Dawsonville,GA

Well, we went and did it. We bought a houseboat! It is 13x52! But boy, does it need some major work. But even as it is, it was too good a deal to pass up. Luckily, J and I can see the potential in things and we love remodeling. I am pretty darn handy with a power tool also! At the moment, the boat is just sitting at the Marine Liquidation place waiting for us to come start work on it. Before we can move it, we are going to have to do some hull work. The boat is 31 years old and the bottom shows. Not to mention at least one softball size hole in it. After being told by the guy where we bought it from, and checking online, we have found that we can sand the bottom (steel hull) plate the holes and weld around them, then put a fiberglass covering on the bottom and completely seal the bottom of the boat with that fiberlass. Doing that, grinding and sanding all the railings, painting the outside of the boat and replacing all the plywood on the roof and recovering it is going to take at least a week of hard work. We are hoping that we can find some help here in Dawsonville that will work fairly cheap to help us out. After we get all of that done, we will then have to have it moved to Texas.

We found a marina that we can put it in, but they don't have dry storage for a boat that big, so it has to be ready to go into the water and into a slip when we move it. That is why we have to get the work on the outside done first. The place we bought it from is awesome and said that we can keep the boat there as long as we need to and only pay then a $67.50 a month storage fee and we can do the work on the boat right where it sits. And when it comes time to move it, they have the lift to get it on a rig. While it is there, we are also going to take as much of the interior out as we can and take it to the dump. Basically everything inside will need to be redone. The subfloor needs replaced, then new flooring on top, all new counter tops in the kitchen and bath, new shower, new toilet, basically everything. We are planning on taking it down to the 2x4 framing and starting new. It is going to be a long drawn out project and we figure we won't have the boat ready for occupancy until next summer. But it is going to be really nice when we get it done. All for an initial investment of $3500!! Of course then comes the cost of moving it, hull work, engine work, new interior,etc, etc, etc. LOL It will add up pretty quick. But we are figuring that over the next year, we will put about $10,000 into it, including moving it, and we will have a completely remodeled home that is paid for!

Now, as far as work goes, we have a load picking up about 30 miles from here at 1500 tomorrow afternoon. We spent yesterday looking at the boat expecting a load out this morning but we knew freight was soft. We got assigned this load around noon today so we are still just waiting to go pick it up.

Currently we are camped out in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Tonight will be the 2nd night we have stayed here. But it is a Supercenter and open 24 hours so that makes it nice. Especially when I need to go to the restroom at 0400! We had a really good dinner lastnight at Longhorn Steakhouse that is here in the parking lot. Then today for lunch we ate at Five Guys Famour Burgers & Fries which is also in the parking lot. That has to be the best burger I have ever had. I know why they call them famous. If you ever pass by one, be sure and stop. Amazing.

Now we are trying to decide what to do for dinner. There is a McDonald's in the Wal-Mart, but we get that out on the road. There is a Chick-fil-a but it is Sunday and they are closed. So I'm not sure what we will do yet. Maybe just go buy some milk and cereal from Wal-Mart. Or PB&J. Considering we will have to go on a budget now that we have a houseboat to remodel!!