Our first weekend in our new Camano 31

[macp]

Originally Posted by dennis1x

congrats. i had to create an account just to tell you how jealous i am! had an eye on that boat from here in dfw area for a few months before the *sale pending* sign appeared. we are still a couple years from seriously looking but had talked about this one a lot and basing out of texoma for a while before moving to gulf coast.

Hi Dennis,
Did you tour Voyager in person, or just online?

Our first day boat looking at Texoma, we looked at 1987 Sea Ray 44, 1988 Carver 4207, 1991 Carver 370, and the 2001 Camano Troll 31. Of the three, the Camano was by far the cleanest and the simplest. But we started out with "big boat" syndrome, thinking of how all the space could accommodate so many more people. It was clear to me that I was going to spend an awful lot of every three day weekend maintaining a floating B&B for others!

We spent two months talking through the ins/outs, ups/downs of being boat owners, and concluded that we would rather keep paying for rides on Holland America.

We had a trip to San Diego in October, and one to Hilton Head Island for Thanksgiving - surrounded by boats and water. We wrote individual essays on Why Buying A Boat Makes NO Sense . The weekend before we left for Hilton Head, we had to make a final decision about our flight for our next HAL cruise - whether or not pay for business class for a 12 hour flight, or suffer in economy. Chuck started mentally calculating how many business class flights would equal the cost of a boat and said, "Let's go look at that Camano before we pull the trigger on the tickets."

We looked again, this time thinking of the boat as an "US" boat, with "THEM" being welcome visitors, but w/o US buying accommodations for THEM . We deleted the essays and made an offer on Voyager before our flight. We made a commitment that if we got the boat, our goal would be to be on her three nights of every week when possible!

During our layover, Chuck got word that our offer was accepted. He spent two days of our week in HHH arranging for the survey and sea trials. She went in for a bottom job the first of January - and here we are - counting down till Thursday night

What a ride!!!

[macp]

Originally Posted by markpierce

We understand your joy.

Thanks Markpierce. The love of boats and boating has its own language, n'est-ce pas?

[macp]

Originally Posted by BruceK

Wise Sunday decision macp. No point putting the perfect Saturday record at risk. Sooner or later you`ll have to dock in difficult conditions, hopefully by then you will be well up to it.

Thanks for the encouraging words, BruceK.

[MakinMemories]

Congratulations!! Hope you have many more!!

[macp]

Originally Posted by Steve

Congratulations on the 2002 Camano they are fine boats! I bought a 2002, Spirit in Mobile Al. in 2004 and owned it till 2008 when I wanted a larger boat, A guy in Sweden bought her from us and had her shipped there. I find them very well made and fun to operate. We made many trips along the Gulf Coast from Louisiana, as far as Houston and Sanibel Is. Fl., that one was two and a half months on board. They had a very good owners group, ECCO East Coast Camano Owners Association, maybe they are still in operation.
Congrats again enjoy her!

Thanks Steve.
I joined TF six years ago when I learned about the Great Loop and our son moved our grandkids to the Gulf Coast The proximity of the ICW to the Gulf, our grandkids, and the Great Loop set us to fantasizing, but we were land bound by responsibilities.

I enjoyed reading your Gumbo blog during the next years.

I'm originally from South LA, raised on the Atchafalaya River. My first boat memory is riding with my dad in a steel hull outboard, the JEEP, into the Atchafalaya Basin where he taught school K-8 to trapper's kids. I was five.
The majority of my large Cajun family still live in Franklin, Thibodaux, Houma, and Gonzales. My mom was born and raised on a houseboat in Bayou Chene [community no longer exists] and Jeanerette Canal.

You can take the Cajun out of LA but you can never get the swamp out of the Cajun, Thank God

[porman]

Congratulations on your boat purchase. We owned our 2005 Camano for 10 years. It was the easiest boat to drive that I've ever driven. You can back it into a slip using just the bow thruster and walk it sideways using the thruster and the rudder hard over. It will take water over the flybridge while you're inside dry and warm. You're going to have lots of fun.

[macp]

Originally Posted by porman

Congratulations on your boat purchase. We owned our 2005 Camano for 10 years. It was the easiest boat to drive that I've ever driven. You can back it into a slip using just the bow thruster and walk it sideways using the thruster and the rudder hard over. It will take water over the flybridge while you're inside dry and warm. You're going to have lots of fun.

