Closed on New Boat Today

After putting the cart before the horse for the last few weeks, and asking all sorts of questions before the purchase, today I became the proud owner of MEANNDER.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, she is a 1997 Camano Troll, with just under 700 hours on her. I've already asked a few questions about several topics, but I'm sure I'll find a zillion other things to discuss once I take possession. I hope to do that either Friday or Saturday, depending a bit on my schedule and weather. Plan is to get her nice and comfy in her boat house, and get to work. But first things first, deciding on the proper pronunciation of Camano.



And yes, pictures to follow, once I get her down to Tacoma.

I debated quite a while whether to keep the name Meannder. I'm not particularly fond of it, especially with the odd spelling. BUT, since she is still floating, she must be happy with her old name and such, so I'll let her be, at least for the time being. I've done it both ways: Kept the name Koinonia on a Pondersa I had for several years, and traded in the name Last Waltz for Celtic Knot on my last 4388 Bayliner. In both instances, it seemed like the right thing at the time, and both boats seemed happy while I had them, So we'll leave Meannder be....for now, keeping an open mind in case she seems to want a change of pace.


toni

Congratulation for your new baby!

L

Amen to that. Can't wait to see the photos. Have a safe journey to Tacoma.

I'd recommend taking the inside route through swinomish channel. Much more protected.

Congrats, nice boat. We also elected not to re-name when we purchased last year.

Congratulations on the new boat! I changed the name on my trawler, but waited a year to do so. Easier to pick a new name without time pressure. Sometimes you just stumble on to one that just fits.

Ted

thanks all for the comments. WEather looks good for the weekend, so i'll likely move her saturday and sunday. Not decided on the route yet. If its decent with little wind, I'll take the outside. If in doubt, I'll head down the Swinomish. tides aren't too bad on Saturday, so either way should be fine. Probably stop in Everett.

ctjstr said:

thanks all for the comments. WEather looks good for the weekend, so i'll likely move her saturday and sunday. Not decided on the route yet. If its decent with little wind, I'll take the outside. If in doubt, I'll head down the Swinomish. tides aren't too bad on Saturday, so either way should be fine. Probably stop in Everett.

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The issue is not so much the tides as it is the wind especially along the east entrance of the straight. Not sure what you are looking at, but my forecast (predictwind.com) is calling for up to 30 knot sustained west winds (gust 40) on the Euro model (25 knots American) on Saturday AM along the the west side of Whidbey. That's 3'-5' waves blasting your starboard beam for 2.5 hours.

The other option is go take a look at the straight, and you can always hang a left and go inside through Deception Pass at the 12PM slack on Saturday.

Of course forecasts are subject to change, but why push it. It's a new-to-you-boat and the last thing you want is a white-knuckle first experience. Take it easy, get to know the boat, enjoy the trip down = inside route.

If the actual winds are anywhere close to that, I'll head down through Laconner. I wasn't looking at the wind forecasts, just overall weather.

thanks

ctjstr said:

If the actual winds are anywhere close to that, I'll head down through Laconner. I wasn't looking at the wind forecasts, just overall weather.

thanks

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I'd break that habit as soon as possible

Congrats sir! If you don't like the name then I would change it. Is it painted on or with stickers? Hopefully the latter! I changed my boats name before I even bought it. It was easy because when we did the USCG transfer paperwork I did it. My boat only had 2 name stickers on the transom so it was fairly easy to remove them and then add my new vinyl graphics. There was a slight fade from the old name but it's hardly noticeable now.

As far as the pronunciation.....I say Ca-mah-no. But the previous owner was a Ca-may-no guy!

My brother, though a Californian, who lives on Camano Island, WA pronounces the island name as KA- MAN- O

There's a video somewhere that shows Bob Warman, the designer and original builder, explaining that it is pronounced Ca-mah-no. We went with the American version, Cam-may-no.

ctjstr said:

If the actual winds are anywhere close to that, I'll head down through Laconner. I wasn't looking at the wind forecasts, just overall weather.

thanks

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Were you looking at waves? You need to immediately familiarize yourself with some marine forecasts and start understanding them. I'd suggest just one quickly, but there are many to use. But go to windy.com and move through the weekend on it. Use the menu on the side and use both models shown there. Look at winds and look at wave, both wind waves and swells.

Oh YAY! Congratulations!!!!!!!

Congratulations! Where is the boat now?

South of Heaven said:

As far as the pronunciation.....I say Ca-mah-no. But the previous owner was a Ca-may-no guy!

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Shortened last name of Jacinto Caamaño. Pronounced Ca-MAN-yo.
If you rename the boat you must appease Poseidon or bad juju will result.

porman said:

There's a video somewhere that shows Bob Warman, the designer and original builder, explaining that it is pronounced Ca-mah-no. We went with the American version, Cam-may-no.

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Yeah, I actually love those old videos with the English guy! I watched them all one night and was obsessed with all things Camano after that.

Bob Cofer said:

Congratulations! Where is the boat now?

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Cap Sante in Annacortes. Until about 10 tomorrow morning.

BandB said:

Were you looking at waves? You need to immediately familiarize yourself with some marine forecasts and start understanding them. I'd suggest just one quickly, but there are many to use. But go to windy.com and move through the weekend on it. Use the menu on the side and use both models shown there. Look at winds and look at wave, both wind waves and swells.

