Howdy Folks--
I've been pokin' around the Forum for a while now and thought it was time to introduce myself. I'm new to boats (all my boating has been in whitewater kayaks and rafts) but I'm very interested in life upon the sea in general and trawlers in particular. I have been on a few sailing trips and feel LRC Trawlers are more up my alley than the cramped quarters of sailboats, and I don't have any real desire to learn how to sail anything bigger than my sailboards (20 years in the Columbia River Gorge, hence the screen name GorgeWags). I already know how to turn the start key and what that round steering wheel looking thing is for (haven't figured out where the brake pedal is though) and it's been my experience that we motored more than half the time on the sailboat anyway, but I digress.....
Plans now are to get a boat this Spring, keep it in SF Bay and learn to handle it there, then eventually move it up the coast to where I live in Mendocino County, start making longer trips, and gradually take off up the coast for BC and Alaska. I'm relatively familiar with diesel engines since I have several in everything from generators to excavators, and I've always worked on my own stuff my whole life, so tinkering around on a boat doesn't scare me. Nor am I going into boating thinking it's all fun and games. I was picking the brain of a pal I met on a Grand Canyon river trip that had lived on his sailboat for 17 years when he stopped me and said "Look Todd, you gotta understand, Cruising is all about working on your boat in really exotic places". And by the third day of the last Mexico sailing trip I did, the morning greeting was "Well, where do you want to go to work on the boat today?" So....no blinders on here.
I've poked around on TF enough to know there is a huge wealth of information available here, from many friendly and generous people, and hopefully I won't wear out my welcome with too many questions. I learned a long time ago it's a lot stupider to not ask a question than it is to ask a stupid question, so Thanks in advance, 'cause I'm sure I have plenty of Stupid in reserve.
TW
I've been pokin' around the Forum for a while now and thought it was time to introduce myself. I'm new to boats (all my boating has been in whitewater kayaks and rafts) but I'm very interested in life upon the sea in general and trawlers in particular. I have been on a few sailing trips and feel LRC Trawlers are more up my alley than the cramped quarters of sailboats, and I don't have any real desire to learn how to sail anything bigger than my sailboards (20 years in the Columbia River Gorge, hence the screen name GorgeWags). I already know how to turn the start key and what that round steering wheel looking thing is for (haven't figured out where the brake pedal is though) and it's been my experience that we motored more than half the time on the sailboat anyway, but I digress.....
Plans now are to get a boat this Spring, keep it in SF Bay and learn to handle it there, then eventually move it up the coast to where I live in Mendocino County, start making longer trips, and gradually take off up the coast for BC and Alaska. I'm relatively familiar with diesel engines since I have several in everything from generators to excavators, and I've always worked on my own stuff my whole life, so tinkering around on a boat doesn't scare me. Nor am I going into boating thinking it's all fun and games. I was picking the brain of a pal I met on a Grand Canyon river trip that had lived on his sailboat for 17 years when he stopped me and said "Look Todd, you gotta understand, Cruising is all about working on your boat in really exotic places". And by the third day of the last Mexico sailing trip I did, the morning greeting was "Well, where do you want to go to work on the boat today?" So....no blinders on here.
I've poked around on TF enough to know there is a huge wealth of information available here, from many friendly and generous people, and hopefully I won't wear out my welcome with too many questions. I learned a long time ago it's a lot stupider to not ask a question than it is to ask a stupid question, so Thanks in advance, 'cause I'm sure I have plenty of Stupid in reserve.
TW
