Tag Archives: Watercraft

Our 1979 Morgan Out Island 33 Sailboat has Sold

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Scott and Deborah When They Bought LAUGHALOT

Sailboats in the Bear Point Marina

Today we have officially moved on to a new chapter in our leisure time life.  We have sold our sailboat in Orange Beach, the 1979 Morgan Out Island 33 which we bought in Tampa in April of 2007.  We had big dreams for this particular sailboat (over the other two sailboats we have owned) but we finally decided the distance from Auburn to Orange Beach was just to much to maintain. Plans are to replace her with a tiny little camper and go back to our camping roots and get to know some of the land and parks here in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida.

We first officially put the sailboat up for sale on June 3rd (For Sale: 1979 Morgan Out Island 33 Sailboat in Orange Beach) but decided by September that we needed to go ahead and sell the boat.  Our philosophy has been pretty much the same every since we got married.  If we are not using it, and well, then we don’t need it and should not keep what ever that happens to be at the time.  Having sold on eBay full time for many years, and the Internet in general, people tend to want to get what they paid for on items when they go to resell them, we know this just isn’t the case (see also What is Your Blog or Internet Business Worth // eBay or Sitepoint?), so, when we want to sell something, we sell it.

This is good for the buyer of course, but when we have made up our mind to do something, we would rather do it than sit around for month after month working on it.  When we started looking for this boat, a Morgan Out Island, there were not many on the market, but the ones that were on the market, are actually still on the market, 18 months later.  Not because they are not good boats, they are, but because these people refused to sell something for what someone else would pay for it.  A concept we don’t get.  So we sold it for half of what we paid for it, but we had some wonderful times on the boat and great memories, worth more than what we paid or sold the boat for anyway.

Now it is time to move on, although we will both miss having this sailboat, she was great.

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1979 Morgan Out Island 33 Sailboat in Orange Beach For Sale

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Morgan Out Island 33 For Sale

This is probably the saddest post I could make on this blog but we have come to the decision that we can not keep up with our house here and the boat we love down at the coast.

I will be posted more photos and information as time goes on but you can look through this blog and all the posts and history of the boat to know what we are selling. It is a 1979 Morgan Out Island 33 in great shape. We had put a lot of hard work into her since we purchase her in Tampa in 2006. The only issue she has at all is the 50hp Perkins motor needs a new head gasket. The Perkins has been serviced, a new heat exchanger installed, filters changed, and she runs GREAT. Starts right up every time, but she does need the header gasket replaced.

Comes with all sails and equipment needed to take an off-shore cruise to the keys or Bahamas. I will post the latest survey soon. We did not have one done as we did not continue the coast guard registration process. Along with all the normals for a boat this size, it also has a GREAT marine a/c and heater unit. We used this all summer last year and this winter and it works great. It is a very roomy cabin, perfect for a live-a-board with the headroom and sleeps at least 5 comfortably. The interior is very clean and in very nice condition. Floors and wood work on the inside are in great shape. Two water holding tanks that hold about 50 gallons of water, a 35 gallon diesel tank, working head and fresh water shower.

To see the history of the vessel please visit the history page, you can also see the most recent survey as well. We had not completed the name change so it is still technically called the s/v LAUGHALOT. The boat is located at the Bear Point Marina in Orange Beach Alabama. You are more than welcome to visit the marina to see the boat. The current asking price is $19,500. The current NADA price is about $23,000 but we have discounted the header gasket work that needs to be done, which should only be about $1500 or so. The marina is VERY nice and the slip is very reasonable at $350 per month, which includes electric, water, phone, and cable.

Any questions at all please let us know through the contact page above and I will be happy to return your email. You can also ask your questions through the comment box below and I will post answers there publicly.

Here are some recent photos. I am sure the new owner will enjoy it as much as we have. We spent many weekends on the boat and enjoyed each one.

Deborah on the Sailboat

Morgan Out Island 33 For Sale

Inside the Cabin

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galley

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head_vanity

helm

nav_station

ondeck

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quarter_berth

salon

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Cleaning Catalina Sailboat Sails with Mold and Algae

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Boys and their toys

The power of water propelled at high velocity is truly amazing. This past weekend we purchased a power washer so that we would be able to continue our clean up of the boat here at home where we left off at the car wash. The results were astonishing. The boat is so much prettier than it was before. Once the inside is washed photos will be posted. In the meantime, look how nice the main sail turned out. Scott laid it on our patio and power washed it. You can see where he had washed compared to where he had not.

I will say that it is probably not the most perfect way to clean a main sail, jib, head sail, or anything that has a fabric or fiber material as it will weaken the overall strength of the material. We decided to clean the sails like this since they had so many seasons already and most likely would not be used for any competitive racing on this Catalina.

