How about this....

[denpooch]

On a recent post, one of the members, Laserbait, told us that he is new to boating and his FIRST boat is a 36.
I found this to be most impressive and quite manly (one might say ballsey).
It will be interesting for you to share your evolution from first boat til now, in size, style, etc. This should be fun and I volunteer to go first.
#1. 8 ft sailing dingy. Boy did the admiral and I feel cool traipsing east to west off of our beach way back when.
#2 1961 Chris Craft Seaskiff. This was a 23 foot wooden lapstrake beauty. I purchased her from a fanatic and she looked great and ran like a charm. However, while going for a ride with my 5 year old I got a little too close to the Centre Island Reef and ....... (Terrible and memorable event, fortunately in safe waters. Guess the lesson I learned THAT season!))
#3 1965 Pearson 28 cabin cruiser. Built like a brick shat house. I had the original sales brochure which touted the benefits of 'space age' fiberglass. "No longer do you have to leave your boat in the water to swell up before using".
Very heavy single engine and safe workhorse. (They were not sure of the properties of fiberglass and overbuilt her) However, she did look 'old' and when I finally got a spot at the village dock (12 yr wait), the kids insisted that I upgrade because they were embarrassed by the looks.
#4 1989 Wellcraft Gran Sport. This 34 footer was my first experience with twin engines. She was a sharp looking
and reliable. Sold her with about 2100 hrs on gas engines. Never a problem.
#5 2005 Carver 36 Mariner. This is my 'if not now, when?' purchase. Loving the accomodations and long distance cruising.
How about you???

[Alaska 530 Voyager]

Hi all, Dave here.
#1 1978 Bayliner Encounter 3050. Twin 470 Mercs.
#2 1985 46 ft Davis trawler yacht. Twin Isuzu 145s.
#3 1986 Bayliner 45 Pilothouse. Twin 220 Hinos.
#4 and current, 1999 Carver 530 Voyager. Twin 610 Volvos. I picked her up in 2012 with 550 hours on the mains. I now have just under 2,000 hrs. Undergoing new electronics package now. Try to upgrade one big system each year. I was 21 when I started with my first boat. 23 when I picked up the 46 ft trawler. 27 when I bought the Bayliner pilothouse. Still loving the Carver with no immediate plans to change. Dave

[RGrew176]

1. 1960 12' Fiberform with a 5 HP Firestone O/B. This was a great little boat. Learned a lot on this boat. (used)

2. 1972 14' Penn Yan with a 75 HP Evinrude O/B. (used)

3. 1983 16' Rinker V-165 with a 120 HP 3.0 I/O with Alpha drive. My first new boat.

4. 1987 24 'Bayliner 2450 Ciera Sunbridge 230 HP 5.0 (305) OMC I/O. (new) Really great boat. Ran it all over the west end of Lake Erie for 4 seasons.

5. 1963 30' Chris Craft Constellation with twin 283’s inboards. (used)

6. 1995 20' Bayliner 2052 Capri with 195 HP 4.3LX I/O Alpha (new)

7. 1996 26' Bayliner 2655 Ciera Sunbridge with 220 HP 5.0 I/O Alpha (new)

8. 1996 28' Bayliner 2855 Ciera Sunbridge with 300 HP 7.4L I/O Bravo III (new) Should have bought this one instead of the 26. This was definitely the best rough water boat I have ever owned. Could rally handle the rough stuff.

9. 1999 30' Bayliner 3055 Ciera Sunbridge with twin 250 HP 5.7L I/O’s Bravo II 16 (new) When I sold this boat in 2011 I thought I was done with boating. Not so as the boat bug bit me again in 2014. Had to get back into boating once again.

10.1981 Carver 3007 Aft Cabin with twin 270 HP 5.7 Inboards (used) I found this boat in June of 2015. Finally closed the purchase in August 2015. Older boat, have had to put some $$ into it since the purchase. A lot of room for a 30 footer.

[throwback2]

First boat was a 12' Grants aluminum (new) put a 1947 3.6 Mercury on it. Next was a 1956 17' Jafco (wood) with a flat head 6 cylinder Hercules inboard.Then came a 1959 26' Chris Craft (wood) with a 327 inboard.Then a 1977 25' Chris Craft with a 305 inboard.Next was a 1975 28' Pacemaker Sportfish with twin 350's.When pop passed away in 2005 I got his 1973 15' Atlantic Craft and still have with a 2004 Mercury 40 that I bought a couple years ago. Then came a 1979 33' Executive with twin 454's and then my current 28' 1987 Carver Voyager with twin 305's that will be replaced with 350's this winter.

[darrenlife]

1. 1974 14’ Traveller w/50HP evinrude
2. 1983 15’ Doral w/50 HP evinrude
3. 1989 Thundercraft Temptation w/5.0 Merc
4. 1989 Thundercraft Magnum with twin 4.3’s
5. 1996 Cruisers 3650 ACMY with twin Volvo TAMD63 diesel
6. 2002 Carver 410 SS w/twin Merc 8.1’s

[km1125]

Well, I'd have to start with my dad's first, as THAT is what got me into boating in the first place. I don't know what make it was (maybe I should find a pic and post it, so you guys can help figure it out?), but it was a mid-50's plywood hull 23' open express cabin cruiser with an old Ford flathead engine. Had a Borg-Warner transmission that didn't like to stay in gear. Also leaked gas from the carb on one memorable trip.

