SV Appa

Mid-January, my wife and I were walking down the dock at the Elliot bay Marina in Seattle to my After Christmas work party thrown by the doctors that I work with.  We had just motored over from Shileshole Marina in our 1991 C&C 34+.  We were quite happy with the boat but had always felt that it was a little small for our family of 5.  The V-berth on the C&C was one of the smallest that I had ever slept on and the kids didn't like it up there.  Ben, our 7 year old is afraid of ghosts and he thought they could get him up there.  It was too high for the baby to sleep on.  I could have made a netting or something there but the baby, Sam, really wanted nothing to do with sleeping up there.  Our 14 year didn't like it because it was small (he is taller than me) and cold.  So every night the salon would be turned into a bedroom and then upon waking we would have to turn it back into a breakfast table.   Pain in the ass.  So we were walking down the dock and my wife turns to me and unexpectedly says, "I think we should buy a bigger boat."  Jaw hit floor.  "Yes!" I blurted.  So that started our search for another boat.

We had been talking about doing Mexico and I am sure that the C&C would have handled it fine but man, it was short of storage.  A bigger boat almost automatically means more storage but I wanted it to be logical also.  Huge lockers are great but they also need something to use that space well.

We wanted 3 staterooms.  With our budget, that meant Beneteau charter boats were going to be high on our list.  I loved the Stevens 47 but too big.  Too much money.  

I ran across a 1986 Wauquiez Centurion 42.  Three staterooms. One of which with bunkbeds.  Decent storage.  Smallish tanks but we could figure something out.  OK.  Haggling with the price and we got them down pretty good.  Money down.  Test sail with survey.  Lots of little problems and one big problem meant that we turned it down.  Loved the model of boat, just not this one.  

Alright.  Another Centurion 42 up in Canada for sale.  1991.  More water tankage.  Much better shape.  Lots more money.  Went to go see it with Tori our broker and fell in love.  Older boat that has been raced but she was in pretty good shape.  Had all the go fast gear also. 

She is the one with the full cover.

Long story short.  We made an offer and it was accepted.  The boat was located in Blaine and we live in Seattle 107 miles away.  Drove up for the initial viewing.  Drove up again for the test sail and survey.  Drove up again to take the boat to Point Roberts to check her into the US and then pay the duty.  Drove up to Point Roberts to take the boat down to Shileshole.  Man, am I glad I don't have to drive to Canada anymore.  

The sail over to Point Roberts wasn't without it's hiccups.  We were suppose to do the trip on Monday but the forecast was for 35 knots of wind.  So we went Wednesday.  Had to motor.  No wind.  Steve, the previous owner, hands me the keys to the boat at White Rock BC and says Good Luck.  I start the motor and the alarm starts ringing.  No power to the fuel gauge.  Wiggle some wires and a couple phone calls to the broker for Steve's number and we are back in business.  I had all the bugs worked out on Hooked.  As much as one can anyway.  I was going to have to start all over again with this boat.