September 2018

September 24, 2018October 4, 2018

Boats Afloat Show 2018

The Last Boats Afloat Show for Awhile

This past weekend, Scott and I attended the Annual Boats Afloat Show 2018 on Lake Union. Sadly, it will be the last Boats Afloat for awhile, as the marina and businesses are being re-developed by Vulcan. We first attended Boats Afloat seven years ago when we got the bug to buy a catamaran.

This year was a bit different for me, as I worked the show for the first time. Remember, I just joined Lake Union Sea Ray as their Marketing Manager. One of my job responsibilities is to decorate the boats and make them look top notch. Not only am I lucky enough to be immersed in boating and marketing, but I’m also part of a fun and dynamic team!

Boats, Boats and Boats – What are we looking for?

This boat show is unique and one of the largest floating shows on the west coast. It featured over 225 boats including cruisers, sport boats, fishing boats, trawlers, yachts, dinghies and sailing boats. After attending the show for so many years, Scott and I decided to focus more on what we might be looking for, not what we were dreaming of. (But I captured some of that too!)

I worked on our Sea Ray 510 Fly yacht for a couple of days. Yes, I could work here every day!

Lake Union Sea Ray featured eighteen boats including our Boston Whaler, Sea Ray, MasterCraft and brokerage boats. While I might be a bit biased, I did feel we had one of the best selections of boats for every lifestyle.

Boats Afloat Show — Sea Ray 350 Sundancer Coupe

boats afloat 2018 — Boston Whaler 320 Vantage

The Hunt for a Liveaboard

Looking at a Trawler

Our dock neighbor Jules has been telling us over and over, that we need to look at trawlers. As most of you know, I do not like trawlers. Of course, if someone were to give me a 55′ Selene or Fleming, then I might reconsider! But those are way out of our price range. Scott and I did look a Selene during the show.

Everything inside was gorgeous, but it just isn’t my style at all. It would be similar to those people who love a really old house versus a super modern house. You just know what you like and what feels right. This is the type of boat that is rugged, yet comfortable and designed for ocean crossings.

Yes, the engine room is adjacent to the master stateroom, but at least you can stand up in it!

Okay, Let’s look at one more

We also checked out a 1998 57′ Nordhavn Trawler. Keep in mind, that both Selene and Nordhavn are highly rated trawlers.

Enter the galley and the first thing I noticed was the boat had a Thermador stove / oven!! Now we’re talking.

It did have a large settee for entertaining too.

And the master stateroom was very roomy and comfortable.

The dream boat

One of the fun things about attending a boat show, is you can tour some of the big yachts. Nowadays, Scott and I don’t waste our time waiting in line for a tour. But on Saturday, there were no lines for Conundrum, so I couldn’t resist. This is a 2007 67′ Regency Yacht and the sales price is only $1,395,000. We could certainly live on this boat! I took a video of it, but no photos. So be sure to watch our tour on YouTube.

We did look at a 2017 70′ Ocean Alexander and it was only $3,195,000. It was beautiful and the door hinge would definitely keep the water out if you capsized!

Here’s another hinge on a trawler!

Scott checked out this trawler. I told him, don’t get any ideas! While it is not my style on the outside, the inside was gorgeous, including the galley.

Other vendors

One thing I always do at boat shows, is visit with the other vendors besides boat sales. I stumbled upon a company called Color Glo Marine.

Basically, if your vinyl is worn out, they will match the color and restore it. In the photo below, he had just restored the left corner of the bench yesterday. It used to look like the middle square!

This year, Boats Afloat had a live band playing and the mood was more festive than in years past. We really lucked out with the weather, as it stayed dry almost the entire time.

What about a Sailboat?

Scott and I still plan on retiring on a catamaran, but we did look at a monohull at the show, just to see what it was like. This sail boat was a 2019 Jeanuneau 490 and it had lots of space. We also liked the fact that the deck was pretty roomy and comfy. To give you some perspective, this 49′ boat new is $519k.

Okay, so we looked at boats – now what?

Great question! I will say that I was a bit distracted this show, as I was working it and not thinking about finding our next boat. But we did use the show to try and open our minds to a trawler – that didn’t happen.

We do have a plan (sort of) and we will share that with you in our next blog. The new owners of Kokomo will be moving the boat from Elliott Bay Marina this week and over to her new home on Lake Washington.

In the upcoming blogs, we’ll also share some of our favorite drink recipes and how life has been living in the city in small apartment. So stay tuned!

Watch Episode #23 below for a full tour of the boat show!

Thank you for following us! Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Cheers, Scott and Ally

#BoatingJourney

September 17, 2018October 4, 2018

A New Journey for Us

A New Journey for us as we say Goodbye to Kokomo

Scott and I are embarking on a new journey. This week has been bitter sweet for us, as we said goodbye to our first boat, Kokomo. As we mentioned in our last blog, we accepted an offer on our boat and we closed on the sale, just a few days later.

