Boating Blogs and the adventure of Boating Journey

October 10, 2017October 11, 2017

Changing the oil on our boat

DIY Oil Change on our Boat

Changing oil on your boat is easier than you think. When Scott & I bought our 2000 Bayliner Ciera 3055, Kokomo in May we had both a survey (that checks the structure of the boat and functionality) and a mechanical inspection (just for the engines). Since our boat had not been used in two years, the oil was old and needed to be changed.

Upon moving into Elliott Bay Marina, we found out that Monkey Fist YachtCare will come out and service your boat while you are at work! They get the keys from the harbor master, do the service and invoice us. It wasn’t outrageously expensive, but it was around $500. Our mechanical inspector, Matt from Puget Sound Mobile Marine, told us to change the oil at the end of the summer to really clean everything out. Well, that would be another $500! Now this is getting a bit expensive.

Scott talked to many other boaters and we found out that most do the oil change themselves. All we needed was an oil extractor, oil and new filters. I bought a 6.5 Liter Oil Changer Vacuum Fluid Extractor Pump for about $60.

What kind of oil do you use?

That is a loaded question, so be careful when you ask it! I recently did a blog post about going to Auto Zone to pick up the oil and got grease on me. (Then I did a plug for OxiClean Max Force Laundry Stain Remover, which was amazing!!!) Anyhow, I digress. After that post, a few boaters reached out to me and asked if I really used “automobile” oil in our marine engines. ?Huh? Luckily, we had not changed the oil yet, so we started our research. After posting the question on Reddit and hearing all of the advice, we changed our mind. We returned the automotive oil and bought what Monkey Fist had used, which was Delo 400 SAE 30w Motor Oil . We only needed three gallons at $26 each.

The overall opinion was that automotive and marine oils are basically the same, but to stick with what the manual says for peace of mind.

We bought the two filters at West Marine, which ran about $26 each. The boat already had a Hopkins FloTool Spill Saver Measu-Funnel , so in total this oil change cost us about $230 including the extractor. Moving forward it will only be about $160.

How easy was it to change your own oil?

It was actually pretty easy. The biggest challenge was how long it took to pump out the old oil and put in the new oil. The extractor works as a vacuum and since it’s manual, it goes slow. You also want to be VERY careful about the tube that goes from the pump to the engine, as it can fly out and oil goes everywhere. That happened twice to us. Before you begin to remove the oil, you want to run one engine for about 5-10 minutes to allow the oil to warm up and get viscous. Then be careful and allow the engine to cool a few minutes as it will be hot to the touch.

Our Bayliner Ciera 3055 has two twin Mercury Mercruiser 5.7L engines and each takes 4.5L of oil. When Scott removed the oil from the port side engine, only about 3.5L came out, which indicates we were burning some oil. It took about 40 minutes for the pump to remove all of the oil. Then it took another 15 minutes* to add the oil, as you have to add one quart at a time and the tubing is very skinny, not allowing for a lot of flow.

*(Note, after originally posting this blog, a few other boaters asked why it took so long to fill it. We did fill it thru the dip stick hole, as Scott didn’t see another cap. Looking at other photos and videos of similar engines, we can’t really find the cap on this engine in this photo. When we go back to change the filters this weekend, we’ll take a look.)

Again, run the other engine for about 5-10 minutes. When we removed the oil on the starboard engine, it pumped out 4L of oil. That is better than the other one, but that one is also burning some oil. With that said, we’ll be sure to have extra oil on hand. Considering the engines are seventeen years old, that’s actually pretty good. Scott was not able to swap out the oil filters because he did need Oil Filter Pliers, which we will have to buy.

Cleaning up

Changing the oil on your boat is messy. Be sure to have plenty of Shop Towels on hand, as you will need them. Even as we were leaving the boat, the tubing from the pump got loose and we had oil all over again. We keep Dawn dish soap on our boat and it’s great for grease cleanups.

Wondering what to do with all that oil now? Take it to your local auto shop. As long as it is clean and free of water and sediment, they will recycle it for free.

Stay tuned for more info on keeping the boat dry and warm for the winter and other tips! Cheers, Scott and Ally

October 7, 2017October 7, 2017

Boating Desserts

Boating desserts are difficult to prep on a boat

When you are prepping dinner in a small galley, the last thing you have time for is making dessert. On top of that, I’m not much of a dessert eater, but Scott is. This summer, I decided to keep dessert simple and easy.

