Captain's Log: The Moving Sale

Rather than draw this out with an extensive blow-by-blow (that would include a wonderful visit by none other than Sean and Louise that you can read about here), I’ll just make it known here that we sold our Bayliner 3870 in Hopewell, Virginia shortly after the fuel tank replacements were completed. We bought a 1982 DeFever 44 Offshore Cruiser. She needed a lot of deferred maintenance but was in good shape otherwise. The two transactions were completed within a day of each other, meaning we only owned two boats for less than 24 hours.

We rented a U-Haul, added a car trailer to carry our venerable Toyota with us, and on the afternoon of Saturday, June 21, 2025—after a day dockside in Hopewell moving the contents of the boat into the truck in near-three-digit temperatures—we took one last photo with the original Stinkpot.

One last selfie with the old girl….

Mike graciously selfied with us as we made away with the piano.

We’ve now been in Holland, Michigan since Tuesday, June 24. We did make a detour to Georgia to pick up my piano from “the sitter’s house” (our dear friend Mike has been keeping it for me since we sold the house in Maine).

The new Stinkpot required considerable attention before she was fit to launch, but the big splash happened at exactly 1 p.m. on Tuesday, August 5. Before that, we were living in Holland’s Microtel. As soon as she was floating, we moved aboard and began settling in.

It has been a long journey, and there’s still a lot to get done, but we’re on target to hopefully drop lines within a week or two (tops). We are still “fitting” ourselves aboard, modifying the boat to suit our uses, and dealing with some egregious configuration issues—worst of which: the battery banks the previous owners had installed. Eight expensive Trojan T-105 (GC2) batteries were so poorly configured that had we gotten underway we’d have risked fire (at worst) or short battery life (at best). As of this writing, the worst of it is done—fire or shortened battery life will not happen—but we’ll have a much more electrically efficient system once I finish.

After a week aboard, we’re getting comfortable. We brought our toaster/convection oven from the Bayliner and added it to the galley. I’ve swapped out all the galley appliances except the refrigerator: new convection microwave, new induction cooktop, new dishwasher. The (pricy) Force 10 marine range that came with the boat is now for sale (no reasonable offer refused).

I’m updating and wiring the navigation electronics to achieve what I consider the minimum requirements. Soon, we’ll be selling our 2007 Toyota Highlander Hybrid (no reasonable offer—correction—no offer refused) and dropping lines. Where to? No firm plans. We’re going “out there” somewhere—ultimately heading down the western rivers for the winter.