Boatagain
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2014
- Messages
- 252
- Fluid Motion Model
- C-24 C
- Non-Fluid Motion Model
- Cutwater 30
- Vessel Name
- Gatsby
Hope some of you find the story interesting. Sorry for the length.
We've owned our Tug since Sept '14 and it was exciting to be back on the water after 15 years without a boat. Not yet retired, my vision was to cruise with the family every available leisure day during the season. Didn't quite work out that way.
Between our nine year old's schedule (cheer, gymnastics, birthday parties...) and my wife's take-it-or-leave-it feelings towards my passion, we've spent maybe a total of four days cruising since Tug Dawg's arrival. The rest were day trips. The few nights we spent aboard with Judy and I exchanging kicks in the v-berth and struggling to pass each other in the narrow passageway did nothing to improve the situation. I started looking at big bow-riders and such since we were primarily day boating, but my beautiful wife was not exactly onboard with purchasing yet another boat.
And then the miracle happened. After nagging her yet again to take a cruise during a week off in June, she relented and off we went across the Chesapeake. We had a great time at a lovely marina while meeting lots of nice people. Our daughter brought a friend and they had a blast too. On the first day Judy commented, "You know, I'm really enjoying this." On the second day, as we passed, belly to belly, trying to set up the berths for the night, she looked at me and these magic words came out, "We need a bigger boat". (With apologies to Roy Schneider)
I muttered something like yeah, I know, but a few minutes later I went out on the dock, looked to the heavens and silently screamed, THANK YOU LORD!! When we got home she couldn't stop talking about how much fun she had. This was for real!
That next week we started boat shopping and, lured by their faster speeds, which would open up our range of destination possibilities, and their snazzy cockpits and interiors we focused on express cruisers. At first we looked at 10-15 year old 45+ footers since that fit our budget and we craved the space. A few musty (and worse) sniffs quickly had us looking at 5-6 year old 35+ footers and we almost pulled the trigger on a pretty Sea Ray 370 Sundancer but the gas engines and those stern drives (all that metal hangin in the water!) had me queasy. More speed than a Tug could provide was important to us since our leisure time is limited and we wanted to go more places. The Cutwaters had never really appealed to me like the Tugs had, they just weren't special enough, besides I never thought of them as being particularly fast, nor did I think their largest, the 30, was big enough. A really lowball offer for my 25 prompted a call to my local Ranger Tug/Cutwater dealer, Pocket Yachts in Grasonville, MD. Mark Schulstad, the owner and John Osborne, the salesman who sold me the 25, surprised me by quoting cruising and top speed numbers for the Cutwater 30. Then they made me an offer I couldn't refuse, offering me top dollar for my trade and a nice price on a new loaded 30 with the 435 hp D6 engine. On our sea trial, Judy pronounced it big enough and darn if the thing didn't hit 30 mph at wot (3 adults, newly painted bottom, 1/4 tank of fuel, empty water tank, smooth seas). We were sold. Suddenly, the Cutwater looked very special.
I'm thrilled to remain in the Fluid Motion family! We take delivery this Friday. Yahoo!
We've owned our Tug since Sept '14 and it was exciting to be back on the water after 15 years without a boat. Not yet retired, my vision was to cruise with the family every available leisure day during the season. Didn't quite work out that way.
Between our nine year old's schedule (cheer, gymnastics, birthday parties...) and my wife's take-it-or-leave-it feelings towards my passion, we've spent maybe a total of four days cruising since Tug Dawg's arrival. The rest were day trips. The few nights we spent aboard with Judy and I exchanging kicks in the v-berth and struggling to pass each other in the narrow passageway did nothing to improve the situation. I started looking at big bow-riders and such since we were primarily day boating, but my beautiful wife was not exactly onboard with purchasing yet another boat.
And then the miracle happened. After nagging her yet again to take a cruise during a week off in June, she relented and off we went across the Chesapeake. We had a great time at a lovely marina while meeting lots of nice people. Our daughter brought a friend and they had a blast too. On the first day Judy commented, "You know, I'm really enjoying this." On the second day, as we passed, belly to belly, trying to set up the berths for the night, she looked at me and these magic words came out, "We need a bigger boat". (With apologies to Roy Schneider)
I muttered something like yeah, I know, but a few minutes later I went out on the dock, looked to the heavens and silently screamed, THANK YOU LORD!! When we got home she couldn't stop talking about how much fun she had. This was for real!
That next week we started boat shopping and, lured by their faster speeds, which would open up our range of destination possibilities, and their snazzy cockpits and interiors we focused on express cruisers. At first we looked at 10-15 year old 45+ footers since that fit our budget and we craved the space. A few musty (and worse) sniffs quickly had us looking at 5-6 year old 35+ footers and we almost pulled the trigger on a pretty Sea Ray 370 Sundancer but the gas engines and those stern drives (all that metal hangin in the water!) had me queasy. More speed than a Tug could provide was important to us since our leisure time is limited and we wanted to go more places. The Cutwaters had never really appealed to me like the Tugs had, they just weren't special enough, besides I never thought of them as being particularly fast, nor did I think their largest, the 30, was big enough. A really lowball offer for my 25 prompted a call to my local Ranger Tug/Cutwater dealer, Pocket Yachts in Grasonville, MD. Mark Schulstad, the owner and John Osborne, the salesman who sold me the 25, surprised me by quoting cruising and top speed numbers for the Cutwater 30. Then they made me an offer I couldn't refuse, offering me top dollar for my trade and a nice price on a new loaded 30 with the 435 hp D6 engine. On our sea trial, Judy pronounced it big enough and darn if the thing didn't hit 30 mph at wot (3 adults, newly painted bottom, 1/4 tank of fuel, empty water tank, smooth seas). We were sold. Suddenly, the Cutwater looked very special.
I'm thrilled to remain in the Fluid Motion family! We take delivery this Friday. Yahoo!