Finding the (right) boat for us

Full disclosure - when we lived in South Africa we almost bought a Dean 400 catamaran.
we visited the factory, looked at the boat, took one for a ride, but ended in the US and bought power boat (yes we are sorry, but on the Mississippi river, power boat was more logical than a catamaran).

We were boating in Minnesota, and members of the US Sail and Power Squadrons. In one of our visits to the Great Lakes we saw a catamaran in one of the marinas. My wife said, it will be a great idea to sail one, before the day was over, I booked a week charter in the Florida Keys. The first tile in our road to our boat was in place. (sea worthiness, capacity, water, fuel, space, etc..)

In 2017 we visited two boat shows, in Miami and in Annapolis,. We talked with different agents, looked at boats, added what we heard to what we knew before, experienced in charters, read, etc. and created a list of what we would like the boat to have (or able to have).

We plan to live on the boat - it is going to be our floating home; We plan to take it places across oceans. It had to be able to support us, and we were not planing to be in marinas (most of the time).

So armed  with what we want / need on the boat, with set of priorities, we start researching. Looking at available boats, looking at timing, and waiting for our house to be sold.

The day we sold our house, we contacted our agents with a message - we need a boat.
After a few weeks of exchanging emails, calling on the phone and scheduling, our agent set for us a list of boats to see, in marinas in GA, and FL (both coasts).

In mid September we drove from MN to view 11 boats that our agent schedule for us.
We saw Leopard, Lagoons, African Cat, some others and 3 Mantas.
We learned that we we saw on the websites in most cases does reflect the boat it self. We learned that if you pay close attention even the name in the photos does not match the name of the advertised boat. Numbers to not match, etc etc etc.
One of the best things that happened to us while looking at those boats is the fact that our agent came with us. It was extremely helpful. showing us at what to look and what not, how to evaluate what we see and how to understand its impact vs. our needs.

That learning was a hard one. But, we had a great agent, we have been advised even before we had the final list too look at, as to what is real and what is not, so at the end of the day







the schedule we had was a good one, with some promises.

After seeing many boats for 3 days, we had two at the top of list. A 2001 Leopard 38 and a 1999 Manta 40. So, we drove back to GA to see the Leopard again.

We looked at it again, compare notes, and called our agent - we decided to go on the 1999 Manta 40.
We sent an offer while driving back home to MN.

By the time we got home we had an accepted offer.

Next step was to schedule inspection, and insurance, and marina and.... - but this will be in the next blog