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Old 03-12-2013, 06:57 AM   #48
IslandEagle
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City: Toronto & Nanaimo
Vessel Name: Island Eagle
Vessel Model: DeFever
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 232
Hi Wade,

This has been a fun thread to watch. I'll throw in a few ideas too:

1) Large boats can be fun, no question about it. But when you get over 60 feet, dockage can be difficult to come by in certain areas. You should definitely have a chat with marinas in the area you keep the boat.

2) Ditto that for boatyards. If you have a 100,000 Lb + boat, that limits the number of Travelifts that can handle her. Wooden boat? Then you need a real marine railway.

3) Do you like boathandling? The larger you get, the more you have to like it. Myself, I love setting up springlines, watching the wind, and putting Island Eagle where she's supposed to be. But for other people, this would be no fun at all, in fact it would be downright terrifying.

So with your requirements in mind, there are two boats that I would be directing you to take a look at:

First is the DeFever 44/44+5.
These are nice, roomy double cabin boats, not particularly fancy but very well-built. The aft cabin is full-beam, which gives you a very liveable "back porch" on the aft deck. The cabins are well-separated, which is great if you have kids&grandkids (some of them have 4 bunks up front as well). One nice things is that the engineroom has close to full headroom. The 44+5 is the exact same boat with a 5 foot cockpit added on. There are usually about a dozen for sale on YW at any given time.

Second is the Grand Banks 49 Classic.
These were the "top of the line" Grand Banks when they were built, and they show it. They have two cabins forward, which is nice. The interior and systems were top-notch for the time, and many have been well maintained and lightly used. The engineroom is very roomy and full-headroom. Although they are now mostly about 25 years old, they are beautiful boats and very reasonably priced.

Have fun,

Scott Welch
Island Eagle
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