So We Did A Thing

You guys.

It was a bit unexpected.

I mean. 

Kind of.

We've been talking about it for years. 

But we've never been serious.

There's always just so much shit going on. Taking on another thing just doesn't make sense.

Until it does.

See this platform? That's where I'll be. 

Yeah, dude.

We bought a boat.

It's an OLD boat.

Like, 1994 old. 

It needs a LOT of TLC and elbow grease.

But I think it's a GREAT starter boat.

You know, since we don't really know boats.

Even though I have my boating license lol. (Do I technically have TWO? since I took Steve's test? LOL)

We also didn't spend a lot of money on it.

**patting myself on the back for NOT spending a shit ton of money on a boat**

Since we're new at boating, if we ding her up a little, we won't feel so bad.

If we don't get a chance to be out on the water as much as we wanted to...we won't feel so bad.

We are paying for it in cash, so we won't have any payments to worry about.

The interior needs a lot of TLC and I cannot wait to get in there to start cleaning it. 

The vinyl seats have some rips and tears, but not as bad as I would think for a boat that is 27 years old.

It was given to the owner by his parents, who bought it from the original owner who bought it new. 

It's a 1994 Mariah Barchetta Z 192.

It was a new Bimini top, new outdrive, and trim engine (the thing that makes the propellor go up and down). 

It also includes a cover. 

It has one new captain's chair, which is white and the rest of the vinyl is tan...so that will bother me.

We are going to look for a new seat for the passenger side and perhaps put new vinyl upholstery on the other seats (definitely for the open bow seats). The seats across the back aren't terrible - some tearing along the seams, but the open bow seats are in rougher shape. One side is decent, the other side has a bad hole. 

I'm SO excited you guys. I mean, it's definitely a "project boat" but I'm pumped for it! 

We're freaking boat people now and I'm so fucking excited. 

Maybe we'll keep it a few years before upgrading. 

Let's be honest, I just wanna be on the water, so I'm not going to be picky about what kind of vessel I'm on. 

I bought this cleaner so as soon as the boat is here, I can get in there and start working. I want to get this thing as clean as possible on the inside and will use a toothbrush if I have to. The weather should be decent this weekend, so I plan to be out there with some music scrubbing away. 

Also, Steve's friend started a detailing business (actually started out with Steve gifting him his very expensive cleaning supply kit for his Mustang when he sold it) so this guy always says "it's because of you dude" haha. Glad he could help him. 

Let's just say his business took off and he's doing VERY well. 

So well that he said he can do our boat (the outside is VERY faded) and getting her looking almost new - but he's booked until OCTOBER. 

YEAH.

But that's ok. This gives us time to get to know this boat and get her on the water a couple of times before the season is over. He'll nee the boat for 3-4 days to get it done. 

We are also talking to another guy we know who upholsters seats. Steve's buddy knows a guy. 

Everyone knows a guy lol. 

So, hopefully, we'll be able to reupholster these seats over the winter? Or early in the season next year. 

You guys. 

I'm so fucking excited. We might be on our boat by this weekend. 

The only thing at this point holding us up is getting the boat in the water to "test drive" it. We want to make sure this OLD boat floats, runs, etc. as it should. 

So our friend gave Steve some pointers on what to look for. 

Here's the thing.

This boat isn't costing us a fortune. 

At all.

So we're debating flipping it or keeping it, depending on how nice we get it and what value it holds. 

Ideally, we'll have a nicer, bigger, newer boat in the next few years...but ya never know. 

When we went to go look at it initially, it's being held at a self-storage facility, so it's not in the water. The owner offered to put it in the water for us. We are doing that Thursday - we offered to launch it in the canal near to where this guy works, but he offered to put it in the lake near our house, to be able to get it up to speed.

Seems like a nice gesture and a confident guy about his boat. So, I'm super excited to try it out! It's also supposed to be like 90 on Thursday so being out on the water will be nice. I'll just be going for the ride as Steve looks into the mechanics and other parts we should be looking at. 

Fingers crossed!

I decided to keep this going as one blog.

We got out on the boat with the seller and spent a little time on the lake getting to know the boat. 

Steve has driven our friend's boat, and the 100mph boat so I guess he has a feel for what it should feel like? He said everything felt solid.

The interior was completely dirty. Like these people really didn't clean it often...or maybe once per season? Immediately I noticed that when we got into the boat, he got right in, shoes and all right on the vinyl.

We won't be doing that. 

Anyway, we got it out on the lake.

This sun pad is legit you guys. It's pretty big and the vinyl is in GREAT shape. 

#sexy

I'm on a boat! 

I'm dead you guys. THIS gets to be my view?????

So we get this sucker home and BONUS, we managed to get it into the garage! So nice to be able to clean it out and wash her up not baking in the sun and not being exposed to the elements.

We didn't have a lot of time to do anything since we had dinner reservations at 7:30. So we parked her and went to dinner and then called it a night after that.

I didn't sleep all night and had some pretty fucked up dreams to be honest. But, I was excited to get cleaning this morning. 

Of course, while also balancing work and making sure I get things done today that I have to get done today. 

#multi-tasking

The interior of this little boat is....just...gross. 

And there's nothing grosser than other peoples' gross....

I'm not sure if it's because I know how my friends keep their boats and I...just...ick. 

So I got to work using the new cleaner I mentioned earlier. 

This seat was in surprisingly good shape after I put some elbow grease into it. I got off most of the grime. This is one of the open bow seats.  

Here's a side by side. Left is cleaned, right is not. Horrible lighting in the garage.

I definitely got the dingyness out of it.

Honestly, I was shocked to see the condition of this sun pad. No rips or tears in it at all. As you can see, I have cleaned the right side of this, but not the left. I'm very excited to park my ass on this sun pad when we take the boat out. 

Gave the windows a good cleaning as well. Side by side. 

Getting there...just need to vacuum it out.

Obligatory #selfie

I'm suuuuuper excited to get her out on the water this weekend and try her out for a bit. The weather isn't going to ideal (not super hot) but we think the water will be decent and it'll be sunny. Just mid-70's if we're lucky.

I can't believe we're boat people!