Sunday Afternoon on the Water

As a vessel owner for several decades, I consider each and every boat that I have owned like they were my children. Once they grew up and were old enough, it was time for them to leave the proverbial nest. Two months ago, I brought the wife and adult kids with the grandkids out on the boat for a relaxing Sunday afternoon on the water. The day started out quite normally. We did some fishing while the grandkids made every spot possible on the vessel sticky with chocolate residue handed out by my wife. I wish she would stop doing that. She knows it takes me forever to clean it all up.

Read more ...

Awesome Family Boats Training in Fort Lauderdale

My wife and I have been talking about buying a boat for at least a dozen years. There were always so many reasons the purchase wouldn’t be feasible for us, such as the expense, I spend too much time at work, there’s too much to do at the house, and we were still growing our family. Once again, I brought up the topic after the kids were asleep. My wife gave me those eyes. Every married guy knows what I’m talking about; the eyes that say “haven’t you given up on that yet”. I know you know the look I’m talking about. Finally, she suggested that we go out to dinner on Saturday night and discuss it outside of the house. Although it might be a baby step for most, it was a step in the right direction for me.

That Saturday night, we hired a sitter and went out to a local restaurant for dinner. The idea of getting a boat didn’t come up over dinner. I didn’t want to push her because then I would be shot down completely. When our dessert came, she began to talk about getting the boat. I never knew that she had any knowledge about how to go about buying a boat and being safe on it. I just planned on going on Craigslist and buying one. Obviously, that wasn’t good enough for her.

Read more ...

The Best Familiarization Cruises in Fort Lauderdale

Last year, my family and I decided to move upward and invested in a larger vessel for enjoying time on the water together. I’ve been out on the water for most of my life, but things can be different when you upgrade to a larger boat. It’s kind of like the difference between driving a Cadillac CTS and driving a Cadillac super stretch limousine. They both may be cars but handling them is completely different. For this reason, my wife insisted that we sign up for familiarization cruises in Fort Lauderdale with Simex International – Marine Surveyors.

Of course, many systems of the boat operate quite similar to the old one that I had however; some of the operations were significantly different. Capt. Paul F. Squire seemed to know every single thing about my particular vessel, and helped me to learn more about the way it operates. Let me tell you; the familiarization cruises in Fort Lauderdale is something that every mariner should take when they buy new vessels.

Read more ...

Never Buy without a Pre-Purchase Evaluation

About three years ago, I went out fishing with one of my buddies on his boat. We had a really good time, caught a fair amount of fish, and I was hooked. I felt the need to go out and buy my own boat. I’m in my mid-twenties and I don’t have a lot of extra money sitting in the bank, so I decided to put all of my tip money away to put toward buying the boat of my dreams. Unfortunately, the boat of my dreams was way above the budget that I had to work with. My parents always said that I had champagne taste on a water budget.

I had taken days and weeks to look over every ad on Craigslist and other similar websites. There were some that were appealing, and some that weren’t but I kind of had an affinity for one in particular. It was a twenty-six foot Bayliner. The perfect size for what I need, and he price was right too.

Read more ...