Life in a boatyard
When my wife, Avery, and I took ownership of our Ericson 38-200, Walden in August 2018, we placed her in the yard to undergo an extensive refit (see PBOs May and June 2020). She’d been struck by lightning and needed all new instruments. Being 32 years old, she also needed new standing rigging, a complete bottom job, and many additions such as a windlass, solar array, and inverter to make life on board comfortable. For a modest monthly storage rate of $290 (£220), placing Walden in a yard in nearby Placida, Florida made sense. We expected the adventure to begin when we finally set sail, but in reality it started the day we moved in to the boatyard, and met all the fascinating residents.
Those that get-up and go
While commuting to the yard every weekend, Avery and I met a number of sailors living there full-time. One of the first couples we met were Eddy and Taylor who’d bought a dilapidated 1986 Beneteau Idylle that looked as though it had been sitting in the yard for years. They refitted her quickly – slapping some ablative bottom paint over the existing paint, adding solar panels, air conditioning, a GPS, servicing winches and replacing the running rigging – and finished a month later. They set off for the Florida Keys in their newly refurbished Seawolf, before crossing to Cuba and then Mexico, ultimately making their way to Panama before returning to Florida the following summer.
Yet, of all the sailors we met marooned at the yard, the intrepid couple were the exception, not the rule. More often than not, I suspected – from the ubiquitous rotting hulks of once-proud yachts – grandiose dreams fell by
