Category: Boat Shows

Posted on

United States Sailboat Show 2022

Scott and I returned to Annapolis to attend the United States Sailboat Show last week. This was the third time we have attended the Sailboat Show. I know, you’re wondering why would we attend the Sailboat Show and not the Power Boat Show? Well, we’ve attended both in Annapolis and honestly the Sailboat Show has a better vibe and we enjoy it more. It was also nice to attend the show as an attendee and not an exhibitor. It’s difficult for me to completely enjoy a boat show, when I’m working it.

Press Passes

Now that our YouTube channel is growing (we have almost 5500 subscribers) and have a legitimate media company, we are able to get press credentials. To us, that’s a pretty cool thing! We’ve worked really hard on this blog and vlog since 2015 and it’s nice to see our hard work paying off.

Scott and I headed to the show first thing Friday morning to get a jump on the crowds. Our plan of attack would be to tour our favorite catamarans on Friday and mon-hulls on Saturday. We definitely found some favorites, so tune in over the next few weeks and we’ll take you on a few tours.

Being from Seattle, we are not used to seeing so many catamarans. At the Boats Afloat Show in Seattle, we were lucky if two catamarans were on display. This weekend, we had our pick of over thirty catamarans to tour.

The weather was absolutely perfect for the show. Blue skies and mid-70’s temperatures. Sometimes I do miss that.

Vendors, Vendors and Vendors

If you are looking for boat parts, clothing, financing, insurance, lessons or vacation charters you will find them here. Scott and I talked to a number of sailing companies that offer lessons in the Caribbean and we are seriously considering getting our ASA101 thru ASA 107, plus ASA 114 Catamaran Cruising next year.

Scott talked to the Annapolis School of Seamanship about getting his 100-ton Captain’s License. They have a great program and it’s too bad they don’t have a satellite office here in Florida.

Meeting Other YouTubers

The highlight of the weekend for us, was meeting the YouTube channels that we support through Patreon. (We also have a Patreon account, but we only have one supporter – LOL – Some day.) During the show, we were able to head over to the YouTube booth and meet three of our channels. As soon as we arrived, we immediately ran into Beau & Brandy from Beau and Brandy Sailing and Gary and Brooke from Sailing One Life. They happen to be friends and ironically, we have had two near misses with Beau and Brandy.

The last two times we have visited St. Thomas, we had planned on meeting up with Beau and Brandy. However, on both occasions, they were flying back to the US! It was so nice to finally hug each other and meet in person, rather than Zoom.

We found Gary & Brooke’s channel thru Beau and Brandy. Gary and Brooke have made it thru the Panama Canal and now are in Mexico. That’s a bucket list for us (the canal that is).

At the end of the YouTube booth we found Lihn, Teal and Emma from Onboard Lifestyle. These guys are from Seattle and they lived on Lake Union right below our first apartment in DT Seattle. Teal is amazing when it comes to boats, so this is a channel you will want to subscribe to and start from the beginning!

A trip to the Annapolis Sail Boat Show wouldn’t be complete without a pain killer from Pussers!

DT Annapolis

This was my second trip to Annapolis this year, as I was there back in April for work. I love Annapolis and I especially love the history and quaintness of downtown. There are tons of cute shops, restaurants and bars.

My Favorites

I couldn’t resist a few of my favorites during our visit too. Every dog we encountered I had to say hi! Isn’t this gal a cutie?

I will also admit, I miss one of my favorite boating brands, Boston Whaler. I couldn’t resist getting a photo!

Patreon Meet-Ups

One benefit of being a Patreon of a channel, is the personal connection with the creators. We have monthly Zoom calls and local meet-ups when they are in town. We’re hoping to connect again with Brooke and Gary when they head to Florida next month.

Our first meet up was with Beau and Brandy at a location walking distance from the show. We didn’t know what to expect and it was so cool to meet everyone we talk to each month on Zoom. Beau and Brandy moved from New York to Florida and had never sailed before. They never took sailing lessons before buying a sailing boat This is a channel you want to start from the beginning!

The following day we had a meetup with the crew of Sailing Parlay Revival. Colin and his crew bought a hurricane damaged Lagoon 450 after Hurricane Irma, repaired it and now they are sailing around the world. Bucket list!

Our last Patreon meet up was with Brooke and Gary of One Life Sailing. I thought the event was 4:30pm to 6:30pm and at 4pm I looked at my calendar and said to Scott “Oh crap! Their event is 3pm to 5pm!” We were so bummed that we missed out on most of the meetup. We did get to spend time with Gary’s parents and get their perspective on their son’s sailing adventure. They are so supportive of their journey and that is so cool to us! Thank you to Brooke and Gary for giving us all t-shirts! What a fun surprise.

