So the boat finally arrived today. It sat at the shipyard for a couple of months having the flybridge disassembled to bring the overall height down to 14’ so it could be towed here without having to go around every highway underpass.
While waiting for the boat we had a very large hole excavated in the yard. The initial thinking was that it would be easier to get on and off the boat of it was at a lower level. This morphed into creating a natural swimming pond that we could float the boat in.
The boat delivery driver confirmed that he will be able to come back and put the boat into the hole… so now we have to finalize our decision on what to do. It turns out that building a pond this size (approximately 10’ deep, 50’ wide, and 100’ long) is actually very expensive. In addition, I’m somewhat concerned about keeping it clean and healthy… there’s definitely a fair amount of maintenance that goes into a pond, especially such a big one. This includes selecting the right plants for natural filtration, checking and adjusting the chemical balance of the water, ensuring we don’t get pests (like mosquitoes), and controlling algae blooms. Between the cost and the maintenance concerns I began to worry that this may not be the best plan. The boat delivery driver suggested an interesting alternative; we could put the boat into the hole, seal the hull with a Tyvek wrap, and then backfill dirt around it so it’s resting on the ground and then build a “moat” or smaller pond in a semi-circle around it. This would give the appearance of the boat being in water, it would be more stable than keeping it on boat stands, and it would be a less expensive and more manageable body of water to maintain. I like this idea and so now I need to draw up a plan of what this might look like and get an estimate for construction so I can weigh all the options.
I’m taking next week off from work so I can start rebuilding the flybridge and get all of the electrical and plumbing systems working. Will post pictures as that progresses.
Here are a few photos of the boat in her temporary location on the pasture.
