Sage advice as always, lady and gentlemen. I got so used to one line smartass answers/replies on social media, I forgot how much better discussion boards are for this kind of discourse. Man, I missed this format.
So once again, replying to all in one, so here we go!
If we lived within a reasonable distance of where the boats we want are, we'd be out walking docks every weekend and chatting up owners. My aforementioned trip to Maine is not to see these boats, but spend time with my family and meet my two nieces that were born during the pandemic, whom I haven't met yet. It was only a few days ago that it crossed my mind that'll I'll be close to the boats, so why not go put eyes on them to give a slight validation for all the hard work we've put in over the past two years to move towards this goal. Pictures and day dreams are one thing; seeing in person will probably light a fire under us to pick the pace up and work harder. Once we sell the houses here in UT, we will be staying with family in Maine while we go on our active search, but as to minimize travel time and burden on family. We don't want to be living at my parents house any longer than my parents want us living there. It's not that we're not welcome, but I think most of us can understand what I'm getting at. Right now, going to see ANY boat is considerable effort and is beyond what we have time for. It'd still be a stretch from Maine, but at least we're on the right coast and within a few hours flight from anything east of the Mississippi.
Someone mentioned chartering a trawler. We'd rather put that money towards education and training to start because there'll be plenty of cruising afterwards. Competency breeds confidence, which lowers stress, which builds more confidence and increases enjoyment. The sooner we can safely and comfortably enjoy it, the better.
No, I absolutely am not assuming all brokers are sheisters. I expect used car salesmen to be, but not a broker that caters to a clientele that are able to spend six figures on a depreciating asset. My personal approach to all people in all settings is that they start at 100% and their actions and words will determine where they end up on that scale. Many stay at 100%, some go over it (Pau Hana is one of them), and many drop well below what I'd consider the baseline of what I'm willing to put up with.
How we landed on a 53 Hatteras... They've withstood the test of time and earned a reputation for being some of the most battle-tested war wagons in the price range we're in. The layout is, in our opinion, the best use of available living space, or at least what we've been able to extrapolate from the listings online. There's room to work on stuff without twisting yourself into a pretzel and access to other things like electrical and pneudraulic systems. We like the idea of a lower helm and the immediate deck access it provides. Regarding side deck access for line handling and a cockpit for water access, that's why I'm including the MY and YF in the list. We're both in our mid 40's and are in good enough shape to be OK with a ladder to get to the swim platform, but acknowledge that in time we may want stairs with a railing and some gunwals to stand inside of. Re: line handling... I have talked with a few MY and ED owners over on the HOF and the MY owners make it sound like an ED is impossible to bring in without a crew on the dock waiting to catch lines, while the ED owners say it's not as easy as a MY, but it's not hard by any means and can be single handed in an emergency. I saw a listing recently where the owner of the ED has one of those stairways that hang off the side of the boat on a pivot and pulley system and lowers it like a ramp once next to the dock. I figure, one of us rigs the lines and fenders and sets up the stairs during the approach, and when brought in to dock, deploys the stairs, ties off the spring lines followed by the stern line, and then whoever's at the helm goes forward to toss the bow line down. But if there's different or better ways, we are wide open to trying them to see what works best for us. I have digressed. We like how big the windows are, the the full size appliances, a master big enough for a king mattress, and we like the use of space on the bridge. Also important are the three staterooms and heads. We don't want to run a charter with the boat, but we do want to have a comfortable place for the family and friends to stay during the occasional visit. Since we'll be summering near family in Maine more often than not, it'd be nice to have room for them to join us for a dinner cruise and an overnight on the hook somewhere in Casco Bay. Then there's the tankage, the room for cold and dry storage, spares, tools, supplies, ect. A draft of 4' will make poking around the gunk holes a little less stressful, and the deep keel provides what I'd consider a fair amount of protection but twins are more susceptible to damage than a single; it is what it is. My wife is far more sensitive to rolling than pitching so stabilizers are a requirement, no question. What we've seen over the past few years is that it's rare to find an ED without them and a YF or MY with them. We'd rather deal with designing and fabricating a hydraulic swim platform ourselves than paying a yard to install stabs or build a cockpit. It wouldn't be the first time having a go with Fusion360 and a metal glue gun. A smaller boat, from what we've read, gets better mileage especially if it's a single, but the reduced living area, storage and tankage of the smaller boat may not make up for the 50% better mileage. Fuel is the cheap part in the grand scheme, so it's of little concern. That said, we don't plan on running 200 off the pins all day long. We like going slow and mistakes tend to happen due to greater risks taken when in a hurry or on a schedule. One of the biggest killers in the general aviation field is the get-there-itis and I assume it's the same with cruising in a boat. Also, eight knots is about 10 SMPH and is about where these things burn 1 SMPG, so that makes trip planning and fuel burn calcs pretty easy. Yep, statute, not nautical. It's the unit of measure I've used my entire life and I'm able to quickly gauge and relate to, so sue me. lol... Finally, and at the absolute bottom of why we like the Hatts is that they look like proper, dignified motor yachts. I feel that the 53ED in particular is the pinnacle of flush deck evolution, or the 58CPMY if you need a cockpit, and said models are up there in the list of home runs Jack Hargrave has to his credit. But, appearance is subjective, so I'll respect any and all contradictory opinions.
