She's Mine!

When I decided to buy my PDQ 32 a bit over 3 years ago, the markets--boats, securities, and real estate-- were in the toilet. Boat shopping was good, but investments were down; it was a time to buy or hold securities, not sell (that should have been done earlier). So I borrowed the money for very little.

The deal was that I would pay the loan primarily with bonuses, writing income, proceeds from the sale of my Stiletto, and rent from a small commercial property I bought before I got married. I've been spreading maintenance dollars thin, mostly because I like to tinker and because of habit; it offends my pride if I can't fix something and perhaps design something better. I've got a cheap slip; $100/month.

And so in 39 months I'm all done. Feels nice being debt free, with only pluses on the balance sheet. Oh, she's going to need some money in a few years. The engines are long in the tooth and loud, but they'll hang a few more seasons. The main has a stretched leach, but it only shows in strong wind and I'm no racer. The tramp has only a few more seasons in her. But really, PDQs are pretty low-maintenance solid boats, so I'm looking forward to some pretty low cost relaxation for a while.

Ahhh.......