In the fall of 2017, we experienced the second best day of boat ownership: we sold our boat! We had our 42′ Performance Trawler for seven years, and had some great memories aboard. It was bittersweet to say goodbye. At the time, she was the perfect boat for us.
42′ Performance Trawler, our former boat
For many seasons while we got the sh*$! kicked out of us in the Straight of Georgia, we engrained in our memory that our next boat would have stabilizers. While cruising our favorite area, The Broughton’s, we took note that a water maker would make all the difference as there is limited potable water here. Tom is 6’1″, a stand up engine room would be nice, so he did not have to contort himself around the engines. We are very competent at docking a twin screw, sans bow thruster. But some of the docks we tie to there is a swift current. A bow thruster would be nice.
We had a list of what our next boat would have. And we told ourselves we would not compromise. Our “perfect” boat wound up being in Ft Lauderdale, FL. When Tom showed me the listing the first time I said, but she’s in Florida! And we kept looking. And we kept coming back to this boat in Ft Lauderdale.
Maybe her being located in Ft Lauderdale was not a bad thing? We have chartered in the Whitsundays, Australia and Phang Nga Bay, Thailand, maybe this could be another adventure?
We flew down in December to take a look at her, and ended up spending almost two hours aboard. Learning, sensing, understanding. She is a 66′ Tollycraft, originally a 61′ that was sent back to the Tollycraft factory in Kelso WA to have her cockpit extended. It is believed she was the last 61′ Tollycraft to be extended before they started building the 65′ Tollycraft, modeled after her. These Tollycrafts are what the Fleming, Offshore, and Marlows are modeled after. Her lines are classic, and timeless.
She is exactly what we were looking for. But she was located in Florida. After we got back to Seattle, we started doing our research on how to bring her home. The options were slim. She is too large to be transported over land on a trailer. We could put her on a float on/float off freighter from Ft Lauderdale to Victoria BC to the tune of $62,000. Or, we could cruise her through the Panama Canal ourselves. Since the first two options were not viable, it would have to be the third. We never knew transiting the Panama Canal with our own boat was on our bucket list!