It sure looked easy watching Chuck handle it this weekend and I'm eager to give docking in the slip a try!
Thanks for encouraging words and experience on your CT.

[dennis1x]

Originally Posted by macp

Hi Dennis,
Did you tour Voyager in person, or just online?

Just online. We had plans to go up and look in person a couple different times but things come up and never made it. I am an impulse buyer so who knows what would've happened! You mentioned how clean it was and that was what I took from the online research too. Glad it worked out for you!

We get up to Texoma every now and then and usually rent a Pontoon to take the kids out to have some fun on tubes and fish a little. I have 2 options at this point as we patiently await the kids going off to college and our early retirement to get here in 2-3 years. One is to get a "family fun" boat and slip out of Texoma. The other would be to get a boat more like yours and slip in Houston area and get some experience with coastal cruising as that is what we want to be doing in a few years.

If you ever need some help with something shoot me a PM. I would trade that for a quick tour/lesson! Our dreams and experience is still only online and book research!!

[Baker]

Originally Posted by macp

You're right HighWire - it was wonderful!
Of course, it helped quite a lot that conditions Saturday were, um, shall we say . . . perfect?
Sunday however, winds were gusting to 40k and we decided to save our boathandling on windy days training for another, less windy day.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Nothing but exciting times ahead!!!

And reference your Sunday decision, if your husband is in aviation then you have probably heard the following quotes:

It is a superior boat handler(pilot) who uses his superior judgement so he does not have to use his superior boat handling skills!!!

And...

It is better to be tied up to the dock wishing you were "out there" versus being "out there" wishing you were tied up to the dock!!!

Cheers and have fun!!!

[macp]

We're getting our "lake legs" under us - cruising around in winds 15k, sunset and sunrise cruises, making yacht club friends. Water is back on at the boathouse so I'm guessing "clean sweep down, fore and aft" is coming soon. Chuck (Navy guy) used to say that to our kids all the time. We learned after they were grown they always thought he was saying "clean sweep down, four and a half" 😄.

[mgdavis]

As the other posters suggested, a brace inside the hollow stanchion may be a workable solution for you. The prior owner of our boat had implemented this fix and it functions well. The only downside is that I have to lift the whole tabletop off the stanchion to remove the brace if we want to lower the table to make up the berth in the salon.

[ddalme]

Originally Posted by Baker

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Nothing but exciting times ahead!!!


It is better to be tied up to the dock wishing you were "out there" versus being "out there" wishing you were tied up to the dock!!!

AIN'T THAT THE TRUTH

[Star0210]

Do you have pictures of the boat?

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by mgdavis

As the other posters suggested, a brace inside the hollow stanchion may be a workable solution for you. The prior owner of our boat had implemented this fix and it functions well. The only downside is that I have to lift the whole tabletop off the stanchion to remove the brace if we want to lower the table to make up the berth in the salon.

It's not hard to fix this problem, the table rests on two standard seat pedestals. From memory, I believe the knob threads into a piece of 1/4" thick metal about 3/4" wide and 1 1/2" long. It's not part of either piece, it just clamps the two cylinders at whatever height you want.

Either the threaded portion of the knob is stripped or the flat metal is stripped. A knob can be purchased, probably at a home center. The flat metal might be big enough for a new hole which could be tapped to fit the knob, or a replacement piece of metal could be purchases, cut to size and drilled and tapped. Or, for $100 or so each, the pedestals could be replaced. If he can find the manufacturer and part number on the pedestal, he could contact the manufacturer for replacement parts.

We never change the position of our table and don't keep the cushions on the boat so two pieces of wood would work fine for us but we don't need them.

[Steve]

I didn't know where Bayou Chene was so I "googled" it and a Facebook article came up mentioning the "Little Paradise" that the community was. It deals mainly with a member Binky Carline but, it has quite a few pictures from back in the 40s. You might want to take a look. Coincidentally it mentioned J&L Engineering in Jeanerette where Binky worked as a machinist. Cameco, the company I worked for most of my life bought J&L in 1981. I knew Binky's son Charlie Carline who was the J&L shop foreman for years very well. Both companies made machinery for the sugar industry.
Here is the link to the article:
https://www.facebook.com/CharentonLe...53773014671161
Steve

Originally Posted by macp

Thanks Steve.I joined TF six years ago when I learned about the Great Loop and our son moved our grandkids to the Gulf Coast The proximity of the ICW to the Gulf, our grandkids, and the Great Loop set us to fantasizing, but we were land bound by responsibilities.

