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How we met
Once I knew I wanted a new boat I spent some time researching my requirements. I wanted a boat I could coastal cruise with and a boat I could anchor out away from other people for a week or two at a time and simply observe nature from up close. From my previous experience with my Compac 19 I also knew that I wanted standing headroom. I had spent too much time in rainy conditions going from a prone position to a sitting position and back with no place to get up and stretch without getting wet. For me, standing headroom was non-negotiable. My Compac was also a shoal draft boat with a short skeg keel. It was great for finding room in a crowded anchorage but the windward ability really suffered. I wanted a real keel under my boat. Sadly, I am not gifted with wealth so cost needed to play a role in my decision. A good looking boat was also important to me. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life wishing I had a prettier boat. Good sailing qualities and the ability to handle some choppy seas also factored into my list.
From my list of requirements, I was steered toward my Triton from two different sources. One was a book by John Vigor 20 Small Sailboats that will take you Anywhere. From the list of boats in the book I really liked the looks of the Carl Alberg designed boats, the Triton and the Alberg 30. They both fit my requirements well and they were both at the low end of the price scale. They were also good looking boats that sailed well with decent standing headroom. Neither were real load haulers but they hauled enough for my Thoreau-ian ideals.
My second influence came from Tim Lackey's website detailing the rebuilding of his Triton. I was addicted to that site and checked it daily to see what progress had been made that day. Every day I was looking at Tim's Triton get better and better and I couldn't help but like the boat.
Between the two boats, I really wanted an Alberg 30 more. With just a few inches more beam and freeboard, the Alberg 30 from the inside looks like a much bigger boat. I was concerned about the limitations of the smaller Triton. In my search though, I also found that comparable Albergs cost about twice what a Triton costs on the used boat market. For the little bit of extra room I couldn't see doubling the cost. Both boats remained on my short list of boats to look for and I spent about eight months scouring the Internet for either of these boats for sale.
The first boat that really interested me was an Alberg 30, a later model with the molded interior liner. It was a nice boat, a bit out of my price range with rotten sails that the owner was telling me were fine. I also wasn't crazy about that interior liner. I wanted something a bit more warm and homey. I kept looking.
Then I came across an Alberg 30 for $10,000 in Michigan. The photos looked good. A reasonable boat I could sail and fix up over time. I spent an hour talking with the owner about it and it sounded pretty good. So, I called around and found a local surveyor to look at the boat for me. I thought about driving out but I decided the surveyer was cheaper than my travel costs and I would need a survey anyway. I waited anxiously for the surveyor's word and I got it quicker than I thought. He spent about 20 minutes looking at my boat and then called me. He said, "This boat is an absolute wreck. I can do a full survey but I will have to charge you the full survey price. Or, I can call it quits now and knock 50% off my price. This boat is worth about a quarter of what this guy is asking and it is a total project boat". With a heavy heart I thanked the surveyor for thinking of me and called off the survey. I really thought I had my boat and I was sad to find myself so mis-informed.
A few weeks later I found a Triton on the Internet that looked interesting. I called and drove up to Biddeford Maine to take a look
To say it was love at first sight would be a bit of an overstatement. I will say that I got an instant smile on my face when I first saw the boat. She was tucked into the back of a dusty boat shed among several very nice looking boats. Only her bow stuck out and prominently on the bow was her name "Prudence" in bold white lettering. I smiled because I was anxious to find a boat (I had been looking for about eight months at this point) and I felt the boat was reminding me to be prudent and cautious and not let my head run away with me. She was a tired looking Triton; solid but tired and I was interested.
So I arranged for a survey. I had followed Tim Lackey's rebuilding of his Triton on the Internet and I knew his main occupation was a marine surveyor so to me this sounded like a no-brainer. I called Tim and arranged for him to perform the survey. A week later, the broker, myself and Tim met and Tim went to work banging the hell out of the hull as surveyors do. It is a bit disconcerting to watch but I appreciated his skill in reading the condition of the hull laminates; something I couldn't do then and really can't do well now. We were all pretty quiet for an hour or so until the broker had to leave because of some other work. Once the broker was gone Tim and I had a chance to talk a bit more freely about what the boat would need. She was basically sound. Cosmetically she needed a lot of work. She was being sold as a 'sail away' boat and that might be true but there were a few serious issues to attend to first. I remember Tim smiling at me as we stood on the deck and he pointing at the heavily crazed gel coat on the cabin and saying, "you have a lot of sanding to do." Overall we agreed it was a good boat that met my requirements. She needed a lot of work but I was prepared and expecting that. I went home waiting for Tim's final survey report.
The Triton was being offered at $12,900 which was a pretty high price at the time for a Triton. Expecially one in such poor cosmetic condition. The engine had been recently overhauled, the sails were in good shape, and over all the boat was sound. The systems, on the other hand were trashed. Oh well, I was going to replace them eventually anyways. The survey report came back with an estimated value of $7000. Tim later called me to say he had done some more research on the engine which was a newer model and the boat was probably worth an extra $500.
So I called the broker and offered $7500. There was a very heavy silence on the phone and the broker was clearly not happy with the offer. I felt bad but explained that I was basing my offer on the surveyed value. We both hung up not at all thinking this sale was going to go through. So I started looking again.
A week later, I found an Alberg 30 right in my backyard for $10,000. The boat was being sold by a very nice couple that had moved and couldn't look after the boat any more. I was very tempted because I really wanted the extra room of the Alberg. I even talked to Tim about it and his advice was to sit and wait and see what happened with the Triton. Incidently, I learned a few years later that the boat was still for sale and a more extensive survey had determined that it was in very poor shape.
A short time later, I received a call from the broker. He had talked it over with the owner and apparently the owner had told him, "I want that young man to have this boat". The broker told me the owner was going to donate all the money to the local youth sailing club. "Could I raise the offer to $8000?" I said "I would think about it." 30 minutes later I called him back and and said "You have a deal". I had never met the owner. My understanding is that his health was poor and his family wanted the boat sold but he loved his boat and was resisting. I would very much like to thank him here for making the boat available to me. He loved the boat and he let me have it so that now I can love the boat. Thank you David McKenzie.
And that's how I found my Triton.