Wharram Builders and Friends

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Several times in the past couple of years, Nev and I have considered putting Peace IV up for sale and once we actually did put her on the market for two weeks, but always we chickened out at the last minute and kept her for another year.  We  always wanted another trip from New England to the Bahamas, and we loved her and enjoyed living aboard our lovely boat.

But now Neville is pushing 80 and his new knees are ok but not wonderful.  We were expecting to sail to Bahamas again this year and happy that we would only have to sail from North Carolina where we bought a house this past summer, so the trip would be only half as far.  We were looking forward to the ease of a new sail cover invention by Hodges Street Sail repair which they call a "Gaff Pack" and we had all new electric panel, new inflatable dinghy, new halyards, and a bunch of other new stuff.  We fueled up, got tons of food aboard, water in the tanks, and anchored out in the river to wait for wind so we could get a quick start at first light. 

We waited for a few days and I watched Nev move around the boat with discomfort and poor balance.  I was glad he would have a few more days to sort himself out.  But he never did.  He is just not physically able to safely live aboard our boat any more.  He has too much joint pain all over his body and old age has weakened him so the high steps going in and out of the cabins are tiring. His balance is not good.  I am 71 and doing ok, but I am not able to single hand this big boat for any length of time -  my stamina is not what it once was.

So we had a real serious discussion about old age, limited energy, restricted movement, and pain.  Actually pain sucks, in case you have never had a lot of it.  If you have a lot of pain for a long time, some activities become more of a trial and not much fun.  Pain, weakness, and poor balance due to restricted mobility add up to a risky situation.  So we headed back to the dock and tied her up the day before Thanksgiving and drove home picking up a turkey along the way.  We were sad, but relieved that the final decision has been made.  We will never sail Peace IV ever again.

Over the winter we will clear and clean Peace IV after all of our 12 years of living aboard.  In the spring we will use the new 28 foot wide travel lift that is right here in Oriental so we can sand and paint outside as needed. And we have a broker who will take over all the arrangements of finding a new family to take Peace IV into her next adventures. 

At Nev's age, most men want a trawler.  At my age, I still want a sailboat.  So we will compromise and get a small motor sailor for our local waters.  I have lived aboard boats named Peace full time  for almost 30 years and Nev has been with me for the past 23 years.  We put 50,000 miles on Peace IV and had a wonderful time.  But I love my man more than that boat.  His comfort is important and after all our experience, we know full well that we both need to be safe aboard. 

I think we will have Peace IV ready for a new buyer in the spring.  More information will be posted  here then.  If anybody has pictures of Peace or memories of sailing with us, and want to post them, please do.

Many thanks to all here who have befriended us and our boa over the yearst.  Wishing all a Happy Holiday Season and fair winds into the New Year -  Ann and Nev

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That is a shame, but you have had some great adventures with her to remember.
Good luck with the sale - I wish I could afford it!

Awesome boat.  i'm years away from having my 46 as ready for cruising as Peace IV is.  My advice for anyone considering building a 46 is to buy this one. It's going to cost almost as much to build as to buy.   Wait, now i'm getting depressed, lol.

Hey Guys,

That is a big decision, but a good one. With your experience and knowledge will you maintain your presence here, please? Your stories and advises are always full of value.

Good luck with the sale.

Cheers,

Shaun



Jacques said:

Other pics on my page
reply from Ann and Nev:
The best way to see Peace IV under sail is to go to Jacques page and click on his video of both boats sailing together the day after he launched his own boat.  Click on SUNRISE SAIL. 
There had been a huge party on both boats rafted together in the harbor the night before, so the video starts with a cup of medicinal coffee and then we all went sailing in both boats on a sparkling day. That was a grand sail and later on, when Jacques turned back to Sandy Hook, Peace IV continued sailing on to Block Island in good quartering winds off the land.  We reached 16 knots and that speed held for several hours. 
Whenever Peace gets going fast, she just sails smoother and smoother with a little hissing sound.  While building her, we sometimes imagined what it would be like to sail fast and we imagined that sound so we hissed a little before we fell asleep.  It was a joy when it first happened for real and we heard that sound on our own boat.  The dream had come true - sounds and all! 

Dear Ann&Nev

I'm writing in sailing along the Australian coast. We are.passing present time abeam Newcastle toward Sydney. As we have a good motivation to meett our son with his grandchildren near Melbourne we've passed over all the bad rumors we heard on the pontoons and sailing-blogs  about the difficulties to get a cruising permit in Australia, especially with a wooden boat.

From Noumea we landed in Bundaberg  the 24th November after a good preparation of the boat and of the documentations of the boat. We've been very welcomed by the Customs officer and the agricultural inspector and now we've got a one year cruising permit.

Almost one year ago we were together near Green Turtle Cay in the north Bahamas and we have always a very good remember of this time.

I'm sure some good sea people will buy Peace 4 and you'll find the best little motorsailer or trawlersailer "Peace5" in order you can, more easily, continue to live aboard a sailboat with the knees limitations of Nev.

Love from Bertrand & Marie-Helene

Somebody wrote me a long and lovely letter about all this and I accidentally erased it before getting your name and email address down.  Please forgive me and just send a short note so we can be back in touch.  Your ideas for a small boat are most interesting.  I remember most of your letter, but I am elderly and low tech and screwed up. 

Ann

Wharram Friends,  Nev and I have been taking carloads of stuff off of Peace IV.  I had heard that live aboards tend to keep too much stuff on their boats but I did not know that BOTH of us were doing that. Believe me, the Tiki 46 has more storage room than you need and I mean that sincerely.  Peace has always been a fast boat, but now that we have moved off, I can be sure the next owner will have an ultra fast boat until more of their stuff accumulates. 

Take a tip from us and go remove everything from your boat going station by station and toss or give away about 50% of what is there.  The empty space will be a pleasure and the speed increase will knock your hats off.  Let's have half empty boats for 2015.  Catamarans like to be light.

I think we will be getting Peace ready for sale in about 2 or 3 months.

Ann and Nev

Hi

I have owned several boats before, 1 wharram, and sailed a few of them

I am very keen to see your boat if its for sale.

I am coming to the USA on the 14th January, for 3 weeks.

Please let me have a way to contact you.

Regards Hyde

Hyde,  our email address is svpeacefour@yahoo.com

Nev and I are a bit surprised at the amount of interest in our boat.  We have had contacts from abroad as well as from the US.  But we must remind folks that Peace is not yet ready to go on the market.  We are still removing our personal things from our former home and have not yet even begun to clean.  She really does need a good "spring clean" before she is viewed. 

However, we do understand that some folks just want to see and others want to dream and so long as you come with your imagination and understanding so you can imagine what she will look like when she has been tidied up and please understand that we are elderly and move slowly now, then it is fine to come ahead.

We are still unsure about the price and have not yet contacted the broker we intend to use.  If she is sold before she is properly on the market before we even sign up with a broker, that will be reflected in the price.

An equipment listing etc will be posted here likely in a month or so.

Ann and Nev  svpeacefour@yahoo.com

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