New Cruising Boat

[CruisingCouple]

Hi there! We recently bought a new (to us) 1986 Hunter Legend 37 that we plan to sail from Lake Superior and cruise the Caribbean, leaving in September of 2015. Our boat is a fresh water boat all her life and we are going to be doing refits for blue water cruising. So we'll have lots of questions that we hope we can find answers for.

After selling our previous boat we bought the Legend 37 knowing full well she is not considered the premier blue water boat. However, I own and operate heavy equipment for a living and found over the years that you don't need the premier (meaning it says Caterpillar on it) equipment for every application.

So our new boat is what we could afford to pay cash for without financing and while she is in good shape structurally, she is not exactly in top condition cosmetically. She needs a lot of TLC (including a new paint job). I hauled her home on my lowboy, picked her off the lowboy with the overhead traveling crane in my shop and set her on her cradle. I hope to have her repainted, refit and ready to splash by mid-summer 2014.

Now, before I ask any stupid questions I have a lot of reading to do because most of the questions I have are probably already answered on the forum

[boatman61]

Hi CC... Welcome to CF.
Hunter Legends do okay.. some friends of mine own one they bought and cruised in the Caribbean.. then sailed to the Med then back across again to Brazil... you'll be fine..

[CruisingCouple]

Thanks Boatman61! I guess when we were going to various marinas to look at yachts the first thing the brokers tend to say is that "you don't want one of those for blue water". And then they show us the $100-200K boats.

[boatman61]

The bigger the commission... the Bluer the water..
But always remember.. you/me is the weak link

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, CruisingCouple.

What Boats said ...

[CruisingCouple]

LOL. That's really funny Boatman61. That should go in the Bible of Yachting (if there is such a thing).

We told the broker that the perfect yacht for us is the one we can afford and don't have to make payments on so we got money to go cruising on. He countered with, "Oh, but you can make payments on this one because you don't have to do anything to it."

I scratched my head for a bit over that one. I have never seen a boat that "you don't have to do anything to it".

We went against all his advice and ordered a survey on the Legend 37. The survey didn't really find anything that I didn't already know after inspecting her myself. So we bought it. The broker did not seem really sad or anything about it.

[laika]

Kudos for buying something you can actually afford! I'm sure she'll treat you well. Why work for another decade so you can buy something that other people think you ought to want more??

[SV THIRD DAY]

Don't listen to the naysayers that will sing the song that if you don't have an Island Packet, Valliant, or Bla bla bla you can't go cruising...

What's important is that you actually made it past the dreamer stage to the Prepper stage. Now know that most boats craned into a cradle for a quickie refit end up being sold by the owners relatives after their death, so get her back to the water as fast as you can. Don't make the age old and cruising magazine reinforced mistake of thinking everything has to be done before you head out cruising...that's crazy. Get the big things done and then get out there for a season and then figure out which things you can cross off or add to you list! Thers is nothing wrong with finishing the refit while out cruising and enjoying the fruits of your hard work.

[Blc7]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

Don't listen to the naysayers that will sing the song that if you don't have an Island Packet, Valliant, or Bla bla bla you can't go cruising...

What's important is that you actually made it past the dreamer stage to the Prepper stage. Now know that most boats craned into a cradle for a quickie refit end up being sold by the owners relatives after their death, so get her back to the water as fast as you can. Don't make the age old and cruising magazine reinforced mistake of thinking everything has to be done before you head out cruising...that's crazy. Get the big things done and then get out there for a season and then figure out which things you can cross off or add to you list! Thers is nothing wrong with finishing the refit while out cruising and enjoying the fruits of your hard work.

[CruisingCouple]

Thanks GordMay for the greeting!

laika and SV Third Day:
The boat actually has to be done and out of my shop by late April. It's just that my work season starts then and we won't get a chance to splash her until I get my spring work lined up and crews going. So she's not going to be sitting on her cradle for very long.

