My Trawler Odyssey

So let’s get into the nitty gritty about the latest adventure so far. I bought her late October of 2024. I am the fourth owner and Odyssey is her fourth name. She was located in Grand Haven MI, my home town, slipped at a marina about an hour up the Grand River from Lake Michigan. I had planned on keeping her there, hauling her and debating on keeping her out of the water next summer to do some work on the hull and other maintenance. I stopped by the marina office to complete the contract for winter storage and slip for next summer (It was a nice slip and I didn’t want to lose it for the following year) and was informed that the owner had decided to no longer slip or store wooden boats and I would have to find a new home for her. Might I remind you it’s late fall so time is a huge factor. In Michigan winter can show up as soon as mid October or like last winter, never really show up at all except for a hand full of day only to melt away in a day or two. To be safe I proceeded as if the next blizzard of `78 was on its way. I scrambled to find a new home for my newly acquired stress generator, I mean epic project. Here are a couple more things to consider when dealing with a wood boat. Many marinas will no longer accept wood boat. Some will slip them in the summer but not haul out and store and some won’t even slip them. Most will require insurance on the boat which with a wood boat, can be a challenge. To obtain insurance you will need a current marine survey on your wood vessel, which typically isn’t a big deal unless your boat needs a good amount of work and if this is your first wood boat, that will cause red flags with the insurance company and result in a rejection by underwriting.
Needless to say the following week or two were filled with many “what have I done?” moments but I did find a new home on Muskegon lake. The boat yard where I bought 3 of my 6 boats actually. Now I had to hit a weather window to do the roughly 30 mile run down river to the big lake north to Muskegon lake. Another complication was work had gotten very busy taking up extra time and I was about leave town on a work trip for a week. It was looking like it would be around 3 weeks before I would have the opportunity to make the 4 to 5 hour trip, and how many good weather window would I have then? I was thinking “Well this is going to be another wet, cold, and miserable delivery”. My Ericson 36 was purchased in Waukegan, IL and me with my oldest son and a friend sailed it home to Muskegon on a stormy Memorial Day weekend, It was a great adventure, but not enjoyable by any stretch of the imagination, but I digress. Then I had an epiphany! I knew a guy from my marina days, Dusty, who is quite an adventurous person himself and similarly as crazy about boats as I am. I would check to see if he would be willing to deliver the boat for me, in exchange for a bit of cheddar of course. He agreed much to my relief, and could do the trip the following week. He had an excellent weather day and delivered the boat with no mishaps. He has a Facebook page for his boating, diving and other adventures called Blue Eyes Below where there is a video to his trip to Muskegon with Odyssey, I will put a link here if you’d like to check it out. https://www.facebook.com/blueyesbelow/videos/3825754111017377 The boat yard was a little concerned when they saw the condition of Odyssey upon arrival, specifically about my intentions for the boat. Apparently they have had people store project boats and abandon them at the yard. The yard is then legally responsible for dealing with the rotting boats and how to dispose of them. Odyssey is not in that bad of shape, I mean it just made the trip from Grand Haven to Muskegon with out becoming a man-made reef. My plan is one year out of the water just to make her seaworthy and sound. Then finish up everything else while I can be enjoying this awesome boat on the water, cruising and fishing. There will also be some spring and fall projects while she is on the hard and its safe from sinking during those sketchier repairs. I am determined to give this good old wooden boat a second, or third, or forth life and I’m sure she will be turning heads and catching eyes again as we cruise into new harbors in the near future.
Well that’s a wrap for now. Next post I will cover the known issues to be tackled in the coming months and some ideas and plans for upgrades and changes. Stay tuned!