Nine, not counting the others
We've had nine fibreglass sailboats not counting the dinghies, canoes and inflatables that accompanied all those boats. And it doesn't count our first boat which was a wood Comet (sister to a Star) which we sailed on Lake Washington. It even had cotton sails. But our first boat was a Cal 20 which we sailed all over Puget Sound. We even tried to race it. But it missed the winds of San Fransico. We traded it in on a Pearson Renegade (27') which was the worst boat I've ever had. No, Peason didn't make a bad boat--it just didn't at that time fit our needs. It was an outboard boat before they made an outboard for sailboats. We traded the Pearson in on a Ranger 29. The Ranger 29 is one of my favorite boats and we sailed and raced it hard. Except for the gas engine and that it would squat when under power, it was a great boat. The dealer knew we raced it alot and offered to take it in trade for a Ranger 32. It was a three quarter ton boat with 11winches and 12 sails and nothing below to keep it light. We did win second place in the St. of Georgia race in class but it was expensive doing all that racing from Seattle to Vancouver to Victoria. We traded the Ranger in on a Sceptre 36, made in British Columbia. It was a great boat except it was hull no. 1 and I now have a rule not to buy the first three hulls of a boat. Nothing quite fit on that boat and the lockers were all raw fiberglass. But it did have a diesel which we loved. And the Sceptres were fast. And then I saw my first Hunter. I like innovation and I was hooked. The Hunter 54 was just the way I would design a boat if I could. But I couldn't afford it so we opted for a Hunter 40 (Legend). Again, we couldn't afford it but the dealer said oh so smoothly, why not charter it and make some money. He didn't tell me the State of Washington would charge me tax everytime I used it and other little things like that. It was a wonderful boat but the worst five years of my life on the water. The only good that came out of this boat is that I probably can fix just about anything that breaks on my boats. Would you believe some charterers actually used the wrench for the shaft on the stove handles and broke them all off because they didn't know you have to push them in to turn them. They glued them back on and we didn't know. Because I was so tired of fixing that boat that we traded it in on a Vision 32. We did more just sitting on that boat than any that we had had up to then. But I couldn't get that boat to sail. I think it was me--I had done so much racing that my mind was locked into one way of thinking--sorta like my Pearson earlier on. So, back to the dealer. He gave me full price for it on a new Hunter 35.5. This could be my all time favorite boat for both cruising and racing. We won boat of the year one time in Bellingham Bay beating San Juans, J boats, Pearson, C&C and a slew of others. It was fun--it was a good sailing boat and I had a good crew. But the problem with the 35.5 was that it used CNG for cooking and all the places around here quite carrying it. So I decided to change to propane. Now here is an interesting thread. The boat was great for my wife and I (and two cats) with CNG but if I changed it for propane, my wife was unhappy. It turn out that the aft bedroom had only one door and that went by the stove. She would reason that if the stove caught fire, she might not be able to get out. So we went to the boat show to see what other boats did with propane and we saw Ray Rutledge who we had met at a Hunter Association meeting. Ray is one of the nicest guys I know and very knowledgeable about boats. He had owned his own charter company (see my remarks above). On a raining day and with my wife not feeling well, we headed for Seattle to see the Hunter 380. It was love at first sight and now that we had had so many different boats we knew what to look for that would suit our needs. I think too many people buy boats influenced by other peoples opinions. "Ah, that's not a blue water boat," or "Only by a ________ (Swan, Valiant, Sabre), you get what you pay for." We knew we like the Hunter 380 and Ray showed us stuff we needed to see. That afternoon we bought a H380 and we haven't been sorry since. I really appreciate what Ray did for us and the way we did the transaction. The Hunter 380 is our last boat as I see it unless Ray can figure a way for me to have a HC 50 which is the only other boat I would be interested in. But over 40 years of boating, I've learned some things--sometimes the hard way. ALL of our boat were good boats it was just some of them didn't fit what we wanted to do at that time in life. Wrong boat for the wrong family. I can remember wanting a traditional boat with teak all over it--I thought the Choy Lee boats were a thing of beauty. The Pearson had plenty of teak--but I didn't have the patience to take care of it. I am amazed at the number of boats people knock who never sailed on them. This Hunter 380 (Trumpeter-named after the Swans in this area) is my favorite boat. It has just about everything from ...well, let's put it this way, it doesn't have an electric winch. I guess Ray forgot about that one. But we spend about 55 days cruising the Pacific Northwest waters and enjoying every minute of it.
