April 2021

April 18, 2021April 18, 2021

What stays on a boat when you are selling it?

Friends of ours, have listed their boat for sale and Maria was curious as to what they should and should not leave on the boat. Since I’m (Ally) in the boat business, I thought I would answer her question here in this week’s blog.

Should you stage your boat?

Take time to clean the boat and get it ready for a showing. Maria did ask me if it should be “staged”? Great question! Depending on the size and type of the boat, determines if staging in necessary. When we sold our Bayliner 3055, we did stage it for photos, but not tours.

When we sold our Bayliner 4087, we did stage a few extra things like wine for photos, but we did make sure all of the towels and pillows were set up properly. At the end of the day, it’s up to you and how you want your boat to look.

There are two rules when it comes to selling your boat.

Remember that selling your boat, is not much different than selling your home. Do not leave any personal belongings on the boat. This includes valuables, personal photos and clothing. Potential buyers are going to be opening lockers and drawers, so unless you want to share your stuff with them, take it home.
If it’s on the boat when you list it, it’s FAIR GAME. That means, the potential buyer assumes, that the price includes everything that is on it. Back to the first rule – if it’s personal or meaningful to you, remove it.

So what do you leave on the boat?

This brings us back to Maria’s original question, which was “Should we leave all of the galley ware on the boat?” Really, it’s up to you. When Scott and I sold both boats, we left everything on (except a few items). We left dishes, silverware, cups, glasses, utensils, towels and cutting boards. Why? A few reasons.

Link to this set can be found in our shop.

One, we wanted to make the boat turn-key for the new buyers. Second, we didn’t know how much space or what the set up might be on our next boat. Example, maybe your dishes are too wide for the drawer or cabinet of your new boat? Maybe the utensils are too long? You get the idea. We would rather buy these again for our next boat.

Things we did take home were our personal PFDs, custom pillows and our sleeping pillows. No one wants to use those.

Other items

We also left all of the linens, towels, cleaning supplies, safety gear, charts and spare boat parts on the boat. If we didn’t want to store it or have any use for it, we left it on. Our last boat came with all kinds of spare parts and we bought a lot too. All that stayed on board.

Original Boat Accessories

The other thing we made sure to put back on the boat (we stored it in the aft cabin), were the original boat linens and pillows. Our broker had told us not to remove anything permanently as it lowers the value. Instead, we vacuum sealed everything and stored it tightly.

The other thing we recommend, is remove any clutter or old cleaning supplies. For some reason, both owners we bought our boats from, left over 20 solvents on each of our boats and no one wants that.

So in the end, what stays on the boat is really up to you, as to what you keep on the boat and what you take home. Just remember, if it’s on the boat while it’s being shown, it’s included with the boat!

We hope this was informative. Watch our quick video that goes a bit more into detail below!

As always, thank you for following our boating journey! Scott and I have some great blogs and vlogs coming up, so please be sure to subscribe to get notifications. Follow us on social at @boatingjourney too!

(video below)

Cheers, Scott and Ally

April 10, 2021April 10, 2021

What I’m Reading During Our Caribbean Vacation

It has been two years since Scott and I have been to the Caribbean and we are so excited about our upcoming vacation. We are headed to the US Virgin Islands in a week and this trip has had many revisions thanks to covid-19. Originally we were flying into St. Thomas to get to the British Virgin Islands LAST April 2020. Sadly, our charter was the first to be cancelled thanks to the pandemic. So we moved the trip to February 2021, in hopes we would be able to get there. Then in December, we knew February was not looking good, so we moved it again to April 2021.

Unfortunately, the quarantine rules were too restrictive for a 7 day vacation, so we moved the trip once AGAIN to February 2022 and kept our flight to St. Thomas. None of us have ever been to the US Virgin Islands, so this will be a new trip for us!

Island Hopping in the Caribbean

Scott and I are traveling with our friends Ben and Maria, who we have the charter booked with. They will arrive a few days before us and leave before us. We’ll be visiting St Thomas first, staying on the Redhook (east) end of the island. After a couple of days, we’re headed to St. Croix and then we’ll finish our trip on St. John. We’re flying to St. Croix on a puddle jumper and we’re taking the ferry to get to St. John.

Snorkeling & Relaxing by the Pool

I’ve booked a few sailing & snorkeling trips for us during our stay. We’re also planning on doing some more off the beaten path explorations of the three islands, so be sure to tune in to those episodes and blogs. Since we haven’t been on a Caribbean vacation (or any vacation for that matter) in two years, we do plan on spending a few days relaxing by the pool. My favorite thing to do while sitting by the pool, is reading books about getting off the grid. We know it will happen some day! I have three new books that I’m excited to read during our trip.

Escape from the Ordinary

Written by Julie Bradley, Escape from the Ordinary is about a couple that retires early, sells everything and sail around the world. Looking at their route, they visited Europe, Africa, Caribbean, Eastern US, French Polynesia, New Zealand, Australia, Asia and the Maldives (just to name a few! The preface also mentions their battle with raging storms (which is my biggest fear), so I’m excited to dig into this book.

French Silk on Water

Written by Patrick Hill, French Silk on Water is a story about a couple from British Columbia, who decided one day that “Life is Short – Do it Soon – Do it Now”. So they rented their home, bought a sailboat in the Great Lakes and made their way to the Bahamas. Boating down the Great Loop is a bucket list of mine. I’ve already started this book and one thing that jumped out at me, was they joined a yacht club, so they could use sister yacht club moorings. For the most part, that plan has worked, with a few exceptions. This is an easy ready and it has been fun to read about this journey on the Great Loop.

