melissar
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2018
- Messages
- 88
- Location
- United States
- Vessel Name
- Breeze
- Vessel Make
- Grand Banks 36
Hi all, and thanks for adding me. I'm excited to see so much good information all in one place.
First, a little intro. I grew up on a 42' ketch in Seattle, long before living aboard was mainstream. (In fact, my folks had to go to the ACLU for help because I was under 12 at the time and wasn't technically allowed to live aboard at our marina. I was the first "legal" kid in our marine neighborhood. But that's another story...) So I grew up aboard boats and around boaters, then moved away, got married and had kids. My husband is from wheat country, a long ways from salt water, but we've had smaller watercraft the whole time our kids were growing up -- camping, tubing and skiing, cruising the Columbia and inland reservoirs, and some time up in south Puget Sound.
Now we are empty nesters and are thinking of buying a trawler, for all the tangible and intangible reasons you all have trawlers! For me, the gold standard was always the Grand Banks. In my mind, a 32' fiberglass GB is exactly where I see us. We love everything about them and that is the boat we've always gravitated toward when strolling the docks over the years. "Someday...sigh." BUT I know there are so many boats out there that might fit our needs and I'm looking for either confirmation that we should concentrate our search for the right fiberglass GB, or advice on other trawlers that we should be looking at.
Our hope is to possibly keep it on the Columbia for a couple years, nearer to our home in SW Washington. It would be a little more accessible and we could get "our feet wet," so to speak. Other options would be finding moorage up in south Puget Sound, not really a long drive for us, either. Until retirement, we hope to enjoy long weekends, and some longer (1-3 weeks, depending on schedules) trips up north. Retirement will be in about 8 years, and then I foresee us heading to Desolation Sound, maybe the Inside Passage, and other more adventurous forays. Just see where life takes us...
We are attracted to the GB because of it's reputation and persona, comfortable cruising, economy and resale value. (I mean, what if we find we don't like cruising in 10 years?) Our budget isn't huge, we need to make sure we have enough left over to drop into that "hole in the water." We'd like to keep it under $75k. Nothing bigger than the GB36, either.
So I'd love to basic advice from all you experienced trawler people, particularly those here in the NW. What other boats would you suggest we look for? Thoughts?
First, a little intro. I grew up on a 42' ketch in Seattle, long before living aboard was mainstream. (In fact, my folks had to go to the ACLU for help because I was under 12 at the time and wasn't technically allowed to live aboard at our marina. I was the first "legal" kid in our marine neighborhood. But that's another story...) So I grew up aboard boats and around boaters, then moved away, got married and had kids. My husband is from wheat country, a long ways from salt water, but we've had smaller watercraft the whole time our kids were growing up -- camping, tubing and skiing, cruising the Columbia and inland reservoirs, and some time up in south Puget Sound.
Now we are empty nesters and are thinking of buying a trawler, for all the tangible and intangible reasons you all have trawlers! For me, the gold standard was always the Grand Banks. In my mind, a 32' fiberglass GB is exactly where I see us. We love everything about them and that is the boat we've always gravitated toward when strolling the docks over the years. "Someday...sigh." BUT I know there are so many boats out there that might fit our needs and I'm looking for either confirmation that we should concentrate our search for the right fiberglass GB, or advice on other trawlers that we should be looking at.
Our hope is to possibly keep it on the Columbia for a couple years, nearer to our home in SW Washington. It would be a little more accessible and we could get "our feet wet," so to speak. Other options would be finding moorage up in south Puget Sound, not really a long drive for us, either. Until retirement, we hope to enjoy long weekends, and some longer (1-3 weeks, depending on schedules) trips up north. Retirement will be in about 8 years, and then I foresee us heading to Desolation Sound, maybe the Inside Passage, and other more adventurous forays. Just see where life takes us...
We are attracted to the GB because of it's reputation and persona, comfortable cruising, economy and resale value. (I mean, what if we find we don't like cruising in 10 years?) Our budget isn't huge, we need to make sure we have enough left over to drop into that "hole in the water." We'd like to keep it under $75k. Nothing bigger than the GB36, either.
So I'd love to basic advice from all you experienced trawler people, particularly those here in the NW. What other boats would you suggest we look for? Thoughts?