New Texas Boaters

[Boatfever]

Originally Posted by Choices

Welcome to the Texas club. .

We are headed to Key West, get packed up and come on!

Choices, When are you planning on getting to KW?
Feel free to PM me



Sorry OP not trying to derail this thread but, Key West and all of Monroe County, FL aren't exactly welcoming visitors for the next few weeks at least.
We're in the Keys now but been here since early Feb.

[RCNeely]

Pete,


Sorry to hear you may be upside down on your boat, but, like you said, in the end it may not be your problem.


Rhapsody does seem to be in pretty good shape, at least to my untrained eye. The mechanicals are good, which was my main concern. We have a few water leaks, which we are already taking care of. The aft head toilet isn't working, but it may just be some corroded wires. We're going to replace the headliner in the saloon and both staterooms in the next couple of weeks.


So, she's not perfect, but we feel pretty good about her.

[RCNeely]

Boatfever,
Thanks for the congrats and advice. We've already looked into TMCA and may join. Our marina, South Shore Harbor has a club that we may also join.

Enjoy your time in Key West. Hopefully, we'll run into each other if/when you get back to TX.


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[Captain Doug]

Originally Posted by RCNeely

Boatfever,
Thanks for the congrats and advice. We've already looked into TMCA and may join. Our marina, South Shore Harbor has a club that we may also join.

Enjoy your time in Key West. Hopefully, we'll run into each other if/when you get back to TX.


.

We came from a 40 Sea Ray Express cruiser to a 48 Hatteras Motor Yacht. The view from the flybridge was frightening at first. The boat looked HUGE. We went out during the week and practiced docking in every open slip in our marina until we were very comfortable. Next waited for a windy day and did the same. In a matter of weeks the intimidation subsided. Just for practice threw in single engine only docking, a few times switching engines; can do it but it won’t be pretty! Enjoy

[KneeDeep]

Welcome Aboard and Congrats on the new boat! Let us know if you head south around the bend to Rockport. It's an easy run on the ICW with a few nice stops on the way.

[BobH]

Walked by your boat a couple of times this week. Didn't want to interrupt so I didn't stop. We owned a '86 Present 38 aft cabin trawler. Slightly different from your boat. Went back to a sailboat. Pier 14, slip 16.
Bob

[FoxtrotCharlie]

Welcome aboard, and congrats on the boat. We have a 1988 42' Present Motor Yacht - that sounds a bit pretentious - it has a deep keel, cruises at 9-10mph, and sips diesel - sounds like a trawler! We love our Present so far. Bought her about 18 months ago, and have about 120 hrs on her so far. Yep, that view from the flybridge is a bit intimidating at first, but you will get comfortable with it - as has been said, just use it and go slow. A few lessons won't hurt either.

[Pete Meisinger]

I don't prefer to use the term "upside down" regarding boats. "In over my head" also has a bad ring to it.

How about just saying I'm waiting for an economic reversal.

pete

[BobH]

OK, you Present owners, who was the builder? We had a '86 Present 38 and it had the worst gelcoat I've ever run across. The guy who used to buff and wax our old sailboat, way back when, said he was afraid to buff this one because he thought he would go through the gelcoat. It actually showed fiberglass in places. Ours was build by Nautica something in Taiwan.

[RCNeely]

Originally Posted by Captain Doug

We came from a 40 Sea Ray Express cruiser to a 48 Hatteras Motor Yacht. The view from the flybridge was frightening at first. The boat looked HUGE. We went out during the week and practiced docking in every open slip in our marina until we were very comfortable. Next waited for a windy day and did the same. In a matter of weeks the intimidation subsided. Just for practice threw in single engine only docking, a few times switching engines; can do it but it won’t be pretty! Enjoy

Thanks for the advice. I'm definitely going to follow it. My current marina has some open spaces and plenty of empty slips. I might as well make use of it.

.

[RCNeely]

Originally Posted by KneeDeep

Welcome Aboard and Congrats on the new boat! Let us know if you head south around the bend to Rockport. It's an easy run on the ICW with a few nice stops on the way.

Thanks KneeDeep. I expect we'll get down your way sooner or later, and when we do, I'll give you a shout.

Originally Posted by BobH

Walked by your boat a couple of times this week. Didn't want to interrupt so I didn't stop. We owned a '86 Present 38 aft cabin trawler. Slightly different from your boat. Went back to a sailboat. Pier 14, slip 16.
Bob

Feel free to stop and say Hello. We kind of stick out like a sore thumb in our current slip, so we're starting to meet quite a few folks. I look forward to meeting you also.