Off the Grid

Written by Captain Mark J. Reinhardt, Off the Grid is a story about how he quit the rat race and now lives for free aboard a sailboat. I wonder what will be our trigger to finally do the same? People often ask us why we don’t and the answer is, we need to be debt free before we can do that. Baby steps. The summary mentions that he was tired of the endless work hours and never-ending debt, so he decided to live rent free off the coast of Key West. I’ll be curious to find out what he did about his debt, because it never goes away. Maybe he’ll have some tips for us?

The Countdown is On!

With only twelve days until we leave, you can bet we are counting not only the days, but the hours! Scott and I have always wanted to live in the US Virgin Islands, so we are excited to see if it is what we imagined. Be sure to follow our journey on social media (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) @BoatingJourney for an inside peek to our trip.

As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel and watch for our upcoming episodes touring the USVI. Until next time!

Cheers,
Scott and Ally

April 4, 2021April 4, 2021

How Dogs & Boats Brought Us Together

Last weekend, Scott and I traveled to Whidbey Island to spend the day with our new “God Dog” Soleil. Ironically, it was dogs and boats that brought us together with Soleil’s parents. For the second week in a row, we took the ferry and this time we were in the very front. The trip from Mukilteo to Clinton only takes about 15 minutes.

Mac didn’t like boating

When Scott and I bought our first boat Kokomo in 2017, we assumed our golden Mac would LOVE boating with us. Unfortunately, it was not his favorite past time. Probably because it was a very long walk to the boat and at 14 years old, he wasn’t into it.

Once on the boat, he did great, mostly slept or begged for food. Mac always wanted to be by our side, so he didn’t venture far. We tried to keep his life jacket on him all the time, because he fell into the water twice. But during the summer, he was just too hot wearing it.

Sadly, we said goodbye to Mac in January 2018 and we still are “dogless”. It broke our hearts and we’re still not completely over the loss.

Could Mac be channeling his spirit?

I have had four goldens during my lifetime and they have a special place in my heart. Though I grew up with black labs, there’s something about a golden that makes you smile. Fast forward to 2019, when I was working at our Roche Harbor Rendezvous for work. It was a hot summer day and I was busy on the docks. Imagine my surprise, when a Sea Ray pulled up with a golden on the bow. I dropped everything and ran over to greet them.

I immediately fell in love with Tiller and she kept looking for me the entire weekend. Something about Tiller, reminded me so much of Mac. Her mannerisms and personality, were a clone of Mac. It was as if he was channeling his spirit through Tiller. Her owners, Marshall and Lauren agreed with me, as she would do things they hadn’t seen before (i.e. paw at me). After that weekend, I kept in touch with them and followed Tiller’s adventures on Whidbey Island and boating around Puget Sound.

Last summer, during our trip to Blaine to tour a Navigator, Lauren and Marshall, took a quick detour so I could see Tiller. What a special treat that was! It made my day! I was glad that Scott got to meet her too and see how much she acted like Mac.

The bond between dogs and boaters

There’s something unique about boat dogs and boaters. We have a bond, that others don’t understand. Perhaps it’s the challenges of dealing with a dog on the dock, or watching them take in the salty air as you cruise? Whatever it is, I love that boating introduced me to the Corson family and Tiller.

Sadly, she left for the Rainbow Bridge early this year due to cancer. I’m sure Mac was waiting to say hi and romp around. When you lose an animal, especially your heart dog, it’s devastating. I’ve always said, that new animals, don’t replace the ones that left us. They are instead, an addition to our family.

Meet Soleil

Having such a strong love for goldens, Lauren and Marshall welcomed a new golden puppy named Soleil. Scott and I were so honored to be asked to be her “God dog” parents and we headed over to Whidbey Island for a day at the beach.

I bought her a dental chew toy and Mac’s favorite woobie, a hedgehog. I think she approved.

In memory of Tiller, I had a blanket made with her on it. My niece and nephew did the same thing for me and I knew I had to do one for Lauren & Marshall. (You can make your own at Shutterfly).

Exploring Langley for the first time

First we grabbed lunch at Mukilteo Coffee Roasters and I have to say, it was one of the best sandwiches and burgers we’ve ever had. Plus, they are dog friendly! Scott and I took turns babysitting Soleil at the table.

From there, we checked out the Langley Marina. I had tried making reservations for our Bayliner 4087 a couple of years ago, but they were full. After seeing the marina and how tight it is, perhaps that turned out to be okay!

The four of us, then headed into Langley to explore a bit. Right as we pulled in, it began to pour down rain. Still, with pup in hand, we ran into Callahan’s Firehouse Gallery to check things out.

The store features all kinds of hand blown glass art pieces and gifts. We ended up buying two wishing stones – hopefully our wish comes true!

Dogs & boats, the perfect blend

Unfortunately the rain continued and it was getting too wet for all of us, including Soleil, so we called it a day when we left the gallery. Thanks to Facebook, we’re able to stay connected with Lauren and watch Soleil grow. I love that dogs and boating brought us together. Lauren and I discovered a few other small world ironies that involve goldens, bonding us even more.

Now they see Tiller channeling her spirit through Soleil. As I said earlier, a new member never replaces the ones lost, they simply are an addition to the family & the story. Thank you to Lauren & Marshall for sharing Soleil with us. It was truly a special weekend.

As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel (video below) and follow us on social @BoatingJourney. We leave for the USVI in three weeks and we’re so excited to share that journey with you. Cheers, Scott and Ally