Ah, the long, convoluted search for a boat. We started out looking at various boats from 65' on down, trying to find something that'd work. We planned on using some of the profit from selling our house as down payment. After finally settling on a Catalina 380, after many false starts, we waited patiently for the house to move. It didn't.... I started looking at boats I could buy outright and found a Kettenburg 46 that I liked. Fredia didn't really like it much but would go along with it. The seller was a foundation that will remain unnamed and their broker was like the slimiest used car salesman ever. Needless to say, the deal fell through.
During that process, I had come in contact with the President of the Kettenburg Assoc. and he emailed me pics of Oh Joy one Saturday morning. I had never sailed on anything but a sloop and wasn't considering anything with more than one stick. I asked to meet him and was there at 10AM. We looked at the boat and I was really impressed, especially when he told me at the bar that I could probably buy her for a dollar since they'd tried to donate her to his foundation. We walked back to the boat, I met the owner and we took her for a little powered test sail to check the engine. Everything seemed ok so when we got back, I offered him $20.00 USD. He accepted my offer and I had him write out a receipt. His wife then mentioned that they owed some back moorage, about $600.00 so I said don't sweat it. "I just bought your dream for twenty bucks so I'll take care of it". A week later, myself and two others sailed her home in what turned out to be a Force 10 storm, but that's another story.
Here she is, a 1961 Knutson K35, 38'4" LOA, 10' Beam with a 5'6" draft.
Surprisingly, Fredia liked this boat, something I never thought would happen.
