Apres Ski
Member
- Joined
- May 19, 2014
- Messages
- 24
- Location
- USA
- Vessel Name
- Après Ski
- Vessel Make
- 1991 French Canal Boat
Hi Everyone-
In the hopes of retiring from 'dirt living', we recently began a search for our next home and came across your site. Wow, what an incredible amount of useful information and knowledgeable users. Yeah, I know, flattery will get you everywhere (grin).
We are probably a bit on the younger end of the demographic spectrum for this site, being in our mid 40's, but for the past few years we've spend summers on a canal boat in France and have come to realize that living full time on a boat just might be the way to go.
Our hope is to use our new boat/home to cruise the East Coast / ICW / Bahamas, and then make the move to our boat full-time in 3-5 years. Right now we're leaning towards a 38-42 foot, single-engine trawler from the mid 1970's to the late 1980's. DeFever and Grand Banks are high on our list. Critical issues for us are the usual; leaky windows and decks, problems with the fuel tanks, etc., plus a clean, well-cared-for engine room and at least 150 hrs per year on the hour meter. That, plus fuel economy (ie., single engine) - we still have to work - since the less fuel we have to buy means the less we have to work.
And since folks here seem to like pictures, I've attempted to attach one of our little canal boat tied up on the Midi canal in southern France.
So thank you all, in advance, for having patience with me as I gather knowledge about the trawler life. For what it's worth, I always thought my first boat would be a sailboat, since I'm really a sailor at heart, but our first boat was in fact a 29 foot fiberglass canal boat in France, so to heck with all that canvas and rigging and bring on the spacious cabins, large decks, and stand-up engine rooms!
See you around the docks
-Kent & Heather
P.S. If anyone has a single-engine, fiberglass-decked Grand Banks 42 or DeFever 38/40/41 that will be coming for sale in the next year or so, please let me know...
In the hopes of retiring from 'dirt living', we recently began a search for our next home and came across your site. Wow, what an incredible amount of useful information and knowledgeable users. Yeah, I know, flattery will get you everywhere (grin).
We are probably a bit on the younger end of the demographic spectrum for this site, being in our mid 40's, but for the past few years we've spend summers on a canal boat in France and have come to realize that living full time on a boat just might be the way to go.
Our hope is to use our new boat/home to cruise the East Coast / ICW / Bahamas, and then make the move to our boat full-time in 3-5 years. Right now we're leaning towards a 38-42 foot, single-engine trawler from the mid 1970's to the late 1980's. DeFever and Grand Banks are high on our list. Critical issues for us are the usual; leaky windows and decks, problems with the fuel tanks, etc., plus a clean, well-cared-for engine room and at least 150 hrs per year on the hour meter. That, plus fuel economy (ie., single engine) - we still have to work - since the less fuel we have to buy means the less we have to work.
And since folks here seem to like pictures, I've attempted to attach one of our little canal boat tied up on the Midi canal in southern France.
So thank you all, in advance, for having patience with me as I gather knowledge about the trawler life. For what it's worth, I always thought my first boat would be a sailboat, since I'm really a sailor at heart, but our first boat was in fact a 29 foot fiberglass canal boat in France, so to heck with all that canvas and rigging and bring on the spacious cabins, large decks, and stand-up engine rooms!
See you around the docks
-Kent & Heather
P.S. If anyone has a single-engine, fiberglass-decked Grand Banks 42 or DeFever 38/40/41 that will be coming for sale in the next year or so, please let me know...
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