All Good Things Must End

What a fun weekend we had and I really needed this. It was awesome to meet everyone and and spend time at the Sail Boat Show. I can’t wait until next year!

If you didn’t notice, we also have new Boating Journey swag and you can also order swag for yourself. Check out our link here!

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be showcasing some of our favorite boats, so be sure to tune in and check them out. In addition, we just launched our new store! So if you are interested in getting some Boating Journey swag, check it out here!

As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to subscribe and also subscribe to our channel on YouTube (see video below). You can also follow us on social media @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney.

Cheers, Scott and Ally

Posted on

2022 Palm Beach International Boat Show

2022 Palm Beach Boat Show

I had only been in Fort Lauderdale two weeks, when I had to work at the 2022 Palm Beach International Boat Show. The show ran from May 24th thru May 27th. As you know, I’ve worked many shows in the Pacific Northwest, plus Scott and I have been to the Miami and Annapolis boat shows. The Palm Beach International Boat Show was unlike any other show I have attended.  The show is located in downtown Palm Beach along Flagler Drive and it features over $1.2 billion dollars worth of yachts and accessories.  Here I saw hundreds of boats on the water including 8’ inflatables to  Superyachts up to 300 feet in length. There was also a huge display on land, including boats, accessories and food vendors.

OneWater Yacht Group Display

While I’m used to working a very large space with over a 100 boats which are mostly runabouts, this was a very different experience.  OneWater Yacht Group had fifteen yachts on display and we had a large tent with an open bar for guests to relax in.

Chris Craft had a very cool design center at the show, which was a show stopper.

The Sunseeker Predator 65 made its’ global debut during the show and it was awesome to be a part of such a media frenzy. We had magazines lined up to do a feature of this beautiful yacht.

So many yachts at the Palm Beach International Boat Show

Everywhere I turned, there were huge displays and gorgeous yachts.   I did have the opportunity to tour one of our superyachts on display, a 2005  Palmer Johnson 123. You can say we are not in Kansas anymore! You can find a link to the yacht here.

The superyacht marina was massive. One yacht was so big it had a helicopter and submarine on board. I took a stroll over to the super yacht display to meet a mutual friend.

I was stunned by not only the size of the vessels, but also the level of luxury each manufacturer put into their displays.

The Palm Beach International Boat Show also features smaller boats

From the super yacht marina, I headed over to the smaller boat display. Here they had runabouts, towboats, inflatables, center consoles plus cigarette boats and some very unique vessels. It was obvious that speed is a necessity here, with so many boats having four or more outboards.

One crazy thing I saw was a swarm of bees on a rocket launcher. The following day, that swarm must have been swatted at, because they were flying thru the show and it was crazy!

One irony of working the show, was that the Sea Ray display was right across the water from our tent. If you have been following me over the years, you know that I spent a lot of time marketing the Sea Ray L590 Fly that we (former company) had in stock for a long time. Soon after, we brought in the Sundancer 320 and 370 Outboard, which I spent months marketing. Here these three models were staring at me the entire time during the show!

Vendors at the Palm Beach International Boat Show

The vendor tents had a ton of vendors on display featuring everything from shirts, fishing equipment, boat accessories to food and beverage. I wish I would have spent more time checking out the vendors, but I was working the show and didn’t have time to wander.

Working the Palm Beach International Boat Show was a great experience and I can’t wait for Scott to be able to experience it next year. If you have not attended this show before, I highly recommend it.

As always, thank you for following our journey. Be sure to subscribe to our vlog (video link below) and follow us on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney. Tune in next week as we start our five day road trip moving from Seattle to Fort Lauderdale. Cheers, Ally

Posted on

Seattle Boat Show 2022

After a two year hiatus, the Seattle Boat Show 2022 happened last week. As you know, I work for Union Marine, who is the largest exhibitor in the show, with almost 40,000 sq feet of space.

This is one of the longest boat shows in the US, spanning nine days and two weekends. Why you ask? Well, a ways back, Seattle had a major snow storm during the boat show and sales were a bust. After that, they voted to span the show over two weekends to make up for any loss traffic due to weather.

