87-year-old Boat Heads to UK (the slow way)

After six great summers in BC, my wife and I decided to take Content home. We live in the UK, and we've been spending 4-5 months a year on board. We'd like to use her in there winter too, which means a base in the Med is most likely.

We'd been thinking about this for a couple of years, and it presented us with quite a dilemma: sell up, or take her with us. When we bought her, the hull was in great shape, but all the running gear needed updating. So we've made a big investment in time (and some money), repowering, re-wiring, re-plumbing, replacing shafts, and adding new electronics. And there's the emotional attachment too, not inconsiderable.

General consensus among boaters advised against the trip: the journey will kill her, or the warm water in the tropics will. We shall see.

So, we'd like to document the trip here, as we've had so much help and advice from the forum over the years.

I must say that the inspiration for the trip came squarely from @VicTrawler , whose epic trip was excellently recorded.

We started quietly, and suddenly, 4 days after rounding Cape Flattery, we're tied up in Garibaldi.

So it's real. I'll post as we go along, especially when we need some help!

Greetings,
Mr. MV. WOW!!! What an adventure. Fair seas.

Great adventure. Waiting for more. Pics of boat please

MV Content said:

General consensus among boaters advised against the trip: the journey will kill her, or the warm water in the tropics will.

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It seems to me that NOT using boats is what kills them. By the time you finish your trip your boat will be healthier and in better shape, because will have been using and stressing and working it, and therefore repairing and fixing and constantly maintaining it.

It says a lot for TF that you have chosen to host your journey here! I for one, will be following your journey closely. Here's hoping for a safe, fun trip!

Safe travels!

I will be following along to see how the journey goes.

Would love to see some pictures of your boat.

Jim

Thanks for keeping us in the loop. I'm looking forward to following your journey.

Drool factor 10 for your vessel!

Did you get those bat wing stabilizers installed, and if so, what difference did they make?

Thank you all! Murray, no I didn't. Advice from the yard, when it came to decision time, was that we may introduce the hull to a whole new level of stress. So we decided to travel heavy, fuel and water tanks full, and pick our travel days carefully. So far, we've been in a great system, but she handled Juan de Fuca very well, and that was lumpy.

Thanks for letting me know.

Was Content always a private vessel, or was there some government service such as forestry or war in her past? Built in BC?

Built in the US, Long Beach CA, for Ezra Fitch, to explore rivers of South America. Never really worked, though she had a spell in the USN, and later as a mission boat in BC. Privately owned otherwise. We bought her in 2011.

Interesting...same design criteria as the original Great Harbour N37, but worlds apart aesthetically!

I'm sure Content will be a fine ambassador for western North American boat building wherever you may travel. Thanks for the info

Awesome. This member of the TF peanut gallery will assist any way I can.

Keep us updated!!!

If there is such a thing as "boat porn" Content would be the centerfold!! Enjoy the journey

Will like to follow your postings

Ted

. We live in the UK, and we've been spending 4-5 months a year on board. We'd like to use her in there winter too, which means a base in the Med is most likely

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Sounds like an epic trip: Wow! I've been planning a move to the Med too, but Brexit has put a stop to Gibraltar as a base because the Spanish could close the border; its hard to decide where to go that's not too expensive and where the language isn't too difficult to Comprehend.

I'll be following your trip with interest

What an adventure, Eamonn! Thanks for taking us along. Will you be traveling with a SPOT or similar GPS tracker/satellite link? How long do you expect before arriving home?

What's your expected route? Would love to swing by if you're resting in the SF Bay.

Wishing you flat seas and light winds. Cheers!

FlyWright said:

What an adventure, Eamonn! Thanks for taking us along. Will you be traveling with a SPOT or similar GPS tracker/satellite link? How long do you expect before arriving home?

What's your expected route? Would love to swing by if you're resting in the SF Bay.

Wishing you flat seas and light winds. Cheers!

Click to expand...

Thanks for this! This is a trip without a schedule, mainly because the old girl will have more say in that matter than I will.
We do have an inreach, and that's sending tracking data to our blog , contentgoeshome.wordpress.com . Come have a look

I am excited with anticipation to follow this thread and stay up on your posts.

Wishing Super Good Luck... and... fine travel times ahead for you!

Following along with your blog, wishing you all the best on your adventure.
Content will be missed in BC.

There are several 100 year old halibut schooners still fishing the Gulf of Alaska.