Typically we are enjoying a great bottle or two of red wine relaxing on the deck.

Red Wine & Chocolate

If you love red wine, be sure to pick up a bottle of Cab from SuLei Cellars out of Walla Walla. They are one of our favorite boutique wineries! Since dark chocolate goes well with red wine, I decided that’s exactly what our desserts would be this summer! Pick up your favorite chocolate bar or bark and pair it with your favorite wine! Here are our picks: Thindulgent, Roca Thins, Alter Eco, Green & Black’s & Divine.

Next time you are entertaining or just relaxing on your boat, grab your favorite bottle of wine & chocolate and you’re all set! Have a great weekend! Cheers, Scott & Ally

October 4, 2017November 7, 2017

Prepping for Winter

Prepping for Winter on our Boat, a Bayliner Ciera 3055

It’s October 3, 2017 and finally it’s actually cold this morning at 46º. When you just spent the past four months in 80º+ weather, it’s hard to thinking about prepping your boat for winter. But here in the PNW cold weather can happen fast.

Since Scott and I have not moored or owned a boat during winter before, we made sure to ask a lot of boaters what steps they recommended. My brother in-law moors his boat, as do many of our friends. We also read comments on Reddit and other blogs. First question was about heating the boat. Keeping a heater on the boat does freak me out. The key was to find one that has an auto shut off, low thermostat and can’t be tipped over. We had many recommendations, from oil based radiator styles to electric heaters.

Keeping the cabin mold free

After much research, we bought Caframo DeltaMAX Ceramic Portable Space Heater – 750w-1500W. The catch is, the heater will be left on at all times, but on the lowest temperature. Since it’s a 750w heater, we will turn off our fridge so we don’t trip our circuit. We plan on putting it in the head on a piece of tile and keep the door propped open to the cabin. Scott and I plan on going down to the boat at least every two weeks, if not weekly to check on it.

Other tips we were given to keep mold out of the cabin was to clean everything with a vinegar / water mixture and to open up all lockers and closets.

We also took all of the lids off of the storage spaces in the hull.

Bedding

During the summer we kept all of our linens and towels in a large Ziploc Space Bag . For the winter, we brought all of them home, including the foam pads we use on our bed.

The other big tip we got was to prop up all any cushions to allow for air flow. When we propped up the v-berth, we found MORE storage and a bunch of fenders! Crazy how much storage is on this boat! We used the lid to one of the storage bins to prop up the v-berth mattress and poles to prop up the aft-berth mattress.

We already had one dehumidifier in the cabin, but we bought another Star brite No Damp Dehumidifier just to be safe. In fact, our yacht neighbors bought a bunch of them too!

mold prevention boat prepping for winter

The Cockpit

While the cockpit is meant to be “outdoors”, we want to keep the moisture level as minimal as possible. We always have one dehumidifier no damp dome up top, but we also bought a warm air circulator from West Marine. This is only 70 watts and gently dries out wet cabins.

Scott also removed all of the deck carpets and took them home. Normally, we keep the life preservers under the seat in the well of the floor, but we moved those down to the cabin so there is nothing on the deck of the floor now.

The canvas on our boat is almost brand new, however it still isn’t a tight seal. In fact, water does come in (especially when we wash it) on the sides of the canvas (see circle).

Because of that, the previous owner put in weather stripping on the inside to direct water to flow out. We need new stripping, which I found at our local hardware store and we’ll get that up this weekend. In the picture below, that is just remnants of the old stripping, that someone removed.

Lastly, our boat came with a dashboard cover and we used it to cover up the gauges & electronics.

Some people might think we have gone over board (no pun intended) on trying to keep the boat dry and mold free. My biggest worry of course, is leaving the heater on “automatic”. The one we bought does come equipped with overheat protection and automatic shut off to help provide peace of mind. We’ll test it out this weekend and if I’m not comfortable with it, we’ll search for another.

Scott will be doing some maintenance items on the boat this weekend, which I will include in our next blog. Many people have asked us if we still plan on using it during the winter and the answer is “yes!” While we won’t be boating in bad seas or stormy weather, we do plan on taking the boat out on crisp sunny winter days and staying on it. Stay tuned for that next adventure – Winter Boating! Cheers, Scott and Ally

This post may contain affiliate links for products I mention.