With the pandemic still in place, we had no idea what the traffic would be like. In order to enter Lumen Field, you needed to either be vaccinated or get a covid test within the last 72 hours. Surprisingly, traffic was busy with serious buyers. At the same time, dealers are experiencing an all time low with inventory. So what would the show look like? As you can see, it looked like any other normal year.

Cool features at the Seattle Boat Show 2022

Just like the Portland Boat Show, the Seattle Boat Show 2022 had a classic boat section. This wasn’t nearly as big as Portland, but they did showcase some cool things.

On display, was the Pay n Pak hydro dating back to the 1960’s.

The show also featured this futuristic boat, called a Waterbug peddle boat. It was so weird and I can’t imagine being on rough water in it.

There were only a few large yachts at the show, including this 44′ Fontaine Pajot catamaran. Scott did tour it, so tune in to our YouTube channel next week for a tour.

New features of the boat show

Axopar made their debut at the show, including this cool teal green model. Axopar is very popular in Scandinavia and are taking off here in the PNW.

Thursday night was “Dogs on Deck” and the show was wall to wall with cute dogs everywhere!

The vendor section was very light, but those that attended, had fairly large booths.

This was definitely a brief summary of the Seattle Boat Show 2022. I guess after attending this show for 20+ years, there’s not much to add about it. During this show, some exciting things transpired for Scott and I, so stay tuned as we have some big news we can’t wait to share with everyone.

In the meantime, we leave for the British Virgin Islands next week for our bare boat charter (finally, after three years of planning!). So be sure to subscribe to our blog and vlog to stay updated on our journey.

As always, thank you for following us and be sure to follow us on social too @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney.

Cheers, Scott and Ally

boating is open
Posted on

2022 Portland Boat Show

Portland Boat Show

Last weekend, Scott and I attended the 2022 Portland Boat Show for the first time. This was really the first large in-person indoor show we’ve attended since the pandemic began two years ago. Not knowing what to expect, we stayed open minded. Thanks to Trey, with O’Loughlin Trade Shows, for providing us with media passes to the show. We wanted to make a weekend out of it, so we decided to take the Amtrak Train down to Portland.

We reserved coach tickets and we were surprised by how roomy the seats were. There is a “club car” that offers snacks, sandwiches, beverages and cocktails. If you sit on the side of the train looking west, you’ll get a nice water view for most of the trip. We didn’t know that and ended up looking east on the way down.

I love that train stations are so grand and full of history. You certainly won’t find an airport that looks like this!

My advice to anyone attending a show at the Portland Expo, is that you don’t need to stay near the Expo. The train station is downtown Portland and we took an Uber to the Courtyard near Hayden Island. There’s nothing near that area that is walking distance, so in hindsight, we wished we would have stayed near restaurants because we had to Uber to the Expo anyway.

The Portland Boat Show

Unlike the Seattle Boat Show, the Portland Boat Show is only indoors featuring boats under 35′. If you are looking for a runabout, a towboat, a fishing boat or personal watercraft, this show hasyou covered!

One of our favorite features of the show was the classic boat section. They had about twenty classic runabouts, dating back to the 1940’s including Chris Craft and Tollycraft models.

Check out this cool tourist boat! Maybe we check this out next summer?

There were not as many vendors as we expected, but we did run into a few that had some pretty cool things.

The first one was ewinch 2 and they were demoing an electric winch wrench. This wrench is lighter than a hand drill and really easy to use! Be sure to tune into our YouTube episode and see how easy it was for me to handle.

Crabbing and Clamming Made Easy

Scott and I don’t normally stop at too many of the vendor booths, but we stopped at CrabHawk and they were selling two cool things. First was the crab cracker tool called “Crack-n-crab”. Now, if you recall in one our Camano Island blogs, we discussed the two different ways to kill and cook crab. One way, is to boil them immediately before gutting them. Others like to kill them first, gut them and then boil them. The crab cracker tool is used for the latter method. Again, check out our YouTube episode for the demo (link at the bottom of this blog).

They were also selling the “Clam Gun”. Apparently, this “gun” works like a straw and when you shove the gun into the sand, with your thumb over the suction hole, it keeps all of sand and clams in the gun. Then you shoot it out and grab your clam. Who knew?

We arrived to the show at 10am and we were done by 11:30am, so you can do the show pretty quick. Scott and I toured two brand new cruisers from Jeaneau and Cutwater during the show. These were really well laid out and we’ll take you on a tour of both of them next week.