My first one was a 72 25' Trojan with 215HP Merc. Fiberglass hull, but the rest was teak and mahogany. The boat had seen better days, so after a few years I gutted the whole boat down to the stingers and rebuilt it. Great project and great learning opportunity. Put it back in the water about a year later and planned to keep it for a LONG time. It was pretty fast (~40mph), very maneuverable and I got very comfortable docking the single screw. Could pretty much put it anywhere, either bow in or stern in. Ended up having to sell it much earlier than planned after I stumbled on the next one.

36' Carver 3607 w/ 350HP Crusaders. I stumbled on this boat while helping a friend find his boat. His was a repo that needed a lot of work, but the same repo house that sold him his had this Carver. The bank had repo'd it but they didn't have clearance to sell it yet, so it was not advertised. I tracked down the guy at the bank who was responsible for it, and talked him into letting me take it over for what was owed if I financed it with them. They eventually agreed (took months) and I became the new owner. Since I had the old registration, I was able to find the original owner and contacted him and he gave me all the original paperwork and manuals for the boat, as well as all the keys. He was a great guy, but just got in over his head with it, and he was glad to get out from under it with any additional costs (if the bank had incurred more costs in the sale or a further loss on the boat, he would have still owed them more). I had to learn the twin screw handling quick, as I had never done it before (and there was no youtube as a mentor!), but did fine getting it out of the tight slip and over to the new marina.

[Cooler]

Not my first boat, but my first boat experience. 25' Catalina Sail. A college professor owned it, and made a deal with a local family that if they had the boat "ready to go" so he could just get on and leave the marina every Friday - Sunday, they could use the boat from Mon to Thurs, and weekends he wasn't there. Needless to say, my friends and I ( 3 guys, all 14 years old ), sailed that thing in search of 14 - 18 year old girls. Search suspended after 4 years. First boat was 12' day sailor I went partners with my future Father-in-law. He had 3 daughters so he never could have things for himself. 2nd boat was a 79 Macgregor Venture 222, again partner with FIL. Sold that because my wife did no want to lose our infant over the side. 5 years later, bought a 76 Cruisers Bar Harbor from an opera singer that my wife accompanied, so great deal and try out power boating. My 2 boys would fall asleep on our cruises to different ports, and wake up at arrival. They were like somebody else's kids they were so well behaved. Then a friend of mine bought Cruiser's Yachts out of bankruptcy and sold me a new boat, 95 Cruisers 2670 with 7.4 Volvo duo props. That boat ran perfect for 22 years, until a go fast boat collided with me in the dark and totaled the vessel. While on my search for a 2000-2005 something, came across the 95 Mariner 330 we now own. The seller was an engineer who took meticulous care of her, and she passed all inspections as Bristol condition. er

[ColRon]

I grew up on Kentucky Lake/Tennessee River and while growing up the family never owned a boat, but spent a lot of time fishing at the lake. I left home at the age of 18 and joined the Army. While in the Army I spent most of my career overseas. In 92, I was stationed in Utah and in 94 bought my first boat, a 19’ Bayliner Capri cuddly cabin. I always wanted a boat I take “camping”. Towed that boat all over the states of Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Arizona. Yellowstone, Flaming Gorge, Lake Powell and of course all the reservoirs near my home base of Ogden, UT. After few years I decided that the 19’ was too small, but since everything near me was landlocked, I still had to have something towable, so I sold my first boat and bought a 92 Bayliner 2855 Ciera Sunbridge.

When I retired from the Army in 2006, my family and I moved back to my hometown in Kentucky and we brought that Bayliner back with us. My wife, having been from Wyoming, never realized how much traveling could be done on the TN River. Unfortunately with the kids being teenagers now, school sports and activities killed our boating plans, so we sold the Bayliner.

After the kids left the nest, our thought again turned to relax time for us. The wife thought of getting a motor home, but I reminder her about the boating opportunities here (the TN River is part of the Great Loop) so we started shopping. After looking to determine what we wanted, we settled on a Carver Santego, in large part due to the cockpit and the large one level interior. A friend of ours had a friend with a 3867 Santego that we looked at, unfortunately he wasn’t selling at that time. So we looked else where . We found an 88 Santego 3067 near Nashville that we bought for a decent price. While it wasn’t exactly what we wanted - smaller, we decide it would work till we could find a larger one, besides I didn’t have experience with Twin engines and this would make good starter.

Fast forward a couple years and that Santego our friend had showed us was one the market and the owner wanted out of boating. It had been meticulously maintained, and surveyed for almost double the contracted price. So we were now the new owners of an 89 Santego 3867.

We plan on keeping Escape Plan until we completely retirement, at which time we will be looking for something in the 60’ range to retire and live aboard. Our plans are to complete the great loop and live in my home area in the spring and summer, then move south to LA (Lower Alabama) or Fla in the late fall and winter. At least that’s our plan for now.

[Sadey]

26’ 1970’s Cruisers
22’ 1983 SeaRay Weekender
26’ 1988 SeaRay Sundancer
356 2003 Carver
60’ 1989 Hatteras

The last jump has been quite challenging but a blast. I still feel like I’m cheating on my 356.

[Cooler]

Dave - send some pics. You're not cheating. You did a lot of work, dressing her up and getting her back standing proud! She has a nice home. She may not see Door County again, but will have other adventures. Don't forget to change your profile to the Hat. We're OK if you don't have a Carver to display, you're always welcome here! er