I've been a sailor for about 20 years now... since I was 20 something. I've owned sailboats from 14 - 30 feet long. I always thought power boats were noisy and stinky. I never, ever pictured myself owning one. I am a member of a sailboat club. If you knew anything at all about me and heard that I was considering the purchase of a boat, you would very reasonably conclude that it would be a sailboat and not a power boat.
My wife is not the fan of sailboats that I am. She does not care for a sailboat's pitching motion when the winds are light (way too often during summer in our area. Don't misunderstand, we do see days with 15+ knots of wind but they are few and far between. She definately enjoys sailing when the wind is above 10 knots and boat speed is 4+ knots). She has always liked power boats, though.
We were vacationing in Chincoteague, VA over the July 4, 2002 holiday weekend when we decided to rent a small runabout with an 8 HP motor just to poke around on the water and visit Assateague Island. We had a great time on this little boat! The least enjoyable part of it was getting passed by EVERY other boat on the water! An 8 horse motor is only going to move a 14 ft boat so fast.
I realized that day that what I like best was simply being on the water. It did not matter if I was on a sailboat or a powerboat or an inflatable tube. I just liked being on the water.
Later in the summer of 2002, I begin to look around for power boats under about 20 ft long. (This being about the most that our Ford Explorer could tow safely.) I search the web for boats for sale using sites like boats.com, iboats.com, and boattraderonline.com. I also come across what turns out to be The Finest Site On The Web for fans of Boston Whalers. It is here that I see a "for sale" ad for a 1991 Boston Whaler Outrage 19 on August 5...
For sale 19'with merc.165 1991 low hours well kept.(moving) location of boat is Annapolis MD.trailor Included Original owner .$14,500. call (H)410-xxx-xxxx(Turns out that the motor is a Merc 135, not 165 as shown in the ad. Max HP boat is rated for is 150.) I contact the seller and arrange to see the boat two days later. After one short boat ride, I realize that this is the one. I leave a cash deposit with the seller and head to my credit union to borrow some money! ;-)
We have a week long vacation in SC planned for the next week of August so I can't close the deal on the boat just yet. All of the paperwork, checks, etc. comes together by the following week (Aug 19) so I arrange to meet the seller on Thursday, the 22nd to close the deal and take delivery of the boat.
That's my story and I'm sticking by it. [grin]
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