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Old ideas are young dreams...
Old ideas are young dreams
Old dreams are young plans
Old plans are young journeys
Old journeys are young memories
Old memories are forgotten
-- Jammer, 2017
Hello everyone, and thanks for reading this. I'm still dreaming, but I'm dreaming with focus, purpose, and intention. Please be gentle.
Maybe seven years ago, my brother mooted the idea of the four of us (we're both married) spending a good deal of our retirement time on a trawler yacht, fitted out for bluewater cruising. We whiled away a few evenings looking at the Kadey Krogen web site and exchanged a bunch of correspondence about our respective interests and skills.
I don't know whether all that will come true but I'm getting ready to take some initial steps towards it, myself, in the next year or two.
I'm in Minnesota. I've boated on the lakes and rivers here, paddleboards, sailboards, canoes, fishing boats, pontoons, ski boats, with a friend's 26' cuddy being the largest I've operated with any regularity, that on Lake Minnetonka.
My day job is at a desk but I fix stuff when it makes economic sense. I've had engines and transmissions out of cars and trucks, I have an antique RV where I've done some fiberglass work, freshwater, sanitation, 12v, and a few rivets. My last mechanical project was replacement of a starter in a friends car, in a parking lot, during a snowstorm, because neither of us wanted to pay for a tow.
The Minnesota boating environment and culture doesn't, for the most part, involve larger pleasure craft -- without owning a lakeshore home, the only practical places to keep them are on the Mississippi and the St. Croix rivers, or on Lake Superior.
I'm thinking of getting a smaller trawler that can be launched from a trailer and hauled on the highways without an oversize permit. The Atlas Acadia 25' is sort of my "poster child" for this -- a semi-displacement hull, weighted keel, 8'6" beam, matching trailers readily available, can be pulled, safely, any desired distance behind a 3/4 ton pickup, and launched or hauled out using the trailer without the assistance of slings. Economical to operate, suitable for a wide range of weather, big enough (barely) for one couple for a 3-day weekend.
I could take that on Lake of the Woods, or Lake Vermillion, both beautiful lakes, large and with remote areas worth exploring, but neither have the services necessary to support larger yachts (slips, haulout equipment, other yachtsman to provide wisdom and support). Or maybe on parts of the Great Loop. Or the more sheltered parts of Lake Superior and the Apostle Islands. It could also serve as a scuba diving platform, which is something we do.
And it seems like an easy next step that would build up some skills that would be useful if and when I'm ready to move to a larger trawler or sailing vessel.
Advice welcome.
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