A pic of the main saloon below. This was taken for the sale literature and will no doubt be "Deniseified" in due course.
Still at home at the present and organising the letting of the house. We have started packing our personal belongings that we wont be able to take on board. The idea is that we will buy a container to keep it all in provided that we can arrange to site it somewhere secure. We have approached the landlady of a pub near Bracknell who has some land to the rear and with a bit of sweet talking that might be a possibility.
Meantime regarding the boat, we have arranged for the survey to be done on 22nd March. I'm not expecting there to be too much of a problem as she was a well maintained craft used for RYA sail courses up until last year.
Post again soon!!

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I just thought I would start writing this blog early as it may be of some use to anyone thinking of doing the same as we are. Although not the outright owners of Sea Dawn yet, we have secured the sale and are due to complete in early June to coincide with my retirement after 30 years in the Fire Sevice.
I have been sailing for about 20 years now, various craft though never my own. For about the last 10 years or so I have enjoyed the hospitality of my good friend George McMonagle aboard his Moody 27 "Ceegem". Based in Kirkudbright we have cruised extensively around the Irish Sea and southern Scotland. I'm sure George's name will appear on a regular basis as I gladly reciprocate his hospitality aboard Sea Dawn.
At present Sea Dawn is ashore in Ramsgate where we bought her. While the purchase process and survey is going ahead we will be busy at home arranging the letting of our property and all things leading up to preparation for living aboard on completion.
She is a 36 ft Westerly Corsair Mk2 and as far as I am concerned will be ideally suited to what we basically have in mind.
I started looking for a suitable vessel around 2 years ago, searching all the usual media, websites etc and also taking advantage of looking round any occupied boats while we were cruising with George. On the whole I found most people to be very welcoming of this and only too pleased to show you round (usually followed by a few drinks and stories of thier personal odysseys). The more I looked and enquired, the more I became convinced that the boat we were looking for would have to be an old British design and all roads lead to either Moodys or Westerlys. As we were thinking of living aboard, one of the major considerations was the accommodation so this narrowed it down further to the mid range 34-36 footers. Cost was also a major factor. It would have to be something affordable to buy and maintain over the next few years. Obviously time will tell if I have calculated correctly on that score and yes I have factored in all the addages that I've heard over the years. You know the most famous being that " a boat is a hole in the water that you pour money in to".
I will keep posting over the next couple of months with things as they develop, the survey etc. and any problems that we come across as I'm sure there are things that I have'nt even thought about yet will manifest themselves to keep me on my toes but not dampen my spirit.
Bye for now.

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