While I still have Sandettie (38' sloop), we had recently chartered a trawler style boat in the Pacific Northwest of the US. Since then we have visited several Trawlerfests as we look for s small powerboat.
We needed something we could move easily on a trailer and use on a lake in Tennessee and on the intracoastal waterway in Florida. We travelled to Cape Fear last week to look at a boat, and ended up buying a lightly used (180hrs on the engine) 23' Ranger Tug, which we then towed 400 miles back to the lake.
The biggest problem looking for a new boat turned out to be brokers. We met two good guys, but to do that we suffered through a succession of brokers who failed to tell the whole truth, or told deliberate lies. When you travel for several hours to look at a boat and find it has been totally misrepresented, the temptation to belt someone is almost irresitible.
Anyway, Leon Messner in Southport North Carolina and Fokke DeJong in Fort Lauderdale were both outstanding and get my recommendation as honest, good guys who don't exhibit a skeric af BS, and are the sort of blokes I would always stop and have a beer and a feed with.
We have been cleaning and polishing the new craft; checking all the systems and buying new bits as required. We had a choice between outboard and inboard engine...we chose an inboard Yanmar diesel). We have grabbed a permanent undercover slip on Watauga Lake and expect to splash the boat midweek.
Of course, local boaters will wonder at the style of boat. It seems the lake hosts quite a lot of sailboats of all types, but aside from a few tennis shoe styled boats (Sea Ray, Bayliner etc) the majority of powerboats are either pontoons, or bass boats will four squillion HP outboards on them.
I try to convince myself that the move toward a powerboat is not a concession to older age
, but I still sail and have no intention of selling Sandettie.
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