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October 1, 2017

Autumn at the Marina

PNW Autumn at the Marina

Today Scott and I went down to the boat to take things home in preparing for the winter. The irony is, we HAD planned on spending the weekend on it, but on Thursday the weather forecast was rainy for all days. Sure enough, last night was dry and today it was gorgeous! Oh well.

Later this week, I’ll give you detailed post about our prep work for the boat. For today, I wanted to capture the beauty of the marina. Elliott Bay Marina, is truly exceptional, compared to most. It has lots of foliage, views of the mountains and view of the city. Everyone is so friendly that’s it a bit surreal sometimes.

One of the yachts that came in early in May, is back this week. M/Y Picosa Lady is on the dock next to us. She is a 101′ yacht from the Marshall Islands and gorgeous!

So calm and quiet

The marina was dead calm and quiet. In fact, had we planned ahead, we should have gone out boating today, but it just wasn’t on our agenda! Such a bummer too, because today is probably one of the last sunny days we’ll see in awhile.

Of course, the Holland America Eurodam was back from Alaska today too. That part of the marina life we don’t miss on weekends. Since our dock is so close to the cruise ships and we can hear every announcement.

Making our boat our home

Scott and I do plan on coming down to the boat and staying during a few stormy weekends. I know you are asking the question of why, when we didn’t even stay on it last night! Well, we want to see what it’s like and can we handle it? Remember, we are planning on living aboard, so we have to be able to endure the brutal wet winters of the PNW.

During a storm, we’ll be hunkered down in the cabin watching movies, playing games or reading. It will definitely be cozy! Before we bought the boat, Scott and I would give each other boat themed gifts. For our wedding anniversary, we stick to the traditional gift and this year it was “Ivory”, so I gave him the custom ivory pillow below for our boat.

I do try and make our v-berth “homey” too. Most boaters just sleep in sleeping bags, but I wanted to give it more of a comfy feel.

We wrapped up the day, with lunch at Maggie Bluffs and ate outside for the last time of the season. Just as we paid our bill, the clouds rolled in and it started to rain. It was the perfect day at the marina. Look for my next post about prepping the boat for winter!

Cheers! Scott and Ally

September 28, 2017October 1, 2017

Oil & Grease Buster!

Prepping for maintenance duties

Oil & grease on my shirt already?! Today I ran around picking up oil, a funnel and other supplies that we will need to change the oil on the boat. (I’ll put a blog together in a week or so about everything we are doing to prep the boat for winter….and also since I posted this, we have decided not to use auto oil after all. Stay tuned)

boat maintenance supplies

Anyhow, I visit my local Auto Zone for the supplies and the gentleman is very nice and says that the oil only comes in 1 qt containers, so he’ll get me a box since I needed ten of them. This was just a quick stop on my way to the grocery store. Today we are having another Seattle record heat wave (yes, it is September 28th and it’s 85º). When I left the house, I threw on my favorite sleeveless golf shirt from Lady Hagen figuring I wasn’t doing much other than a few errands.

After I put the box in the truck I happened to look down and noticed I had two HUGE black oil stains on the front of my favorite shirt! You have to be kidding me?! If you know me, this always happens. Because of that, I have every stain remover in my laundry room. Most of the time they rarely work, so I was not hopeful. I decided to try the Oxi Clean Max Force stain remover and OMG, it was gone instantly! No joke! I should have taken a before and after photo, but I was more concerned about getting the grease out of my shirt asap! LOL

This is a must for any boat and anyone working on a boat, as oil and grease seem to show up everywhere.

Here’s a link to Amazon to buy it:
OxiClean Max Force Laundry Stain Remover Spray 12 ounce – 2 pack

oil & grease buster

Another favorite stain remover

While I’m on a roll about stain removers and how they don’t usually work, I do have a favorite for carpet! Since Scott and I were in the wine business for over ten years, it wasn’t uncommon for wine to be spilled anywhere in our house. Yes, we sold many “wine stain removers”, but honestly they don’t really work either.

The only thing that works great for serious carpet stains like wine and pet accidents, is Spot Shot. We keep a can of it on the boat (sadly, we’ve already had to use it for Mac) and a few in our house. They make two kinds, one for regular household stains and one for pets. I like both! The pet stain remover is non-toxic for animals, so we use that one. If you like to entertain, especially with wine, be sure to keep a can of this on hand!

