Beginnings

I don't know how a man can be so obsessed with a boat as to actually feel it is alive, and so, must give it a name.  I am one of those men.  Simply, the name that stood out most was the name of my paternal Grandmother...  'Isabel'.
Sailing is in my blood.  I grew up with it while watching the classic movies of Errol Flynn, and 'Captain Couragous'.  I remember my dad had a wall hanging of an old square rigger that had thread used for the rigging.  I could invision in my mind that ship actually sailing on the high seas.  I went to college for Marine Biology, the highlight of my freshman year was learning to scuba dive.  Later, I changed my major to Art, proving the romantic in me.
When I was 30, I bought my first sailboat, a 30' strip-planked pinky cutter.  It leaked badly, needed lots of work, but to me looked beautiful with it's six round bronse portlights.  Actually when I think back on that boat, those portlights where the only thing good about it.  Living on board for the next couple of years, I decided I wanted to learn everything I could about fixing boats.  I quit my job working at a large cabinet shop and went to work in a shipyard.  I learned the valuable lessons that there are good people associated with sailing, and there are the bad people.  The biggest con man I ever met was the one from whom I bought that sailboat.
My next sailboat was a 1970 25' Choey Lee that I bought in Guam.  I spent quite a few months de-blistering the hull.  Blisters are infamous in the tropics as I soon learned, and old Choey Lee's are infamous for blisters.
After moving back to the states and getting married, I was 2 hours away from the ocean and knew my wife would never  want to move closer to the ocean, or even live on a sailboat.  So I gave up on that lifestyle, and I gave up on sailing.
Now, 11 years later, at the age of 51, I have had some major health issues and have had a lot of time to think. 
With all my experience of boats, living at a marina, shipyards, etc.  It never occured to me to purchase a trailer sailboat.  Now it makes perfect sense,  I just never thought about it.  So I began looking on Craigslist.
There are a few good fixer-uppers to be found on Craigslist and Ebay.  But when it comes to finding just the right boat with perfect lines, they are just few and far between.  I knew I wanted a boat that I could be proud of.  One that had the lines which would motivate me to work on her.  My first choice would be a cutaway full keel.  But I wondered how hard that would be to constantly trailer around, and just how heavy of a trailer would I need to haul it?  How heavy of a vehicle would I need to pull it?  I started accepting the thought that I might need to look smaller.  A shoal draft with a swing keel would probably be more suitable, given the area in which I would probably be sailing the most, the Sacramento Delta, possibly San Francisco Bay.
Looking for both sailboats and trailers on Craigslist,  I found an ad for a duel-axle trailer.  I probably would have glossed it over as the price was more than I could afford, (Actually, I had no money), but I caught in the description that there was a boat on the trailer that was going to be "disposed of".  That peeked my curiosity.  The picture in the ad showed the partial bottom of the boat and I could tell that it was a sailboat, and so I emailed to enquire about it. 

Photo that appeared on the Craigslist ad

The fellow told me that the boat indeed was a sailboat, a Santana 26.  I then scoured the internet for Santana 26 and found next to nothing on them.  It seems not many were made before Santana went to the 27' as a replacement model.  Make a long story short, I was hooked and wanted the boat. 
This guy evidently bought the boat and trailer just a few months ago.  After stripping the boat of the winches, bow and stern pulpits and anything else of value he then put the trailer up for sale, intending to haul the boat off  "to be disposed of".
I have very good feelings inside myself for the "rescue".  This boat was one of the sorriest looking boats I had ever seen upon first looking at it.  It was squeezed up under a large tree with the branches going right down into the cabin from the hatchway.  But I liked the lines on it right away.  I climbed up on board to try and get an idea of how sound the hull and deck were, knowing that it was about to be thrown away.  Feeling like my daughter does when she sees a lonesome puppy, I knew I wanted to take this boat home and give it the TLC I thought she deserved, but still, I did not have the money to buy the trailer and save the sailboat.  The owner decided to give me a week to come up with it.  So I went home and tried to figure out how to pay for it. 

Here are photos of when I first saw her. I just noticed the camera date is set incorrectly. Instead of 10/18/2009, it should read  4/14/2010.

The Bow

The Trailer

The Doghouse and Foredeck

The Hatchway

The Cockpit

The Galley

I had a utility trailer that was only 3 years old and figured that would make up a good chunk of change if I could sell it.   Also, I had a cyclocross bike that could probably make up the balance.  I didn't really need the trailer anymore, and I have not been able to ride the bike since I got sick.  So up on craigslist they went.  I should have asked more for them because the sold right away.  I am not a businessman,  I just wanted fast sales so I could get my sailboat.  It had been 12 years since I owned one, and those were my happiest days just working on the sailboats and dreaming of circumnavigations.

My trailer I had to sell

My CycloCross Bike I had to sell

I paid the man the money he asked, and then found out the titles were not even in his name.  Now I would have to worry about DMV hassles.  The surge breaks did not work.  The lighting did not work, so I had to bring a spare set of lights with harness.  We arranged for me to meet him at noon the next day and he would have the trailer ready for me to pick up.  Well, he wasn't ready.  Two tires were leaking air, but he said there would be enough air to last until I got home.  That was sort of true.  Actually, I only made it home with 3 of the 4 wheels that I started with.   Seems as though the drivers side front wheel just dissappeared on the way home.  I don't think it even had the lugg nuts on to begin with as there was no damage to the studs.  There just wasn't a wheel.  I think I was pretty dumb not to have checked first before I left.  One just assumes that the wheels are bolted on correctly.  I might have been just too excited to get her home, still, as angry as I was about him not bolting down the wheel, ultimely, it was my responsibility to have been sure I was towing a safe rig.   I am just thankful there was not an accident along the highway.