what we got

So here we are, at the turning point of our voyage to become trawler trash.

We had a list of what we were looking for. We set out to look at "oldie goldies". Mostly, we saw "mouldie oldies".

We finally found a boat having most of the characteristics we were looking for and the asking price was not too far above what we felt we could afford.

The broker helping us find the right boat had warned us not to appear to be too excited when we saw something we liked. Otherwise, the offer acceptance price just went up.

The boat was what I will call a Gulfstar stretch 38. That is a standard Gulfstar 38 motor cruiser with a 5 foot cockpit added at the back to make the overall length 43 feet.

Bev was ecstatic. Asking her to completely contain her exuberance was like asking a balloon to behave like a 1000 psi pressure vessel. It could not be done. She would have exploded!




This is the standard Gulfstar 38. Ours is similar except that it has the cockpit, a single engine (a perkins 6 cylinder, turbocharged monster sized chunk of cast iron), a bow thruster, 300 gallons of water storage and 250 gallons of fuel capacity.








As you can see here, our boat also has a cockpit enclosure .

In this photo, you can see the crane for lifting the dingy onto the roof.

It has radar, two depth sounders, two radios, a hydraulically actuated autopilot, 2 permanently mounted GPSs (as well as the one tied into our laptop that we use to navigate), twin steering stations, a flat screen TV and two CD-AM/FM stereos.

This photo was taken at the dock before we took possession. You can see the shade screen on the sundeck (or back porch).

We are finding the cockpit to be very handy when at anchor.

The next few photos show the sundeck. It is the main outdoors living area except when under way. The furniture is plastic (wicker) and may be moved as we see fit. I thought it might move about more when under way, but so far that has not happened.

Another shot of the sundeck.

I am not sure if the maroon carpet will stay. It matches the trim on the boat beautifully but it shows the dirt too well.

Final shot of the sundeck showing the entrance to the saloon, the main indoor living area.

I suspect we will not keep the freezer on board. It consumes 14 amps (at 12v) when running. If we assume a 50% duty cycle, we would have to run the generator another 2.5 hours per day when at anchor.

The saloon: I really like the comfort of the leather chairs.

All the furniture in the saloon is movable. When we get "waked" by large powerboats, this furniture can move around a fair bit. If things like lamps are not restrained or put on the floor, they will tend to put themselves on the floor.

Another shot of the saloon looking aft.

Access to the motor and generator is via large hatches in the saloon

This is the master bedroom (under the sun deck). We wanted a bed with access from both sides but at least it is very comfortable.

Shelving in the master bedroom. See all those cupboards. Actually, storage is a real challenge on this boat. The potential storage space is just not well used. The sliding drawers provide very little usable volume as compared to what straight shelves might have given.

The wood work is beautiful though.

The master bedroom has its own head, complete with bathtub, electrically flushing toilet, sink, mirror, cabinets and sewage treatment system so that in most coastal areas, you do not have to use a holding tank.

This is the indoor steering station and has probably never been used.

There are some nice wicker faced cupboards between the decks and the floor. Unfortunately, after you install two air conditioners, related ducts, a huge manual pump, the main electrical panel and a heart charger/inverter, there is almost no space for storage of our stuff.

This is Bev in the galley when we were doing our initial inspection. As you can see, she has her best poker face on so that the broker would not know that she liked it.

Galley, sink and storage. That lid in the corner is not the top of an ice box. It is where we put pots and pans.

More of the galley.

We wanted an gas stove but the boat came with an electric one instead.

The hot water tank is also powered by electricity. We have learned to start the generator in the morning to power up the coffee maker (it takes about 80 amps at 12 v). By the time we have had our first coffee, the water is hot and the batteries are well on their way to being charged (when you pump 100 amps into them, it does not take long to bring the voltage up).

This is the double bed in the forward cabin.

The storage in this area is pretty good. Our guests lose out, however, because we fill it with our stuff before they arrive.

The guest quarters do contain another head complete with its own lectrasan sewage treatment system. The guest head does contain a shower (untried by us) that is the type that washes down the whole head.



So what is it like? Tune in for the next installment.