New Member - PAC NW

I hope I don’t get bashed - seems to be an assumption by some others that being a Bayliner owner is the equivalent of submitting to a voluntary frontal lobotomy. I beg to differ.

We take care of a Bayliner 4788 based out of Skyline Marina I’m Anacortes Washington (I subscribe to the POV that you don’t own a boat, it kinda sorta owns you). A 4788 is not a trawler by definition, but by our temperaments, running speed, and how we travel it’s a trawler (except when we have to spool up the turbos every so often).

This is our second “new series” Bayliner - the first being a 3988 from 1995-2000. I’ve owned Wellcraft, Pacemaker, Ericsson (my early life detour into sailing), and Tollycraft. Along the way I learned that every experience had some compromise - including this one now that I’m retired.

Yes, I’m still wrestling with a couple small cabin leaks and service access is horrible; an upside for our mechanic who is 5’7”, about 160, old, experienced, wiry, and up for the challenges. But having experienced a significant “oops” with our 3988 I know firsthand that the hull and mechanical systems are more or less bulletproof.

Our boats have not been Marina queens. We ran up almost 200 hours in 2019 cruising the PAC NW islands. This year we’ll probably hit 250 with about 6 weeks extended time out, a guy trip to Barkley Sound on the Pacific side of Vancouver Island, and numerous weekend trips with friends and family. Heck, might push 300 hours. Since 1987 we’ve owned boats for about 15 of the years since we moved here and logged well over 1500 hours in the PAC NW on A Formula, Carvers, Tollycrafts, and Bayliners.

I decided to finally sign on to the Trawler Forum to expand my DIY knowledge base. I hope I can contribute as well.

BR
Gordon

Welcome aboard. The 4788 is a great boat.

Welcome Gordon, I also keep mine at Skyline.

"Assumptions are the mother of all F___ups!"

Those who bash on Bayliners are clearly not aware that they are good quality boats with none of the rumored problems the internet (and popular opinion) says there is. Been doing marine insurance for 2 decades, and there are zero ongoing problems with any Bayliners from the claims standpoint.

Therefore- enjoy it and welcome!

Pete

Gordon
Welcome aboard TF.
I think you will find some experienced Bayliner owners and supporters here.
Most of the Bayliner bashing is a carryover from their smaller run abouts and N/A to your class of vessel.
I got started boating with a smaller Bayliner and did more boating & cruising with it than those that turned up their nose and would never own one.
Tell us more about yourself and your cruising and by all means post some pics.

Welcome. Bayliners are a great boat and allowed the middle class family to get into boating.

Bayliner 4788 is a lot of boat for the money and is well suited for PNW cruising. I find it more sensible for the PNW then a Nordhavn.

Welcome aboard, and maybe we will cross paths this summer?

Looking forward to making some new friends. Might even need to spring for a burgee!

Bacchus - to your question: Retired tech sales, marketing, ops, management both hardware and software. Made a whopping $1400 in startup tech stock options. Per Patti, the shirts lasted longer than the companies.

When I was ten, my Dad gave me a 5hp Evinrude to use with a friend two weeks every summer in N Wisconsin. That did it for me both boating and fishing. I’ve owned boats for about 25% of my adult life. (Including a couple sailboats.). Moved to the Seattle are in 1987 bringing a used Formula up from the Bay Area where I fished both salmon and sturgeon. The Formula became a Carver 28 and then a 32 sedan. I was taught PAC NW salmon fishing by one of the best. Work took over in the early 90s but couldn’t stay away. Next up a Tolly 26 for o months leading to a new Bayliner 3988 for 5 years. Then building a house AND work took over. Then cars. Then retirement and a trip to the Blackrock resort in Uculet on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. Seeing Barkley Sound again did it. Fell prey to the premier provider of boat porn - Yachtworld. Patti caught me red-handed but the next thing I know we’re in a 1990 Tolly 44. 18 months later our 1998 Bayliner 4788 Knot Home.

2020 will be our third year with the boat. Our plans are to extend our concatenation 2019 Canada trip (made it to Chatterbox Falls, had to return home, then went out again but only to the Gulf Islandsj. This year is Desolation, Octopus Islands, south end of Johnstone, and return. Planning six weeks. Patti is leading a car club ladies only tour in August so I will drop her back home and then take two weeks to revisit Barkley Sound before returning.

We are fortunate to have good friends who are also great travel companions so we’ll have quite a few long weekend cruises the rest of the year. We’re year-round boater and enjoy both the chaos of high charter season and also the solitude of off season.

I look forward to meeting some of you during the coming months!

Gordon

firehoser75 - I hope so! We have a class B AIS transceiver so keep an eye out for us if you have an AIS receiver!

Beaverlake said:

firehoser75 - I hope so! We have a class B AIS transceiver so keep an eye out for us if you have an AIS receiver!

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Just added you to our AIS stalkee list. ?

Welcome Gordon.
Your mention of stock options gone bad & T-shirts made me chuckle.

I used to laminate my worthless stock certificates onto a lampshade in my office. Got lots of nice shirts too!

May cross paths, 'ya never know. Easy boat name to remember.

Welcome aboard!

Bayliner bashing is like the boater's low-hanging fruit. Easy to do and doesn't require any knowledge or experience to participate. Those with actual knowledge and experience know that Bayliners represent a lot of boat for the money. And there are a LOT of happy Bayliner owners out there!

