Got a call back

After calling on 10 different boats the other day I pretty much wrote off doing anymore boat shopping in this market and decided we needed to love the one we were with.  However, we got a call back that the deal fell through on a 42 foot Nordic Tug we wanted to see.  It's funny because when I saw this listing pop up on yacht world something told me this might be the boat and we both had been eager to see it.  We made our appointment to see it at the end of the week hoping that it would not be sold in the 4 days leading up to our visit.  As much as we hated the idea of having to decide on the spot we talked a lot about having to make a yes or no decision on it really quickly during the 2 hour drive up to see it and unfortunately we have not seen many different types of boats yet.  Worse yet we have not been out on any power boats yet to see how they ride and what some of the fancy things like stabilizers or twin engines might do.

We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived to see how clean the boat was.  When we boarded the boat we saw it was named The Wright Choice.  Maybe that's the first sign?  After looking around it for more then an hour we both liked it despite the fact that the interior was a bit dated and for some reason it had carpet laid inside?  I can't imagine trying to keep carpet from molding on a boat.  Seems like a bad idea to me but it was original and in good shape so must be possible?  The broker representing the boat had also been the main care taker of the boat for the last 15 years or so and had a very intimate knowledge of all the systems and design of the boat.  He was kind enough to take us out on it, play around a bit with it on Lake Huron, and even let me dock it.  Can't say it was a docking job I'm exactly proud of but I did manage to get it in the first time.  I'm not sure how other trawlers turn but this one is really slow and the prop walk seems much stronger then what I'm used to in a sail boat... I'm sure that has something to do with the much larger prop and smaller rudder.  Needless to say I was reminded of Austin Powers trying to turn that golf cart around when attempting to maneuver this boat in the Port Huron River where it was docked.  I was also very surprise how little the bow thruster really helped?  It seemed to work well to keep the boat pointed the right direction while waiting for the bridge to open but when it came to turning or docking really was very little help.

Bottom line after having dinner that night and talking about it we both decided that we would like to see some other boats and while we might be interested in this boat it was not love at first sight.  However if we were lucky enough to see a few more boats we both thought we would probably come back to this one or at least something along the lines of this design.  We also know the market and know this one will be gone by the time we would be able to shop around more.  Amy thinks the Tug look is cute.  I really liked the pilot house, visibility at the helm, the full keel, skeg mounted rudder, and the fact there was a crane to put the dingy up top and out of the way.  I was disappointed that it did not have a fly bridge, a washer and dryer (there is a hook up for one though), and I'm not sure what to think of the fact that is has over 6400 hours on the engine. After a bit of exploring on the internet there seems to be a pretty good following for this type of boat so it should make resale easy when the time comes.  We decided to follow the sign on the back of the boat and called to make the Wright Choice the next day putting the boat under contract. Now to get a survey and mechanical inspection lined up to get some idea of what we might be in for with this boat. Looks like we might have found ourselves a Great Loop boat. Hope this little Nordic Tug surveys well as time is running out to find anything else!