They are in the Great Lakes, but not in the ocean (they only live in fresh water). I won't be spreading them.

The surveyor did his inspection yesterday and has not typed up his report, but he called me to say "Holy S#*t, what a great boat! Buy it!" He was literally gushing about how nice it is. So psyched, hope the oil analysis comes back clean.

Sounds like you found a great boat. Congrats

Dave, looks awesome. You like these boats from the midwest, huh? I guess the short season extends the shelf life. Beautiful lines!

I do indeed like midwest boats. They are so much nicer than the same brand/model/age salt water boats from hot, sunny climates. They get half the use, half the sun exposure, and none of the salt. This boat has spent 13 of its 26 years in heated indoor storage. This will be my third cream puff boat, one toilet of a boat was all it took...


I love the lines on it too, not too top heavy.

Wow, nice find. I thought you were going for a Cutwater ?

Where are you planning on keeping it . . . Looks like a tough tow with the Durango

There's a couple of older Tollycraft's for sale on "my" broker's website that have been there awhile, thought I'd check to see if they're still for sale, they are ('80's boats)...

The last boat in the 'yacht's section I thought I'd check out, a 2000 Bluewater 5200 for $139k- seems to be a pretty nice boat, but I'm wondering how well a pair of 450hp 8.1 Merc's will push it around?

(always boat shopping... always )

https://executiveboatandyacht.com/p...r-bluewater-5200-millennium-motor-yacht/

For now, it will be moored in the Merrimack River in Newburyport. We are number 3 on the wait list for a mooring in Great Bay and will move it there once one becomes available. We plan to keep that mooring until we are done with the boat, even while we are out cruising in the Caribbean and such.

Sold the Durango 3 years ago. Got a GMC with a Duramax now, but thinking it might be a tough tow for that too... Will be selling the GMC when we sell the house.

Mine only has twin 375HP Cats and will do 29 MPH on top.

Dave, you are living the life now! Are you keeping your current boat as a tender? I tried to talk my wife into that, but she would not agree.

Looks like it already comes with Weaver davits and the base for a single St Croix crane, though that is probably not what you would want for the dingy you are thinking about. We have been doing quite bit of thinking about how to mount our 350 lb dinghy - give me a call if you want to chat. Very exciting news!

Coincidentally, I scored a ridiculously good deal on some custom welded aluminum davits today on craigslist. They are made of 3/8" thick plates welded into an arched and tapered I-beam and then they are welded together with 3 thick-walled pipes. I would be shocked if they could not lift 3000 lbs. They are powder coated and the welds are gorgeous. The block and tackle assemblies are top quality too. I'd guess they cost someone 10 grand when they were built. I go them for 500 bucks and I'm just thrilled. I need to fabricate some brackets to fit them, but that's something I can do easily enough. This will make my TIG welder pay for itself 12 times over...

You are spot-on regarding the Weaver stuff (not 100% sure about the St Croix), but I was not able to locate all the parts on the boat, and as you said, they are inadequate for the dinghy I want anyway. Speaking of the dinghy I want, I have a really nice Zodiak Yachtline 340DL with a 25HP Yamaha in my sights. It has a brand new tube, a trailer, and a full cover. May go buy it after the holidays. I know the PVC tube on a Zodiac is not as good as the Hypalon tubes on other boats, but it is cheap and easy to change. Being brand new, it should last at least 10 years.

It might be worth it to hang on to the Weaver davits - they can be used to steady the boat while boarding and to attach it to the swim platform when you don't want to hoist it. We are probably going to add them to our swim platform to make it easier to get dogs aboard if the water is rough. I think we are going to end up with St Croix davits for storing the dinghy while cruising. We have an aluminum floor PVC dinghy (West Marine AL360) with a 20HP Mercury 2-stroke. Not an easy dingy to load/unload, but nice to run around in with 5 adults and a big dog.

The davits you got sound awesome -- nice find!