Welcome to TF. I like the Bayliner motor yacht series. Chartered a 4588 in the San Juans for a week many years ago and helped a guy take a 5788 from Seattle down to Stockton a few years ago.


Lots of boat for the buck.


Your boating history sounds a lot like mine. Grew up on Lake Huron with a 9' rowboat at age 5, 5hp Evinrude for it at age 7, Sailfish at age 11, but then a long dry spell to the early 80's for my next boat. College, USAF, family seemed to get in the way of boating. Now, several boats later I'm about a year away from retiring from boating and headed to an RV. It's been a great life.

Welcome aboard! No worries here, all boats are respected - they have their place. We often times remember there are as many boats as opinions because we all want something different from boating!

Moonfish said:

Welcome aboard!

Bayliner bashing is like the boater's low-hanging fruit. Easy to do and doesn't require any knowledge or experience to participate. Those with actual knowledge and experience know that Bayliners represent a lot of boat for the money. And there are a LOT of happy Bayliner owners out there!

Click to expand...

So try this: Start a Bayliner thread on the Club Sea Ray forum........


Yep trying to stir the pot over there..

Beaverlake said:

firehoser75 - I hope so! We have a class B AIS transceiver so keep an eye out for us if you have an AIS receiver!

Click to expand...

Gordon,
Yes we have AIS (Pilitak) and assuming I remember next time down to the boat, I will add you to our "stalking list".
Enjoy the new (to you) boat.
Tom

Welcome to TF Gordon - Wilson, right..? I see what you did there...

Cheers,
Tim the Toolman,

Beaverlake said:

...enjoy both the chaos of high charter season...

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That's usually when we charter and I'll say it's definitely "festive" around the San Juans in the summer. Saw you guys in Ganges this summer, you keep Knot Home in nice shape. We were docked behind the super yacht Sovereign Lady in a 40 foot Ocean. We looked out of place behind those guys. Good luck on Barkley Sound next summer, it's definitely a jewel. I've been there 5 times and there is still plenty left to see and do.

I recently joined the site so from one newbie to another, welcome.

Welcome! One question I had was why the short run with the Tolly? Seams as if anyone that ever had one kept it for as long as they could.

Good question - one that I've asked myself more than once. We had the Detroit "fuel misers" that had all the required updates and a mechanic who is a local Detroit guru (gave them a clean bill of health). The boat had Sidepower bow and stern thrusters and a Roskelly pickle-fork davit. We had some interior work done, replaced all the waste hoses, etc. Replaced all the blinds and totally cleaned an re-oiled all the interior teak. Etc. Etc. Etc. So why?

Well, for one, the wood infrastructure that is ln the cabin and is used for mounting the flybridge housing had a lot of dry rot. Easily but not cheaply fixed. We needed a new dingy - the boat came with a waterlogged 11' Whaler and a smoky 2 cycle outboard. The use of the pickle-fork dinghy required serious additional bracing of the transom and blocked the swim step from practical use. The electronics needed replacing (which, admittedly, I also did on the 4788). Both heads were raw water and with 2 x 20 gal holding tanks filled quickly and smelled - not a cheap fix. The window frames would have needed removal and rework or replacement. The aft cabin walls needed re-papering. All the drapes needed replacement. A lot of the monkey fir in the aft cabin needed replacement and exhibited signs on engines that needed better air flow. One of the two lazerette hatches had a waterlogged core and needed some serious work. The only heat was wall-mounted electric. And I deluded myself that changing boats would require less additional "fix it" capital outlay.

If I knew then what I knew now would I make the change again? Hard to say definitively. Updating the Tolly might have cost more than what we've spent on the 4788 updates but our overall cashflow is a bit more than the Tolly as a result of the additional cash outlay. The Tolly aft cabin berth was easier to deal with than the 4788 v-berth but the headroom was almost claustrophobic. The Tolly hull design is better in a "beam-ish" seaway, but did suffer from snap-roll. The 4788 is quite sensitive to beam sea rolling, but that's overcome by "jibing" and treating larger seas like I'm piloting a sailboat downwind. Neither hull "oil canned". The Tolly water was 140 gals, the 4788 200 gals. The pilothouse design really is far superior for our needs. We really like the big salon with all the windows. Did I mention the pilothouse? We have tons of storage. The 4788 is surprisingly economical at 7-8 knots, not much more fuel consumption overall than the Tolly (5-7 gph including generator and 15 minute stints of high speed every 2-3 hours). Insurance, moorage, maint, fees, etc. are virtually the same. Interior volume on the 4788 is much larger.

So for Pac NW coastal cruising I think we are better served by the 4788.

Pau Hana said:

"Assumptions are the mother of all F___ups!"

Those who bash on Bayliners are clearly not aware that they are good quality boats with none of the rumored problems the internet (and popular opinion) says there is. Been doing marine insurance for 2 decades, and there are zero ongoing problems with any Bayliners from the claims standpoint.

Therefore- enjoy it and welcome!

Pete

Click to expand...

Exactly. They put a lot of people into boats over the years thus expanding recreational boating. That helps everyone that cares about the marine industry.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

So try this: Start a Bayliner thread on the Club Sea Ray forum........


Yep trying to stir the pot over there..

Click to expand...

That's just mean spirited.