Yes, I do wish that grandpa had lived to see how his passion for boating 'rubbed off' on me... We appropriately named our boat "Andreita 2" (you can get what his boat was named).

Grew up in North Florida, been around boating as long as I can remember. My Dad is the main reason that I love it so much, just spending time with him and my brother was awesome growing up. I am hoping to pass it on to my kids as well.

Grew Up walking distance to the Mighty Niagara River, between Erie and Ontario. It is a culture, and it was about XX years ago or $100000.00 ago.

Well, It's dad's fault.
About 1972, age 5, dad bought a Sea Ray, 17 or 18-footer, Merc 888 I/O, 302 ford, and I learned to ski behind it, and loved every minuite of it. There were not nearly enough minuites either as we only went boating a few times a summer, including the usual July 4th week. I did lkearn to drive it but the hand-controll was hard to move for a young kid.
in '77, dad gave the Sea-Ray to my Uncle Max in Wyoming, took Max's tri-hul O/B something, and sold it for him (easier here in Ks), then bought the Taylor in spring '78. I rapidly became Chaufur, driver to the trailer, and Shotgun in races WOOHOO!!!! (kinda scarry tho at 70mph)
Eventually, after marrying and moving out, I borrowed it as often as my budget allowed (which was seldom). I honestly think I kept dad from selling her for the entire '90's. I was told to take her home to my garage after borrowing her in '03 and was handed the titles (including trailer) over the winter. I decided to name her in Spring '04 and the fun has just begun. She was runnable but "rough" doesn't describe her well enough. Was very worn, but we enjoy every summer. Every winter is a further step in the refurbishment to get her to "like new". She'll never be for sale as far as I am concerned. One of the kids will deserve to have her in another 30 years (maybe 40). She's probably about 85% done now.

One day the wife said, "Maybe we should buy a boat." I love my wife.

Born into it. Dad started with a small wooden boat then got a 15 foot fiberglass boat with wooden benches and wooden floor. It had a 25 hp black and white striped Merc on it. Loved that boat and hauling down grandpa and grandma to the river. They looked like true immigrants and would pack food for 3 days.

Someone hit that boat in the late 70's while it was parked at our house and dad was out of boating for a few years. He then bought a open bow Thundercraft in 1980. I loved that boat and we still did the family thing. Nine years later, time for a bigger boat-- 1989 19 foot Bayliner. First i/o nice to have a cuddy although all we did was store rafts and junk in it.

Mom lost interest in boating, brother bought his own jet boat, Mom passes away, and dad decided to fulfull his dream of a larger boat. 1998 2655 Bayliner. I became his first mate for this boat and now the owner since he passed away last year.
Boating is and always will be in my blood.

They yelled at me when I parked on the golf course, so I bought a boat.



Yes, just kidding.
That was taken two weeks ago on our family vacation. A friend of the wifes family has been boating for years. last year they invited us along with them. We had a good time, and decided to do it again this year. Before we came home, we decided we would be boating by next summer.

Dad taught me to sail catamarans on Mission Bay when I was a pre-teen. Even before that I was always interested in the sea and things nautical - playing sea captain etc.

We had an old (even at the time) Alcort Catfish. There are (were) only two known to be on the west coast, and the other was up in Washington. They would come down in the winter now and then.

Later, I went into the USN continuing my nautical adventures. After that I was off the water for many years until I ran into a posting on a bulletin board at work looking for someone to "crew" on a sailboat now and then. It turned out the guy was actually looking for some people to help share expenses. For $100 a month I could use a 33' Newport Sloop anytime the owner wasn't. Since he never used it, that was pretty much any time I wanted.

That lasted for about a year, when the owners wife finally told him he had to get rid of it when he retired.

A year later my wife bought me a little 19' Bayliner cuddy for our anniversary, then five years later we moved up to my current boat. There are a few others I would have preferred, but she had two requirements:
1. Must fit alongside our house
2. Must pay cash

So this is what I ended up getting:

That is a great looking big water boat!

Thanks.

I'm guessing by the name of the boat, and the photo that you have triplets. My wife does too, though by her previous husband. I "inherited" them when they were 14.

Ours are 22 now, 2 male and 1 female.

The bizarre part is that her triplets were born on the same date (though not year) as my daughter - So we get hit with 4 birthdays in November, followed by Karen's (my wife) in December, followed by Ryan's (me youngest) in January.

That makes for an expensive winter!

For us it was the next choice of hobby! We had been doing dirtbikes for a number of years, and I had a really bad accident on mothers day, that put me out of work for almost three months. Well, I wasn't about to be toy poor, so the decision to sell the bikes came easy.
I came off the bike around 50 MPH, in a rock field, and my son was behind me. I was thrown from the bike into a rock field, and when I came to a rest, I was knocked out. My son thought I died. So, it was a easy decision to sell the bikes! I bought a 94 caravelle from a friend, and the family loved it!
BUT, we have a teenager boy, and he really didn't want to ride around in the boat, and the tube was already getting old. So we uped the annie, and also bought a jet ski. We keep it in SLO mode so it's pretty mild for him.
I'm pretty sure we are gonna stick with this hobby for awhile!!!!

I grew up in Atlantic City, didn't have much of a choice.

Some neighbors invited my family to the lake. I learned to ski and sail that weekend. Later my Mom and Stepdad bought a boat.

When I could afford to I bought one myself.

About '72, dad bought a (roughly) 17' Sea-Ray.
I loved to boat ever since.

Then, about 77, dad traded it to my Uncle (with money added), who still has it, sold Unc's tri-hull outboard (Max lived in Wyoming, better market in Ks.), and bought Lowrider Spring of '78.

Lowrider was givent to me, 2003.