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Use them all the time. My post was misunderstood. I had not checked winds yet. I've found wind prediction to be pretty sketchy more that a couple days out. I've been on the water more than 40 years and I tend to be pretty careful. Everyone can have a bad day, but like most folks I try to keep them to a minimum.

As it turned out, winds were bad until this morning. I only made the decision to go pretty late in the evening. By then the predictions were pretty consistent and showed fine conditions by mid morning. Worked out great. Sunny skies for the most part and seas a foot or less.
Parked for the evening in Everett and will head home at first light. But...See next post.

....so picking up the boat was great, as far as the weather goes.

But we still managed to make it exciting.

To start, I've got a torn tendon in my arm. Likely on the way to surgery although I'll drag my feet as long as I can. It does tend to make me baby things though. Just as we were loading up, I grabbed a rail and remembered how bad it hurt. Made me cry like a baby.

So, my friend Russ is left to do most of the heavy lifting and toting. Ok, no problem.
But then....we tied up here in Everett. I lifted the engine hatch cover to check something and Russ stepped backwards....and down into the engine space. Made him cry like a baby.

So by now he's all busted up and can't walk to dinner. So I ended up walking to pick up dinner for 2 to go...and could barely carry it to the boat.

So tomorrow we'll get all aspirined up and see if we can get back home without any more mishaps...and deal with the fact that I forgot to leave a car at the yacht club to get home in. Boats nice though. I'll take pictures when I can lift my arm enough to hold a camera.

Jeeze, sorry about your injury! Congrats about the boat delivery. Get better soon.

The hits kept on coming.
The fun didn't stop until the key was turned off.
Weather was beautiful coming down from Everett to Tacoma, but a tad bit windy. By the time we motored past Shilshole, we were in up to 3 ft following seas. Since the boat is new to me, I've not had enough seat time to match speed to wave action very well. Not particularly dangerous, but made for an uncomfortable ride. I've never had an autopilot, but it was a lifesaver. As we'd get a push from behind, in ALMOST every case, the auto pilot caught Meannder before she meandered too far. Almost being the operative word. In one particularly bad stretch, the following wave got a good hold on us and snapped us pretty hard. Hard enough that the helm seat (I knew I hated that thing) tipped over and dumped my buddy Russ on his keester. Kind of like tipping over in a high chair. I even spilled my coffee.
I'm not sure that poor boy will ever ride with me again, stepping back into the engine space and getting dumped on the deck, all in one trip. To complete the disaster, he had a wad of chewing tobacco in his mouth, and after jumping up off the deck, it was out the back door to heave over the side. Putting aside the potential for serious injury, it was pretty funny. This all from a guy who's 76 yrs old. Not sure what he has planned for his 80th birthday.

At least no permanent injuries. Wounded pride? you bet. Reinforcement about the evils of that helm hair, even with the little outriggers deployed..you bet.

We did finally make it back home to Tacoma, and Meannder is safe in her house. And I'm a bit wiser about how she acts in various conditions. One day I'll remember the camera.

Congratulations. Nevertheless, consider it wise to give your new boat a proper blessing/prayer. That has worked for me.

I disengage autopilot in any kind of decent seas but especially following seas. I find my reaction time much more swift than autopilot, plus I can see and predict what is coming. Autopilot is only going to start correcting yaw once compass readings start changing, and if you are riding a wave, by the time autopilot notices a changing compass it's often far too late to start a correcting turn. In manual you will naturally start your turn to correct far sooner than autopilot will, and this may prevent a broach. In my opinion autopilot is quite dangerous to use in even moderate following seas.

Each to their own. I've dealt with following seas for decades. For this type of condition, the ap was a winner by a large margin. Certainly have to be on your toes, but in today's conditions it beat me to the punch consistently. I wouldn't do it in larger conditions.

ctjstr said:

but in today's conditions it beat me to the punch consistently.

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Not sure I understand. Autopilot is either on or off. If on, you can't use the wheel. How does it beat you to the punch if it's on?

Either way - glad you made it back safely!

It depends on the conditions whether the auto pilot gets used in a following sea. We crossed Lake Ontario in 2016 with 5 to 6’ off the starboard quarter and used the auto pilot all the way. Yes we did yaw quit a bit, but it was much easier than constantly steering. That was about as big as I would let the ap handle.

Congratulations and best wishes with your new boat. When I bought recently I considered changing the name of the boat to Meander or Menderes. As you probably know the word meander originates from the name of the Menderes river in Turkey which flows into the sea near the ancient city of Miletos which is about 30 Km from where I live. This river is called Büyük Menderes which means Great Menderes and there is a less well known and smaller river called Küçük Menderes meaning Little Menderes which flows into the sea about 10 Km from my home very close to the ancient city of Ephesus.

jhance said:

Not sure I understand. Autopilot is either on or off. If on, you can't use the wheel. How does it beat you to the punch if it's on?

Either way - glad you made it back safely!

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Heres what i meant. I've got tons of experience dealing with following seas. at 3', these were not dangerous, but uncomfortable if they got hold and spun the boat.

in the past, when dealing with this all manually, it took lots of attention and work. as you all know, there is some experience, knowlwdge, observation and intuition involved in keeping the boat headed strait.
occasionally, you may not be quite up on your game and you get knocked around.
what i found with the AP on was that it made "not on your game" mistake far less frequently than manual steering.
but, as you said, the wheel doesnt work, so i found myself using the AP, but almost hovered ober the standby button so that when i could "feel" that we were going to get knocked around a bit, i'd switch it off and deal with conditions manually. hope that explains better

toni