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Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Gonna need a bigger boat?



One of the ways I've been passing the time down to Florida is boat shopping on-line. Lots of interesting boats listed, many within my price range.

My main problem right now is that I no longer know exactly what I'm looking for in a boat. There are two considerations I didn't have before.

One is that my lovely wife and I are considering keeping a boat in Florida. With that in mind it might make sense to pay a marina to store a boat on dry land for us. That would save us a lot of towing and we wouldn't have to worry about keeping a big tow vehicle. I've got to weigh the cost and see if it makes sense.

A second consideration is my lovely wife is thinking about taking on crew. Say what? My lovely wife is concerned that her fibromyalgia could get worse and she wouldn't be up to handling the boat. This past summer she had some difficulty while alone on the boat. She knew what to do and accomplished about 95% of it, but lacked the strength to do the last 5%. The boat ended up grounded on a neighbor's beach, so there was no harm done. It bothered her a lot though.

As luck would have it one of the people we know back home is an experienced sailor. She's in a position where she could get away on an extended sailing adventure and really wants to go. She does have some personal issues to deal with, but disappearing on a sailboat would actually take care of most of them. Adding a third person simplifies some things and complicates the heck out of other things.

I've a list of things I want in a boat, and most of them don't change. Of course, any boat is a compromise. If we decide to keep a boat in storage somewhere we don't need one that can be towed on a trailer. That opens up a lot of options when looking for a boat for 3 people.

We did warn our friend that we won't be in a position to go off sailing for some time yet. I'm slowly building up the sailing kitty and looking for that ideal boat. One the bright side, I've come across three “good enough” boats in my price range. They weren't perfect, but were pretty close.

My hope is that I'll come across a boat that's so perfect the decision makes itself.

-Sixbears

12 comments:

  1. I am totally confident you will find the right boat. When the wife says THATS OUR BOAT!

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    1. You are right Gary. That's how I'll know for sure. If the wife ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

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  2. Simplify simplify simplify, don't complicate complicate complicate...

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    1. You are right. I'll have to keep that at the top of my list. I only need the minimum amount of boat that will do the job.

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    2. You've already got the minimum amount of boat will do the job. And it has done the job and will continue to do the job. And you know the boat, it does all you ask of it... Don't put yourself into the trap of big... you know better than that...

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    3. I know my lovely wife has a 6 week limit on that boat -and she doesn't want me to cross the Gulf Stream in it. It almost does the job. My lovely wife is pretty game, so if she wants a couple more feet of boat, who am I to complain?

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  3. Keep the boat at the crews place? They can use it when you are not there as long as they are 100% accountable. It might be hard to set up that agreement but not impossible.

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    1. The potential crew is in a rental. Wouldn't work well.

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  4. Adding an extra person is going to be a big, big challenge when you have been by yourselves for such a long time. It could be like having a party, fun at first, then you just can't wait for everyone to go home.

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    1. Usually the challenge is for the other people. Not everyone likes our cup of sunshine. The deal would come with a ticket home and no hard feelings.

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  5. It's good that your lovely wife likes sailing. My dad always had some kind of boat and his wives always complained that they (the boats) were nothing but holes in the water into which he poured money.

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    1. That's why I don't have "wives" as one is pretty darn good.

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