The hunt began in April 2013 with the internet search and then the actual looking. Being travelers, the adventure of the hunt was an experience all in its own. Many of the brokers wanted to find "just the right boat for us" but since we didn't know what that was, we had to participate in the hunt. The feel, the smell, the looks, the roominess, were different for each boat. How many engines, what equipment was onboard all added to the ambience of the boat. Of course the asking price also affected the feel as well. It was interesting that often the price was not indicative of the boats condition or worth. We were looking for a live-a-board that we could be comfortable in for long periods of time. Since living in an RV for 15 years, we were used small spaces. The space in itself was not the issue, but how the space was used. It became obvious real fast that most of the boats we were looking at were built for week-end or day use... “restaurant boats” as they are affectionately called here in Florida. After about 3 months, we finally narrowed our search to a boat with a single engine, bow thruster, single stateroom and single head. This decision simplified our search greatly since most boats have twin engines, two staterooms and two heads. Early on we had seen on the Yachtworld brokerage site a Kadey Krogen Manatee. It was 36 feet long, single engine, single stateroom and single head, just what we were looking for. The only problem was they were asking more money than we wanted to spend... so we went on to others more in our price range. As time went on we found fewer and fewer boats that seemed to fit our needs. We looked at everything from Grand Banks to Marine Trader and many in between. We actually drove to, boarded and scrutinized over 50 different trawlers. One thing became very obvious. As the owners got older, they either couldn't see what needed to be done or they were overwhelmed by the work involved. Many a boat, once good, was rotting at the dock. Some of these might have been fixed up by us, but the owners still wanted a price comparable with a boat in good shape. Many boats we went on were advertised as "turn key", but once on board it was evident that they were anything but ready to go. We knew that we would have to do some upgrading regardless of what we bought, but at our age we did not want to start a rebuild. After nine months of hunting and daily perusing of the boat sales sites we had become a little discouraged as nothing jumped out at us to proclaim, "I am your boat!". Having never lived aboard a boat and contemplating a major lifestyle change, we decided that it might be good idea to have some time on the water to see if this is really what we want to do. Since we had two boats to see in SW Florida, we booked a week-long class with Southwest Florida Yachts in Cape Coral,FL and then a week-long charter on our own to see if this is what we really wanted to do. As we were anchored one night during our charter, a Kadey Krogen Manatee was right behind us. We finally got up our courage to dinghy over and ask for a tour. We had seen many pictures but had not actually been on one. We were warmly invited to come aboard. It took only a couple of minutes onboard "Roxanne" to know that this is the boat that we wanted. It truly had everything that we wanted... comfortable salon, large galley, shower big enough for me and a queen-sized walk-around bed. One of the brokers we spoke with talked with us about net cost of owning a boat. The "cost of buying-selling cost" is the true cost of the boat, so don't be so concerned with only the buying price. Remembering this and all of the boats that didn't satisfy our needs we started looking for a Manatee. We knew of one in Palmetto,FL so on our trip to Largo we stopped and had a look. She was nice, but she had a few issues. We contacted Mike and Liza of "Roxanne" about our decision to purchase a Manatee and they both agreed that we should look at “Summertime” in Punta Gorda Isles. We made arrangements to look at her. After a few minutes on board we looked at each other and knew that this was the boat for us.
For the past three days we have been enjoying the Historic Village of Longbeach: 1885-1955. (Apparently life here hasn’t changed much in 59 years.) It’s situated along the ICW on Longboat Key at the northern tip of a 10 mile-long barrier island mid-way between Tampa Bay and Sarasota. When we lunched under the spreading buttonwood trees at the Mar Vista Restaurant, exuding Old Florida charm, we saw “Please don’t feed the peacocks” notices. It wasn’t until we took a longer hike around the neighborhood that we discovered just how large the peacock population was... perched on roof tops, poised on verandas, parading across streets and lawns... oh my!
Another surprising find was the Ringling College of Art and Design located on the campus of the Longboat Key Center for the Arts, a 5-minute walk from our anchorage. Darcy joined the 3-hour Learning Lab for Painting and Materials yesterday afternoon and returned with a canvas of exuberant sunflowers in a blue vase. The teachers were juniors at the college and they were both talented and encouraging. What a gift! Wally used that time to set up his own learning lab on the aft deck of Summertime and created drink coasters by coiling sisal rope and stitching it pine needle basket-style. Every boat should have some.