Exploring Portland, OR

Since we had time to kill on Saturday, we headed into Downtown Portland for lunch and to explore a bit. I used to live in Portland in the late 1980’s and hadn’t returned in years. We headed first to Huber’s for lunch, which is the oldest restaurant in Portland. Founded in 1879, Huber’s is a Portland tradition that has been serving up its famous specialty drink, Spanish Coffee, from its second location for 108 years. Huber’s Cafe was first founded as the Bureau Saloon in 1879 at SW 1st Avenue and Morrison Street. It moved to its present location – 411 S.W. Third Ave – in 1910.

After lunch, we decided to visit the Oregon Maritime Museum, which is located on an old river boat on the Willamette River. Scott and I were disappointed to discover it was closed. So we spent the rest of the afternoon, walking along the boardwalk and enjoying the fresh air.

In front of the steamship, was a pile of loose logs. As we looked closer at the garbage field, we started to find all kinds of things, including a boat, a dock, a cooler and then we decided to make game of it. What do you spot?

The boardwalk along the Willamette River is a working dock when they have festivals. In fact, Navy Ships will tie up to the board walk during the Rose Festival. Check out these cleats! To give you some perspective, these are about two and half feet tall!

Well, it was nice to get out and attend an in-person boat show even if it was for a short visit. The Seattle Boat Show starts this Friday and I’ll be working the show every day. If you are in the Union Marine booth, look for me (Ally).

As always, thank you for following our journey. Be sure to subscribe to our blog and channel for future updates on our search for our liveaboard boat. We’ve got some exciting things in the works for 2022, including our BVI bareboat charter in less than four weeks! Be sure to follow us on social too @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney.

Cheers,

Ally and Scott

Posted on

What an amazing year 2021 was!

Though Scott and I didn’t buy a boat this year, we still had an amazing year in 2021. We figured out how to stay on the water and create some fantastic memories even without a boat of our own. The year started with the virtual Seattle Boat Show and luckily I’m in the boat business, so we still got to tour a few yachts.

In March, we took a ferry up to San Juan Island and stayed at Snug Harbor for a whale watching trip. While we didn’t see any whales, we saw lots of other wild life and cruising the San Juan Islands is always so beautiful.

snug harbor
  • snug harbor
  • snug harbor

The following month, we took another ferry ride to Whidbey Island to meet our God Dog, Soleil. We shared our story last April about how boats and dogs brought us together.

  • dogs and boats
  • dogs and boats

Cool & Unusual Boats

Throughout the year, we got up close and personal with some pretty cool boats. We started the year with a tour of the 1909 MV Lotus Edwardian Yacht, which is a historical yacht moored on Lake Union.

mv lotus

Scott and I rode on an electric Nautique GS22E tow boat on Lake Tapps and it was wild as you can’t hear the engine.

Every year, Seattle hosts the classic yacht show and now we are looking forward to next year’s event! So many cool old boats.

  • classic yacht
  • classic yacht

How do go boating when you don’t own a boat

As we got into summer, we got pretty creative on how we would stay boating. First we went sailing on Seattle’s Tall Ship on Elliott Bay, where Scott was able to get hands on.

Thanks to my job (Ally), we experienced the PNW debut of Sea Ray’s first 37′ Outboard cruiser on Lake Washington. This is such a cool boat and it has so many fun features!

Then we rented an electric Duffy boat on Lake Union! It was so much fun and affordable!

electric boat

Maybe for 2022 we’ll rent a hot tub boat? Let us know what you think!

Our BVI Bareboat Charter Trip

In 2019, we booked our first bareboat charter to the British Virgin Islands which was set for March 27, 2020. Unfortunately, our group was the first one to be cancelled due to the pandemic. Originally, we moved the trip to October 2020, but the pandemic was far from over. So we moved it again to February 2021, only to learn that in order to arrive into the BVIs you would need four tests and quarantine for over eight days. This time we moved it to February 2022 and we are still on schedule for this trip! As a result, the four of us decided to keep our flights and visit the USVIs in April 2021 instead.

Scott and I visited all three territories: St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix. It was truly an epic trip! We took a catamaran to Buck Island, we rented a dinghy on St John and explored all of the islands.

St Thomas
  • buck island
  • buck island
caneel beach

What’s it like to live on a boat?

Scott and I need the experience of living on a boat, before we buy one. Though we owned a larger yacht, it wasn’t set up well for a liveaboard. Solutions? First, we interviewed a great couple, Scott and Laurie who live full-time on their 50′ Vista on Bainbridge Island. They shared some great info with us! Be sure to check out that video here!

