Friday Funny 05/26 (Buying a Boat),

Perfectly sized.

That fella bought a boat that was just right for him.

Monday, next week will be the "anniversary" date for our purchase of Denali Rose. It's been three years, and it seems like both yesterday, and ages ago.

This was Bill's 5th sailboat, and he already had a good idea of what he wanted in his next boat. I'm the noob, but we had quite a few good discussions about what a sound, comfortable boat would look like, from both our perspectives.

Advise anyone?

This book, How Not to Buy a Cruising Boat, was not out when we were shopping for our boat. I haven't read it, so I can't say anything about it, but it has received good reviews.

Good advice here.

 This is the book Bill had around the house, Inspecting the Aging Sailboat.

I got this link off of Cruiser's Forum, Marine Survey 101, How to do your own Marine Survey. It's about all the different systems onboard, and what to look for, as well as what to look out for. I didn't have it, when we were boat shopping, but after reading it, I'm more knowledgable about Denali Rose. Important: even though you go shopping for a boat with information, it's always best to get a competent, professional survey done. They know the how, what, when, and your insurance company will need a current survey too.

Checking for soundness.

Probably not a good deal.

We looked at boats for three years on both coasts, and even contemplated going to Italy to see one. Bill had narrowed down the search of make, model, and size to Nauticat 40s and 43s. There aren't that many of them for sale.

Can you say "name change" anyone? Nauticat 43

While we were visiting friends in Maryland, we took a couple of days and  drove to Myrtle Beach to see this Nauticat 43. Toots Sea could have used some TLC, and needed too much work for how much time we wanted to put into it.

Nauticat 44

Then we drove to Oriental, NC. (which I loved, by the way), and took a look at Pelagia. We weren't really interested in the '44, but we had never been aboard one, so it was worth the time to stop. You can really see the difference in the stern between the 43, an offshore, ocean vessel, which was designed by the noted ship designers, Sparkman and Stephens, and the 44, which is more of a "motor sailer".

On another trip, we looked at boats in Deale, Maryland. We went onboard a 38ft Nauticat, which again, was not really on the list, but worth the investigation. The dealer looked down his nose at us when Bill said we had a trailerable sailboat, the MacGregor. (He was a bit snobbish.) The 38footer was a nice, clean boat though. We also looked at another Nauticat 43 in a different yard. This boat didn't have a name, had been repaired from a collision, leaking teak decks, and two inches of standing water inside in the pilothouse. Uh, thanks, but no thanks. This dealer wanted us to look at a couple of non-Nauticat boats, which we did, but we didn't find anything that measured up. It was a good idea to look at all kinds of boats, because this helped us confirm what we didn't want, as well as confirmed what we did.

Renaissance, Nauticat 40

We stopped in Seattle to look at a couple of boats that were on our list. Renaissance, in Anacortes, Washington, was a 40ft Nauticat. Doesn't she look like Denali Rose? She was clean, well maintained, and beautiful inside, and out. We liked the layout of the pullman berth forward, instead of a v-berth, and the full U-shaped lower dinette area. The difference in three feet less, means no third cabin, and no dedicated shower stall. She also had teak decks, and though they were very well cared for, that put her further down on the short-list.

Guess what happened next?!

For Sale!

Back in Seattle at Lake Union.

A first "in-person" size up.

We got our first physical look into what we had been seeing in the Yachtworld advertisement.

We bought her!

Was it fate, was it destiny? Well, maybe, but it was also finding the right one that met our criteria. It's been worth the discussions, investigations, and the time it took to find our floating home. We will probably have some kind of small celebration, commemorating our "boat anniversary". Congratulations to us!

Keeping calm, and patient in boat buying is a good thing.

Susan, aka Fred, Jack, Donna, and Bill

They say that the two happiest days for a boat owner's life is the day they buy a boat, and the day they sell a boat. Here we are, a happy foursome, having just bought and sold Denali Rose.

We enjoy hearing from you, either here in comments, or on our Denali Rose Sailboat facebook page.