Newbie greetings to all

Making the winged migration!
Having spent considerable time hovering about the site, I decided to pull the trigger and click “register now”. My greetings to all who make this site the wonderful resource of knowledge and experience it is, thanks to the numerous contributors occupying and protecting our many coasts and waterways that make up this beautiful hemisphere and the free world we inhabit there in. From our hands and in our efforts may this beauty and the freedoms we enjoy be available to those to follow. Such a great site for the transfer of marine knowledge is to be commended, I hope anything I may add can measure up!
My CNO and I hail from the rich marine heritage of the Pacific NW and the Alaska coast. Despite the uncertainty of fuel prices and fears of this economy, we have made the steps of transition toward a reduction of acquired material inventory and a less rigid work schedule. The biggest transition has come in our change from powered & winged watercraft, so necessary to travel about our south Central and interior Alaska location, to semi displacement watercraft and our intended enjoyment of the beautiful waters we have had the privilege of flying about between Seattle, Prince William Sound and Kodiak. Such a rich heritage it is that we have indeed enjoyed!
It is exciting to be starting a new adventure and we hope to share similar life experiences with others who have gained from equally rich marine heritages that have abounded our vast and varried coastal approaches.
Greetings to all from Bruno and CNO-Carol

Welcome Bruno and Carol. I enjoyed reading your wonderfully descriptive introductory post. From the flow of your prose I would almost think that one of our senior contributors from the PNW, Marin, was back.

You are truly blessed with a beautiful cruising area and the ability to enjoy it. I hope you will stay with us and keep us up on your cruising.

Very eloquently put.

I mean Bruno, not Don. Though he is also quite an eloquent character too.

What is a CNO? Maybe I want to be one.

Tell us about the boat. Are you going to let us come a long with posts and pictures. Are voing to keep the plane?

CNO= Chief Navigational Officer?

Phil Fill said:

What is a CNO? Maybe I want to be one.

Tell us about the boat. Are you going to let us come a long with posts and pictures. Are voing to keep the plane?

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US Navy------Chief of Naval Operations

Greetings Bruno and CNO-Carol;

So are you in the process of converting from wings to boats or have you already made the switch? If the prior tell us about your plans and if the latter tell us about the boat.

Mike and Colleen (AKA Portager and the Admirable)

taken flight to the water

Yes it is true we have made the leap and purchased the vessel we hope will fill our needs. The search is the culmination of desire begun in experiences cruising PWS some ten years ago. I have a huge affinity for the heavily laid up glass hulls so easily recognized as PNW construction. My preference for the eye appeal and utility of a “raised pilothouse” which bring to mind, in the production realm, the DeFever 49’, Hatteras 48’ LRC, OA MkI. A further desire of mine is for a wide body cabin in a forfeiture of weather decks, and ideally a single weather deck on the Stbd. This led to offerings by PNW builders in the 49-55’ from Hoquiam, Vic Franck, Westport, canoe Cove, Philbrooks, Tollycraft and my favorite the Delta of 50’.
Most all were constructed in the mid ‘80’s to ‘90’s with 3208 cats, 903 Cummins, or the occasional Detroits. We must have written a half dozen offers last summer, mine being on the low side hoping for some downside protection in an uncertain economy. We had unpleasant experiences with sellers that were” upside down” in their boat value/loan balance and hesitant at facing this unfortunate correction of prices. Most boats we wrote offers to, we discovered later in the season sold for less than our original price! What crazy times we experience. Also a bit scary in this process is the prospect of spending roughly ¼ mil on what to some is considered an extraneous asset!
I had about given up when a trip to Lake Union to view a custom “one-off” 56’ wide body constructed in the 90’s looked promising. My CNO had barely left her footprint on the cockpit sole stepping into the saloon, when I hear her say “oh yea! This is the one”.
What! I can’t believe my ears; this from the one who fears maneuvering and line handling a larger boat and figures this boat thing will be our demise! She is the one individual I could count on for approval in the 42’ class and a hesitant veto above 50’. My Lord! This thing is almost 60 feet long, so I check her pulse and for eye dilation. She inspects the forward spaces, two queen berths w/head = small guest list = Nice! Harken! I have approval of the Exchequer!!
So now we are to figure how and when to make the trip north in our new abode. I got a boat with attributes one would expect to find on much larger boat such as Aquadrive thrust bearings supporting the prop shafts, extended factory hull making the boarding/swim platform and a bulbous bow. I shall start another thread and hope to learn something of these prop tunnels and water makers. Thanks again for the great site and yes the Cessna will contribute to the loan balance reduction!

That is a truly beautiful boat. I can't wait for you to tour us through it.

welcome salmonchanted enjoyed reading your post with your command of language.Hope to one day cruise in your area.Look forward to reading of your adventures.

salmonchanted said:

Thanks again for the great site and yes the Cessna will contribute to the loan balance reduction!