Next we rented a tiny home for four days. That was a great trip and a learning experience. On a boat, you have separate “rooms”, but not in a tiny house. We actually survived and had a great time!

tiny house
  • exploring olympia
  • tiny house

Then a couple of weeks ago, we rented a 50′ Ponderosa for the weekend. Another great experience living aboard. The weather was cold and wet, yet we had an awesome time!

Ponderosa 42' MY

Our New Year’s Resolution

Our resolution this year is to buy a boat! With inventory levels at an all time low, it may be another full year before we can find a boat, but we hope that’s not the case. We may have to buy another boat and keep our condo. We’ll see. Otherwise, we’ll continue our boat tours and figure out cool ways to go boating. If you think about it, we spent a lot of time on the water this year even without a boat.

In the first quarter of 2022, we’re attending the Portland Boat Show and the Seattle Boat Show. After that, we’re finally heading to the British Virgin Island and St. John. Stay tuned for that epic trip! There’s a lot we have to do in order to get into the country, so we will fill you in.

As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to subscribe to our channel (click on the video below) and follow us on social @BoatingJourney #boatingjourney.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Cheers,

Ally and Scott

Posted on

Tour a 2008 Sea Ray 55 Sundancer Yacht

Sea Ray 55 Sundancer

Scott and I had the opportunity to tour a very unique Sea Ray 55 Sundancer yacht. Unlike the other Sundancer models we have featured, the layout on this yacht was very different.

This Sea Ray 55 Sundancer is actually 58′ long and in 2010, Sea Ray changed the model name to 580 Sundancer. For that reason, the current owner had a custom 580 made for the side of the boat.

Check out the stern of this 55 Sundancer yacht

This yacht is equipped with a large hydraulic swim platform that a Boston Whaler 110 SS dinghy sits on.

Scott and I could totally live on this yacht (if it were in our price range), but we don’t want a boat that has enclosed in canvas. It was pouring down rain during our tour and the canvas really darkens the cockpit area.

Huge cockpit for entertaining

The cockpit was so big, you could easily entertain up to twenty people! On the stern, they had a lounge area for up to eight people and a coffee table. In the middle of the cockpit was the settee and the seats rotate on a track. This allows you the option of setting up a dining experience or to swing around and hang out with those on the stern.

While the grill was located in the aft of the boat, you can’t use it, unless the canvas is completely off.

The cockpit had a full wet bar with fridge and an icemaker. Watch your favorite sports team on the flat screen tv.

The visibility from the helm station was fantastic! This Sea Ray 55 Sundancer yacht has heating and air conditioning. On the day of our tour the heat was blasting it was toasty warm! All of the controls are at the helm station and throughout the yacht. This yacht is equipped with bow & stern thrusters and the electronics are the dual screen Raymarine E-120 with Night Vision included.

Incredible salon

Walking into the salon, I wasn’t not prepared for what we saw. I was expecting a typical cruising salon, but with a 15′ beam this yacht was so spacious!

Sea Ray thought of everything when they designed this yacht. For starters, the galley is huge with tons of storage. Equipped with two freezers and two refrigerators, you could easily live on this yacht! The microwave and washer/dryer combo are hidden in cabinets. The pantry is a pullout cabinet – so cool!

Relaxing in style

The salon has a oversized sofa with two flat screens, plus surround sound throughout the entire boat. In addition, this Sea Ray 55 Sundancer has a 5 terabyte HD DSS TV system.

Two private staterooms

The VIP guest stateroom is located forward, where you will find a queen size bed. This stateroom has tons of storage and access to the day head. The day head has a separate shower, which is a must for us.

The master stateroom has a large queen size walk around bed and tons of storage as well. It also has a small desk area that you can use as an office. Imagine the water views you would have!

As we mentioned earlier, this Sea Ray 55 Sundancer is equipped with surround sound and you’ll notice in the master stateroom, it even has three speakers over the flat screen!

This cedar locker was one of the largest we’ve seen on a boat of this size.

The master head was nicely appointed, had plenty of storage and counter space. Plus the windows were frosted, so you didn’t have to worry about privacy.

Propulsion

This Sea Ray 55 Sundancer is equipped with twin MAN 900 CRM diesel engines that only have 178 hours! The access to the engine room is under the coffee table in the aft cockpit.

Overall, this was one of the coolest yachts we’ve toured. For more information, check out Union Marine’s website (remember, it may have sold by the time you are reading this).

As always, thank you for following our blog! Be sure to check out the complete tour on YouTube by watching the video below. Please subscribe to our blog and channel for updates on new posts.