Main Sail

The Catalina 22 Restoration and Clean Up Begins

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Yesterday we had a wonderful break in the weather and a simply gorgeous afternoon. So, we decided to take the mast and boom off the boat and remove all the remaining “stuff” from the inside. Scott gave the boat a much needed vacuuming and then we looked at the things that needed to be done to get her back in the water again. She will need some serious cleaning inside and out. The teak needs to be oiled or replaced. Scott will replace the wench that brings the keel up and down.

We knew the keel would not raise or lower and this was the only thing that was mechanically wrong with the boat, but we didn’t know what the problem was until we got in there yesterday and started taking things apart. Luckily we found that the cable was broken and the wench needed to be replaced. That is the best we could have hoped for. As for me, I am going to set about replacing the hatch boards (which are made of 3/8″ plywood right now) and then I will go on to reupholstering the cushions. 1970′s yellow is not my color. To see the rest of the project, go to the Catalina tag.

inside after stuff removed

Catalina 22 Cleanup

How To De-Mast a Catalina 22 Sailboat for Towing?

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We went to pull the boat out of the lake that had been it’s home for 12+ years on the 29th of November 2006. There are several things we learned that day, as you will see. When we arrived at the lake we made an assessment of the boat and briefly discussed the logistics of getting the boat around to the ramp and on to the trailer. The boat was in a slip that was one full dock away from the ramp. Our first task was to get the motorless boat around the end of this set of slips and then over to the dock that ran out from the ramp, somehow.

As you can see from the photos the weather was just barely cooperating and threatening rain the entire day. To make it even more challenging there was a wind coming from the lake, blowing in toward the cove. As always, providence prevails and just as we were standing on the end of the dock surveying a much larger sailboat that had sunk in the most recent storm and contemplating what to do, a wildlife officer happened by in his nifty little (but immensely powerful) motor boat. Since it was the middle of the week and he seemed quite bored he agreed to tow us around to the dock on the other side. As it turned out this was the least time consuming and easiest part of the entire day.

Boat at ramp dock

Once we had the boat in place we were ready to back down the trailer, or so we thought. We backed it down once only to find out that there was a really good reason the trailer had an extension bar. The trailer was barely in the water and there was no way the boat was going on it that way. So, we hauled it out and went about extending the bar.

Trailer with bar extended

With the trailer extended it was now time to get the boat on it and haul it out of the water. This is easier said than done, especially with a sailboat. When we purchased this boat we were told that the cable that brings the swing keel up was broken and the previous owner did not know if the keel was up or down. Since this is a difference in about 4 foot of draft this was a concern. We knew if we could get it positioned just right the keel would swing up as we pulled the boat on to the trailer if it was down. Odds were that it was. We pulled it up to the end of the trailer where it drifted just off the back edge of the runner.

The keel was indeed down and we know this because the boat promptly got stuck right where it had drifted. Drawing on our past experience of being stuck on the keel of our previous boat we proceeded to rock and roll the boat in an attempt to get it unstuck. This was not working and after about 30 minutes of man-handling Scott decided that if we couldn’t get the boat on the trailer we would put the trailer under the boat. He pulled the trailer out and repositioned it under the boat where we were able to secure the wench to the eye and pull her up onto the trailer. We pulled her out and quickly learned how to put the extension bar back in.

We then began to assess the condition of the boat below the waterline. Twelve years of algae and other “stuff” had built up on her hull. We decided she needed to have a good power washing on the way home.

But first we had to de-mast her. We had not done this before. We had read how to do it and now we had to do it. We loosened all the stays and then disconnected the front three. This freed the mast so that it could be lowered aft and removed from the mast step. We then strapped it down and secured all the lines, stays and anything else that might jump ship.

Once she was de-masted we took her to the closest car wash that had a truck bay. This place was aptly named “Spiffy Car Wash”. I was so amazed at how well she cleaned up. Twelve years of muck washed down the drain. Yea!!

Now that we have her home the plan is to work on her this spring and take her out a few times to the lakes in the area and down to the gulf.

Related articles

Sailboat Trailer Restoration [Before]

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We picked up the trailer on 9-24-2006 and began working on the restoration. The seller drew us a comical map of where it was located and we are confident that we picked up the correct one. The trailer wasn’t too bad off. Like the boat, it just needed some cleaning, sanding, and repainting. We decided on a deep red paint color. Eventually we will have to replace the tires in order to haul the boat any significant distance. Here are the before photos.

The trailer was still in solid condition with little rust, just needed a little work to get it in a respectable fashion to move a sailboat.