Finding Mowzer

It is not easy finding a boat that is both suitable for living aboard and for crossing oceans; especially when you know very little about them. At first there seemed to be a bewildering choice and then once we’d refined our requirements there were very few, and of those even fewer that were in our budget.

We refined our list down to a few requirements; 40-45ft, under £100k, less than 25 years old, sea kindly, ideally with a protected rudder, slab reefing, sloop rigged, with large tanks for fuel and water, a decent living space, no aging teak decks and located somewhere we could easily get it back to the UK

Our search took us all over the UK and across Europe. We looked for Ovnis (too expensive), Oysters (too much rotting teak), Moodys (great pedigree but had our hearts broken when we were gazumped on a 44). We stumbled across our Island Packet when viewing a couple of disappointing aluminium boats in the South of France. She was in good condition having spent much of her life on the hard. She was solid, strong and most importantly, just about within budget. There were plenty of compromises, but she also ticked many of our boxes. We had her driven back to the UK at the end of 2019, just as COVID arrived. In the intervening period, between lock downs, we have replaced her engine, installed new standing rigging, installed solar panels, replaced much of the electrics, plumbing, running rigging and sanitation. We have serviced the sails, worked on the canvas, and repaired gelcoat issues on the deck. We have installed a Hydrovane self-steering vane, a new life raft, and an Iridium Go. We have serviced the heads, the winches, and the windlass.  We have lost a lot of tools over the side, have spent many fruitless weekends battling seized bolts, have sometimes wept in frustration, and have spent way more $ than anticipated. Our boat job list remains dauntingly long, but we are making progress and are on target to depart in July 2021. We can’t wait to get out there…