QBU 2.12.09 + horror story

Lower hulls all coated, all knuckle stringers scarfed, 2 of them glued to hullsides and tapered to plan, 2 to go, one hopefully glued up today.

Left B4 assy of lower hulls:

Finish coats on stems and skegs.
End-grain edge coating of everything not done, with silica.
Abrade all fillet surfaces.
Glue on 2 more stringers, taper them.
File-fit grooves from bulkheads to keelpiece so they slide together nicely.
Add vents to BH 6 (or 3)
Shape foil surfaces on keels and skegs.

And now, the horrifying story of this Monday's "Hobie fiasco!"
Sunday night, browsing craigslist for Western MD, I come across : "Catamaran, $250"
I look at the ad, the grainy pictures show a hobie beachcat, maybe a 17' model, newer, nice paint, everythign there: trailer, rig, beach launching dolly, all for $250, and about 100 miles away!

It was a storage lot that claimed the boat was 'abandoned' on their property and must go ASAP. I called just when they opened on Monday, and the dopey sounding kid says, "yeah, it's still here. A lot of people have been looking at it though."

I say "I'm on the way right now, don;t sell it to anyone, I'm getting in the truck now." He says "durrr, it's pretty much, like, um, first come, first serve, man."

Stupidly, I wake my daughter and we jump in the truck, fill it up with gas and went to the cash machine to get the $250. I also grabbed a pile of rope and my portable compressor, in case the trailer tires are flat. We roar our way to Frederick MD, never breaking the speed limit, but never going under it either.

We pull into the lot, and there's the boat, all big and in great shape. We did it! We run into the office and there's the dopey faced douchebag taking a credit card from another shame-faced schmuck who is staring intently at the floor.

A piece of paper on the counter reads "Receipt: $250 for outstanding back storage of catamaran." The douche standing next to me was the owner, and the douche behind the couter had played me for an ass. It was all a SCAM to scare this jerk into paying his storage bill.

I said anyway, "I called about the boat," just to see what he'd say, and he says "Yo, man, like, we can't sell it now." My kid had just been thinking of names for the boat, and she starts crying, and I am sick in my stomach, having just driven 2 hours and 100 miles, wasting the whole day off, and all the gas money, to be ripped off.

I really wanted a smaller beach cat to play with while working on this big boat, I'd do a Hitia 14 or 17, but I can't fathom paying another $300 just for the plans, when I almost had an entire Hobie 17 complete with the trailer, for less.

(Wharram designs awesome boats, but his plans sets are notoriously the most expensive home-builder boat plans in the universe. I paid over $1200 for the Tiki 30 plans, and wonderful as they are, they still represent the single most expensive part of the build so far. The 15 gallons of epoxy and the truckload of plywood didn't cost that much, almost if you added them together. Don't let anyone tell you the line that plans costs are only 2% of the total. By my figures, they're more like 10%)

Anyway, waves of disappointment have flooded me all week, and I still want a small, CHEAP beachcat to play with. I might get a bunch of doorskin and knock up a "Hobby Kat" from those free plans here and ther on the internet. It would likely only cost $200 for a car-topper sized one with no glassing, tarp sails, and old oil paint. I could give it away when done with it for that price.