Trip Report: Aiviq on the Inside Passage

Jim,
I enjoyed your story and your conclusion that "it's all good." The responses to your story were also enlightening. I believe that 90% of middle class, risk adverse Americans would view this as a cautionary tale. Most people don't seem to want discomfort and risk. However 90% of C-Dory owners seem to view it as another adventure with a few problems.

That to me shows a common thread among this group. People who buy 16' to 27' boats as cruising/live aboard boats are a little different. That's one of the things that I really enjoy about this group. Whatever our differences we're all ready for the next adventure.
Lyle
 
Right up there with oranges and potatos is garlic. When coming back in to the U.S. from canada, on our princess Louisa tour, We were asked about any garlic on board. I said that i had a clove of garlic but had bought it in the states before we left. I was told very sternly told that "garlic does not retain its citizenship after leaving the country" and she took my garlic.
 
That was a real good read. I thought somebody was writing a fascinating fiction novel, till I got into it a little further. Here's my question: How much do you think the boat was worth before the trip and now afterwards? You must have deep pockets and an understanding better half. Better luck in the future. Mr. E
 
...oranges, potatos, garlic... ...and Asian Pears. Returning home from Canada with Asian Pears grown in my very own back yard cost my $50.00 fine because I stated "I have nothing to declare." (<-- don't ever ever say this... better to say "I don't know"... I was fined $100.00 cut back to $50.00 because they thought I knew and was lying.)

...and as Paul Harvey would say... "Now for the rest of the story"... driving south from the Canadian border I was extremely grumpy for having had to forfeit the $50... finally I looked to the passenger seat to see Noy with a large smile on her face. "What could you possibly be happy about?" I asked her. She simply replied, "I have two more bags of Asian Pears that they didn't find. One right there on the couch!"
 
Mr E's C,

I would say that by repowering his boat he almost doubled its worth. Since he has a truly one of a kind boat updating the power package just made it much easier to sell. These old 27's are very hard to come by as there were only 12 hulls created and of those Aiviq seems to be the only one with the wonderful pilot house configuration.

On this board we actually have 4 of them. The Aiviq

27_pilothouse.jpg

Mine
C_dory_1.sized.jpg

Haileighs Comet - now boasting a huge Honda 225 on an offshore bracket.
PICT0084.sized.jpg

And the Sea Cowboy that is for sale right now.
Untitled_7.sized.jpg

As you can see from the photos not one of them is the same. Haileighs Comet and the Sea Cowboy are similar but Sea Cowboy was originally made for an outboard and Haileighs was made for a Sea Drive so the transom is full on it. The Aiviq came with the 4 cyl 130hp Volvo Penta and mine came with the V6 175 hp Volvo Penta.

All of these boats are rare in another way as well. Since they are 27' and are trailerable on all roads in the US without permits since they have an 8' beam. I don't know about the others but mine weighs in right about 7000lbs so it is almost equivalent to the new 25's.
 
Been meaning to ask you...how'd you end up moving from Alaska to Africa? There must be a good story there, too.

Not really much of a story there. I'm a nurse Practitioner, and had been working in rural Alaska clinics when I saw an add in a professional journal for the U.S. State Department looking for Foreign Service nurse practitioners. I thought, "hmm, that sounds interesting", and sent in a resume.

They had me get a physical exam and did a background investigation to see if I would qualify for a TS security clearance. I had several neighbors tell me that an FBI agent had been canvassing the neighborhood to try and dig up some dirt on me. I guess they never found anything too shady, because about 6 months later they called to offer me a job if I was willing to relocate to Liberia.

I really didn't know where that was at the time, in fact I believe I thought Liberia was a brand of oil tankers, because the only times I'd ever heard of it was in news reports that "a Liberian tanker ran aground today spilling xxxx gallons of crude oil". As I did a little more research I learned that the country was in the middle of a shooting civil war. I was single at the time, so I thought "what the heck, why not". A month later I was sitting on a rooftop in Monrovia watching watching multiple rocket launchers and tracer fire crisscrossing the place. Yikes!

After Monrovia, I served a two-year tour in Ouagadougou, 3 years in Nairobi, 4 years in Harare, Zimbabwe and now I'm in my last year of a four-year tour in Niamey. Next stop, who knows where.

How much do you think the boat was worth before the trip and now afterwards?

I bought the boat for $39,000 a year and a half ago. I've since put about $10,000 in a new kicker, windlass, Wallace stove, radar arch and integrated electronics package, plus the roughly $15,000 I have in the new engine and outdrive, so I have about $64,000 in it so far. It's not for sale, but I'd be surprised if I couldn't get a big chunk of that money back out of it if I did sell it now.

You must have deep pockets

One nice thing about living in Niamey (about the only nice thing) is that there isn't that much to spend your money on here, so one is able to save a bit. The bad news is that when you do get back to the states there is a degree of pent up consumer demand, so even without having to finance a repower, we usually manage to spend a ton of money while on leave.

and an understanding better half

I'm not sure understanding is the right word. Maybe longsuffering....

Jim
 
Thank you again, Jim, for sharing this story with us all.

One of these days, you and your family should get to one of the C-Brat gatherings. We just might be able to help your family more clearly see the beauty in all of this!

Mike
 
I'd go a bit farther, Tom. There are a lot of great reads on here, B&E, Wanderer, Discovery, and a few others - but this to me is THE all-time GREATEST! I just envy the heck out of Jim's good humor in all of this.


Otter-BelleHavenMarina":2d6hvvo1 said:
Good bump Eric! This is truly one of the great reads in the C-Brats archives.

Where are you now, Jim?
 
I've finally made it out of the Sahara Desert, and am now at least near the Sea, although I'm still far away from my boat. I've transferred to Tunis, Tunisia, which is a lovely Mediterranean country. My boat's in Anchorage and I hope to spend 6 weeks or so on it next summer.

Tunis is a North African Arab country sandwiched in between Algeria and Libya. It's one of the most secular Muslim countries on earth. For the most part dress is completely western, and attitudes are quite moderate. There are occasional reminders of which side of the Mediterranean you're on, though. I was touring a local hospital last week, and while sitting in the director’s office, I got to looking at a map up on the wall. The captions were all in Arabic, so I was having a hard time figuring out what it was a map of. My geography is generally pretty good, but there was something about this map that wasn't quite right. The Tunisian colleague who had accompanied me on the visit saw me looking at it, and said "Palestine". Sure enough, I could see it now. It was a map of Palestine - with just one small feature missing. No Israel.

Still, it's good to be here.

Ma' as-salama

Jim
 
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