Cheers, Scott and Ally

Posted on

More favorite yachts from Boats Afloat Show

Last month, Scott and I attended the 2021 Boats Afloat Show and this week we want to share more of our favorite yachts from the show. We were pulled in so many directions after not attending a show for nearly two years, that it was hard to pick our favorites. Here we’ll talk about a few, but be sure to check out our YouTube channel for a full tour of a few other favorite yachts (see the episode at the end of this blog.)

2004 Compass 55 Pilothouse

One of my favorite yachts, was a 2004 Compass 55 Pilothouse. This was definitely a liveaboard boat, but unfortunately it was close to $500k, so it is out of our price range.

At the stern of the boat, you access the engine room through a hatch.

There is plenty of outdoor seating for dining, with lots of room to move about.

As you enter the salon, you will find a large lounge area with lots of entertainment space.

The galley has lots of space including, two sinks kiddy corner from each other, a full size fridge and a four burner stove top.

The interior helm station was in great shape with upgraded electronics.

Moving down to the cabins, you can easily see why this is a great liveaboard. Each offer plenty of storage and space. The master stateroom has a walk around bed AND a telephone intercom!

The master head has tons of storage and counter space, plus a separate shower.

What makes a boat a favorite yacht for us? For us (everyone is different), we look to see how similar it is to living in a small condo or home. This Compass 55 had another room that would make a great office! It’s actually a make-up vanity, but it would work!

Overall, this was a very nice layout. For more information, visit Yachtworld here.

1983 Tollycraft Pilothouse

Scott and I have had many people tell us to check out a Tollycraft and luckily there was one in the show this year. This favorite yacht of the show is 61′ long, 38 years old and in great shape. It also, is almost $500k, so way out of our budget.

When we say we want our liveaboard boat to feel like home, well this Tollycraft is it! Though it’s almost 40 years old, it doesn’t look like it or smell like it. Almost everything was new, so it must have had a remodel recently.

The staterooms had lots of storage and again, the main stateroom had a full walk around bed.

The heads had separate showers and lots of counter space.

The upper flybridge offered fantastic views and great entertainment space, including a wine cooler and fridge!

Scott and I could definitely live on this boat. For more information, visit Yachtworld here.

More of our favorite yachts

We did tour a Fleming Yacht that was very nice. It had some great features, an organ (yep!), a nice fly bridge and oddly enough, a wooden captain’s chair. At over $1 million, you would think it would have a nicer captain’s seat.

This Fleming, only had an interior helm station, but you could see where they left space for an upper helm station. We did like the camera on the stern, which would be great for docking!

The staterooms were nicely appointed and offered great storage too.

Another strange feature of this favorite yacht was the master head had a mirror as the ceiling. So it made the shower look like a glass elevator.

It was great to tour more boats, but we were disappointed that there were not more in our price range (ideally under $200k). Right now the demand for used boats is sky rocketing and brokers just can’t keep them in stock. Our question is, where are these customers keeping these yachts? Marinas are full too.

Next week, we’ll take you on a tour of a 58′ Sea Ray that has an awesome design and layout! As always, thank you for following our blog and vlog. You can follow us on social @BoatingJourney and #BoatingJourney. Until next time!

Cheers, Scott and Ally

boats afloat 2021
Posted on

Touring Dream Yachts at the Boats Afloat Show

Last month, Scott and I attended the 2021 Boats Afloat Show for the first time in almost two years. We love touring the larger dream yachts (who doesn’t?) and hoping we win the lottery! There were a couple of dream yachts that really stood out to us.

Absolute Navetta 73

Due to the pandemic, the crowds were much smaller this year at the Boats Afloat Show. Getting onto the larger yachts was easy with no wait times. The first one we toured was a brand new Absolute Navetta 73 and this yacht was stunning! Yep, we could live on this one!

Starting on the stern, you’ll find lounge seating, a wet bar and a docking station on the starboard side. The walk arounds are nice and wide with high rails.

Moving into the main salon, there’s enough space to host a large party! The interior features precious natural materials like wood, crystal, leather, the Calacatta marble, Murano glass and high-quality design furniture. The TV pops up out of the counter on the right and you’ll find recessed lighting throughout this yacht.

Between the dining area and galley, is a retractable wall that can be used to close off the galley from the guests.

High end features on the Absolute Navetta 73

In the galley you will find all Miele appliances, including a commercial Miele exhaust hood.

Moving towards the bow of this dream yacht, we will find the inside helm station with two fully integrated electronic screens. For a yacht this size, you would expect the steering wheel to be larger.

