Why did you buy your boat?

it’s a Willard with a Detroit with 1700 hrs,great fuel economy,range,and is just a salty old girl

Texas residence sux in the summer. The Great Lakes area doesn't. Summer cottage or live aboard boat for May through September. Absentee cottage owner bad idea for winter months. Put the boat away for the winter months and forget about it. If you don't like your neighbors, move the boat. Less bugs on the boat than a wooded lake lot. Boat is a loser in financial terms...sunsets make up the difference.

We all talk boats but really it’s the lifestyle that calls.

THERE it is... i.e. "USE" is the key. Love it!

I forget now...

The 50ft catamaran I was building, amongst several other projects put me in hospital.
Never could get back into it again even after a couple of years.
Burnt out.

Then our current vessel popped up on the radar (I had lusted for her smaller sister from another father for years) at a price I could not refuse.
Wife was made redundant the next day, she to was suffering from burnout.

Go now on the big unit or flog myself to death on the cat with its restricted load carrying capacity? (We were older, wanted more niceties, comfort, = weight)
Decision made.

I grew up boating and got my wife into it early in our relationship. We had boats pretty much the entire time our kids were growing up and once they were grown, my wife and I started cruising extensively on our 25 foot cuddy cabin trailer boat.



The cuddy was low on amenities, but it had a stepped hull, 24 degrees of deadrise, big block power, and could effortlessly cruise at 35 knots all day. It was also easy to tow at 70 MPH with our diesel pickup. We used the speed and flexibility to our advantage and took that boat to the best cruising spots in the north east US and south east Canada, cruising mostly protected waters to make use of the speed. We had fantastic vacations on that boat and spent more than 15 days straight on it several times.



After one 17 day cruise ended, we were saddened to be getting off the boat and realized that if we could be happy for 17 days straight on a 25 foot sport boat, we should just live on a boat. A year or so later, we owned our Tollycraft 44 and were putting our house on the market.



It's been 2 years since we sold our house, we now live on the boat half the year and in a one bedroom beach condo, 1500 feet from the boat, the other half. Having the time of our lives.

Mine was an unusual find considering the extensive amount of work done to it and it's rare design. Could not pass it up. Owned for three years now and love it. Its a continuous work in progress, but all the majors have been addressed and over-built.

Mischief Managed said:

I grew up boating and got my wife into it early in our relationship. We had boats pretty much the entire time our kids were growing up and once they were grown, my wife and I started cruising extensively on our 25 foot cuddy cabin trailer boat.



The cuddy was low on amenities, but it had a stepped hull, 24 degrees of deadrise, big block power, and could effortlessly cruise at 35 knots all day. It was also easy to tow at 70 MPH with our diesel pickup. We used the speed and flexibility to our advantage and took that boat to the best cruising spots in the north east US and south east Canada, cruising mostly protected waters to make use of the speed. We had fantastic vacations on that boat and spent more than 15 days straight on it several times.

After one 17 day cruise ended, we were saddened to be getting off the boat and realized that if we could be happy for 17 days straight on a 25 foot sport boat, we should just live on a boat. A year or so later, we owned our Tollycraft 44 and were putting our house on the market.

It's been 2 years since we sold our house, we now live on the boat half the year and in a one bedroom beach condo, 1500 feet from the boat, the other half. Having the time of our lives.

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Nice story! Have you any photos of the 25' cuddy cabin. Sounds like your family really loved that boat! What make and model was that comfortably fast cruiser? Bet she established many fond memories for each in your family.

My upbringing was aboard several boats; started with a 16' outboard engine cuddy cabin. For its size... a fairly well appointed 1948 23' Chris Craft Express holds some of the best memories, although we had bunches of great fun on all our family boats. Till we 3 boys out soon grew the 23' Chris... we spent much spring, summer, fall time [occasionally weeks] aboard the Chris as a family. 38' raised deck sportfish sedan was a great fun boat soon after. Aboard those two and one other "in between" boat, sometimes we'd spend dad's full 4 week summer vacation aboard doing NE inland water ways and often including coastal trips with stayovers at Block Island, Boston Harbor, Martha's Vineyard, Mystic Port, Penobscot Bay and other locations.

