New Beginnings!

Tolly40 · 11-25-2013, 12:17 PM

Ahoy fellow boat-niks! Allow me to introduce myself. I was introduced to the live-aboard life by my life-long friend, Darren O'Brien (aka "Traveller"). Darren has lived aboard several boats (sail and trawler) for many years. He and his wife, Lisa, both write for "The Cruising Outpost (formerly Lattitudes & Attitudes) and live aboard a 48' Choy Lee in Port Ludlow, Washington.

Last spring, Darren invited me to join him on a short cruise from Port Angeles to Port Ludlow. When we reached port, there sat a beautiful 1979 40' Tollycraft Tri-Cabin in the next slip over. I fell in love at first sight. She was obviously well kept, but not recently used. While it was not for sale, we inquired with the Harbor Master and eventually met the owner.

It was a match made in heaven! The owner was in his 70's and had owned her since day one. He not only had all of the maintenance records for her, but the original sales invoice and even a cruising journal on every cruise they took in te hpast 34 years! The more we talked, the more obvious it became that it was best that he let her go. He made us an incredible deal (nearly half price) and we set out to sell our house and most of our possessions. We have officially been abourd for one week today and couldn't be happier.

Darren told me about this forum and we look forward to sharing and learning from you all. Thank you for having us on board!

Todd & Diane

N4712 · 11-25-2013, 12:23 PM

Congratulations, and welcome aboard!

Tolly40 · 11-25-2013, 12:54 PM

Can you tell me how I can post a picture of my boat in my profile?

Thank you!

CPseudonym · 11-25-2013, 01:02 PM

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s...-etc-5739.html

This link will do a better job of telling you how than I can

Welcome to the forum

jwnall · 11-25-2013, 01:13 PM

Welcome aboard. Looking forward to seeing a picture of the boat!

Tolly40 · 11-25-2013, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CPseudonym

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s...-etc-5739.html

This link will do a better job of telling you how than I can

Welcome to the forum

I tried the "upoad profile picture" link, then tried to uplaod a pic of my boat. It said "upload failed." It is only 42kb in size.

HELP?

CPseudonym · 11-25-2013, 02:17 PM

The "profile picture" will not show in your postings only your profile page. Try to upload an "avatar picture". In your User CP(control panel) go to edit avatar the next screen you see should look like this.

Edit: I recommend option 2

Tolly40 · 11-25-2013, 06:14 PM

I finally figured it out! The picture should be displaying now...Enjoy!

jwnall · 11-25-2013, 06:17 PM

Yup. You got it! Great looking boat!!

gwkiwi · 11-25-2013, 06:20 PM

Good story, its not uncommon for many older people to heavily discount or give their prized possessions away to someone who they bond with and know will take care of their baby.

My father in law after retiring from flying after 58+ years gave his fully rebuilt 1959 Luscombe Sedan aircraft to the mechanic who helped him re build it years earlier.

The guy I understand is still on cloud 9

Tolly40 · 11-25-2013, 07:13 PM

The old man practically adopted us. He said he and his wife bought it to take their children to the San Juan Islands every summer for two weeks. He said he never really considered selling it, but now that his kids are adults, and he divorced, he rarely uses it anymore...a perfect scenario. He said he wanted her to have a good home and, after selling it to us for essentially half price, he went on to pour another $5,000 into it. "Wanted to make sure everything was right for you kids" (yeah...50+ year-old kids). She has two 454 Crusader V-8s (330hp each); both recently rebuilt. One has 9 hours and the other 27 hours since rebuild. The entire boat has just 672 total hours on it. We had an exhaust manifold gasket fail on our way to Olympia (to truck it to Portland) and when I called him and told him, he said he will send a mechanic to fix it at his expense! How cool is that? He just installed a new Westbeke 70amp generator in it that is wired up to the cockpit, but has yet to have the engine oil and fuel put to it! Brand new Norgard refrigerator installed (we put the very first food in it yesterday). Solid boat that just needs some TLC and remodeling (that shag carpet has got to go). Anyway...nice to chat with you and we look forward to sharing with the group.

Pau Hana · 11-25-2013, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tolly40

The old man practically adopted us. He said he and his wife bought it to take their children to the San Juan Islands every summer for two weeks. He said he never really considered selling it, but now that his kids are adults, and he divorced, he rarely uses it anymore...a perfect scenario. He said he wanted her to have a good home and, after selling it to us for essentially half price, he went on to pour another $5,000 into it. "Wanted to make sure everything was right for you kids" (yeah...50+ year-old kids). She has two 454 Crusader V-8s (330hp each); both recently rebuilt. One has 9 hours and the other 27 hours since rebuild. The entire boat has just 672 total hours on it. We had an exhaust manifold gasket fail on our way to Olympia (to truck it to Portland) and when I called him and told him, he said he will send a mechanic to fix it at his expense! How cool is that? He just installed a new Westbeke 70amp generator in it that is wired up to the cockpit, but has yet to have the engine oil and fuel put to it! Brand new Norgard refrigerator installed (we put the very first food in it yesterday). Solid boat that just needs some TLC and remodeling (that shag carpet has got to go). Anyway...nice to chat with you and we look forward to sharing with the group.

Your story sounds like ours; when we met the owner of the Pau Hana, we had an instant connection, and he was an open book on this history of his boat:
She was commissioned in Seattle in 1989, and then sailed down south to her first home in Long Beach, CA, where she lived for the first 5 years of her life. She was then bought by the seller, who sailed her back up to Seattle on her own bottom, and lived in Kirkland until we bought her.

The seller (probably like yours) was reluctant to sell, as he was strong of mind, and still believed he could take the boat out and head to Alaska- only his body didn't want to cooperate!

We made a great friend, and have a solid history on our boat.

Congrats on your new life- the liveaboard life is great!

Tony B · 11-25-2013, 11:58 PM

Congrats on your score.