[Paddlewise] Escape No. A250

Now residing in my garage! And though, according to the sticker inside, 
it was licensed to Northwest by Matt and Cam Broze, I hope I'm within my 
rights to call it my first Mariner!
I brought my friends Ken and Barb down to San D in order to provide some 
perspective, but I guess it didn't work, because despite their 
misgivings, I bought the Escape anyway!
It looked pretty pathetic sitting on top of some credenzas in the estate 
sale shop and closer inspection didn't help. Filthy, moldy, it bore that 
sun baked look that's supposed to send you running for the door. But up 
close, there was no mistaking the Mariner look. It didn't help that 
while residing outside along the side of someone's house, overspray from 
some stucco job peppered a good portion of the boat. Running my hands 
down those sleek lines of the hull only provided dirt and a chalky 
gelcoat hand coating. I'd already gotten the store down to $200, but K&B 
were walking away shaking their head and I was starting to lose my 
resolve. I asked the owner to drop it down to $160, but he knew I'd just 
driven 100 mile to see the boat and he wouldn't budge. Some might say I 
have a reputation for being cheap, but not too many of them would have 
pulled the trigger! Still, there were no glaring structural defects. If 
the gelcoat was chalky, the rest of the FG seemed in decent shape. It's 
missing the back hatch cover and the seat was loose and the rails don't 
look like what I'd expect them to look, but those were minor 
considerations. Sitting there, it was perhaps the only Mariner I might 
have a chance to own, so on the car it went.

At home after a hose down with a  scrubby sponge, I have some hope. The 
stucco doesn't come off easy, but doesn't seem to do much more damage to 
the GC than the sun has already done. The chalkyness seems to come off 
with one scrubbing leaving a rather smooth orange peel look to the GC. 
Sitting in the boat, I'm amazed at the size--and this is coming from 
someone who owns a QCC 500!! My size 13 feet come nowhere near the top 
of the deck. The front deck seems to go on for eternity! This definitely 
could give my QCC a run for the money as far as a gear hauler to 
Catalina. Lots of clean up and outfitting to do and I hope no glaring FG 
issues pop up. Might just take it out tomorrow to reacquaint it with 
salt water where an endless supply of water can help me clean out all 
the filthy crannies. Anyway, I'm on an adventure and you never know how 
they're going to turn out!

Mark
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