Our first weekend in our new Camano 31

Checklist:
-Nesting and settling in
-Move to new slip
-Docking in/out of slip w/o damage to boat, boathouse, or neighbor's boats
-Cruise to fuel dock w/o grounding
-Dock at fuel dock w/o explosion
-Put fuel in fuel tank, water in water tank and not the other way around
-Wake up dry in VBerth
-Socialize at Yacht Club w/o public humiliation

So far, so good.

I hope to have as successful a first weekend someday.

I'm assuming a "new to you" Camano as they haven't been made for about ten years.


If you're new to boating or to a single screw boat, I suggest hiring an experienced captain for a few hours of lessons. Don't make the mistake I made, I hired a captain and his first words were "I've never driven a boat like this before."


All the things you mention will come to you soon but don't ever take it too casually.

Greetings,
Mr. m. Woohoo! Gotta love an uneventful first night. Good for you! You look like one happy camper.

ok take a deep breath! Its not that bad.

Heck ya!!! Congrats!!!

I've seen that smile before....it was on the face of a youngster after getting the Christmas present he wanted.


Congrats on your new boat and your first time aboard.

Congratulations on your new boat. We chartered one for a week some years ago in the PNW and found it to be a nice, comfortable cruising trawler. It cruised nicely at 7 kts but would speed up to 13-14 kts when necessary to push through an adverse current.

Consider removing the table in the main salon and use folding TV tables as necessary for dining. The existing table takes up a lot of the room in the salon. Also our boat at least, had an interesting foldup lower helm chair. If you have one, unfold it at the dock and see how it works. The only time I ever helmed my fly bridge trawler from below was in 6-8 seas and I wonder how that chair would stay in place in those conditions.

David

Well done, Chuck! Ain't it a great feeling? Welcome to the club.

Thanx:

WesK said:

I'm assuming a "new to you" Camano as they haven't been made for about ten years.


If you're new to boating or to a single screw boat, I suggest hiring an experienced captain for a few hours of lessons. Don't make the mistake I made, I hired a captain and his first words were "I've never driven a boat like this before."


All the things you mention will come to you soon but don't ever take it too casually.

Click to expand...

WesK,
Our Voyager is a 2002 Camano Troll, Hull #171, with a hailing port of Freeport, TX. She was moved from the Gulf Coast to Lake Texoma by a couple planning to do the Great Loop when life interfered.
We started thinking boat life three years ago while caregiving elderly parents, and to that end, we spent a week training on a 40' trawler cruising from Dania Beach down to Boca Chita Kay, anchoring along the way. It was a very hands on experience, and we both gained some confidence in boat handling.
There are no other Camanos berthed on Lake Texoma - it is currently the only one that we know of in Texas.
We are definitely not in the "casual" group - Chuck is a lifelong pilot, works in aviation navaids and lighting field, electrical engineer, and mechanical "whisperer." I'm all in as first mate - and plan to be just as competent at handling the boat as I can be! Our slip neighbor is in the Coast Guard Auxiliary and another is a USPG instructor, so we are surrounded by good input.
Most of all we are deliriously happy to be on our own boat :

HeadedToTexas said:

I hope to have as successful a first weekend someday.

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When are you headed to Texas? And whereabouts?

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. m. Woohoo! Gotta love an uneventful first night. Good for you! You look like one happy camper.

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How did you get this video of Chuck?

High Wire said:

ok take a deep breath! Its not that bad.

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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.

Repair then replace

djmarchand said:

Congratulations on your new boat. We chartered one for a week some years ago in the PNW and found it to be a nice, comfortable cruising trawler. It cruised nicely at 7 kts but would speed up to 13-14 kts when necessary to push through an adverse current.

Consider removing the table in the main salon and use folding TV tables as necessary for dining. The existing table takes up a lot of the room in the salon. Also our boat at least, had an interesting foldup lower helm chair. If you have one, unfold it at the dock and see how it works. The only time I ever helmed my fly bridge trawler from below was in 6-8 seas and I wonder how that chair would stay in place in those conditions.

David

Click to expand...

I've definitely given thought to replacing the table with a folding one - I have not thought about removing it altogether. We need to live with things as they are a bit, so we can see how we'll use it. One of the screws on the table mount is stripped so the table tends to slide down after a bit of use. We'll see how well we can repair it - or if repair leads to replace . . . isn't that the normal process?

macp said:

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.

Click to expand...

Know when to hold them and know when to sit back and just enjoy the fact you are relaxed and at a dock.

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.

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!

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.

We understand your joy.

macp said:

I've definitely given thought to replacing the table with a folding one - I have not thought about removing it altogether. We need to live with things as they are a bit, so we can see how we'll use it. One of the screws on the table mount is stripped so the table tends to slide down after a bit of use. We'll see how well we can repair it - or if repair leads to replace . . . isn't that the normal process?

Click to expand...

I suggest living with things as they are for a good while (with any boat) before deciding to change things around.

As for the table leg, it's a standard seat mount so you can replace it if you can't repair it. If the screw (knob) is stripped, that's an easy fix. If the threads in the post are stripped, that's a little harder but a machine shop could do it.

For a temporary fix, measure the height you want (from the floor to the bottom of the table), cut a piece of 2X2 (I'm guessing) lumber that length, loosen both screws, pull the table all the way out of the posts and put your new "stick" in the base and replace the table. That will hold it at a fixed height. To make things simple, use two sticks, one in each leg so the table is automatically level.

We get a lot of use from our table so I've never modified it.

Thanx:

dennis1x said:

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.

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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!!!

markpierce said:

We understand your joy.

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

Thanx:

BruceK said:

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.

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Thanks for the encouraging words, BruceK.

Congratulations!! Hope you have many more!!

Thanx: Another Cajun here

Steve said:

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!

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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

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.

porman said:

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.

Click to expand...

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.

macp said:

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

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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!!

macp said:

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.

Click to expand...

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!!!

Cruising update

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" ?.