We have looked at other boats. Well, looked at in the same way we've looked at the Hatts. We intend to look at basically anything that piques our interest in person. We may get on the flush decks and dislike how tall they are. We may get on a GB and dislike the trunk cabin. We may get on a sun deck and dislike the split level living arrangement. The point of the looking in person is to get a feel for the stuff beyond what little we've been able to glean from the internet. As I've said prior in this thread- Our search starts with what we have determined to the best of our abilities to be the best fit for our needs, but we are not married to any one boat brand or size.
No, we have zero -ZERO- intention of buying either of these boats we'll be looking at and have walked away from many, many purchases over the years. It is a machine and a tool, not a person, so there are absolutely no emotions involved other than our desire to hit the water. We're not a couple glassy-eyed 20 year olds in a hurry to be the next SV Delos.
I've read often the suggestion of going to a boat show. We're entirely open to it, but question the usefulness because we are not looking for a new boat, or anything even within 30 years of new, so how would looking at brand new boats help us out in looking at the relics from the past that we want? My wife said that the interiors on the new stuff look like prison cells what with the Ikea design language and relatively cold and monochromatic color pallet. Sharp corners have no place on a boat in our opinion for the reason stated by whomever mentioned that. Ouch!
I think it's incredibly disrespectful to view an item for sale and verbalize disgust or negativity. If you don't like it, don't buy it, plain and simple.
Mrs. Trombly- we don't rely on Mead or Powell for power or water. All that goes to AZ, NV, and CA. Maybe NM, too... While we aren't part of the Colorado River basin, we are close to what you could consider the head waters of the basin we're in, and our reservoirs are low. Some are completely dry, others are near full pool, but I believe the UT state average is somewhere around 25-30% capacity. The scientists say this is a 1200 year drought that's been going on for 20ish years with no end in sight. I've only been out here since '05 and there's been little to no mention of it or action to conserve until the last few years, but I've seen the snowpack dwindling every year since I've been here. They put meters on our secondary irrigation water in 2020, established a baseline from data collected during 2021, and just this year finally got around to putting restrictions on secondary irrigation water only. However, the only limitations are time of day and how much water per month is used, and they're putting grossly high caps on our monthly allocations. Our neighbors that I've spoken with have all said that even if they change nothing about their watering schedule, they still come out at the end of the month using roughly 50-60% of their allocation. Our city puts a flat fee of $90 on our taxes every year for the secondary hookup, and if I watered my 3000 square foot lawn for two hours every night of the week, I'd still be 32,000 gallons under my allotment at the end of the month so it's like, where's my motivation to do anything to conserve? They do have a fine schedule for infractions, but you have four overages before they cut you off for the year.�� Culinary is still a free for all and insanely cheap; we use around 10,000 gallons a month and pay $13 for it. There's also a ton of talk about xeriscape, but they expect home owners to foot the bill while all the municipal and state properties have thick, green grass that's sometimes irrigated during the day. Lead by example? Nahhh... our governor said to pray for rain, so that'll do the trick. �� Side note to reduced snowpacks- The Great Salt Lake is shrinking, which will reduce the lake effect snow we rely on to fill our reservoirs. On top of that, the receding waters expose a lake bed that has toxic metals and elements in it such as arsenic. Toss in our usual easterly summer winds, and all that dust is going to get blown over 2.3 million people in the Salt Lake valley. Sen. Romney is involved with actively restoring the lake, but I think it's too little too late. Nearly all the water that feeds the GSL is diverted for agriculture because growing alfalfa in the desert to export most of it overseas is a great use of resources. It also doesn't help that our current governor is an alfalfa farmer, so you know who he's prioritizing. Anyway...
Backing up a bit to what you said about twins and a thruster- all of my boating experience has been with singles with the exception of my friend's Bayliner that I willingly let myself get roped in to "captaining" during his booze cruises, and can't believe how nimble that thing is in comparison. My wife comes along a lot and all I had to do was tell her to center the helm and run the sticks like she would in a skid steer, and she had an easier time docking it than she does with our boat with a single. We couldn't imagine how much easier a thruster or thrusters would make it.
I think that's everything. Thanks again for all the advice; Great points, and we have a lot to think about. And if you managed to read my entire vomit dump of text and think we're making a mistake anywhere, please let me know.
