We bought a 38 foot 2000 Catalina sailboat on Ken's birthday, what a present! The name of the boat when we bought was Xin Xin. We wanted to rename it, but you have to have the name picked out for the closing documents, so we only had a day. Aqua Vida is what we chose. It is now registered with the Coast Guard as Aqua Vida based out of Dog Island, FL.
It was in great shape when we bought it, so our only major to-do's were a new GPS, repair of the wind speed indicator and a dinghy. I don't know if it was technically before or after we closed, but during an outing or two it became obvious that the bimini (the canvas cover over the cockpit area) was too short for Ken to be able to stand up straight while at the helm . . . minor, no major problem. I couldn't believe after taking so much time in researching boats to be sure he could stand up INSIDE, it ended up he couldn't stand up OUTSIDE. The dodger (kind of like a windshield) was missing anyway, so our first big expense was to have a new bimini and dodger designed and installed. To install a taller bimini involved cutting about a foot off the bottom of the sail and raising the boom as well. Although a hassle, the added of benefit of this is Ken can now stand in the cockpit and not be worried about getting hit by the boom. The new bimini and dodger are beautiful!
After all the installations, a rigging tune up and the purchase of new dingy, we were ready to plan our trip to bring the boat home to Florida.
It was in great shape when we bought it, so our only major to-do's were a new GPS, repair of the wind speed indicator and a dinghy. I don't know if it was technically before or after we closed, but during an outing or two it became obvious that the bimini (the canvas cover over the cockpit area) was too short for Ken to be able to stand up straight while at the helm . . . minor, no major problem. I couldn't believe after taking so much time in researching boats to be sure he could stand up INSIDE, it ended up he couldn't stand up OUTSIDE. The dodger (kind of like a windshield) was missing anyway, so our first big expense was to have a new bimini and dodger designed and installed. To install a taller bimini involved cutting about a foot off the bottom of the sail and raising the boom as well. Although a hassle, the added of benefit of this is Ken can now stand in the cockpit and not be worried about getting hit by the boom. The new bimini and dodger are beautiful!
After all the installations, a rigging tune up and the purchase of new dingy, we were ready to plan our trip to bring the boat home to Florida.
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