Once more into the boat show

by Chuck January 16, 2005

Father-in-law Ron and I headed in to the Seattle boat show again this year. I tried to get him to take someone else, 'cause we gave him tickets to the show for Christmas and I felt bad having him use his extra ticket on me, but he insisted, so...

Just inside the North entrance was the highlight of the show for us. A 28-foot Stancraft wooden runabout built in Post Falls, Idaho. Man that was beautiful. No price listed, but I guess if you have to ask, you can't afford the upkeep on a boat like that.

In the sailboat corner (much larger this year), I liked the new Hunter 27 quite a bit. Nice size for our family, not too big to afford the moorage, and pretty to boot. Now if only I had a spare $80,000 to spend. I also spent a good 15 minutes crawling over the West Wight Potter 19 they had on display. Every book and Web site about trailerable sailboats sings the praises of the Potter, and I'd never seen one. Pretty little boat, and quite reasonable in price (for the base price, anyway). The one they had on display was quite dolled up I must say.

Had an intersting conversation witht he folks at Nexxus Marine. Instead of the usual $250,000 24-foot dream boat they usually show, they had a 16-foot dory that started at $5,700. Nancy said they were interested in building boats for "real people" again, and David said the people that buy the expensive boats "treat them like the kitchen help." I can't imagine treating a craftsman like David like kitchen help, but then I can't afford a $250,000 boat, either.

Only spent a little money this year. Bought another dock line from TopKnot. Bought a pair of gloves from Popeye's. Spent some time complaining to Cap't Jack's that they aren't printing their tide book.

And of course we ogled lots of boats. Big boats. Little boats. Wood boats, aluminum boats, plastic boats. Boats. Boats. Boats...

Sorry. Have to go lie down now...

Tags:

Sailing

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