While there had been many hours spent looking at pictures, speaking with the broker and studying the survey, prior to taking delivery, we had, at most, spent an hour on board Ddraig. We knew from the start that buying an older boat meant lots of projects so we decided to work on mechanical systems first, interior second and exterior last.

At the time of the survey, it was discovered that some of our hoses only had single clamps. Since our insurance company required that all hoses under pressure be double clamped, we decided this would be a simple project to begin with.

As we started checking things out, we realized not only did we need secondary clamps, the existing ones weren’t looking too good and had to be replaced. Then, of course, we discovered that most of the hoses were worn and we found a valve or two that wouldn’t close.

Many trips to West Marine and Home Depot later, project one complete – a couple of new valves and new hoses with double clamps – SIMPLE!

In an effort to provide full disclosure, I guess I should mention that even though I refer to “we” when discussing our projects, most of the actual work is done by Russell. My main contributions are to hand him tools, make parts runs, ask questions, make suggestions and provide moral support. I do, however, surprise him at times with my ability to actually fix some things.

According to the deliver captain, the trip across the Gulf went fairly well until right at the end when the engine started to overheat. Figuring that out was the second item on the ‘to do’ list. Fortunately, Russell is very mechanically inclined and discovered the problem fairly quickly. Of course parts needed to be ordered so the actual fix couldn’t happen right away.

Ddraig has a very large engine room for a boat but it still involves lots of bending, maneuvering and crawling around any time you have to work there. That’s how we decided on the next project. While checking the engine, Russell reached up to steady himself and got a shock – time for electrical work!

Many older boats have had more than one owner and each of these folks may have had their own projects. Let me just say that some people do better work than others. We’ve discovered electrical wires with splices just taped together, inadequate sized wire used and wires going everywhere and nowhere. Fire on a boat is a very real danger so lots of effort has been put into changing out electrical wires. This will continue to be the case as we go through the boat.

Even though we had barely made a dent in the work on the mechanical systems, we needed to complete some projects where we would actually be able to see the results. So, between changing hoses and electrical wiring, we did some painting on the interior, made curtains and new covers for the cushions.

The first few months definitely have been eye opening as we begin to realize the extent of this undertaking. But we realize this is part of our journey and the time and effort of going through Ddraig will truly make her ours.

It’s March 2012, and we just signed a purchase agreement on a sailboat which happens to weigh 45,000 pounds, is 47 plus feet long and is currently located 1300 miles from us.
Thus begins a flurry of research, phone calls, emails and doubts.
First order of business was to schedule a survey. This involved finding not only the person to conduct the survey but getting the boat hauled out. I would highly recommend any prospective owner be there for the survey/haul out, unfortunately, due to work neither of us were able to get to Florida for it.
Once the survey was complete and payment made, we had to figure out how to get her from Florida to Texas. Fortunately, we were very lucky in that the sellers were willing to keep her docked behind their house until we could arrange the move.
There are really only two options, land or sea.
To ship a boat that size over land involves various permits and restrictions. It also would require a haul out and decommissioning prior to her being picked up by a crane and loaded onto a trailer. Since it would have been difficult for us to get to Florida to oversee the process, this wasn’t a very attractive option.
Second choice was by sea. This would involve hiring a delivery captain and crew. We spoke to a number of different captains and got widely varying quotes as to cost and time. One captain said he would follow the shipping lanes and come across the Gulf, one would skirt the coast line and we even had one fellow say that the Gulf was too dangerous and it would need to be brought through the ICW. Of course he also didn’t want to stay on board but would expect us to pay for him to dock and stay in a hotel most of the twenty some odd nights he estimated the trip would take!
After much debate, many sleepless nights and more doubts, we decided to hire a captain and crew. Once more our seller came through! He was a former delivery captain (had let his license lapse) and knew a captain he trusted enough to recommend. More phone calls and emails and we had our captain. And as it turns out, our seller wanted a final sail so he signed on as one of the crew. He was also instrumental in helping us arrange for some repairs that needed to be done to prepare for an offshore voyage and with provisioning. I’m not sure how we would have gotten everything done without his help, especially since hurricane season was fast approaching and our weather window for a gulf crossing was narrowing.
After one false start (mechanical difficulties 70 miles out that required a return to shore) they were on their way. Our stalwart captain and crew motor sailed along the shipping lanes and arrived in Galveston Bay four (very stressful for me) days later.
Ddraig is a 38 year old boat that had been sitting idle for a number of years while her owner was stationed away in the service. Though structurally sound, everything else (electronics, hoses and fittings, fuel systems, etc.) needed lots of attention. All in all, we were very lucky.