Boats are fun!! Tolly's are a well built blast!!!

I grew up boating, so I knew I'd buy a boat at some point. I wasn't really at a point where I expected to buy a boat yet, but my parents got divorced and my grandmother decided it was time to put her boat up for sale. At that point, I decided I couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy the boat I grew up on and took the "I don't care, I'll find a way to make this work" attitude. So in the end, I got a good deal on a boat I knew the history of and had spent my entire childhood boating on. 2.5 years and some upgrades and other work later, it's been a good decision for everything except my wallet.

Of course, getting insurance on a 38 foot boat the first time around being fairly young and never having owned a boat was interesting. Quite a few companies didn't seem to care much about the bit where I learned on this exact boat as a child and had been at the helm of it on and off for years.

It is very simple for us an another member caught it well. Being in, on around, traversing, at dock, whatever it is when you are on the water for us it is the best, happiest and prettiest place to be. Very calming and I assure the best nights of sleep we get anywhere.

We even unexpectedly weathered a really bad storm night at the dock three peas tucked in a pod we still felt safe and dry in!

I also agree there is nothing usually rationale about the decision or the expense. Irrational actions lead to awesome returns on the happiness quota in my book!
Our approach is to do it in a measured way right now and enjoying everything we learn as we go.

Art said:

Nice story! Have you any photos of the 25' cuddy cabin. Sounds like your family really loved that boat! What make and model was that comfortably fast cruiser? Bet she established many fond memories for each in your family.

My upbringing was aboard several boats; started with a 16' outboard engine cuddy cabin. For its size... a fairly well appointed 1948 23' Chris Craft Express holds some of the best memories, although we had bunches of great fun on all our family boats. Till we 3 boys out soon grew the 23' Chris... we spent much spring, summer, fall time [occasionally weeks] aboard the Chris as a family. 38' raised deck sportfish sedan was a great fun boat soon after. Aboard those two and one other "in between" boat, sometimes we'd spend dad's full 4 week summer vacation aboard doing NE inland water ways and often including coastal trips with stayovers at Block Island, Boston Harbor, Martha's Vineyard, Mystic Port, Penobscot Bay and other locations.

Boats are fun!! Tolly's are a well built blast!!!

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Sounds like we have some of the same stomping grounds and the same taste in boats.



The cuddy was a 2000 Regal 2550LSC that we bought in 2005 and sold in 2018. It was by no means perfect, but we used it extensively, spoiled it with tons of upgrades, and maintained it meticulously.



The 2550LSC was a bit ahead of it's time styling-wise and was not a big seller for Regal. It was designed by David Livingston (owner of Ranger Tugs and Cutwater Boats) and had many clever features that we liked.

N4061 said:

Having owned a few trawlers and now having a blast learning something totally new (sailing) on a 16' boat is great. The level of enjoyment for us is the same as with our boats costing 15X more $$.

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I echo the above statements. I have owned 10 boats since 1995, from 30' to 54', Sport fishers, trawlers, go fast, etc. I loved all of them and all of them consumed a lot of my money for maintenance, slippage, insurance, etc. I am now driving a 22' Duffy Cuddy cabin, complete with head, smart TV & refrigerator. The cost, new, was 1/4th the cost of my last boat, less expensive slip, yearly maintenance is $1.9K (annual contract which includes washing, waxing, diver, cleaning the inside, etc.) and is more enjoyable than the big boats as I use it a more often and it burns "0" gallons of fuel/year! After owning big boats since 1995, I finally figured out that what I really enjoyed was being on the water! This is the most economical way I've found to still be on the water without all the hassles & expense of the diesel powered boats.

Codger2
What is your run time on your battery charge? Very nice looking boat.

For our retirement vessel I am interested to ensure as much alternative energy as possible to support requirements. For many reasons footprint, redundancy, expense in use.

I like your vessel.

