybridge… ran out of the New River North Carolina area thirty some years ago – remember Pacemakers with a measure of fondness; however, with a suspect wood hull, delaminating decks and a somewhat less than trustworthy engine, I’m not sure why… ended up migrating to sail years ago, always meant to anyway, but stayed with power-boats during the period where my fixation on wreck-diving and fishing was at its peak…

[Sunspot Baby]

Welcome aboard. Enjoyed visiting you web site. Many members of this forum have web sites, and the address is shown in the member roster. When you have time to browse, hit a few of them. Most are really interesting.

George

[dacust]

Thanks for the "Welcome"s.

I miss the Pacemaker. There's just nothing like a wood boat. Totally different ride. And all that mahoghany inside. But, yes, I had all the problems you mentioned except the engines. Mine never faltered. Chrysler 360's. Before seeing the boat, the surveyor told me that a very common problem was cracks in the frames at the chine, and he could look at them first to see if it was even worth it to go forward with the survey. Said if there were no cracks (very unlikely) or if sister ribs had been installed, it'd be OK. After he took his first look, he glanced at me with a look like "Hmmm, interesting...". Later when the owner wasn't around, he said that he had never seen anything like it. Not one visible crack! But the reason why? Someone had preventively installed a full set of sister ribs! They probably spent the value of the entire boat on those ribs. BUT, the other problems you mentioned? They showed their ugly heads with a vengence, so I finally had to give it up. Plastic boats. Better living through chemicals. But I feel sorry for people that have never experienced a heavy wood boat silently, elegantly pushing it's way through a wave that would send a shock through even my heavily built Sea Ray. The only feeling is a mild deceleration and sometimes, if the wave was big enough to go over the bow, a mild shudder. Lovely. If I ever get rich enough, I'll have another one. Dang, I gotta quit this. I'm getting all sentimental.

The suggestion to check out the web sites is a very good one. I haven't done that, yet. But I definately will. Not only am I likely to find my favorite - passage logs - but you just never know what gems you find trolling around like that. Thanks for prompting me to do that.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Dan,
Welcome aboard! Hope you enjoy the forum. Haven't had any power boats of my own. Just a little bit of experience on Navy PBRs.
I've owned wood and fiberglass sailboats and you're right about the feel of wood going through water. You expressed it well. Old wood sailboats had the friendliest creaking sound when sailing with wood masts working through wood cabin tops and setting in a a wood mast step. I miss that.
Kind regards,
JohnL