The origin of Mutape is a funny story; at least, hubby and I find it to be so. We are big gamers, and have played many games together (both on and off of the computer). One of hubby's characters in one of these games was named "Mutegi" which I believe is African or somesuch for "lion". His mother has a long history of messing up people's names and having a horrible time with pronunciation. So, when we were still expecting the little toot, we told her we were going to name him Mutegi, and she stammered out "Moo . . tahhhh .. pay?" We found it funny, because, Mutegi may look difficult to pronounce but if you hear it is very easy to say "Moo - teggy". So we took to calling the little guy "Mutape", usually in the halting stammer his grandmother used.
Nevermind that his actual name is Kian. Mutape is so much more fun!
Well, I had a look at some Wildcats I found online; wow, they're beauties. They may be out of our budget. We are hoping to find a boat for $100k or less, preferably less, but 100 is our limit. I did see some that came close enough to that range that I think we will keep them on the list and see what's available when it's time to buy. If our condo sells well we may be able to go up a little, but with the housing market the way it is these days . . .
We don't mind a lack of space; we have had some very spare times and learned to live without needing a lot - I'm grateful for that now! However the size of the water tank is something I will remember to keep in mind, especially as we are hoping to spend at least some of our time anchored out or maybe in a mooring field. We aren't sure how that will work out with hubby needing to go in to work, but we are pretty flexible and adaptable and want to experience that even if it means some annoyances here and there. And we definitely want to avoid marinas when we have the opportunity to take off of work and head out for a few weeks.
I've seen a lot of Prouts that seem to be inexpensive; is there a reason? Do they suck and I just don't know enough about boats yet to realize it?
Edit: Oh, btw, just wanted to add a bit more info. Hubby (Galen) and I (Mary Beth, aka M
are both 30, and the little guy (Kian) is approaching 8 months old. Hubby is a chaplain and just got a job here in Venice, FL, which is why we up and moved with about 2 weeks notice. We initially had the dream of sailing in retirement, which quickly became a dream of early retirement, then the "well, why wait THAT long, maybe when the kids are a bit older ..." all the way to "Well, heck, why wait at all? Let's go now!"
Honestly, if we are going to plan adventures for ourselves, we want to include the kids, and we never wanted to raise our kids the "normal" way anyhow.