Hi Steve,

I have been mostly a lurker at BT-1 and here but so enjoy your enthusiasm in helping those on these forums. Your check-in encourages so many to tell of their weekly experiences that they wouldn’t otherwise share with those who need the information.

Your problems in selling your boat prompted me to tell you about my boat sale. I bought small 16 foot skiff in 1987. That year we had 211 inches of rain. At least every other day I trudged down to the dock with a large coffee can and bailed from two inches to 18 inches of water from the boat. I was in my third or fourth year of PD and handled the work pretty well physically but mentally expending all the energy and not being able to use the boat was quite discouraging. I decided to sell it to a co-worker who had lost his boat. A group had gone across the bay, I suspect to smoke some “wacky-tobacky”, and he didn’t tie his boat up. The tide came in and his boat floated away.

I agreed to sell him my boat for $300, my cost plus harbor fees. The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred a short time later and he leased the skiff to Exxon for $300 per day. They paid him $15,000 for 50 days and never took the boat out of the harbor. He purchased a new pickup truck with his windfall.

If there is a windfall in the disposal of your boat, I hope you are the recipient!!