I have never really heard other's experiences with yacht brokers. But we had looked over everything we were interested in and had a "top three" list picked out with the Legend 37 being #1 on the list.

We told the broker the first time we met what we could afford, what we had picked out and what we wanted to do. The first thing he did is totally ignore what we told him, dismiss our #1 choice in our "top three" list and show us boats we had absolutely no interest in whatsoever.

The broker totally downplayed the Legend 37 making her out to be a "cheap" boat. But we owned a Hunter 22 for 8 years, which he also considers a "cheap" boat, but it was one of the sweetest and well constructed little sailboats you could even ask for.

So going thru a broker was not a real pleasant experience for us.

[boatman61]

My friends on their Legend 'Helianthe'... Latin for Sunflower..

[Mike OReilly]

Welcome CruisingCouple. Congrats on the new (old) boat. I'm sure she'll be a great one.

It's great to have another Superior sailor on board. We bought our current boat at La Pointe Marina across from Bayfield. Love that whole area down your way, although I've only sailed the Apostles so far. Your cruising grounds are beautiful, but if you get a chance you should point your bow north and come and explore the Canadian shore. We've sailed the north shore for years now (out of Thunder Bay, ON). If you want any info about our cruising grounds, just ask. Happy to help if I can.

And who knows ... we might even be boat buddies heading south in 2015. Our plans are to begin our down-stream journey next summer. We may even be in your neck of the wood in June of 2014 to get some work done. Then it's down to Lake Ontario for the first season. In 2015 we'll head down the St. Lawrence, and then who knows. Maybe we'll cross wakes if your 2015 plan holds true.

[CruisingCouple]

Hi Mike - sounds very nice! We were thinking about going down the Calumet, Illinois and Mississippi to the Gulf. There is a lot of things I have to check out on that voyage, such as where we have to unstep the mast for bridge clearance and how much trouble we will have going thru locks. There is a lot of barge traffic on the river system that time of year.

[CruisingCouple]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

It's great to have another Superior sailor on board. We bought our current boat at La Pointe Marina across from Bayfield. Love that whole area down your way, although I've only sailed the Apostles so far. Your cruising grounds are beautiful, but if you get a chance you should point your bow north and come and explore the Canadian shore.

Mike, it is very nice to make your acquaintance too. We have been up to Isle Royale several times with our Hunter 22. We sometimes sail the Apostles but it gets pretty busy around there on weekends with powerboats darting around. We kind of prefer the north shore as a destination for a weekend cruise because the powerboats don't go out onto the open lake too much.

We took a 10 day cruise last August to the Beaver Island Archipelago on Lake Michigan. We went through the Canadian lock on the St Mary's and we were the only boat in the lock both times through it

We might not be able to slip our new boat at Port Wing because of the depth of the slips. Our old boat had a swing keel so it could slip in only 2 1/2 of water. With the keel down it drawed 5 feet and it would rub bottom. They are going to do some dredging in the spring and hopefully we will still be able to slip there. If not, we will have to move over to Ashland.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by CruisingCouple

Mike, it is very nice to make your acquaintance too. We have been up to Isle Royale several times with our Hunter 22. We sometimes sail the Apostles but it gets pretty busy around there on weekends with powerboats darting around. We kind of prefer the north shore as a destination for a weekend cruise because the powerboats don't go out onto the open lake too much.

If you don't like the crowds then definitely head up north. The Canadian north shore is true wilderness, with plenty of wonderful anchorages to explore. In some places up here we've gone for weeks at a time and seen no other cruising boats.

It's a bit of a haul from Port Wing. You'd want at least a week I'd say -- more is better to accomodate good weather windows. We hopped from the Apostles over to Grand Marais and then up to Thunder Bay. Some people jump to Isle Royale and then over. Unfortunately Thunder Bay is the only place you can clear in, but I believe you can get a CANPASS which lets you call in your border crossing (and an I-68 to get back into the US).

Come north. You'll love it.