boat tour Archives

Scott and I had the rare opportunity to tour a Westship 103′ Sportfish a few weeks ago. Yes, you heard me right! This yacht is 103′ long and there are only two in the world including this one! We have never been on a sportfish before and this tour totally shocked us. This yacht is absolutely stunning and beautiful!

Exterior Tour

Since we have never been deep sea fishing or spent time on a sportfish, we won’t attempt to use the right lingo in the description or tour. This yacht is for sale by OneWater Yacht Group and there is a full detailed description on the listing here.

Right now, the yacht is docked at the owner’s house just north of Fort Lauderdale. Imagine owning a home on the water with space for a 103′ yacht? What I loved immediately are the steps to access the yacht.

On the stern, you have a large entertainment area plus two very large freezers. Where do they get ice to keep their fish cold you ask? This yacht comes with an ice-maker and an ice crusher!

On the lower deck, you will find all of the space for deep sea fishing, including a custom fishing chair in the center. There is also a live well on the lower level.

The walk arounds are nice and wide, which I love. However, most owners who own a yacht of this size have crew that handle their lines.

On the bow, they are storing a 17′ tender using a heavy duty crane.

Interior Space

You enter the interior, by pressing a button to open the slider doors. The doors open with air pressure and automatically close behind you.

Heading up to the captain’s bridge, you will find a huge helm station with gorgeous captain chairs. The leather of these chairs is as soft as baby skin!

The bridge is also a spot more entertaining. Imagine going fishing, then hanging out up in the bridge watching your favorite football team!

Head back down stairs and you find a beautiful salon and wet bar. This yacht is almost twenty years old, but it doesn’t show it. The soft goods are timeless and this yacht smells great!

If you prefer to dine inside, the dining room has space for six to eight guests. Remember, this is a fishing boat! What fishing boat has a dining room like this? Well, the Westship Sportfish obviously does.

The galley is located next to the dining room and this galley is larger than the one in our apartment!

Sleeping Quarters

Next we head down to the sleeping quarters. Here you will find four staterooms. Two are mirrored with twin beds and forward you will find a VIP stateroom with an island berth.

The master stateroom on this Westship Sportfish has more storage than our apartment too!

Engine Room

There are crew quarters and if you watch the video (see below), Scott will take you on a tour. You access the engine room through the crew quarters. This yacht is powered by twin MAN MTU 16V2000M91 diesel engines with 2000HP. Scott is over 6′ tall and he was able to stand in the engine room!

We hope you liked this tour. For more details, be sure to watch the full YouTube video tour.

As always, thank you for following our blog! Be sure to subscribe to our vlog on YouTube and follow us on social media @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney. Next week we head to FLIBS (Fort Lauderdale Int’l Boat show) for our first time ever, so tune in next week.

Cheers, Scott and Ally

Finally after a few years touring boats, Scott and I toured our first 490 Meridian Pilothouse. I had been told it was in pristine condition and I was still surprised how great it looked. I only took a few photos for this week’s blog, so be sure to check out our YouTube episode (link at the bottom of this blog) for an up close tour.

This is a consignment listing at Union Marine and though it is out of our budget, we still wanted to check it out. Remember, that the larger Bayliner yachts actually became Meridian. In fact, our 2002 Bayliner 4087 was the last year that model was a Bayliner. In 2003 it became the Meridian 411. Same happened with the Bayliner 4788, which became the Meridian 490. With that said, it was remarkable how similar the two yachts are. Check out our 4788 tour from a few months ago.

This yacht has plenty of space at the stern to hang out or go fishing. It also had lots of extra storage and two large lazarettes.

Meticulous Care

It is obvious when you walk into the salon how well maintained the boat has been kept. Not only did it look fantastic, but it smelled great too! That’s not normal for a 17 year old boat!

The galley was nice and spacious with plenty of counter space and storage. Not only did it come with a HUGE microwave, but it also came with a trash compactor! It has the same Princess stovetop/oven and fridge we had on the 4087.

Ready for Entertaining

This yacht is ready to cruise and entertain guests. The owners have decorated it beautifully and the salon has plenty of entertainment space.

Heading up to the inside helm station, there’s more space to invite your guests to enjoy the cruise. The captain’s chair looks brand new and VERY expensive! We loved how easily you can see everything from the dash to the bow with plenty of visibility.

Meridian 490 Outdoor Space

There are two pilothouse doors in the helm station that lead out to a large walk around. The railings are high and very sturdy; allowing for paddle board storage.

Up on the fly bridge, they had canvas covers for all of the seats, dinghy and grill. The canvas on this Meridian 490 looks brand new too. Our only caveat for any boat we buy, is we do want a full enclosure for the fly bridge. You could easily add Eisenglass to this canvas though.

Could We Live in the Staterooms?

As I mentioned earlier, the Meridian 490 is basically the Bayliner 4788 and this model comes with an island berth in the forward cabin. With me only being 5’3″, it’s difficult for me (and my bad back!) to climb into this bed on a daily basis.

However, the master stateroom came with an enormous amount of storage! You could easily store all of your clothes and then some on this yacht. This yacht also has the bath tub in the master head, which I would never use. In fact, I worry that I would kill myself climbing in and out of the shower! LOL

This Meridian 490 does have two other staterooms, including bunks and a double size bed.

Plus it comes with a washer and dryer, which is located in the hall way. That’s a great feature, compared to some that have them tucked away in the corner of the master stateroom and a must for any liveaboard for us.

This Meridian 490 is equipped with two 330hp Cummins diesel engines with only 650 hours! Wow! The engine room was spotless and the cleanest engine room we have ever seen.

Be sure to watch the full tour below on our YouTube channel. This boat is ready for cruising and fantastic for the Pacific Northwest. We’re glad we toured it, but we’re still holding out for an aft cabin. As always, thank you for following our journey! Follow us on social on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok @BoatingJourney.

Next week we head to the Classic Yacht Show, so come along. Cheers, Scott and Ally

Tag: boat tour

2003 Westship 103′ Sportfish Tour