Russell has always said that you don’t find the boat, it finds you. That was certainly true when we got Ddraig.
Our original plan was to build up our boat fund over the next three years, buy a boat and spend the last two years before retirement taking it out on weekends and getting it set up for full time cruising.
When Draig was first listed, the price was well above what we had in the boat fund. After explaining this to the broker, we basically put it out of our minds.
Out of the blue, Russell gets a call from the broker who says the owner would like to make a deal with us if we were still interested. Since it was only a thirteen hour drive, we decided it couldn’t hurt just to check it out.
As anyone who has spent time looking at used boats for sale can tell you, people lie! One of my main questions was why the seller would be willing to come down so drastically from the listed price. This is where Russell’s theory comes in.
Turns out the sellers were the parents of Ddraig’s owner who had passed away unexpectedly and it was getting to be too much of an emotional burden for them to deal with. They were hoping to find someone carry on their son’s plan of fixing her up and cruising the Caribbean. That was us!
Within a couple of hours of our arrival, we had signed a purchase agreement and left a deposit. As we are driving away, we looked and each other and the realization hit.
Holy Crap!!!! We just bought a boat! Now what?? We have to schedule a haul out and survey. Oh and by the way – this boat is in Florida, we live in Louisiana and our marina is in Texas. How the heck will do we make this work?

Our 47' Wellington ketch named Ddraig is a John G. Alden design built by Wellington Yachts in Florida in 1974. We have a 4-year refit planned then off to the Caribbean for retirement. This our second restoration with the last one being a 36' Cheoy Lee of the 1969 vintage, a great boat but she was a bit too small for what we need. We really enjoy meeting up and working on Ddraig on the rare weekend that we are both free from work because I work in the refinery construction (turnaround) business and stay on the road at least 11 months a year and my wife Janice lives and works over 2 hours away from Kemah, TX. where the boat is at a marina. Kemah is a great location to do a refit because the marina is close to the new very large West Marine and there is a second West Marine across the lake, it also has Boaters Resale which is chock full of second hand boat items. Hope to meet some of you out there when we get there!!
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We installed a 29 gallon day tank which combined with the 2 x 235 gal fiberglass tanks gives us 499 gallon capacity. I designed and installed a dual racor filter system that allows us to circulate (polish) the fuel in either of the three tanks, transfer fuel from one tank to another! or isolate and bypass each filter for changing on the run if needed. The complex system has a 12 volt pump with several 3-way valves. I had to color code the lines to help "line up" the system to route the fuel from the desired tank to either the engine or the generator making sure that the return flows back to the correct tank.

This journey started Oct 10, 2011 with an email that said "my new dream boat, see what you can do with this."
My husband Russell works as a project manager for refinery work so most of his time is spent away from home on various jobs. One of those jobs happened to be in Corpus Christi Texas which is where we both took sailing classes in 2008. From there we had a couple of small boats and had moved up to a 36 foot Choey Lee by 2011.
At some point, Russell had convinced me that the perfect retirement plan was a two year Caribbean cruise. We knew Whisper (our Choey Lee) wasn't the boat for that so, even though retirement was five years away, he spent hours checking out boats on the Internet. That's were he found the Craig's List ad for Ddraig.