Brief update on progress: last week, we learned that our application for a work permit had incurred a very unexpected delay. Until now we had understood that we would receive our permit last Friday, after an interview we had scheduled at the US Consulate in Paris. However, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services informed us that they need more information before they can make a decision, and our immigration advisers cannot make any prediction on how long this additional step might take.
This was a serious disappointment and a major surprise. Although after some researching on-line it seems this is quite normal: in 2014 the rate of these requests for additional information was over 50%, and that rate has probably gone up since then. It's just that our advisers never mentioned this, until we had already made all the preparations, picked out our favorite boat and marina, and so forth (everything you can read about in this blog so far). The thing we were least concerned about ends up being the biggest roadblock.
So I immediately canceled the contract for the boat purchase and the surveys we were going to have done, and informed the marina. Everyone was really understanding about this new twist, which is nice.
So we've had to adjust our plans quite a bit. We remain hopeful that, in the end, the visa will be approved because we meet all of the criteria, and that the process will not be delayed too much. Meanwhile we are looking forward to spending the holidays together (our son flew in from Irvine on Sunday, and I picked him up from Geneva last night) and keeping our hopes up that we won't have to wait too long.
When I joined my current employer, the estimate at that time was that the visa would take less than 6 months to obtain. That is now 15 months ago, and it could take many more.... When I joined a previous organization in Switzerland, also not an EU country that has tough immigration laws, the work permit process took three weeks and I think it is similar in my native The Netherlands. Oh well.
The Kha Shing boat is of course back on the market. Don't anybody buy it, you hear ?! ;-)
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Sunday, December 3, 2017
Change of plan: when a boat has blisters on its bottom
Time for an update on our boat purchase process. After we had found Islandia, and agreed on a purchase price subject to satisfactory survey (= having two experts, one mechanical systems and one everything else, going over the boat in detail, including taking it out of the water for inspection of the bottom, and taking it out ON the water for a spirited run), this past week those surveys were done.
Unfortunately, 'Islandia' turns out to have the dreaded 'blister problem': water that gets through the coating and into the hull of the boat and starts to slowly cause problems. This plagues a lot of polyester boats, and has a lot to do with the quality of how it was built and subsequently maintained. In many instances it never becomes a really big problem so long as it is attended to on a regular basis, unless you are unlucky for whatever reason and it does become the Big Problem. At that point, the bottom needs to essentially be totally redone which costs months and many tens of thousands - not good, especially if this is your home! The surveyor nor the other experts who looked at the condition could really predict whether we would have 'The Big Problem' in the foreseeable future, or not. Fact was that this boat has hundreds of blisters, that are relatively close together.
A picture of the blistered bottom:
In addition, the mechanical survey turned up a host of smaller and larger issues, the cost of which to address would be around $6 thousand. One thing that really bothered us was that the engine oil had not been replaced in the last 6 years, a sign of neglect and nonchalance; oil should really be replaced at least every year.
We decided we would rather not take the chance and, yesterday, Steve (our marvelous broker) and I looked at two more boats we had on the reserve list: a 1986 Spindrift and a 1985 or so Hershine. We met the owner of the Spindrift, Rob. A very nice software developer in his early thirties who had bought the boat in May 2015 and had lived on it for a few years, until his newfound better half convinced him that life 'on the hard' (another nautical term, this one means 'land') was better after all, and so now it was for sale:
We woke Rob, and another person, up as we were thirty minutes early and the night before had seen 'a bit of a party'. What struck me was that this Spindrift boat was a lot roomier than the other boats we had seen until now, and certainly a lot roomier than 'Islandia'. This is because it is just a bit wider, taller and also it does not have a rear 'cockpit' so the entire length of the boat is used for living space. Here as an example is the rear ('aft') deck:
And here the master cabin. This had a tabby (red and white) cat lazily observing the newcomers:
Long story short was that we put in an offer for the Spindrift. If we can agree on a price, then the same surveyors who helped us surface the various issues with 'Islandia' will have a go at the Spindrift (which Anneke and I just agreed we would name 'Jantje' in honor of one of our cats). One thing Rob assured us of is that Jantje does not have any blisters - we shall see!
Unfortunately, 'Islandia' turns out to have the dreaded 'blister problem': water that gets through the coating and into the hull of the boat and starts to slowly cause problems. This plagues a lot of polyester boats, and has a lot to do with the quality of how it was built and subsequently maintained. In many instances it never becomes a really big problem so long as it is attended to on a regular basis, unless you are unlucky for whatever reason and it does become the Big Problem. At that point, the bottom needs to essentially be totally redone which costs months and many tens of thousands - not good, especially if this is your home! The surveyor nor the other experts who looked at the condition could really predict whether we would have 'The Big Problem' in the foreseeable future, or not. Fact was that this boat has hundreds of blisters, that are relatively close together.
A picture of the blistered bottom:
In addition, the mechanical survey turned up a host of smaller and larger issues, the cost of which to address would be around $6 thousand. One thing that really bothered us was that the engine oil had not been replaced in the last 6 years, a sign of neglect and nonchalance; oil should really be replaced at least every year.
We woke Rob, and another person, up as we were thirty minutes early and the night before had seen 'a bit of a party'. What struck me was that this Spindrift boat was a lot roomier than the other boats we had seen until now, and certainly a lot roomier than 'Islandia'. This is because it is just a bit wider, taller and also it does not have a rear 'cockpit' so the entire length of the boat is used for living space. Here as an example is the rear ('aft') deck:
And here the master cabin. This had a tabby (red and white) cat lazily observing the newcomers:
Long story short was that we put in an offer for the Spindrift. If we can agree on a price, then the same surveyors who helped us surface the various issues with 'Islandia' will have a go at the Spindrift (which Anneke and I just agreed we would name 'Jantje' in honor of one of our cats). One thing Rob assured us of is that Jantje does not have any blisters - we shall see!
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