Immersion, Denial and Transformation

Converting to the Dark Side?

Starting the party. Eventually the time comes when you hire professionals to inspect things you both know, think you know and just don’t know about. This doesn’t prevent surprises or costs. What it hopefully does, if you get a good surveyor, is prevent big costly surprises.

Plenty of boat owners tell stories about the emotional nature of their decisions and their ability to be in denial about condition, costs and advice ignored.

There were enough flags on this play that I was feeling very cautious about proceeding. Why?

Because there was a great deal that I knew that I didn’t know about. That state reminds me of plant journeys that were initial experiences. I felt that way about purchasing a fiberglass boat and a power boat. Both new territory. Yes I had delivered lots of glass boats but never owned or worked on one. Yes I had owned and worked on lots of engines. But cramming Detroit Diesels generating 485 HP each into a boat that allows it to get up on plane at more than 22 knots is another animal with strange behaviors.

After years of snapping cloth, flailing wet lines and long exposure to bad weather a change seemed it order.

Enter light filled roomy interior spaces, indoor steering that is both dry and comfortable… Why do rag people call that converting to the dark side? It seems anything but.

So the surveyor raised questions about engines. The engine specialist raised other questions and answers were in short supply and time consuming.

By the end of the month the questions were mostly answered, the denial about what didn’t work had been submerged. It was time to have the courage to close the deal. To do that I had to trust my intuition and evaluate what I had learned.

The final negotiations were swift and the deal closed. The work needed prior to moving the boat was completed.