s/v BEAR A Tartan T.O.C.K.

Progress 4/27

janny — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:59:02 +0000

I finally got down to the Bear for cleanup, we have company coming to celebrate Ed’s upcoming birthday.

What progress we made! We moved the deckbox to the dock, removed the old inflateable (Ed will test if it still works!) Brought our own inflateable and secured it in the stern temporarily? Thoroughtly scrubbed the deck and cleared it off, it almost looks new again, until repainted-it will certainly do.

We had found custom curtains that had been made, had them cleaned and put them up for the guest berth (formerly our ’nest’) for privacy for our guests. We were scared that they’d look like a circus tent, but again, they will do for now. We temporarily remade our queen berth amidship between the forward compainionway and the V workshop–we plan to have the berth slide in or swing up, but we appreciate the headroom, privacy and a place just for us. We plan to move the head to the workshop area where another shower stall had been set up and lift the floor even up to the V door. We believe the Tocks were made for giants! We also had found an awning but did not find out if it was for the stern or bow.

Ed has accomplished so much! He stripped the old carpeting to find nice mahogony? floors in some areas and sanded and varnished what he could. We did find some flooring to replace, and did not finish removing all the glue from that yucky carpeting. Removing all the old batteries were a chore, but he has now replaced them with Northstar AGMs that were highly recommended. He has also completed all the AC wiring but still needs to work on replacing more of the DC–I’m just glad I escaped that nightmare!

Please visit our curent photo album to see Bear now! We sure do appreciate hearing from other TOCK owners or wannabes, so just ask!

April 2008

janny — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:34:39 +0000

I cannot believe it’s April already!

I’ve been remiss on posting but Ed has been doing the electrical and not much else has been going on. As I’ve not been down, I cannot truely report, LOL, but he says the A/C and D/C are almost completely finished. The fact that the floors are still torn up is another matter!

I’ve been prompted to write by the contact of another potential TOCK owner who was very glad to find another owner. It’s such fun to compare notes.

Great news came today, Ed’s other boat is SOLD! That means more funds for BEAR

January 2008

janny — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:01:41 +0000

We've made 2 trips down. Ed had a hunch that he had better check the boat with bad weather coming. Such intuition! He must have stepped on a hose last time and we found water almost up to the floorboards in the bilge! After fixing that little problem, he made the final measurement for the new lifelines to install next trip and cleaned out more of the workroom.

I cleaned the rest of the galley and master bath and put up the rest of the rope lights until we get DC power going again. Looks like Kevin will be buying the boat next door--boy are we glad we don't have all the wood upkeep!

Next trip was rather cold and wet, Ed got the lifelines up. We spent some time shopping for little things for the boat and getting ideas. We do have a rather comfy little nest in the stern while we work in the bow and finish the electrical.
This:

Now looks like this:

The Electrical will be the next story, Ed plans to spend a week installing the new panel and running the wires.

Glad it's he, not me, those wires would give me nightmares!

T’was the week before Christmas

janny — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 10:59:36 +0000

And we rushed to the boat
now it was ours
would it still be afloat?
With brushes and rags we climbed the new ladder
cleaning and looking throughout all the clutter
the D/C was out, but not to matter
plenty of Christmas lights made it much brighter!

We spent a week, me cleaning, Ed examining and fixing things as we went. The more I looked, the more cubbyholes I found. Spare parts were secreted everywhere and the bow workshop grew. We found a new sail cover, an old dodger, a full sun awning, privacy curtains to close off the stern bed, and too many items to list. Every day was a treasure hunt, but we know we have much work to do.

We threw out the old foam mattress in the queen Pullman that needs a redo anyway. We made a huge nest of a bed in the stern with the table down, bought a 4″ king-size memory foam topper and enjoyed the best sleep of our lives!

Luckily we brought a portable refrigerator, microwave and CD player to keep us entertained–thank goodness for dock electricity! Each night we’d head for the shower and find a new restaurant to enjoy. We’d then return to the cockpit to enjoy some tunes, our Christmas lights (and the boats surrounding us) and the wonderful view of St Aug lit up across the river. We were also invited to the marina’s “low country crab boil’ (my first) it was such fun to see everyone there enjoying themselves in the spirit.

We left early afternoon on Christmas Eve and thoroughly enjoyed our Christmas at home.

A new home

janny — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:52:38 +0000

The survey came out fine, we closed on December 10, 2007. Here she is safely moored in her new home, just across the river from Old St. Augustine. We have a very pretty view at night!

The Name Game

janny — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 11:52:46 +0000

K, so now she is ours, what shall we name her? We played with names for weeks and asked friends on the cruisers forum to help–what fun!
One fella had way to much fun with this:
“Loose Tock”
“Heart to Heart Tock”
“Tock Back”
“Tock Away”
“Tock Down 2″
“Tock Over”
“Big Tock”
“Tall Tock”
“Soft Tock”
“Pillow Tock”
“Sweet Tock”
“Tock Sense”
dinghy.. “Baby Tock”
“Peace Tock”
“Money Tocks” heheheh
“Dirty Tock”
“Sexy Tock”
“Tocked Out”
“Y Tock”

We hope to meet ‘Seer’ soon! My favorites were the ‘tock names’, but Ed won out, she does look like a big ole’ Bear!

And just as cuddlely inside:

Offer accepted!

janny — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 16:34:18 +0000

Ed made an offer and it was accepted, we had to move the boat to St. Augustine to have the survey done. The ride was 5 hours up the Intercoastal and they did get to put up the sails–she did 5 knots in a very low breeze! The motor purred like a kitten. Greg went along for the ride, here she is entering St. Aug:

Marilyn and I did what gals do best-go shopping! I thought I’d get another ride, but it wasn’t to be. The haul out and survey is set for Tuesday.

Why a T.O.C.K.?

janny — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:34:42 +0000

Ed had seen the design many years ago. Being a fan of Sparkman & Stephens to begin with, he believed this layout plan to be simply the most functional. Wet lockers located by both companionways, the galley and master suite amidship, and the V-berth (in ours) a workshop. Shall I add the fact of the 22′ x 13′ great room in the stern with the dinette able to seat 8? The high bulwarks at the center cockpit that seats 6 in comfort, the large flat decks easy to maneuver? A 5′ keel will make our journey easier, as well as the ketch rig. The more we saw and learned of her, our hearts fluttered…should we?

See our modified plan here:

Find out more about the Tartan Tock here.

Celebration dinner

janny — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 12:50:50 +0000

Many thanks to my sister Marilyn and her husband Greg from Boca Raton, Fl. for helping us to find the boat. We hope to have her ready for company soon!

Here we are celebrating dinner (Ed & I on right) at the Conch House:

They make such pretty food!

Onward Looking

janny — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 09:49:45 +0000

No sooner did we return to GA, we found that the contract on the TOCK disappeared and we quickly contacted the broker to arrange a viewing (2 days of viewings). So, on November 10th we saw our new baby for the first time, in Flagler Beach, FL. My sister Marilyn and her husband Greg were there to cheer us on and help make the big decision–my this was a big boat! And she’d been a bit neglected as her prior owner had been laid up for over a year. She needed a good buffing and cleaning to make her look like a proper yacht again.