I enjoyed reading your Gumbo blog during the next years.

I'm originally from South LA, raised on the Atchafalaya River. My first boat memory is riding with my dad in a steel hull outboard, the JEEP, into the Atchafalaya Basin where he taught school K-8 to trapper's kids. I was five.
The majority of my large Cajun family still live in Franklin, Thibodaux, Houma, and Gonzales. My mom was born and raised on a houseboat in Bayou Chene [community no longer exists] and Jeanerette Canal.

You can take the Cajun out of LA but you can never get the swamp out of the Cajun, Thank God

[macp]

Update on our new boating life with apologies for being an inconsistent correspondent

We are five months into Becoming Boaters. From our humble and low expectations - we've managed the following:

No hard contact with any stationary structures, including lake bottom.
28 nights, 37 days on board, at marina, socializing with new friends, cruising family
6 anchorages, 1 raft up w/8 other boats - so much fun!
70 hours cruising time, 210 hours repair time, 120 hours cleaning
Lots of good docking and putting in the slip for Chuck - including my first yesterday!

Repairs:
Serious vibration @ 1000 RPM = Engine realignment
Low WOT RPM = Rebuilt turbo then fuel injector
Failed transducer = Haul out and install replacement
Leaking seal around replaced transducer = Haul out and reseal
Erratic RPM = Replaced alternator
Failure to start = Replaced starter
No coffee during anchorage = Replaced generator fuse, then capacitor

All in all, not a bad list! It helps that Chuck is the "thing whisperer." Things usually straighten up and fly right as soon as he lays hands on. When they don't, he takes them apart and puts them back together until they do - fly right, that is!

I must say, even after 46 years, I still love a guy who knows how to get things done

Here are some pictures:

The pictures of the engine and the grandkids are properly oriented in my pictures file, but they upload rotated 90degrees. I don't know how to fix this within Trawler Forum, but I'm sharing anyway, b/c after all, who doesn't want to see pics of the grands on the boat

The settings are our lovely Cedar Mills Marina and Yacht Club. Enjoy!

[dhays]

Sounds like you two are doing GREAT!

[macp]

Originally Posted by Steve

I didn't know where Bayou Chene was so I "googled" it and a Facebook article came up mentioning the "Little Paradise" that the community was. It deals mainly with a member Binky Carline but, it has quite a few pictures from back in the 40s. You might want to take a look. Coincidentally it mentioned J&L Engineering in Jeanerette where Binky worked as a machinist. Cameco, the company I worked for most of my life bought J&L in 1981. I knew Binky's son Charlie Carline who was the J&L shop foreman for years very well. Both companies made machinery for the sugar industry.
Here is the link to the article:
https://www.facebook.com/CharentonLe...53773014671161
Steve

Steve, it is a small world, after all! Binky Carline was my great-uncle - my grandmother Annie Carline was his sister. My mom did tons of genealogy on all the family lines, including the Carlines. She lived with Chuck and me the last three years of her life - she died September 25, 2016.

You friendship with Charlie Carline exceeds my knowledge with/of him. As my own family grew after I moved to Texas, my opportunities for visiting with Mom's cousins became scarce. We did fly in for a Carline reunion about 10 years ago held at Lake End park on Lake Palourde. I don't recall if Charlie Carline was there or not.

So we are both connected to my relatives AND we have Camano's in common! How 'bout that

[macp]

Thanks, Dave. We are sure having fun. We're planning to get up to your part of the country for a Camano gathering sometime this summer. Looking forward to seeing the islands again.

[FlyWright]

Maryann and Chuck, you're living the dream! Congrats! You're getting some great use out of your boat already! And eventually, your boating time will likely exceed your repair time.

It helps to have the skills to keep the boat functioning properly. Sounds like you two make a great team. Well done!

Originally Posted by macp

...
All in all, not a bad list! It helps that Chuck is the "thing whisperer." Things usually straighten up and fly right as soon as he lays hands on. When they don't, he takes them apart and puts them back together until they do - fly right, that is!

Straighten Up is the name of my dink.