Running errands this weekend, I planned to take the family to have a look at the aluminum vessel. Here was a boat 4 feet longer, 2 feet wider, and with three feet less draft then our current boat - an improvement in every aspect that, as of late, were most important to me.
The owner and I had been playing phone tag (or more accurately, message tag over the classified app that we were using) throughout the week and decided on Sunday afternoon. The weekend came, my excitement grew and the research into aluminum vessels went into overdrive.
Unfortunately I couldn't find anything on this particular boat, but did get quite a refresher on aluminum hulls:
The Good Stuff
An Aluminum vessel should be light, and far more resilient then a brittle fiberglass hull. Modern welding practices allow for seemless shaping - although I don't know if the age of this boat would qualify for that benefit. Aluminum hulls are, supposedly, inexpensive to repair because (if you have the tools) the process is not too dificult.
The Bad Stuff
Aluminum repair requires a special machine and a skilled welder. This kind of confuses me, as (noted above) I keep reading that they are inexpensive to repair; I would think hiring a skilled laborer or renting/purchasing special equiptment and learning the skills would be pretty costly! Aluminum is not well insulated. It seems to be always too hot here in Texas - would we be constantly fighting a cooling battle in the cabin? Aluminum is noisy ... no big deal, so are my kids!
Anyway, the weekend progressed quickly and when Sunday came we started the hour Trek to the Kemah area. We set out early in the morning, getting breakfast, shopping, and finally looking at a house that we had noticed earlier in the week. (this was the ruse for our current trip - I head yet to mention to the gang that I was going to look at another boat).
The house was a bust, which we half expected, but the realtor seemed trustworthy and we lined her up to look at our property - when we were ready to list. Next we were heading to lunch - only 10 minutes away from the Marina. I was plotting the mention of what our next stop would be, but (as if via physical presentiment of the way she was going to react to my 'surprise'), Misty was hit with a sudden attack and uncontrollable bout of nausea. We pulled the car over waiting for it too pass. I jogged into a convenience store to grab some ginger ale, then started on again. Less then 10 minutes later we were, once again, pulled over. I saw the writing on the wall and discretely messaged the owner that our meeting was not going to happen, started the car back up, and turned our vehicle homeward.
As someone who has a strong belief that things happen the way that they need to, I couldn't help but work through possible meanings of this perfectly timed stomach issue. Did this mean that I needed to once again close the book on the possibility of an aluminum vessel? Is this vessel just not the right one? ...or...Did my wife know I planned to look at yet another 40 year old 'dream boat' ?
I looked over at Misty, who smiled pleasantly at me. As she turned to look back out of the passenger window, it seemed that her pretty lips were a little more terse then usual - forming the ever so subtle smirk...just the nausea, I'm sure.
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