In March we went to Ft. Lauderdale and met with a boat broker we had met at the seminar. We had narrowed the search down to six boats we found on line. We did not know exactly what we wanted, so we picked several different kinds of boats to help us with that decision.
We did make a list of the priorities we were searching for.
1. Speed- most trawlers just go 7-10 knots, we wanted the option of going faster in case of bad weather or an emergency.
2. Fly Bridge
3. 2 Engines
4. Up galley
We did not find our boat on that trip, but we did learn a lot more of what we needed vs. wanted. Back to the internet. We had been told it could take up to two years to find the boat that was right for us. But Mike had other plans. We did not have two years, he wanted to leave next January of 2016!
He had seen a boat in Orange Beach Alabama on line, and now that we knew more of what we wanted, that one was looking more promising. It was a 48 foot Offshore semi displacement trawler. That meant it could go faster and was about the right length. The pictures looked pretty good on line, but pictures can be deceiving, so in June we made plans to go see it. Thinking we might need another set of eyes and unbiased opinion, we took another Captain friend; Casey, the husband of my friend Bonnee.
The owners had completed the Loop in October, so it was low enough to go under the many bridges we would find on the Loop. It was totally re-fitted in 2012, meaning all new electronics, the sofas had been re-covered, the engines had been gone through. The electrical system was totally redone, with updated televisions and satellite TV's and back-up systems. Keeping a boat up is an ongoing battle, "Salt water is hell on everything" we knew we would have to update some systems on any boat we choose.
We went home, made pros and cons lists comparing another boat, but the Offshore won out. So after a little negotiating, on June 10th we had found our Rowe Boat!
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