Reality is the most time I have spent on a boat has been on an 18ft skiff with an outboard! One of those scenarios that size does not matter the views are the same!

Codger2 said:

I echo the above statements. I have owned 10 boats since 1995, from 30' to 54', Sport fishers, trawlers, go fast, etc. I loved all of them and all of them consumed a lot of my money for maintenance, slippage, insurance, etc. I am now driving a 22' Duffy Cuddy cabin, complete with head, smart TV & refrigerator. The cost, new, was 1/4th the cost of my last boat, less expensive slip, yearly maintenance is $1.9K (annual contract which includes washing, waxing, diver, cleaning the inside, etc.) and is more enjoyable than the big boats as I use it a more often and it burns "0" gallons of fuel/year! After owning big boats since 1995, I finally figured out that what I really enjoyed was being on the water! This is the most economical way I've found to still be on the water without all the hassles & expense of the diesel powered boats.

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That’s awesome. I agree and really enjoy my pontoon boat at the lake cabin but for the PNW a bigger trawler is needed to spend weeks at a time. Is the marina charging you for the extra kw’s of electricity used to recharge your batteries? If enough electric boats are there I think they’d have too!

Friends and Akeeva's previous owners, who we had buddy boated with to Alaska, mentioned they were ready to sell. The care and upgrades they'd lavished on the boat made it particularly appealing, even though I wasn't seriously boat shopping at the time.

We quickly got serious about boats and looked at a few other under-50-foot full displacement powerboats. We liked Krogen 44s, but they were newer and out of our budget. Both my wife and I greatly preferred the layout of the N50 to the newer sub-50-foot Nordhavns we looked at. I think the salon space is largely what sold us, it feels much larger and more open than the same space on 43, 46, or 47 Nordhavns.

I also really appreciate that we can cruise at 9 knots if we want, and 7.5 knots is our typical "slow, economical, not in any rush" speed. Both are quite a bit faster than other, similarly sized Ns.

Ultimately, though, it came down to availability and convenience. Akeeva was in the right place and we made the timing work out. There weren't any brokers involved and it was a pleasure working with the previous owners. I'm sure we would have been really happy with any number of boats, but after a couple of years and extensive west coast cruising, we're still very happy with the boat we chose.

i would love to get hit by the "can't pass up" bus... who knows! LOL! And Yes... I often think about Insurance... but that's covered in MANY other threads. Love all the stories!

My family always had something that floated. Grandpa built steel trawlers, Dad owned a number of smaller 20'-26' weekenders/fishing boats. We bought our fist "bigger" boat in 1998. It was a 1986 SeaRay Sundowner 24'. We had a blast in that boat, mostly trailered it around the PNW or followed Dad up to the San Juans. Lots of fishing/diving/crabbing. We sold the boat, built a house, showed horses for a number of years. Then decided to sell all the horse stuff and try a cheaper bigger boat we could stay on for a few days at a time. We started out looking at Bayliners and CHB's (could not afford a nice Grand Banks as that was the one the Wife Had to have). We set a price cap, and figured if we bought it, and loved it that would be great, and it would be a stepping stone to a bigger one. But if we bought it and hated it, we could afford to lose ½ of the cost and it would not be a huge deal.
I took the wife up to Bannanabelt boats so she could see/get on a lot of different kinds. She fell in love with a clean Egg harbor of 46'. I was surprised as it’s a sport fisher, I did not think she would ever go for something like that, I love them! We made an offer of 1/2 of asking price. They said no... On the way home we found a 33' Egg Harbor in Everett with a covered slip, stopped in to look at it, made an offer and bought it. (Funny story is the first 46' Egg harbor we made an offer on sat at the dealer for another year and ended up selling for less than my offer). Anyhow once back in my home port of Everett I spotted a boat that had been in the area since the 1990's. I loved the lines of that boat forever. It was a 48' Egg Harbor...
We restored the 33', met the owner of the 48' and I joked about always lusting after that boat back when I was in High School. And if he ever wanted to sell it to let me know. He said thanks, showed us around the boat but said it would never be for sale…
About 1.5 years later (the 33' is restored and running perfect) the owner of the 48 called and said "your future boat is going up for sale in 3 months, if you want it the price is .... There are no negotiations. You have 3 Months to sell your boat and pay me in full.
He offered up the keys, we took a look and decided we might as well do it now before we are too old to restore another boat.
I was excited but scared, the 33 Egg harbor was in near perfect shape and we had a blast on it. We dumped a ton of time and $$ into that boat. I was fearful that we would never get out what we had into it, as it is still and old fishing boat. I talked to a local friend about it and what I had planned to ask for the 33’. He said I was way out of line on my price. I explained all the things that we did to the boat and it was in near perfect shape! He said, no no no, you need to ask MORE for it. So I let him list it (he is a broker), he sold it in a few days’ time with a full price offer. We then had a full survey done on the 48’. Paid for it and have been restoring this one for the last year. I will say it was a big jump from the 33 to the 48. But after a few trips its easier to maneuver than the 33 was.
Most say we are crazy for spending what we did at our age and our income level, it’s too old, it’s too big, and it’s outdated. But I think we have more fun on this boat than any other. And we use it more than 70% of the people on our dock use theirs. It was a huge deal for us cash wise. We are a long way off to retirement, but we each love it. And can’t really see ourselves not having it. Our current plan is to keep it another 10 years. Then sell and buy something with a bit more covered room and a bit newer.

