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The Evolution of Boat Preference, Part 4



  Part 1        Part 2        Part 3       Part 4

At the boat show, the boat broker companies harvest contact information in exchange for letting you visit the boats they are displaying. A few weeks after the show I got a call from Tom at JK3 Yachts. Tom was willing to listen me explain several contradictory aspects of types of boats that might interest me, and he kept his good humor throughout.

We settled on a size of about 38'. That's plenty big enough to feel comfortable in the San Francisco Bay and out past the Golden Gate Bridge in coastal waters. I was also looking for an older boat since boats depreciate pretty quickly during their first five years. Helga and I picked 38' because the 36' Hunter we lived on in St. Petersburg had a comfortable salon, but the berths were too tight for our taste. We though the extra two feet, used the right way, would make the boat a lot more comfortable.

Another reason we wanted something around 38', and older, is that while I can sail pretty well, I don't have a lot of experience doing cruising things like navigating marinas, docks, anchoring, or rafting up with other boats. I didn't want to be the chump with a beautiful boat and no skills. This is one of the big things that kept me from considering the Hanse 455 or 505, or Beneteau 48.

We looked at a lot of 38' foot boats and lots of them were very nice, and reasonably priced, but none of them comfortably accommodated my 6'5" even in the salon. I was always hunched over, moving slowly and carefully, because any rash move could result in stitches or a concussion. Finally, we visited a Tartan 4600 with 7' of headroom in the salon and throughout most of the interior. It was 20 years old, but had a wonderfully maintained teak interior, and was well maintained topside as well. Tartans also have a reputation of being designed for speed, and are solidly built for offshore cruising. It also turned out that the sellers were super nice and the friendship I started with Kevin might be as valuable as the boat.

Purchasing and insuring the boat is a whole other story, but Helga and I became boat owners on July 1, 2017. 

Part 1     Part 2     Part 3    Part 4 

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