Boat Shmoat, We're Going to Paris

As I have said, we did really well in 1996. So well, that in addition to our holiday in Grand Cayman, Sean and I decided to buy a used motor boat. We wanted something that he could dive off of and that we could do overnight trips on. So the boat we wanted would be about 30 feet at the water line. In the past we had been on sail boats, but they depended too heavily on the weather. Also, we wanted a fiberglass boat; wood was too much work. So, Sean began by searching on the web and we went to local places to look at boats for sale.

We saw many boats in our state and read about boats all over the country. On the boats we looked at either the aft portion was too small for diving or the interior was too cramped or the layout wasn’t right. There was always something that prevented Sean and I from saying, yes, this is the boat we want and we looked persistently for a couple of months.

One day in the fall, we were at the marina closest to our house standing looking at the moored boats and Sean pointed out to one of the boats and said, “That is the type of boat I want.”

We had no idea if it was even for sale. So we asked the marina owner and he said he would talk to the boat’s owner. It turned out that the boat’s owner was a truck driver whose wife had recently had major surgery and wasn’t getting around really well any more. They lived way upstate and had to drive over an hour to get to the boat. Since his wife’s medical problems they had not used the boat much at all that summer and he had not considered selling it. But, he agreed to come down and show it to us.

So, Frank, the truck driver, shows up to show us his boat, “Summer Camp”. We got out to her on a Zodiac and tied up at the floating dock she was moored to. Frank began to unsnap her navy blue canvas weather protective covering. What a beauty she was underneath it all. You could just tell by the way she was maintained that she was loved. She was a 1968 Pearson fiberglass motor boat with twin inboard 300 horse power v8 engines, 36 feet long at the water line and 12 feet wide, also known as the beam. She was far bigger than we were looking for, but it was love at first sight. Her interior decking was teak, the saloon was spacious and airy, she had a kitchen, head and a v-berth. She could sleep six. Frank made it clear that she would need work as time went by, but he and Sean had bonded over all things mechanical. Sean can fix just about anything, you see. Sean and I agreed that we had to have this boat. Frank’s asking price was extremely reasonable so we bought her that day and we were boat owners.

Summer Camp at her mooring