I've always had a passing interest in boats. Eventually, my wife started pushing for us to get a boat. Started small and worked up to (slightly) bigger boats. So far the C-Dory 22 suits our use case (she's the one who said we had to get one of those).

Got to do what the wife says (and act before she changes her mind).

purpose-built delivery boat

After retiring to Guam I thought I would spend a lot of time
under the mango tree, but it is not working out that way.

The people of the Western Pacific and the Philippines are spread over hundreds of small islands. Only a few are serviced by regular freight
operations leaving many without dependable links. There are
non-profit organizations collecting school supplies, medical
supplies, and the like for distribution to these smaller islands.

However, transport to the smaller islands is very difficult.
Some islands are visited less than once a year. People die for
the lack of medicines we routinely buy at K-Mart. Much of this
is within 400 miles of Guam.

Out of this, the dream of a purpose-built delivery boat
began to develop.

Btw, the name of Boatgm`s boat "Carabao",is Filipino for water buffalo.

I saw mine for sale in one of the online boat dealers and flew to Baltimore to see her. The survey was good so I put in an offer and bought her. I’m the second owner and have stayed in touch with the guy who had her built, he asked if I wanted to sell her back to him. I am happiest when on the boat, whether traveling or in the slip doing projects. Nothing like climbing aboard when you’ve been away for a week or two, just a great feeling.

bowball said:

Is the marina charging you for the extra kw’s of electricity used to recharge your batteries? !

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NO. My electricity use is in the slip fee which is in line with competing marinas who charge extra for the electricity. (Meters)

maggiecat1003 said:

Codger2 What is your run time on your battery charge?

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If I run down to a 80% discharge, when back in the slip and plugged in to shore power, the boat is at 100% the next morning. I really don't know how many hours that takes! Since my Balmar SOC gauge has time remaining to full charge, I haven't really checked it or have been interested enough since I bought the boat 15 months ago. My range on a full charge is just under 40 miles and that is at 5.5 knots. This boat is a bay and lake boat. It's quite an exciting ride when the waves are at 2 feet+. The boat will take it but I can't.

I owe it to my late father for infecting me with the boat bug. Growing up we had an old 15' Starcraft powered by a Mercury Mark 35 that provided many fun memories. My passion for the boating lifestyle was further stoked while working summers at a local marina from age 13 through high school. My wife and I still have our first boat, a 1971 Barracuda tunnel that we restored in the early 90's.
We purchased Long Shot in 2015 and absolutely love her. She has all of the creature comforts and features we were looking for.

tpfbdf said:

Why did you buy your boat? How did you decide to make that most irrational of financial decisions to buy a boat? What was that final “thing” (or multiple “things”) that motivated you to bite the bullet, make that leap, take the plunge, throw caution to the wind, etc. …?