From the helm station, you go down below on your port side to find the master stateroom. This stateroom and head are larger than our condo!

How about this view for an office?

Guest accommodations on this dream yacht

Anyone who has boated with us will agree that our “guest accommodations” are just okay. Sure, it’s great to be on a boat, but let’s admit, the beds and the rooms are not that comfortable. But you can’t say that about these guests accommodations!

Check out the fly bridge!

Heading up to the fly bridge, you will find so much entertainment space. The bar is huge, with a fridge, icemaker, a grill and plenty of dining and lounge seating. The visibility from the upper helm station was fantastic.

This dream yacht does come with crew quarters. They were so small, it was hard to take a photo. Through the crew quarters, you will then find the massive engine room with plenty of head space. Powered with twin Volvo 1350 ISP 1000hp engines, this dream yacht will get you to your destination fast.

Meet the Ocean Alexander 27e

For some reason, I didn’t take any photos of this yacht, so all of the pictures below are manufacturer provided. Scott did a great tour of it, so be sure to check out our YouTube video below. At 89′ long and 21′ wide, this yacht is massive (for Seattle waters).

Starting with the salon, you will find a huge sofa lounger, a wet bar and dining towards the galley.

This galley was bigger than our kitchen in our previous home! Featuring marble throughout, it had plenty of counterspace for food prep and entertaining.

Moving up to the fly bridge, you will find an expansive lounge area inside and then a wet bar and hot tub outside! Who doesn’t need a hot tub on a boat. If you are wondering how big the fresh water tank is, it’s 660 gallons. Most likely you would fill part of it from the dock, but not all the way, or you will get water all over the place as you travel.

I don’t know about you, but this looks like a very comfortable and roomy master stateroom! Again, we don’t have this much room in our bedroom in our condo!

Taking a week off

This was absolutely a gorgeous dream yacht and if we won the lottery, I’m not sure which one we would pick! In our next blog, we’ll tour some boats in our price range, so stay tuned. We are going to take next weekend off, as we head off on another adventure! Be sure to subscribe to our blog and channel to stay updated on our journey.

As always, thank you for following us! You can also follow us on social media @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney.

Cheers, Scott and Ally

Winslow

Posted on

2021 Boats Afloat Show

boats afloat 2021

After two years on hiatus, the Boats Afloat Show returned last week to Chandler’s Cove on Lake Union. It was certainly great to be at an in-person show, but it looked much different than years past. Due to the lack of inventory, coupled with the pandemic, the crowds and the boats on display were much smaller.

This dock is normally packed with yachts

For me, the show started the week before as I work for Union Marine and we needed to move in. We had six cruiser and yachts in the show, plus six lake boats. Though it had been two years since our last in the water show, it was like riding a bicycle again when it came to move in.

Meeting followers at the Boats Afloat Show 2021

I was working the show on Friday, taking a picture of the dingy display, when a gal came up to me and said “hi Ally, my husband and I follow you on YouTube”. It was so cool meeting her (Jan) and learning that she and her husband have a older Uniflite boat moored near Shilshole. They said they would love to have us aboard for a tour! The following day, two more followers came up to Scott and I (Jeff, Patrick, Steven….hopefully I didn’t forget any names!) to say hello. While our channel is small, it is so humbling when this happens. They truly enjoy our content and that’s why we do this. Trust me, working 40 hours a week and then having to produce a blog and episode, is hard work!

When I work the show, I work on one of our boats (remember, I’m in marketing, not sales). This was my office this year! I worked on a 2008 Sea Ray Sundancer 55 – we’ll have a full tour coming up!

Cool new boats at the Boats Afloat Show 2021

Scott and I toured a few really cool yachts! We’ll share those tours in the next couple of blogs and episodes. The show also had some cool new boats this year! Starting with this model from SeaLegs. These boats normally have inflatable pontoons, but this one was all aluminum! This amphibious vessel is great for remote beaches and cabins that don’t have a boat ramp. It would actually be perfect at our family’s place on Camano Island!

This Absolute Navetta 73 was absolutely gorgeous. We’ll do a tour of this one in our next blog!

If you need to get somewhere fast, these four outboards should do the trick!

Now if you don’t necessarily want speed, but instead size, check out these Mercury 600hp outboards! The photo doesn’t do it justice, as these outboards are about 7′ tall!

Our group had hoped to get a tour of this 64′ Northern Marine Trawler, but it was by appointment only.