On the day of closing, Scott and I headed down to the marina to meet the new owners, Lesa and Mike at the boat. Everything about this transaction has not been your typical process. Normally, the broker handles everything from beginning to end. But we met Lesa and Mike the day they made the offer. They had been following our blog (love!!) and were excited to meet us.

We arrived to the marina around 5:15pm and noticed our yacht neighbors, Doug and Jules were not yet back from Canada. They go out for a few months each summer and we wanted to be able to say goodbye. I texted Jules and found out they were coming home in just an hour! Yay. While we were waiting for Lesa and Mike to arrive, I stood on the bow, watching for Jule’s yacht, M/Y Undaunted.

A few minutes later, I noticed coming from the west side of the marina, a very slow moving radar! In the year and half we have been at the marina, we have never had the opportunity to see M/Y Undaunted leave or arrive. It was pretty cool to watch them perfectly dock their boat and using only their engines, not thrusters!

The hand off to the new owners

Soon after, Lesa and Mike arrived to take possession of Kokomo. We took time to show them everything we left for them and where everything was on the boat. They seemed really “giddy” and it reminded me of when we got the keys. Scott and I took one last photo with Kokomo and then with Lesa and Mike.

Scott and I are not only a bit sad about saying goodbye to Kokomo, but we really hate leaving the marina. We’ve made so many friends and they have been so great to us. Plus, the beauty of the marina is something we’ll miss terribly!

Enjoying a Sundowner with Friends

While Lesa and Mike spent time checking everything out on Kokomo, we were invited over to Doug and Jule’s yacht for a glass of wine. What a treat, as Jules opened one of our favorite wines from Garrison Creek Cellars. Jules has boated her entire life and has given us such great advice in looking for our next boat. We watched an amazing sunset as the four of us reminisced about boating stories and our journey that started at Elliott Bay Marina.

Scott and I will be back to the marina and hopefully by Spring. There’s so much to share with you about this and that’s for our blog. As we walked away from the docks, a lone heron sat perched on a rock in the water. A somber ending to a great boating journey.

What’s next and what will the blog talk about?

Our next journey is a big one, so there’s plenty to share. Remember, we sold our home to temporarily live in apartment, to move onto a boat. But we are finding out, it’s not that easy. So be sure to follow us and see what happens next. In next week’s blog, we’ll take you on a tour of the Boats Afloat Show. Cheers, Scott and Ally

Thank you for following us! Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel below.

September 10, 2018October 4, 2018

Boatless in Seattle

It’s Official! We’re Boatless in Seattle

Our boating blog is all about our boating journey and now we are officially boatless in Seattle! Last week, Scott and I accepted an offer from a fantastic couple for our boat Kokomo. It was important to us that we find someone who will take good care of her and really enjoy her the way we have.

They plan on mooring it on Lake Washington and our broker will help them go through the Ballard Locks on the way to her new home. This happened so quick and it looks like we’ll be closing as early as this Tuesday! Since the moorage is paid for this month, we told them they could keep it in the slip if they need time to move it.

Now we have to get it ready for possession

When we bought Kokomo a year and half ago, I shared all of the details and steps in buying a boat. That included not only the documentation and financing, but also buying all of the supplies for it. Here’s that blog.

Luckily, selling the boat hasn’t been as time consuming, but we definitely had to take care of things. We sent our broker all of the documentation including our receipts from the haul-out and our survey. I also made copies for the new owners, as our previous owner kept detailed maintenance records.

Then I had to notify Elliott Bay Marina that we were leaving, as they require 30 days notice. They are sad to see us go and we know we’ll be back sooner than later (I’ll talk more about that later).

What stays and what goes?

We told the new owners that almost all of the supplies, would go with the boat. This included the bedding (except our pillows), all of the galley dishes, utensils & pans, the bbq, cleaning supplies, first aid kit, emergency kit and life jackets (except our inflatable ones).

We had been storing extra cushions and carpets at our storage unit, so we grabbed all of that and headed to the boat last Saturday. Then we had to remove our personal items and food. Turns out we had a lot more stuff than we realized!

What’s next?

Everyone keeps asking us “what happens next?” This is a loaded question really. As I mentioned in our blog about liveaboard marinas, buying a boat that needs moorage is the same dilemma as “what came first? the chicken or the egg?”.

Why do I say that? Well, you can’t buy a boat without having a slip for it and you don’t want to reserve a slip without a boat. Marinas in the Seattle area (especially Elliott Bay Marina) have long wait lists for boats over 50′. Scott and I are not looking for our liveaboard yet. Ideally, our next boat will be around 38′-42′. Since Elliott Bay Marina has a 3-4 month waitlist for 40′ slips, we got on the list right away.