You can buy these anywhere and also at Amazon, just follow my links:

Spot Shot Instant Carpet Stain Remover 14 oz (Pack of 1)

Spot Shot Non-Toxic Pet Instant Carpet Stain Remover 14 oz Aerosol (Pack of 6)

carpet cleaner pets

Okay, so that’s my plug for products this week. In fact, this was a very impromptu post, but I felt as if I needed to do a public service announcement! At least I feel better now that my shirt is stain free. Stay tuned for our next few blogs as we’ll give you details as to what we are doing to prep the boat for winter. Cheers, Ally

This post may contain affiliate links for products I mention.

September 26, 2017September 26, 2017

Favorite Boating Blogs

Thinking back on how this dream of living on a boat started, it all began when I started following other boating blogs. Business would be slow at our wine shop and the weather was miserable. Why not immerse yourself in someone’s journey? The unfortunate part of following other bloggers is that in some cases their boating journey comes to an end. I remember feeling a bit depressed, know that they had to be sad too.

Some of our favorite old blogs were found on Sail Blogs. Here you can search through the list of active blogs and read where they are in the world and what they are doing.

Our Favorite Boating Blogs Right Now:

Sailing Britican – This is a family of three on board their 56′ sailboat and they have traveled over 18,000 miles over the past three years. They share a lot of tips, lessons and advise on their blog.

Quit Your Job & Live on a Boat – Author Ed Robinson wrote his first book “Leap of Faith – Quit your job and live on a boat” which tells the story of how he and his wife left the rat race and are now living on their trawler in Florida. You can follow him on Facebook too.

Sailing Totem – This is a family of five on their 47′ sail boat, which left the Puget Sound in 2008. They are still cruising and both of them co-author many articles in 48º North and Sail Magazine.

Lahowind – This was one of my favorite blogs to follow. Jereme & Kim from Florida decide to leave the rat race for one year onboard their 37′ sailboat along with their dog Oliver. They traveled all over the Caribbean, got engaged and returned home a year later. They sold their boat, married and had a child. Now she blogs about family and raising their baby. Kim is a professional photographer and her photos & videos of the Caribbean are stunning. Check out her photos & video of the pigs in the Exumas!

Jill and Jake Adventures – This couple started sailing in February 2015 from the East Coast down the ICW onto the Caribbean. Be sure to start reading from the beginning to really feel their adventure.

Sailing La Vagabonde – This is a YouTube blog following an Australian couple as they sail on their new Catamaran across the oceans of the world.

I am always looking for new blogs to follow, so if you have any favorites, please share with us! Cheers! Scott & Ally

February 21, 2017October 12, 2017

What I’m Reading in the Caribbean this Week!

Sailing Books to read on our long vacation!

I love to read sailing books about true stories of adventurers around the world. We leave for Punta Cana, Dominican Republic tomorrow and I will be taking a few things to read on the beach. We have never been before and we’re excited to visit the third largest Caribbean Island. This will be one of our longest vacations we have had in a very long time – 9 nights and 10 days. We are staying at a new resort to us, Bahia Principe Ambar Blue on the northeast coast of the island.

We have booked four excursions, including a couple sailing trips, swimming with the sharks & stingrays, rum factory, caves and a trip into Santa Domingo. Stay tuned for all of the great photos to come!

With this long of a trip, I have to take a stack of magazines and books to read on the beach and by the pool. Of course magazine favorites will be Cruising World, Passage Maker, Sea…to name a few. But I’m excited about the new books I got this Christmas!

First up, is The Box Wine Sailors: Misadventures of a Broke Young Couple at Sea

This is yet another true story of a young couple from Portland, OR with zero sailing experience, decide to go sail the Pacific Coast for a year. Their journey is comical and also very educational. Especially since it involves the Pacific Northwest. We have some of the most treacherous bodies of water between Seattle and San Francisco. With their annual budget of only $12,000, they set off in a 27′ sail boat from Portland down to Mexico. I just started this book, so I can’t wait to finish it while laying by the pool!

Favorite Author – Wendy Hinman

One of my favorite sailing books I’ve read is Tightwads on the Loose: A Seven Year Pacific Odyssey.

Wendy and her husband Garth, live right here in the Puget Sound. Years ago, they too, traveled on a 27′ sailing boat around the world! I have run into Wendy each year at the Seattle Boat Show. This year I was thrilled that she has a new book out Sea Trials: Around the World with Duct Tape and Bailing Wire . This book tells the gripping story of a family in a tireless quest to sail around the world despite daunting challenges including a shipwreck, rebuilding a boat on a remote island, and threats from wild weather, pirates, gun boats, mines and thieves, a broken rig, scurvy and starvation. Sea Trials is a timeless story of struggle in the pursuit of a dream, filled with incredible challenges, glimpses of the fascinating cultures they encounter and enough levity to keep readers of all ages hooked to a suspenseful, satisfying ending.

