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Preserved from the original Grampian Owners site archives.

RESTORATION OF A  GRAMPIAN 30

RESTORATION OF A  GRAMPIAN 30 "PATCHES"

This is the story of how RJ acquired the Patches, the renovations he is making and those he plans to do plus the voyage he is planning. Rj has his own website where you can read many more of the details about his work and plans http://rjmega.com/ My thanks to RJ for permitting me to add this great posting to the Grampian website.

The Acquisition of Patches

September 4, 2016

$1 Boat

So this nice gentleman  that I used to work with called me up and asked me if i would like to take ownership of his 30′ sailboat, for $1. He had moved to Colorado from Michigan for work and had no way to deal with his sailboat, so it was either offer it to me, or donate it to charity. No pressure or persuasion, just a simple offer.

Now, I’ve heard about the free boat, and there really is no such thing. I have read stories about people spending exorbitant amounts of money and time trying to restore boats, only to give up; so naturally I was skeptical. At one point I even sent him an email stating that I didn’t want the boat and that was the end of it… but I came around and changed my mind.

I decided to keep the boat on the advice of a Sailor who I am learning from no. He advised that I avoid pouring money and time into it, and rather I focus on just sailing it. Great advice it turned out to be.

When I first saw the boat I was shocked, not by how ugly it was (ok so it is kinda ugly) but how well everything worked. The gentleman who gave the boat to me was nice enough to do all of the hard work like getting the head and motor working good. All I had to do was show up and sail it, and that is exactly what I have been doing.

My name is RJ and I am in the middle of "restoring" a G30 to be ready to sail from the great lakes, out the Erie canal, and down the east coast, hopefully making it as far as the the isle of Dominica... or further

What has Happened Since

There was a lot of sailing and then:

 I have: 

I plan to:

Honestly its been pretty overwhelming working on all of this alone and if you have any useful advice or words of encouragement, they would be appreciated. (Webmaster has my email)

I am planning to start my trip the beginning of August 2017, lol.

The following is an update to the above story with links to RJ's Blog and YouTube video's. (01/01/2018)

My fiancé Sydney and I have been living on the boat for 5 months now full time, we left Michigan 02-SEP-2017,  headed for the Gulf of Mexico. I know our plan was to sail out the Erie canal, however 2017 was a very cold summer for Michigan, so we headed south down the Illinois river via Chicago and the Ten-Tom waterway. We have arrived at Marco Island Florida after 400 miles of pretty intense sailing across the Gulf of Mexico. We are currently making repairs/modifications after visiting the school of hard knocks. After about 3 weeks of modification while at anchor we are preparing to sail to the Bahamas and further into the Caribbean.

 Thus far the boat has been great and I have learned to appreciate and depend on her. The accounts of our adventure are chronicled at our website www.chasingpatches.com , you will also find a link to our YouTube channel "Chasing Patches" https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeYJnS3epeMWKxvLAfTx1zA

 I am so grateful that Sydney has been writing the blog and editing the videos. I want to contribute to the content more, however learning about, maintaining, and modifying Patches is currently a full time job for me :)