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I didn’t.

My wife and I looked at a boat in Palm Beach on our way to Savannah. Riding down our hotel escalator my phone rang. It was the broker asking for our thoughts on the boat. My wife immediately grabbed the phone from me and said “We want it!” So much for negotiation.

cafesport said:

I didn’t.

My wife and I looked at a boat in Palm Beach on our way to Savannah. Riding down our hotel escalator my phone rang. It was the broker asking for our thoughts on the boat. My wife immediately grabbed the phone from me and said “We want it!” So much for negotiation.

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Wifey B: Hubby is such a good negotiator and can hide his feelings so well. Me, not so well, more transparent, although equally good at the poker table. I remember when we looked at our home the first time. There was no question I wanted it. He did just as much but he sure negotiated well and the agent was very scared we'd walk away.

Ok, my official answer to the question of "Why did you buy your boat?"

To get to the other side.

My grandfather and dad always had old crappy boats growing up. When I was in middle school my dad bought a new 21' trophy to salmon fish in Lake Ontario with, I remember it being a big deal at the time. We spent weekends, mostly guy weekends on it fishing as my brother and I were 10 years older than our little sister. I loved being on the water and loved learning to dock the boat in my teens.

I bought my first boat at 21 while in college, a Chris Craft 22' sport cruiser. I rented a slip on the Niagara River, and would spend every waking moment on the boat, when not working. My girlfriend at that time, was brand new to boats, but fell in love with floating on the water and spending weekends in the small cuddy. We wanted more "hang out" room, so ended up with a go fast open bow boat, that we would trailer everywhere with our camper.

Fast forward 15 years, GF is now my wife, 2 active kids (another one cooking) and covid scaring everyone. I decided we were not going to use the open bow boat with a new born and money in the bank would be a wiser options. I sold the open bow boat for 1000 bucks less than we paid for it, and stashed the cash. That spring we were walking in a local marina, looking at bigger boats and decided that we would keep an open mind for something the whole family could fit on, the new baby could nap on, and we could spend weekend on. I've always dreamed of traveling by water, I was dead set on a trawler and joined this forum.

I asked a few questions here, and BandB suggested that time was more valuable than $$ at the moment, so to look for something with speed. Great advice, I took it and fell in love with sport fish style-ish boats (always loved them and their lines, but never really looked close at them as an option). I scoured the internet for something that would fit us, could still fish as I wanted to get back into salmon fishing, but was nice enough to spend a week or so on. We looked at Silverton Convertibles, Tiaras, loved the Tolly Crafts, even Bayliner 32 and 38's and, like another in this thread, decided on a 33 Bert FBC. Drove 7 hours to view a "mint" 33 Sport, and knew it was the wrong boat.

Kept looking and a week after our 3rd child was born, found a 36' Hatteras on FB Marketplace. My wife, who is holding our 1 week old daughter, gave me the green light to run to MI and look at it quick. The moment I stepped foot on that Hatt, I loved it. It was everything I said I wouldn't buy, but it worked, fit the fam, was in far better shape than anything else I looked and that Hatteras quality really showed. I couldn't make the deal work at first, as it needed a few things and my offer was made accordingly. On the way home my father said "Boy, that sure was a nice boat. I really wanted that to work out for you". That really made me think

Life is short, two days later I owned it, and met in the middle on price.

Never owned a twin engine boat, never stepped foot on a fly bridge, never had a boat bigger than 26', but I bought it and brought her home, 700ish miles on her own bottom, crossing two Great Lakes, the NY Canal system with a bunch of locks and bridges. It was a blast that I was able to share with my son and Father.

So, to answer your question I think it was family that made me buy the boat. The ironic part is that the same family (busy active kids), may be the force of the sale of it at some point LOL. My wallet always questions the decision, but for now our love for water wins out.

Key to me was this was another adventure to learn, about navigation, etc. and to maintain my connection to the water, especially the PNW I love so much.