It’s a BIG book, so we’ll see if I finish it while on vacation!

So stay tuned for our return and report on Dominican Republic! Scott & Ally

January 30, 2017November 7, 2017

It’s a New Year with a Plan…..Finally!

Boat Buying Plan!

We finally have a boat buying plan! As we mentioned in our last blog after our trip to Annapolis in October, our boat plans changed slightly. We basically have always had two plans that we put together years ago:

Live on a catamaran and sail the Caribbean and Pacific when we retire. That plan is still on!
In order to save money, sell our home, our belongings and live on a boat in the PNW – that is now on hold.

We put the liveaboard idea on hold and have decided to make sure that both of us are comfortable spending lots of time on the water together. I have boating experience, but Scott does not. So we have decided to buy a weekend cabin cruiser this spring.

Okay, so now we have somewhat of a plan and off to the Seattle Boat Show we went this weekend. Buying a boat, is very much (in a weird way) like having kids and planning for it. For example, you need to have a spot to moor the boat, even before you buy one. It’s not like buying a house. There are certain steps you have to take, but we are still not sure of the order.

Boat Buying Process

Budget / Loan- well, we have a budget in mind, but if we decide to finance part of the boat, then it’s the bank that will determine what they will lend based on the age and make of the boat. Typically, lenders don’t “pre-approve” you, but instead, you find a boat and then go get the loan. (Odd.)
Moorage – you have to find a marina to store your boat once you buy it. We checked with 5 different marinas at the show and all but 2 of them had a wait list. Luckily, one marina said they would take care of us with no issues and to concentrate on finding the boat, rather the marina. That’s a nice option. Ideally, we want to be in Everett as it is closer to our family’s place on Camano Island. But they have an 8 month wait.
Boat – basically we are looking at two different styles, depending on what we think we will enjoy the most. We’ll look at the two styles later in this blog.
Training. It’s been over 17 years since I owned a boat and Scott has no experience. With that said, we can’t just go buy a boat and start driving it! We met with both the US Coast Guard and the US Power Squadrons yesterday. The USCG will do a training safety seminar in one day, for about $30/pp. But that doesn’t show you how to maneuver your boat, dock it, learn currents/wind, etc. USPS will do a very detailed training, along with a hands on training prior to buying your boat. This will be the route we take.
Timing – of course we want to be on the water come June 1st…..prime boating season. This means there will be no deals on boats and mooring will be at a premium. We’d like to do it sooner, but it won’t make sense based on our upcoming schedule.

What kind of boat?

So back to the boat. For the past six years we have traveled to boat shows all over including Miami and Annapolis. We have been set on a path looking for a liveaboard, which is not a weekend cabin cruiser. Talk about changing things up! The two styles we are looking at are:

Older Motoryacht 32′-38′ (1990-1999). Here we have a few options to consider. There are plenty of Bayliner MY out there (and yes, the Bayliner haters are going to make comments) and the fact remains that we won’t be crossing any oceans in this vessel and for the money you get a lot of boat that’s comfortable. Carver is another boat we are considering. The nice thing about the motoryacht style, is the salon is cozy and perfect for our dreary weather. It is also upstairs, so you can enjoy the view versus being down below at the water level. We plan on boating even when it’s not nice out. Our plan is to spend as many weekends we can on the boat, even if it’s in the marina, to get a feel for liveaboard life. The boat below is a 1997 Carver 320 Voyager.

The one thing to consider with a boat like this, is there is not a lot of space to sit on the stern for entertainment. There is up on the fly bridge….but you have to haul your “stuff” up there, like your glass of wine, cheese and crackers. 😉

“Weekenders” – these boats are great for enjoying with groups of people and spending most of your time outdoors. The downstairs cabin is simply for sleeping and cooking. These are not necessarily less expensive than a motoryacht. We looked at a 38′ SeaRay and it was over $100k! Below is a 1997 Sea Ray 330 Sundancer.

Lots of outdoor seating for everyone!

As you can see, we have to make a decision as to what type of boat will work best for us. Then go out and find it over the next four months! In the meantime, we’ll get our training done so we are ready!

