Big News!

As most of our friends know Dan and I are confirmed boaters.  We spend every weekend on the water during our beautiful Michigan summers.  We stretch out the season as much as we can by launching the boat mid-May and pulling it out mid-October.  We live at Island Cove every weekend during our season.

We loved our Carver 396; but over the past few years it has become more and more evident that our retirement lifestyle and its planned start date was going to hinge on how we continued to boat. 

Dan had always wanted a boat that was on one level.  Our aft cabin had so many steps.  It was kind of like living in a tri-level. He was concerned that my family history of bad knees was going to affect how long into retirement we could boat.  We also had a much larger payment on our boat than we were comfortable taking into retirement.

On May 1 we sold our Carver 396.  What a sad day that was. I loved that boat. We sold the boat planning to save our boat payment for three or four years and any budget money that was allotted to the boat.  We figured that we could get a boat that would be better for our “advanced” years and pay less going into retirement.

Reality set in and of course we had an absolutely beautiful weather weekend.  On Sunday, May 3 we were both pretty glum.  We’d signed the purchase agreement with our boat’s new owner and we were closing on May 14. It was not the best weekend.

Well, you know how the best laid plans tend to change.  We hadn’t even signed off on our boat; and Dan’s continual internet searching popped up a surprise.  Yup, you guessed it, he found another one.  The boat he found had been for sale for some time; but had just had a huge price reduction. So the week before Mother’s Day we were already talking about the possibilities.

We talked with the listing broker and explained that we were tied up for Mother’s Day weekend; but would love to see it. We made arrangements to go see the boat the following weekend.  So, on Friday, May 15 we drove straight through to Jacksonville, Florida to go see the boat of our dreams.

The new boat is a Carver 450 Voyager.  We spent five hours on the boat on Saturday with the broker.  This boat was priced at least a third under cost due to quite a few "issues" and an absentee owner.  The boat is a “salty” but had spent its last six years in a fresh water lagoon. An absentee owner that used it less than 40 hours after purchasing it put the boat in a time warp. The interior of the boat looked brand new. The exterior was pretty sad. After spending most of the day on the boat; we decided that anything that was wrong with it could be fixed.  We signed a purchase agreement contingent on a survey and sea trial.

We turned around on that Saturday night and started driving north to home.  We weren’t even an hour out of Jacksonville when we received a call from the broker.  He had scheduled the survey for the following Thursday.  We both felt very strongly that we needed to be there for both the survey and sea trial. On that Saturday we spent the night north of Savannah and continued on home on Sunday knowing that we were going to turn around and head back on down to Florida that Wednesday.

On Wednesday, May 20^th we drove back down to Jacksonville Beach. We met with the boat broker and the surveyor and headed out to the boat. It turned out to be a very long day. The surveyor was very impressed with the boat.  He was so knowledgeable and was not hesitant to point out any problems and the things that were great about the boat.  It does have a lot of small problems; but everything can be fixed.  Our last boat had 660 hours on it.  This boat only has 340! It was barely used.

The repair list is crazy long, but all fixable before we bring the boat home.  (new batteries, battery chargers, new refrigerator, new air conditioner, oil changes, filter changes, sump pump float, toilet repair, new zincs and impellers.) We knew we would be spending some coin; but for the price of the boat it was small change.

The boat was also severely chalked.  It had absolutely no shine and most of the isinglass on the bridge is toast.  The Florida sun is ruthless. The canvas seems to be in okay shape and should be able to take us through another summer. 

We agreed that we were going to purchase the boat and cemented the deal.  We left the boat broker with a copy of our credit card and a list of things that would need to be done before we could bring the boat home.  He agreed to act as our liaison with a mechanic and a boat detailer that would try to find a little shine under all the chalk.

We never expected that we would sell our old boat and find a new one this quickly.  We honestly thought that we would be boat less for a few years.  This deal was just too good to pass up.  The only drawback to this boat is that it originates in salt water.  Salt water brings issues of its own; but the price we paid makes up for it.

We left Jacksonville for yet another trip up I-75. This was our fourth trip of sixteen plus hours in less than a week. Luckily we both were able to sleep and take turns driving.

It is absolutely amazing to us that we got a boat that is two years newer than our old one, 5 feet longer and our payment will be HALF the price. We are both crazy excited about our “new” boat and cannot wait to bring it home.