Ev,

So far retirement is going well:). Wish the weather was better but IT WILL BE.

Deb and I would like to head down to Chicago for a few days. I'll be posting a thread to see if anybody has any tips. Our long term plans are to sail/motor the boat down the middle of the country and out to Mobile Bay. From there we'll keep it in Florida and use it to tour the Bahamas and maybe down to the Virgin Islands.

Scot,

Welcome aboard. Owning a boat requires fixing it (unless you have super deep pockets, I do not) so you should have ample opportunity to get dirty. I have to admit that my Hunter will never get an award for "outstanding craftsmanship". In fact, the woodwork most closely resembles "neo-trailer trash" but I enjoy sailing it and "it's paid for".

Al

Al, Those sound like awesome plans!! So this will be your last winter in this frozen paradise? Please keep us poor folk posted of your progress. Would be interesting to read logs of that route. I have only found two logs from people leaving from Lake Mich and they headed to the ICW.

Scott,

Hello and welcome. Your previous boat building sounds interesting. I have always wanted to know how to steam. Cabinetry skills should go a log way in boat repair. That and fiberglass. I am learning both so I can't help much there. Any boat models in particular that you are considering?

Stay warm, Ev

Welcome Scott.

Your comment about wanting to live aboard reminded me of a book I read some time ago. I believe it was by L. Francis Herreshoff and was about his father Nate, but I can't be sure. Anyway, there was a chapter about living aboard a boat, iced in, in a harbor in Maine and how much he enjoyed it. So I turned to the googly eye on the net to help refresh my memory. I couldn't find the reference I was looking for but I did find a blog by Peter H. Spectre.

compassrosereview.blogspot.com/

I always enjoyed Peter's writing when he was editor of Wooden Boat magazine and it was nice to find him online.

The more I think about it the more I'm not sure if Captain Nate was the father of L. Francis Herreshoff, he may have been his uncle. I s'pose it's all online somewhere.

I found this earlier but my ADD kicked in and I took a nap before I got it posted. It sucks getting old.

Does it look like what you are thinking of? It is written by Francis. Sounds like an interesting read if so.

www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=61-9781574090048-0