Sea Sprite 23 #137
Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 10:09 pm
Well I went and did it again. I bought an old boat. It all started innocently enough, I was looking for a daysailer in the $1K range to keep me occupied while I work on the Triton. I ran into an Ensign for quite a low price and went and had a look at her. Before I committed I thought I'd look a bit more to see if I could find something else I might be interested in, just to be sure I was getting what I wanted. Now you have to understand I've long lusted after the Sea Sprite. I love her looks and to me she is the ideal small cruiser. I dare say she's the only boat I like as much as the Triton. Really the only thing that could have put me off the Ensign was a Sea Sprite in a similar price range. Not possible, of course. But I had to check.
Well I'll be damned if I didn't find one, on City Island, for exactly the same price as the Ensign.
And I ended up paying all of $1.00 for her. The gentleman mostly wanted her to get out his back garden and into the hands of someone who would use her. His wife is not so much into sailing, although she is a lovely person otherwise, and she wanted the garden a little bit emptier. Unfortunately his memory is starting to go and so he can only really handle so many boats (He has at least 16, mostly dinghies of various kinds, but he also has a Rhodes Meridian, two Rhodes 18s and a Rhodes 19-I believe he wants rid of one or two of the Rhodes, I think one of the 18s and the 19, so if anyone is interested...) and as I mentioned his wife, who has been extremely tolerant, would like at least a small part of her garden back. Her name right now is Ventis (but that will change soon) and she is a wonderful boat, she has solid decks which is remarkable and a lot of other good points. What she needs mostly is paint and a thorough cleaning. She does need one fiberglass repair, under the mast step as you can see in the photos. New cockpit drain hoses are in order before we splash but otherwise I will sail her as is up to Ithaca. The tentative plan is to restore her, sail her to the Bahamas, and then sell her when I return and at that point return to the Triton. I don't believe with the amount of work needed, my own income level and the amount of time involved that I could sail the Triton to the Bahamas this winter. The Sea Sprite on the other hand I believe I can, and so I will move in that direction.
We splash in about three weeks, there's going to be a heck of a party on the Hudson when she goes in, if anyone wants to come by. She'll likely be put in at Kings Marine. As an aside, if anyone in the area has a trailer of the correct size for a Sea Sprite, I would like to borrow or rent one on the day we splash as the one she's on is unregistered and probably not strong enough to really move her very far on it.
Well I'll be damned if I didn't find one, on City Island, for exactly the same price as the Ensign.
And I ended up paying all of $1.00 for her. The gentleman mostly wanted her to get out his back garden and into the hands of someone who would use her. His wife is not so much into sailing, although she is a lovely person otherwise, and she wanted the garden a little bit emptier. Unfortunately his memory is starting to go and so he can only really handle so many boats (He has at least 16, mostly dinghies of various kinds, but he also has a Rhodes Meridian, two Rhodes 18s and a Rhodes 19-I believe he wants rid of one or two of the Rhodes, I think one of the 18s and the 19, so if anyone is interested...) and as I mentioned his wife, who has been extremely tolerant, would like at least a small part of her garden back. Her name right now is Ventis (but that will change soon) and she is a wonderful boat, she has solid decks which is remarkable and a lot of other good points. What she needs mostly is paint and a thorough cleaning. She does need one fiberglass repair, under the mast step as you can see in the photos. New cockpit drain hoses are in order before we splash but otherwise I will sail her as is up to Ithaca. The tentative plan is to restore her, sail her to the Bahamas, and then sell her when I return and at that point return to the Triton. I don't believe with the amount of work needed, my own income level and the amount of time involved that I could sail the Triton to the Bahamas this winter. The Sea Sprite on the other hand I believe I can, and so I will move in that direction.
We splash in about three weeks, there's going to be a heck of a party on the Hudson when she goes in, if anyone wants to come by. She'll likely be put in at Kings Marine. As an aside, if anyone in the area has a trailer of the correct size for a Sea Sprite, I would like to borrow or rent one on the day we splash as the one she's on is unregistered and probably not strong enough to really move her very far on it.