Originally Posted by FoxtrotCharlie

Welcome aboard, and congrats on the boat. We have a 1988 42' Present Motor Yacht - that sounds a bit pretentious - it has a deep keel, cruises at 9-10mph, and sips diesel - sounds like a trawler! We love our Present so far. Bought her about 18 months ago, and have about 120 hrs on her so far. Yep, that view from the flybridge is a bit intimidating at first, but you will get comfortable with it - as has been said, just use it and go slow. A few lessons won't hurt either.

Thanks and congrats on your new boat, too! I didn't see anything pretentious in your statement. You're just stating a fact. So far, we've been pretty impressed with our boat. She has some problems, but nothing we can't deal with, so far.

Originally Posted by BobH

OK, you Present owners, who was the builder? We had a '86 Present 38 and it had the worst gelcoat I've ever run across. The guy who used to buff and wax our old sailboat, way back when, said he was afraid to buff this one because he thought he would go through the gelcoat. It actually showed fiberglass in places. Ours was build by Nautica something in Taiwan.

Sorry to hear about your gelcoat. As far as my novice eyes can tell, ours seems pretty good. I guess time will tell (I hope I don't find out otherwise later on).
I haven't done a whole lot of research on the builder. I did read that the importer (dealer?) was a guy named Mr. Present, who's first name escapes me at the moment. I believe he was up in New York or somewhere in the northeast. When I find time, I'll do more research.
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[Baker]

Originally Posted by BobH

OK, you Present owners, who was the builder? We had a '86 Present 38 and it had the worst gelcoat I've ever run across. The guy who used to buff and wax our old sailboat, way back when, said he was afraid to buff this one because he thought he would go through the gelcoat. It actually showed fiberglass in places. Ours was build by Nautica something in Taiwan.

I am pretty sure it was Chung Hwa Boatworks...hence the CHB moniker. Now how that company or yard worked, I do not know. I do believe the model of Present you had was built in a different yard and totally different boat. I think it may have even had a planing hull versus S/D. Anyway, I think it is same importer, different builder.

[TexasBryan]

Welcome RC! Nice to see so many respond from Texas and TMCA.

Since Easter at Moody was COVED-out, lets hope that Harborwalk weekend can go as scheduled!

[Salish Nomad]

Originally Posted by RCNeely

Hello All,

This is my first post on TF, after nine long years of lurking. My wife and I are the new owners of "Rhapsody", a 1986 Present Yachts 38 Sundeck MY with twin Perkins 6.3544M NA's. We started this adventure a week ago. So far, so good.

Our initial cruising grounds will be Galveston Bay and the Texas Coast, with hopes that we will be able to stretch it out some from there. Who knows, maybe the Loop could be in our future someday.

We are as close to complete newbies as there can be. We've never owned a boat before now, but I have some experience with ski boats and center-console fishing boats. Needless to say, the learning curve is looking pretty steep right now, but the knowledge that we have garnered on TF has given us confidence that we're going to do just fine going forward (baby steps and Safety First!). Just buying the boat is evidence of what we've been able to absorb here. The knowledge gained from the great people on TF made the purchase process nearly seamless and painless. In fact, I believe we got a darn good deal because of the confidence we had going into negotiations.

I would like to thank everyone here for giving their time to share boating knowledge and experiences. I would also like to give a special thanks to the moderators for creating and maintaining such a great forum.

I'm looking forward to joining the boating community and getting to know you all, physically and in cyberspace.

Those Perkins are excellent engines. My previous boat had a single range 4 with over 7000 hours.
Trans Atlantic Diesel is an exceptional source for spares, and info.

[castellah22]

nice boat,and nice engines, have fun, david

[mjoplin]

Congrats on a beautiful boat, I can see why Baker has been lusting over it. Looks like the perfect boat for the kind of cruising we do around here. We are over in Waterford, but they let us over on Dock 1 from time to time on the weekends... Enjoy!!!

[RCNeely]

Originally Posted by TexasBryan

Welcome RC! Nice to see so many respond from Texas and TMCA.

Since Easter at Moody was COVED-out, lets hope that Harborwalk weekend can go as scheduled!

Thanks. Hopefully everything will get back to normal(ish) soon.

Originally Posted by Salish Nomad

Those Perkins are excellent engines. My previous boat had a single range 4 with over 7000 hours.
Trans Atlantic Diesel is an exceptional source for spares, and info.

Thanks for the info. I'm sure hoping the Perkins' are as good as everyone thinks they are. The Perks were a big reason why we bought this boat, rather than a Marine Trader with Volvo's.

Originally Posted by castellah22

nice boat,and nice engines, have fun, david

Thanks.

Originally Posted by mjoplin

Congrats on a beautiful boat, I can see why Baker has been lusting over it. Looks like the perfect boat for the kind of cruising we do around here. We are over in Waterford, but they let us over on Dock 1 from time to time on the weekends... Enjoy!!!

Thanks. Hope to see you around the docks, lake, and bay.
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