The song of the Edith E.

Wow! What a day, and it's only 2:30 Pm. I'm now the proud owner of a clapped out ex-fishing
boat. Pics above. Some of you may know (or may have guessed by some of my earlier posts) that
Gary and I have been looking for a boat for a little while now. The criteria was: Not totally
roached, decent if rough mechanicals (must be diesel), and not too much rot. We didn't want
something bigger than 40ish feet, and not too much draft. It's intended destinations will include: the Mothball fleet, Delta explorations, Urban Decay sightseeing tours along the
bay-front, Foggy Petaluma River tours. With Gary as ship's engineer, and myself as ship's carpenter we figure we can make a good team.

The problem was finding a boat. People want actual money for these tubs. Like more than a couple thousand dollars. We simply weren't going to spend that kind of money. As it happened we ended looking at several boats, and none of them seemed worth the price.

Then Craigslist got interesting. Someone was advertising a 46' ex-Naval Launch for $1000.

Supposedly it ran but needed to be moved from it's mooring immediately. It was next to Hyde St. Pier in SF. Now my sleaze-meter starting pinging, but we kept after the deal. After an entertaining experience involving a guy on a rusty bike, a boat that had been impounded and an enlightening conversation with the cops, we decided to walk away. There just seemed to be too
much bad ju-ju surrounding the deal.

But that adventure got us in touch with Harbor Master Headley. HMH is in charge (as his title
implies) of the harbor at Fisherman's Wharf. He was the one who was *really* selling the Naval
Launch, and while it was eventually sold, he had several other boats that were going up for
auction. Most he decided were probably out of our price range (you know, REAL fishing boats,
with metal hulls and big diesels and such) BUT he had one for free if we just came down and
picked it up. He told us "30' or so, seems to keep water out because it's been sitting for about
a year with no maintenance, other than that I don't know. Come get it."

Now we're talking. Free. That's a proper pirate boat. Pirates never paid for boats right?

But was free a low enought price? How bad was it? Only a recon trip at dawn would tell. So I got woken up this morning at 6am to the sound of my dog barking incessantly at Gary. I thought we'd agreed on 7...damn. I threw on some clothes, kissed meredith's sleepy forehead and we were off.

We got down to Fisherman's Wharf by 7AM, unfortunately Harbor Master Hedley wouldn't be in his office until 8. I knew I'd said we should start at 7. So I tersely told Gary to park because I
needed coffee, and perhaps a refreshing bread-product, and I needed them now. Fisherman's Wharf is actually quite fetching at dawn. Just us, the street cleaners, the bums and the pigeons. We wandered around looking for a boat called the Edith E.

We found her just before 8. Since Harbor Master Hedley still wasn't around we went aboard and poked around in her cockpit, and opened all the access panels we could. Frankly we were amazed. Her hull looked to be in better shape than every other boat we'd seen yet, regardless of asking price. Her cockpit and decks were a bit rough, but nothing some sanding and paint wouldn't fix. Maybe a little stick of wood here and there. Still, suprisingly sound. We started to get suspicious and I was digging around poking my survey-knife into every piece of wood I could reach. Nothing but the statisfying tunk-tunk-tunk sound of solid, rot free tree-flesh.

Then Harbor Master Hedley showed up, and for a minute I was afraid he was going to tell us that the owner was going to pay his debt, and she was no longer available, but no! The owner was fine with us having her, and Hedley was equally happy he was going to get another paying customer in her berth. Sweet!

The day wrapped up with us trying to charge the batteries (they're dead jim.) and getting the motor to crank over. Now I'm back at work, waiting for the moment when I can get back to my ship and get her running. She needs to get across the bay and upriver. Stay tuned!