Our Good Ol’ Trusty Trawler
Since I’m talking about our our travels on the boat so much, I thought I should give you a little background on the kind of boat we have and how we bought it. It was 2008 and I was still working in real estate and captain Jeff was still flying airplanes.
Jeff had been talking about getting a boat off and on for years since we live in such a beautiful boating area, but we never seriously looked at anything. I also had no idea about the cost and what would be involved to become serious boaters. I was about to find out.
Jeff had been looking at boats online a lot and at one boat in particular.
He kept telling me this was the kind of boat he would like and how much room it had and how it had been on the market for awhile and how it was such a good price right now etc. etc. Again, without giving it much thought I suggested we should go and look at it. The boat was a 1986 NOVA 42 ft sundeck trawler. When we got to the marina and I actually saw it, it seemed huge and I was wondering how on earth we would ever manoeuvre this thing around. The broker and the owner were both there, and the smell of freshly baked cookies welcomed us aboard. We would later realize this was to disguise certain other unwelcome smells coming from you know where. We had a look around and were very impressed with the amount of room inside and out. A forward berth and an aft stateroom with a walk around queen bed and lots of closet space.
Lots of teak which looks very nautical. Two heads (toilets) and a shower.
The galley with a table for 4 people to sit and the table also converts into a double bed, a salon with room enough for a pull out couch and two chairs.
Then outside a big aft deck and an upper helm again big enough for 4 to 6 people to sit.
This just seemed too good to be true. This could easily sleep our whole family. It was a beautiful day in August and they left us on the back deck with a bottle of wine to discuss if we wanted to put in an offer. By this time we had mentally moved onto the boat already, I already had decorating ideas so needless to say, we bought it.
This was the first boat we ever looked at or even been on, so definitely a bit of an emotional impulse buy. We had no idea the time and money that was going to be spent on this nautical adventure. I now know that once you buy a boat you definitely have to be prepared to spend a lot of time and money. Having said that, we’ve never regretted buying this boat. Jeff has spent countless hours fixing, replacing, maintaining and improving it, and it has definitely turned him into a serious boater. Youtube was his friend and still is. We’ve taken our boys (and girls) on numerous trips and it seems as they get older they like it more and more. I don’t know how long we will be boating for but I know that this will be the one and only boat we ever own. She’s been very good to us and we know her inside and out (Jeff does anyway). He even bought a wetsuit and breathing apparatus to dive under the boat to replace zincs and scrape the bottom.
Never a dull moment around here.
I’m thinking of replacing the canvas next year and have the hull painted.
But that’s next year. For now we are enjoying the rest of the summer on the water.
Ahoy!
