I have noticed a spike in visits to this site over the last 24 hours, and I suspect it is readers of a blog published by Sean Welsh and Louise Hornor: http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com. I have entered into a contract to sell Steel Magnolia to Sean and Louise, which they mentioned on their blog yesterday along with a picture showing the name of the boat. If you Google “Steel Magnolia boat”, the second result brings you here.
Welcome to any Ourodyssey readers! Sean and Louise seem the ideal purchasers for Steel Magnolia. Despite all of the work I have put into the boat through the years, there are issues I haven’t kept up with. It is still a project boat. And I can tell by reviewing their website that Sean and Louise do not shy away from projects.
To get an idea what they are purchasing, check out the section called “About the Boat”. To see some of the repairs I dealt with on the boat, check out “What was wrong with Steel Magnolia”. You can also read some of our adventures in the archives.
They say that the day you purchase a boat is the second best day of your life, exceeded only by the day you sell it. I certainly don’t feel that way about Steel Magnolia. She has provided me with many a good time, and I will miss her. Sean and Louise are getting a boat with great bones. There are some rusty areas in the bilges and numerous galvanized steel pipes that they will want to replace. But once they get her in good shape, I have no doubt they will be in for some great adventures which I hope they will keep blogging about.
As for me, we’ll see what the next adventure brings. If I get another boat, it will need to be something smaller and with a shallower draft to use in the tidal river areas of the Georgia coast. On the other hand, I have been spending an inordinate amount of time driving between Birmingham, Alabama and Richmond Hill, Georgia, so it may be time to get back into flying a small plane. At any rate, I’ll find something interesting to keep me occupied and provide something to blog about on occasion. I’ll still keep up the “Ship’s Log”, though the name might change, depending on what I’m up to.
My congratulations to Sean and Louise. With a boat, you can usually anchor almost anywhere for as long as you like, so perhaps their days searching for places to park will be over soon, replaced by searches for good dinghy docks close to peaceful anchorages.