I will be sure to share with you our step by step process in making this all work, so that other new boaters have a good resource.

Stay tuned……as the next blog, we could be new boat owners! Cheers, Scott & Ally

October 19, 2016October 10, 2017

Annapolis Boat Show & What’s Next?

Annapolis Power Boat Show 2016

Scott and I spent most of the summer looking at different marinas looking for those that take liveaboards. Just about all of them had 1-2 year waiting lists, with the exception of a couple. But that can change at any moment.

All of our friends and family keep asking us if we really want to live on a boat? Well, let’s go back to where this all started. It was about six years ago when we were at the Seattle Boat Show and we fell in love with the Lagoon Catamaran (since then, we have found others we love more). But we came up with the grand idea, of retiring on a catamaran in the Caribbean and sailing around the world. Why not? We don’t have kids, we don’t want a big mortgage and what a better way to retire?

Then came the next two questions. How can we afford a catamaran and what if we don’t like it? I grew up on boats and in my 30’s had a nice cruiser. However, Scott has not spent any long term time on a vessel. I then started reading lots of sailing books, including my first book A Sail of Two Idiots: 100+ Lessons and Laughs from a Non-Sailor Who Quit the Rat Race, Took the Helm, and Sailed to a New Life in the Caribbean , a story about a couple in Arizona that sell their home and buy a catamaran in Florida (sight unseen) with NO SAILING experience at all. If you like to read, this is a must read for sure!

What a great idea! We could sell our house now (instead of 10 years from now), use the money to buy an old power boat in Seattle to live on and cut our living expenses by two thirds. So began the journey of selling our business, selling our extra stuff and planning on the sale of our home. That was until this year, 2016 when we found out marinas are hard to find. Then we wondered……Do you sell your dream home for a boat and marina you don’t have yet? The other issue is we don’t want to give up any of our proceeds for a real estate agent, as we want to use as much of the house equity to buy a boat.

As we sat on our deck this summer enjoying the sunset and cocktails, we came up with another (crazy) idea. We knew our next door neighbor would soon be putting their house on the market, so what if we put a sign out next to it that said “For Sale By Owner”? Well, that day came and sure enough, Scott put the sign out (just two weeks ago). Now what? Sure enough, realtors started calling us every hour and we told them, bring us a buyer and we’ll talk.

Just as all of this happened, we headed out the door to the US Power Boat Show in Annapolis. We had been to the US Sailing Show there three years ago, so we were looking forward to another fun visit. Our purpose was twofold. Look for types of boats we could live on and also tour the history of Annapolis. We lucked out with beautiful weather! This show is different than others. They have live music, bars on every corner, many floating docks and seminars.

This show ended up being a bit different than we had hoped for. It has lots of runabouts and weekenders. Then it had lots of mega yachts…..not much in between. With that said, we did fall in love with three boats (if we won the lottery!).

A Trawler?

First up was a 49′ trawler from North Pacific Yachts. Here’s the funny thing…..we don’t like trawlers, but we liked this one!!!

How about a Yacht now?

So onto the next yacht, this one was the 58′ Prestige 550 Flybridge….Gorgeous!!

A Power Cat!

Lastly, we fell in love with a power catamaran! The 44′ Aquila (say Tequila….with an “A”). While it was only 44′ it felt larger and roomier than the 60′ power cat we went on from Horizon.

The inside galley, opens up to the outside with this awesome bar.

Lots of storage space in the guest stateroom

Realistically, these boats are just a lottery dream purchase! We did take a water taxi to some used boats that might fit our goals. The journey was fun too!

A salesman had recommended we look at Vikings (not convertibles) for a liveaboard. We haven’t seen many of them in the Seattle area, but luckily there was one at the used dock we could preview. This was was a Viking 44′ 1988 for $130,000. Honestly, this is a great liveaboard – too bad it’s in MD, not Seattle.

This boat was very roomy and updated for a 1988!

The galley was surprisingly big! Even the sink is regular size!

The master stateroom had plenty of storage and features of a standard bedroom. The closet was big enough to hang a ball gown!

The master head had tons of counter space! And more storage space in the spare stateroom.

We did look at a Carver, but we didn’t like the smell of it. LOL. We were in Annapolis for four full days and only did the show for two. They had great booths and vendor tents, including wine/beer tastings.

