Bon Voyage Misfortune

Four years ago we met someone who said he would give us a great deal on a sailboat. It was a deal we could not pass up. Of course before the purchase we never took it on a trial run. There were several red flags that this boat should have brought up.

#1 The Size, the catamaran comes in at 18 feet long with a 28 ft high mast.
#2 Setting up, the guy we bought the boat from spoke as if setting the boat up was a real simple and easy process that could be easily done by himself and his girlfriend. In reality the setup involved quite a bit of tension, anger, fear, and finally relief when the mast was aloft with no deaths or damaged automobiles.
#3 Sailing, we quickly discovered that sailing a 12ft sunfish at NGYC is much easier than a 18ft catamaran.
#4 Storage, if you have been to our property you will quickly discover that it isn't an estate with rolling hills and meadows.

She's all ready to go on her final journey.
Above is a picture of the reason we are getting rid of this boat. Two years ago there was an accident. We actually went sailing for several hours and reached a conclusion it would be a good idea to sell the boat. After we put the boat on the trailer we had to drive across the street to take down the mast. On this journey of about a 1500ft I distinctly remember looking in the rear view mirror and seeing the front of the boat 4 feet up off the trailer. My first thought was, this is bad. Secondly, I hope the mast doesn't crush the car. Well the rope for the sail had become caught in a tree and it caused one of the fiberglass pontoons, were the anchor point is, to crack. No people or vehicles were maimed in this incident but the boat did receive catastrophic damage.
My last goodbye. She earned the name "The Misfortune" because ever since the day we bought her, she has been nothing but bad news.

Final stats:
Years owned 4
Trips to the Secretary of State office for licensing 2
Forged signatures 1
Times the mast fell during setup 2
Times we brought the boat to a lake but didn't use 2
Times we left Triplett stranded in the middle of the lake 1
Years spent sitting in pieces outside 3
Actual days spent sailing on the lake 2
We reached a decision to donate the boat to Mel Trotter camp which is located 30 miles south of Grand Rapids. They have someone who will be able to fix her and hopefully will get some good use out of her.

On an episode of mythbusters a great quote about boat ownership was mentioned. "The two best days in a boat owners life, the day you buy your boat and the day you get rid of it." How true that is.