Bill here. I've really got the boating bug. I'm 1/3 owner of a 1985 Bayliner Flybridge Contessa here in Seattle. What a great boat. I don't know of another boat I'd rather own at this point in my life.
But I definitely have 15-25'-itis. 2'-itis is for guys that always want more. My itis is because of a picture I have for my wife Joan and I to liveaboard. Our youngest daughter is five years from college, so I'm using this time to get to know all sorts of boats that we might liveaboard. Between now and then I really don't see leaving the Contessa partnership -- it's too great a deal and too perfect a boat for our current use.
So I picture my blog entries to be more about what I learn between now and when we can move aboard. I've learned a lot already, and now I'm getting a bit confused. So this is a diary of what I've seen, and what my reaction to it is at the time that I learn. Hopefully, I can go back and make notes on each boat as I learn more about it, it's power system, it's seaworthiness, etc.
Right now, I'm heavy into the 50-ish foot Pilothouse cruiser. Something that will run offshore is appealing because I'd like someday to be able to reposition the boat to the Sea of Cortez for use down there for a season or two. This would, of course, require a pretty significant change of life for both Joan and me. Our jobs, our friends, what we consider beautiful (Joan's not really excited about the desert), etc.
This is a 1980 Defever 49. It's considered a very well made offshore cruiser and there are many of these plying the waters of the West Coast and the Carribean. In fact, I've been following another blog that features this boat. Check out the Pederson's blog at: http://emmajo.net. They just transited the Panama Canal this week - doesn't that sound exciting. That's probably more than my wonderful wife could handle (and the idea of high seas cruising makes me a bit nervous too).
The nice thing about considering all this is that there's lots of time to consider all the options...