Amazing plans aboard an amazing ship. Wish you a great and safe trip and will follow you for sure. Keep us posted and enjoy!

L.

Woken at 01:40 by a persistently-running bilge pump. I thought about ignoring it, in my comfortable bed....not really! I opened the aft hatch in the galley, to find most sections of that compartment full, and a blocked limber hole preventing it from flowing away. Just a trickle was getting through, enough to trip the Ultra switch. The source is the port stuffing box, so a bit of grease fixed that temporarily... nothing for it, but get the overalls on, and crawl under the floor, to extract some grit which I thought I'd cleared already! Lesson learned.

Garibaldi down to Newport today, what a gorgeous day on the water. We tried a bit of trolling on the way, but they weren't biting. Looks like there may be some chop down by Coos Bay late tomorrow, so the plan is to leave here on the ebb at 06:00, review the forecast on the way, and most likely take a half-day, and drop in to Florence for the night.

The trouble with repetitive long days, we are finding it difficult to absorb any place we visit when we get there. But a weather system like this shouldn't be wasted, and the objective is to move when we can, and chill when we can't.

Pictures!!!!!

An epic journey you are undertaking deserves to be documented with pictures!!

Safe travels and good luck!!

Or in Navy ventricular...fair winds and following seas!

All the best to you on your travels, will be enjoying the updates.
-Fair winds and all that...

Photos.....you wanted photos

Well, here you go...

I've picked out a selection, and there are a few challenges in here. I've put in some photos of Content back in the '50s, when she was known as Taku for a few years. (Her original name was Content, and she reverted to that more recently) I've got a register of her history somewhere, and I'll dig it out.

You'll see photos with people - I'm mildly interested in identifying the people, and the places too, although that won't be so easy. But there's a lot of knowledge in this forum....

So here we go - I'll put up as many as the forum allows.

ps, My wife said I should drip-feed these to you, especially the drawings...she thought it might be too exciting for some, especially the instrument panel design

Some more...

Here are a few more, and an Itinerary to follow, loose as it is.

Eamonn

Itinerary, with options.

Its very difficult to know how much to throw at an old boat. On the one hand, we don't want to break her, but on the other hand, she has managed a demanding run down from Sointula, through Johnstone and the Straits of Georgia, straight on down Juan de Fuca, in some lumpy conditions, followed by the last six days in the Pacific (a very gentle Pacific, to be clear). We are now in Florence, and have a lay day tomorrow, because the conditions won't be as comfortable as they have been to date....and this IS supposed to be pleasurable!

I have a short list of things to do tomorrow for the boat - sort out a niggling air leak in the port engine fuel supply it can only be the pickup tube, I think, as I've bypassed the final Racors. That fixed the starboard problem finally. Could be the case that we introduced a bad connection when we swapped from 3/8 to 1/2" for the supply, who knows.

We hope to get around Mendocino by the end of this week, then carry on as the weather permits. My wife doesn't feel the need to prove herself by battling with the elements, and neither do I, truth be told. I'd rather get her (Content!) to San Diego in one piece.

We are tourists in the great country, so we'll be spending a week or so in San Francisco, and some family will join us there for that. I'm intrigued by the Delta, and Sacramento, so if anyone has some input on that, to encourage or dissuade us from spending time there, then I'm all ears.

The boat was built in Long Beach - I have some sailing buddies there, so we'll hop down the coast, most likely between August 15 and September 15, and aim to finish up in San Diego. Fly back to the UK early October, then back out in November to take her south.

Unless, that is, I find a sweet deal to transfer her to Florida, by truck or by ship. I'm looking at some options, but nothing has jumped off the page just eat. Again, any input appreciated. She's heavy and beamy for the truck route, @ c.35 tons and 15ft, and she's just over the magic 16ft high. 58ft LOA, by the way.

If we don't find a nice shipping deal, then we'll carry on south, but with ad-hoc extra crew. Once we get through Panama, depending on when that actually happens, we'd like to spend a winter in the Caribbean. After that, either up the ICW to New York (an Irishman visiting all of his cousins in one trip! ), and then ship her to Europe.

I've got a feeling the boat will last the course, and progress will depend on the human element!

I omitted to mention that we have all the time in the world.

Good evening to you all,
Eamonn
https://contentgoeshome.wordpress.com

Hello Eamonn,

You sir, are living the dream. Congratulations!