At the same time, we’ve talked about taking the winter off, so we don’t have to pay for moorage. But if we found a boat we could enjoy during the winter, we would definitely buy one before winter. It’s all very complex! Next week is the Boats Afloat Show on Lake Union and so we’ll check out a few things while we’re there.

Saying Goodbye

Oddly enough, it was very somber to clean everything out and say goodbye to Kokomo. This boat gave us some amazing journeys and memories that we’ll never forget.

It’s amazing to realize how much fun we had with family and friends in just eighteen months!

summer night in Kingston — Even with broken fingers, Randy had a great time!

So stay tuned for our next journey! Next weekend, we’ll give you a tour of the Boats Afloat Show! Thank you for following us. Please be sure to subscribe to our blog and YouTube Channel.

Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!

Cheers, Scott and Ally

#BoatingJourney

September 6, 2018September 6, 2018

Ballard Locks for the Second Time

Going through the Ballard Locks and touring Lake Washington

Scott and I have never toured Lake Washington on our boat. Last year, this same weekend Scott and I went through the Ballard Locks for the first time. It was a cool experience, but not that fun of a day as Seattle was engulfed in smoke and ash.

One of the things I wanted to do this summer was go back through the locks and enjoy Lake Washington. So this past weekend, we invited our friends Dave & Kathy to join us. The weather was great and not too hot. The Ballard Locks are about 30 minutes from Elliott Bay and the entire round trip, including lunch took about 7 hours as we only traveled 7 knots the entire time.

We left Elliott Bay Marina around 10:45am and as we approached the entrance to the locks, we had a red light, which meant we had to wait. The locks are made up of two locks: Large and Small. Last year we went through the large locks and we were tied up with two boats and there were about twenty boats in the locks with us.

pnw boater hiram chittenden locks — Going through the large locks for the first time 2017

Going through the Locks Again

We only waited about twenty minutes to get into the small locks. We entered with one sail boat and we were the only boats inside the locks. Unlike the large locks, where you need 50′ lines that you throw up to the handlers, the small locks have moving walls. You simply wrap your bow and stern line around the cleat number they assign you and tie it off back at your own cleat.

Once everyone is secured to the wall, they close the gates and begin to fill up the locks. The wall moves up with your boat and you want to keep all hands and fingers away from the wall. Be sure to make sure your bumpers are at the widest point of your boat to protect it (not dock level).

The small locks fill up in about ten minutes and then the handlers will instruct everyone on who can leave first. Since there were only two boats, we all quickly exited and began going towards Lake Union through the Fremont cut.

Going through the Fremont & Montlake Cuts

The speed is limited to a no wake zone through the Fremont Cut, Lake Union and the Montlake Cut. This actually made it a very pleasant trip.

Going thru the Fremont Cut — Going under the Aurora Bridge

It was fun to see everything on Lake Union from the water (versus our apartment). There is so much activity on the lake ranging from Pirate Ship tours, to electric boat rentals and party boats. Lake Union is lined with yachts on all sides too.

Each time a sailboat with a tall mast (like the boat above) goes under a bridge, they sound their fog horn to have them raise the bridge. Most of the footage I took of our trip to Lake Washington was video, which you can watch on our next YouTube episode at the end of this post.

Lunch in Kirkland

The four of us decided to cruise the north end of Lake Washington around Hunts Point and check out the beautiful homes.

Now it was around 1:45pm, so we decided to head to the Kirkland City Dock to tie up and have lunch. Luckily, there were only a few boats on the dock, so there was plenty of space.

We had a great lunch at Cactus and I had an awesome watermelon froze’.

Time to head back

After lunch, we headed back through the Montlake Cut to the locks. Since it was Labor Day weekend, we were not sure if we would have a long wait to get back out. There was a lot of traffic in the cut and as we came around the bend into Lake Union, a giant old ferry was headed right for us! Turns out this boat, Hiyu, is available for rent! How it fit through the Montlake Cut I don’t know!

Just as we passed the ferry boat, we also passed by my new office! Drum roll……I’m so excited to be joining Lake Union Sea Ray as their Marketing Manager. I get to combine my two passions – boating and marketing and I couldn’t be happier!

We arrived to the locks around 4:30pm and just as we arrived, so did the Argosy “Good Times” tour boat. They get first dibs on the small locks, so we had to wait for them to go through first. This took about a half hour. We went in with two other boats and it was a piece of cake!

What a great day!

Scott and I couldn’t have asked for a better day! Great weather, great company and our boat Kokomo did awesome!

This is what boating in the PNW is all about. The beauty of our surroundings and the magical scenery makes everything worthwhile.

As many of you know, our boat Kokomo is for sale and we do have a tentative offer on it. We will be doing a sea trial with the buyers. So stay tuned on our next chapter! (I have to save something for the next blog! LOL)

Here’s Episode #20 of our trip through the locks:

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#BoatingJourney #KokomoSeattle