PVC is fine for a dinghy as long as you don't leave it in the sun all the time. A cover is pretty easy to make and a lot cheaper than Hypalon. Our dinghy stores in 2 ~100lb bags when not inflated, so we have minimal exposure except when cruising. We also got an inflatable Advance Elements Convertible kayak that is 15' long and carries 2 people very nicely. It also stores in a bag.

Great Idea on the weaver hardware, if I can find it all, I will do that for sure. What's the 20HP Mercury 2 stroke weigh? Seems like it would be a pain to remove and remount ll the time. We already have a 2 person inflatable kayak (not a really nice one) that we use as a dinghy on our 25 footer. We will be using it as a dinghy on the trip home from Michigan. Most nights on that trip will likely be on free docks on the Erie canal, so there's little incentive to make the davits a priority until the boat is home.

The Mercury weighs about 120 lbs - way too much to wrestle with on the swim platoform. It is one of the older motors with the shift on the throttle, you rotate the throttle counterclockwise past neutral for reverse. The crabbers like them because you can operate one handed, leaving the other hand free to work. I would really like to find a 15 hp Yamaha 2-stroke in good condition, but they are hard to find. They have similar power to the Mercury and weigh about 85 lbs. We have been towing it, but that only works in calm waters.

You can find Weaver hardware on eBay and Weaver also sells parts. The nice thing is that it is not all that pricey unless you get into things like the Weaver Lever. With a RIB, it can handle heavier boats. Ours would require glue on patches that are only rated for a 150 lb dinghy, so we would only use them to attach the dinghy to the swim platform while anchored.

Man, this boat buying process is so complex... We were all set to put the boat on a mooring in Newburyport, MA and then discovered that MA charges a one time "use fee" (which is another name for sales tax) for a boat that is registered in a NH but used or stored in MA for more than 60 consecutive days. Would have cost us more than 8 grand, so we got a slip in Hampton Beach NH instead. It's substantially more than the mooring, but less than the 8 grand and we'll actually a benefit from it as the slip will be very convenient for all the changes we plan for the boat in the coming year. The slip is also only 25 minutes from my house (10 minutes closer). Once that was sorted out, we were all set to close on the boat and the broker wanted to charge us MI sales tax. NH registered boats sold in MI are exempt from MI sales tax, but they must be delivered out of state for this to apply. We thought this would be a simple thing since the brokerage/marina is just a few miles north of Ohio, so delivering it out of state should be a breeze, right? Well, no, turns out the broker also has an office in OH so delivery there would require OH sales tax and the same deal applies there... So now the sale will take place in MI, but we will take possession of the boat in PA after a delivery Captain brings the boat there. We are not allowed to be passengers on the boat for this journey either. These rules are so ridiculous and don't address the spirit of the law at all. I never had to deal with any of this when I bought a boat in Indiana and registered it in NH. Can't wait to use the boat!

Question: Should I take it through the Welland Canal/Lake Ontario/Oswego Canal/Erie Canal or just take the Erie Canal the whole way?

Sorry to hear about all the hassles. It will all be worth once you finally take delivery & begin to enjoy the next chapter.

The Erie Canal will be scenic however it is no wake (at least where I grew up outside of Rochester, NY).

When we bought our boat in Maryland, we had the option of taking it out of state to reduce the sales tax. Virginia was 2% but Maryland charged 6%. We were documenting the boat, but even US Documented boats have to pay Maryland sales tax if kept in Maryland.

We really wanted to slip the boat on the Chesapeake Bay and if we had paid Virginia's 2% tax and later moved it to Maryland, we would have to pay Maryland the 4% difference. We just bit the bullet and paid the 6%, figuring that most states would recognize what we paid Maryland and we should be good just about anywhere. I am glad we didn't buy a really expensive boat and have to pay 6% on it.

It seems like every jurisdiction is looking at boaters as a source of revenue and fairness really doesn't enter the picture.

Do like John Kerry, keep it in RI, beat the taxes
Really nice Boat BTW, still see you on the Lake on occasion?