A tour of Annapolis History

Then we spent the other two days, exploring this very old city. Most of the founders arrived in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s. Main street and the side streets still have the same cobblestone roads and homes. We toured William Paca’s house, who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. We also toured the Naval Academy and the Maryland State House. If you haven’t toured Annapolis, I highly recommend it for the history lesson.

What’s next for Scott & Ally?

During our trip, we talked at length about where our plan is going. Are we comfortable giving up all of our belongings, our home and the comforts of a home simply to see if we like living on a boat and saving money? What if our home appreciates more and more over the next ten years….would we be better off in the long term keeping it? Then came another idea! What if we buy a used “weekender” boat that we can enjoy with our golden retriever Mac in the Puget Sound and see how Scott enjoys spending the weekends on it? While it may not save us money on a monthly basis short term, it could save us a lot long term. So now begins the hunt for a smaller, used “weekender”. Funny how we got here. 😉

Stay tuned for the January boat show……I’m sure there will be lots to look at then! Cheers,

Scott and Ally

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September 15, 2016October 19, 2017

Can you look at boats for sale just as you do cars?

Boat Shopping

Is boat shopping the same as car shopping? When we need a new car, we typically go to the dealer and check out cars that are on their lots. Often, we will test drive a few to get a feel for the car. Most people are just “window shopping” when looking at cars, to figure out what they want to buy. But can you do that with a boat? We wondered the same thing. While most boat brokers don’t have lots, they do have listings of boats. However, those boats can be located anywhere, including other states.

We figured, why not contact a few brokers about boats we would like to see and find out, if they would show it to us. The first one we checked out was a very old boat located at Fisherman’s Terminal in Ballard. It was huge, about 68 feet and while it had some new renovations, it also needed some major TLC. That broker was happy to meet us and show us around.

It was listed for $99,000 and it had a huge laundry room, big salon, decent galley and lots of storage. Unfortunately, they had ripped out the ceiling in the master stateroom looking for a leak (did they find it?) and had let the front state rooms and head go….literally. It was a major fixer upper. But anyone that wanted to give it some time and money, would end up with a gorgeous vessel. I wish I would have taken photos of the inside, to show you what it was like.

Boat shopping a few weeks later…..

A few weeks later, we decided to hang out down at Lake Union and there were a few boats that were listed with local brokers there. It was a Saturday, so “hey, maybe they will give us a tour?”. The first guy, wasn’t too interested and neither was the second one. One broker, said “hey, the boat is open, help yourself”. So we checked out another fairly old boat.

This one was a 1981 Defever 49 foot for $165,000. Still over our price range, but it gave us a good idea of what an older boat would look like. Remember, we would be living on this boat, so we need a boat that will allow both of us to work from home, so we need “office space”. This one seemed perfect at first glance.

It had great seating on the back end that was either covered or uncovered. Enough to sit back and enjoy the view.

We like that this salon had a very “homey” feel to it. And the galley was good size too.

Up on the bridge it had another table area, that could definitely be used for an office and the view isn’t too bad either!!

Even the heads were good size. The master had a half tub in it (but who would take a bath on a boat?).

So did we fall in love with it? Not at all! Why? Well, the stairs (which I should have taken a photo of), were literally only 5″ wide and were spiral. Can you imagine going down the stairs at sea or after a few drinks? It was a death trap for sure. But gorgeous vessel for it’s age.

Okay, that boat is out, what next?

We eventually wandered back towards the parking lot and I mentioned that there was one more I’d like to see. The broker, Mike Manning from Crows Nest just happened to be there and he was so nice! We asked if we could see a boat that was definitely not in our price range for kicks and giggles and he was happy to show us around. This was a 2007 58′ Navigator Pilothouse for just a mere $575,000.

But compared to the older boats, the interior is very modern and updated. It too, had a seating area up on the bridge that could be used as an office.

What we learned from our field trip down to lake union, is there are brokers that are happy to show you boats if they are available. Mike from Crow’s Nest Yachts was so incredibly helpful, that when the time comes, we’ll be sure to reach out to him for assistance.

This weekend, we are going to the Lake Union Boats Alfloat show and I’m sure we’ll see a few more (out of our price range!). But it helps us to figure out features we are looking for (storage, etc). Then next month we are heading back to Annapolis, MD and this time we are going to the US Power Boat Show. We are super excited as we loved the US Sailing Boat Show a few years ago! Stay tuned! Scott & Ally