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Welcome aboard and may I add that I agree with your choice of hull color. I'm still somewhat in the dark as to the actual builder of the boat, however.

Welcome to the forum. That is an awesome vessel you've got there. Looking forward to the tour.

Such a rich PNW heritage it is!

Making of a rich heritage:
I come from a youth spent in the PNW and the Puget Sound of Washington state. Having walked many boat docks of the numerous ports therein as a kid, and dreamed of the distant coastline adventures these heavy built trawlers of Port Orford cedar planking could tell tales of.
My father, who loved wood, took me to see the workings of the Fairliner, Nordlund, Blanchard, and Jensen boat works to see the beautiful boats being crafted by the hands of so numerous skilled workmen about. He located a Navy Reserve Dock of across from the Fairliner shed that had a floating WWII sub for training and gained access for us three wide eyed boys to tour the cramped spaces below. Together we admired the Halibut schooner fleet and monster dragger/processors tied at Fisherman’s Terminal beneath the Ballard Bridge. Sometimes a schooner would be up on the ways below the bridge allowing us to appreciate the massiveness of its construction and wonder of the many cedar trees it took to construct. Then we would drive around Lake Union to see the NOAA ships, brokerage boats at Chandelers Cove and the quaint Wooden Boat Center.
Seafair as a kid was the best carnival of all, with the aerial shows of the "Blue Angles", low flying Boeings from Renton Field and the ever present rumble of the Kenmore "DeHavilin Beaver"floatplanes. What a skyline contrast while being stern tied to the log boom watching for "SloMo" to take the lead in a final heat!
In childhood summers I got to see the "Diamond Cup" and "Atomic Cup" Unlimited Hydro races in Eastern Wash with those blistering Merlin and Packard powering wooden boats ripping up the water at the unheard of speeds of 170mph! A little luck and five bucks got us a "pit pass" to get close to Ms Bardahl, Ms Exide, Pay n Pack, and Ms Budweiser to wonder at these water gods who drove them tempting fate with the danger they faced.
Then comes the seventies with the sweeping social changes and we witness the demise of wooden construction so much the pride of the forested PNW. But in its place the continued demands of the north Pacific fishing and charter fleets give rise to the beautiful fiberglass hulls from the drawing boards of Monk, Garden, Seynor, Sarin, Seaton and Tolly to name but a few. Yard names heard about the docks and soon to be famous like Hoquiam, Vic Franck, Youngquist, Westport, Philbrooks. Boats produced with lines you will never forget like the Ledford and LeClercq Chignak seiners and the mother of them all the incredibly elegant Delta limit seiner. The insane derby years of the crabfest taking place north of Dutch put overnight values upward of 1 Mil to boats 100'+ made by Gladdings and Hearns, Hansen and the highly sought after "Marco" boats, paid for in a season by unbelievable catches soon to be witnessed by a crash in '82 and a plummet of the biomass and boat values.
Beautiful pleasurecraft produced in this era gave rise to the lines we see still produced today, look at the similarity of the 60'+ Tolly and current offerings from Flemming, Grand Alaskan, Selene. Now take a look at the incredably elegant 62' Blanchard from 1958 "Sea Wolf" (Yachtworld), Please do tell me, is this not a decadent dish of eye candy and a prime example of the elegance produced of PNW craftsman and designers so timeless in nature that it is sure to be reproduced for years to come.
What a rich heritage it is and so fortunate to be a part of!!

As a retired elected CO Sheriff I am intersted in the background of the name of your boat "Sheriff" please tell .....

A long contemplated reply

First let me compliment you in your service to the electorate who placed you in such a position of authority. The position is to be honored and respected as such.
The choice was never meant to dishonor nor degrade but simply as a jab at Alaskan humor. Some background here may help.

Alaska is one of few states with no form of county government and as such the position and meaning of the title of “Sheriff” has absolutely no basis in law.
In place of the traditional county we have organized “Boroughs” which do not exercise policing authority. But do not fear for we are not lawless here! Instead our police services, when not provided by incorporated cities, comes in the form of the excellent service provided by the professionals of the “Alaska State Troopers” please see Wikipedia (Alaska State Troopers) for great explanation.

In choosing such a boat name in Alaska it was intended as a parable to the many individuals that adopt the title of Captain when based on no formal bestowal of the title as would be compared to a “Licensed Mariner” or “Master”. Once again see Wikipedia (Sea Captain).
The choice was never meant to offend and I am sorry if it has, but if you were to see the vessel with hull colored in the traditional Alaska flag blue of the Trooper uniform, I think you would feel it does honor to the name.
Respectively
Bruno and Carol

No offense was intended or taken I was just interested in the name - thanks

Welcome aboard, she's a beauty!