April 1, 2013.

The engine install is going swimmingly. Its moving along slower than I would like but it is going well so I'm encouraged. The folks we're renting the house from are due back by the first of May so we're scrambling to get things done.

With all this on our plate an opportunity has presented itself. Now that we've been here in the heart of Annapolis for a while we've learned an interesting fact. A surprising number of people can't afford their boats. As a result there’s a number of banks that are now unhappy boat owners.

Periodically there are notices in the newspaper about repossessed boat auctions. A lot of these boats are total pieces of shit but that's where the “being local” comes to our advantage. We've put in offers on a few sailboats that I thought we could repair and resell for a tidy profit. We always bid low and somebody has always outbid us.

This week I realized that I've been aboard one of the boats being auctioned and its actually in fabulous shape. We figured “what the hell” and put a low ball offer in. Color us shocked when our offer was accepted. So now the conundrum....

This boat is 15 years newer than our boat so we've decided to finish our refit and sell the Veranda. The difficult part of this decision is that the new boat is a Nordic Tug 39. Thats right, no sails. Bill the powerboater. I think I could pull it off although Christy has her doubts. We could still go to the Bahamas and frequent all the spots we love. Hell, its only got a 4 foot draft, we could get into places we've never dreamed of trying before.

The boats clean, needs minimal work, has a centerline Queen berth, a nice layout and Christy's personal favorite.....a big ass fridge.

I'd have to forget all the rules of the road but I'm getting older so thats bound to happen anyway. I could just plow along indifferent to the havoc left behind in our wake.

If all goes as planned we will be a 2 boat family by the end of the month. Only one boat has a name so we'd like a little help naming the other one. I'm leaning towards “Bullshitter”