More new boats at the Boats Afloat Show 2021

New to the PNW is this unique European day boat from Axopar. They are extremely popular in Europe and are great for day cruising. They do have a head and sleeping quarters too.

It was nice to see some of the larger yachts back at the show. But many of them required a broker to board, so we just enjoyed them from the dock!

Even, the sailboat row was pretty slim. This forward sail boat had literally just arrived, so it didn’t have its’ mast yet.

We then stumbled upon this Beneteau First 18, a great sailing vessel for up to four people. I’m still trying to figure out how you sail this, without getting a ton of water inside the boat?!

Of course, there were still some big sailing yachts and this Beneteau was a beauty. If we were to buy a sailboat, we would want one with plenty of deck space.

This yacht, certainly resembles us! This is what boating is all about. We toured three yachts during the show, including the Sea Ray 55, Absolute Navetta 74 and a Fleming 62. Be sure to tune in to our blog and upcoming episodes for those tours!

As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to subscribe to our blog and vlog (link below) and on social media @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney. Until next time!

Cheers, Scott and Ally

Posted on

Tour a 2004 Cruisers 405 Yacht

cruisers 405 yacht

For the past few months, we’ve had a lot of folks tell us to our a Cruisers Yacht and fortunately for Scott and I, our friends just bought one. Cory and Stacy are avid boaters and last summer, they sold their 37′ Larson and upgraded to a 2004 Cruisers 405 Yacht. They have two teenagers and this offers them plenty of space.

Exterior Space

All of the exterior flooring is SeaDek flooring, which we love! The access is fairly easy from the dock, as they do have a large swim platform. Even with the davit system, there is plenty of space to move onto the boat.

One thing Scott and I missed on our last boat, was having space to entertain outside or in the sunshine. This Cruisers 405 yacht has plenty of seating, a small table and a great wet bar! The wet bar has a brand new fridge, cutting boards, storage and a faucet with a sink.

The helm has bench style seating, so the captain and co-captain can sit together. The port side seating offers loungers for relaxation. One interesting thing about this Cruisers 405 yacht, is you don’t use keys to turn on the engines, but instead you use a code. There is a control panel on the starboard side that controls all of the functions. This yacht has bow and stern thrusters which can be operated with a remote control.

Access the engine room through the floor in the main salon. We love that the engines hve good accessibility from either side. The engines on this yacht are twin Yanmar 370hp diesels and this yacht also comes with an oil exchanger system! For all of the specs, be sure to watch the episode below.

Great salon space

The salon is set up nicely with a large comfy couch and ottomans (something we really missed having on our last two boats). This yacht has a large fridge, a two burner stove top, a convection microwave and they bought a portable icemaker.

I love how deep and wide the sink is! You can actually put an entire pan in it! They did add a large flat screen tv to the dinette table (remember, they have teenagers!). It actually fits well and you can watch your favorite movies from the big comfy couch.

The couch also pulls out into a bed offering a third sleeping area.

Forward Guest Space

Going forward, you’ll find the day head on the starboard side (keep in mind, it is winter here in the PNW and they use this boat, so it’s not set up for show pictures.) What’s interesting about the day head, is the shower is a separate room that you access from the stateroom.

We were very impressed by the beautiful woodwork and attention to detail for the finishes.

The island berth has tons of storage and a nice wide bed. It is a bit high, especially for me, since I’m only 5’3″.

Accessories

On your way to the master stateroom, you’ll find the central vac located in the bottom step mid ship. This is a great location, as our last boat you had to lift a large couch cushion to access it.

The electrical panel is located behind a nice wood cabinet as you head into the master stateroom.

Master Stateroom

This Cruisers 405 yacht has an aft master stateroom, which is our favorite layout. This stateroom did not disappoint. With a full walk around bed and tons of storage, you could actually live comfortably on this boat.

Not only does the master have great storage, but it also has a washer dryer combo that is easily accessible.

The master head has plenty of room and the shower is tall enough to allow for a 6′ 3″ person to shower.

Overall impression

This Cruisers 405 Yacht is a great boat for cruising the PNW. It would make for a comfortable liveaboard, but it is definitely compacted into 41′. Ideally, our liveaboard will be at least 50′. A big thank you to Cory and Stacy for allowing us to tour your beautiful yacht and we look forward to being on the water with you soon!

As always, thank you for following our boating journey. You can follow us on social using @BoatingJourney. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch this week’s episode below. Next week, we share with you why we love the Caribbean and our favorite islands.

Cheers, Scott and Ally