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The deed is done! The sale of Fairhaven, my Formosa 41 has closed, and on the same day the sale has closed on my sweet new ride!
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Man what a process it was too! The new boat is the FOURTH boat I tried to buy. The first one, now known as S/V Terrapin (a new sailnet member) was bought out from under me 6 days before I flew down to see her. Then, the next boat was in poor shape and the owner wanted top dollar so we couldn't reach a price. The third, we took to survey and they tried to hide from us that it had been sunk!
Finally, we flew all the way to Florida to find our new ride.
What kind of ride is is? Remember my 40ft pilothouse thread? Well, it turns out that a bluewater boat that sails well, is in my size and pricerange and has good visibility from a belowdecks steering station is a rare animal indeed. The criteria morphed, the mission creeped, compromises were made, and the budget increased.
In order to get the steering station, many of the boats I was looking at were motor-sailors, or even trawlers with sails.... I remembered that many of the good times in my life were aboard a powerboat, and while I love sailing, I think I'm more of a "boater" than specifically a "sailor."
Don't worry. I didn't go to the dark-side. Though I may well be a closet power boater. In our search we ended up looking at Nauticats exclusively, and many of their motor-sailors highly emphasize the motor part, but they do have a line that is designed by Sparkman and Stephens, does sail better than the others, and the designs were originally commissioned for the Swan yard. So not a bad lineage at all...
The new ride is a Nauticat 40!
Sparkman & Stephens: Design 2301-C1 - Nauticat 40
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My particular NC40 has a lot more in the way of "bells and whistles" than I'm used to. Lots of electronics, including a backup chart-plotter, 3 fridge/freezers a 6kw generator, lesurefurl in boom furling for the main, an electric winch for the main, and many other toys that I don't need. The toys weren't what sold the boat, the maintenance was! The boat was well maintained with the owner replacing all the rigging in 2009, doing lots of engine and other maintenance and upgrades. He even spent 15K on barrier coating the bottom against blisters before any blisters were even found!
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There's the not-so-great stuff as well. She comes with this HUGE stainless contraption of a dodger/biminy thing. Everyone aboard on the sea trial hit their heads on the thing multiple times. You can't see the sails, and actually, you can't see anything at all! Why would you need an enclosure like this when you can steer from below??!!
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Since I need to truck her across the country, I asked if they could leave the SS tubing contraption on the boat and just drive under a low bridge.
Seriously??
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And now, for the piece de resistance!! This boat came with a custom modification from the factory. The aft cabin was modified and the ceterline queen was removed (boo-hoo now we have a better and more cozy bed) and the extra space was used to create another small stateroom that was made, at the factory, as a sauna!
How.... Finnish is that?! Check it out, I'm not kidding.
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Looking forward to having her shipped over here and taking her out for her first sail on our coast!
MedSailor
I guess I need a new avatar now for my SailNet profile.
Man what a process it was too! The new boat is the FOURTH boat I tried to buy. The first one, now known as S/V Terrapin (a new sailnet member) was bought out from under me 6 days before I flew down to see her. Then, the next boat was in poor shape and the owner wanted top dollar so we couldn't reach a price. The third, we took to survey and they tried to hide from us that it had been sunk!
Finally, we flew all the way to Florida to find our new ride.What kind of ride is is? Remember my 40ft pilothouse thread? Well, it turns out that a bluewater boat that sails well, is in my size and pricerange and has good visibility from a belowdecks steering station is a rare animal indeed. The criteria morphed, the mission creeped, compromises were made, and the budget increased.
In order to get the steering station, many of the boats I was looking at were motor-sailors, or even trawlers with sails.... I remembered that many of the good times in my life were aboard a powerboat, and while I love sailing, I think I'm more of a "boater" than specifically a "sailor."
Don't worry. I didn't go to the dark-side.
Though I may well be a closet power boater. In our search we ended up looking at Nauticats exclusively, and many of their motor-sailors highly emphasize the motor part, but they do have a line that is designed by Sparkman and Stephens, does sail better than the others, and the designs were originally commissioned for the Swan yard. So not a bad lineage at all...The new ride is a Nauticat 40!
Sparkman & Stephens: Design 2301-C1 - Nauticat 40
My particular NC40 has a lot more in the way of "bells and whistles" than I'm used to. Lots of electronics, including a backup chart-plotter, 3 fridge/freezers a 6kw generator, lesurefurl in boom furling for the main, an electric winch for the main, and many other toys that I don't need. The toys weren't what sold the boat, the maintenance was! The boat was well maintained with the owner replacing all the rigging in 2009, doing lots of engine and other maintenance and upgrades. He even spent 15K on barrier coating the bottom against blisters before any blisters were even found!
There's the not-so-great stuff as well. She comes with this HUGE stainless contraption of a dodger/biminy thing. Everyone aboard on the sea trial hit their heads on the thing multiple times. You can't see the sails, and actually, you can't see anything at all! Why would you need an enclosure like this when you can steer from below??!!
Since I need to truck her across the country, I asked if they could leave the SS tubing contraption on the boat and just drive under a low bridge.
Seriously??
And now, for the piece de resistance!! This boat came with a custom modification from the factory. The aft cabin was modified and the ceterline queen was removed (boo-hoo now we have a better and more cozy bed) and the extra space was used to create another small stateroom that was made, at the factory, as a sauna!
How.... Finnish is that?! Check it out, I'm not kidding.
Looking forward to having her shipped over here and taking her out for her first sail on our coast!
MedSailor
I guess I need a new avatar now for my SailNet profile.
