RESEARCHING AND BOAT BUYING

RESEARCHING AND BOAT BUYING

So, as time went on and my research into the "Great Loop" continued, my tack changed direction. I got to thinking that if I purchased a reasonably sized boat and decided to get serious about this cruising thing instead of it just being a one time event, who knows, I just might have a chance of becoming a Looper. So I got to doing some research into boats, the prices and what kind would suit my needs. AND, and this is a big AND, I started to think in terms of quality time spent with my wife, Marci.

A short side note: In my younger years, my kids and I would hit the trail. We were horsemen and living in the west. We would go for weekend, and sometimes longer, horse rides. Then we restored and used a Studebaker wagon and made trips in the Sierra Nevadas and across the Nevada Desert. Being a horseshoer and mounted policeman, the opportunities and invitations to these trips came in herds, pardon the pun. So in our Tennessee retirement, exploring the rivers, I hope, will be a welcome pastime. And with a lot less dust, smell and danger! For someone whose idea of a great day is to read, take in the sights, look forward to a good dinner, all mixed with some pleasant company and topped off with a HOT shower, the amenities of a boat trip beats a trail ride by far.

A check with my wife showed there was an interest So my big AND went to an Ah! With a huge smile on my face; "Sea Me Smile", I started boat shopping, or rather I started looking at boats on line.

It's funny how you come to settle on events. There is this boat that's docked across from my house on Boone Lake. Nearly every weekend during good weather, a couple would take it out. It caught my eye. It wasn't a large craft, but in boating parlance: "I liked the cut of its jib". So one day I walked over to the docks and made my way to this boat to take a closer look. It was a Carver. I didn't know straight up about Carvers, but it is the age of the internet, and in short order I knew a lot about 'em and I liked what I saw and learned.

The boat trip was starting to take on a life of its own. After several weeks, a vessel was found in the Ft. Lauderdale area. To make a long story short, we made an offer and it was accepted. Now we need to see if it surveys? Well, to move almost back into the present tense, it passed with flying colors. It only had about twenty things wrong with it and none were major. So we own a boat.
It is a Carver 430. Which, go figure, makes it a 44 foot cruiser. It has a pretty nice layout, having two bedrooms (we now have to call "state rooms") and two bathrooms (heads). See, I'll get all this nautical lingo prior to the time we drive (sail) it home. It's powered by diesel engines, but needs navigational equipment.

The new glass/canvas that you are seeing in the picture, is designed to save our temperature sensitive bacon, as we come up the more northern rivers of our trip. I remember those springtime days when "Bob" first moved to Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows. However as I look out the window this morning, the temperature is about 18 degrees and the cotton is looking an awfully lot like snow.

I remembered an old camping trick. If you hang a Coleman lantern in a tent it drys out the air and takes the chill off. So with the help of a couple of good lanterns we hope not to freeze during the days, and of course the plan is to be docked out or in a marina at night.

Home for the boat will be Knoxville, TN which happens to be the end of the navigable water ways in my part of the world. However, very close to home.