Toews ‘r Us — a family sailing adventure

Shopping last weekend, Kenny and I drove all around Florida looking at catamarans.  What a huge letdown it is to come home with nothing. It’s like doing all the work for a project and not finishing it.

We drove, looked, drove, looked, drove, looked and then drove some more. We saw cats that would work for us, and we saw some that wouldn’t. We saw some that were worth the money and some that weren’t. Some were in great shape, some weren’t. I think we saw seven, with a couple more thrown in that were out of our price range, just for fun. Each one had its good points, except for one which had no good points that I can remember. Each one had some cons as well.

The two that stand out are the Venenzia 42 and the Voyage 38. I wish that we could have seen a Voyage 43 or 44, that’s our third choice. I believe that we’ve narrowed it down to one of those three.

So where do we go from here. How do we evaluate and decide? It’s hard! None of them are perfect. And each one has flaws. What’s the most important and what’s best for our family? Which is safest and will provide the best passages? Which is most comfortable to liveaboard?

So many questions, so few answers.

Monoceros may be a constellation, but this boat just isn’t stellar.This boat has some positives: large refrigerator and freezer (this is Kenny’s test point for a good boat), generator, large cockpit, large deck and trampoline. The drawbacks though overwhelm it. The berths are small, The Galley seems isolated. The gelcoat looks too far gone to buff out. The engines have in excess of 5,000 hours, overall she looks run down.

This boat has four cabins and two heads. In the saloon there is a nav station to port. The entire interior has an outdated feel.

The boat was probably pretty awesome in her heyday, but that’s long since past. I believe this is the same year as the Carpe Vita, but it hasn’t held up near as well.

^{Click play twice to view the video}

Latitude: 26°54'47.83"N, Longitude: 82°03'58.25"W
Location: Punta Gorda, Florida, Map It

We met Capt. Wendy at the marina and then headed on to the boat. Surfs With Dolphins is a fine specimen of a Voyage 38. She has a hardtop, large cockpit and overall would make a nice boat for us to liveaboard. I believe this is the only boat of the last two days with a shine on the gelcoat.

Inside the port hull is the owner’s quarters with the bunk forward and a large head aft. The galley is up and has more counter space than the Venezia 42 we saw yesterday. The starboard hull has two cabins and a head amidships. This boat would be near perfect for us.

What it lacks are: SSB radio, wind generators, solar panels, generator, some additional sails and a sea anchor or drogue. Probably $10 to $20 thousand worth of additional items.

This is a top runner.

^{Click play twice to view the video}

Latitude: 26°09'32.45"N, Longitude: 80°46'48.61"W
Location: The Everglades, Map It

_{Click play twice to view the video}

The goal was Naples, FL and nothing would stop them, least of all a 100 mile stretch of highway running right through the heart of the Everglades. You see, it was late, the gas tank was low, but they decided to chance a crossing of Alligator Alley against the odds. It was Naples or …

 I had never been on Alligator Alley, it turns out that it’s just past Flamingo Rd, and is the main way to get to Everglades City.

I can imagine that at one time crossing from Ft. Lauderdale to Naples on a desolate road through the largest swamp in North America was pretty daunting. The name alone makes it sound like a dangerous proposition. These days though, crossing The Everglades is no different than, as a matter of fact it’s probably safer than, crossing through New York City on I-95. Unless of course you’re speeding, I saw several cops along the way.

As you look out over the swampland that just goes on for miles and miles, all you really see is grass with an occasional tree here and there. Underneath that, in a foot or two of water, are sticky slimy and dangerous crawly things, things that give most of us the heeby jeebies. Every once in a while you’ll see a fire blackened area, either accidental or a controlled burn. Along each side of the highway is a canal that at 75 miles per hour looks harmless, but we stopped and let me tell you, I’m not taking a dip in that water any time soon. They have chain link along the road with a barbed wire top to keep the alligators from climbing the ten foot fence and hitchhiking to civilization. Along the bottom of the fence are three heavy duty cables, I suppose to keep the cars from going off the highway and driving down the river.

Kenny told me that they have a pretty good handle on the alligator count; they’ve narrowed it down to between one and two million. I’m not sure they really know, but apparently that’s good enough to take them off of the endangered species list.

Tomorrow, two more boats and back to New Hampshire - where the alligators have all headed south for the winter.

Latitude: 26°05'53.17"N, Longitude: 80°10'4.90"W
Location: The Catamaran Group Service Location, Map It

Charkayan is a 42 foot privilege.  I believe these are British made.  I’ve heard it said that you either love them or hate them.  But I just don’t feel that way.

This is a nice boat, but there are some things that I just don’t like about her.  She’s very dark inside, and the head liners just seem cheap.  She looks solidly built, but just not what we’re looking for.  Debi really likes it bright and airy inside and she just isn’t it.

Although this did have a huge amount of storage.

At the same time we also saw Meander, a Prout 39.  This I believe is also of Britsh decent, also a dark boat inside.  She has only two cabins - there are models with three, but I just don’t like the layout.

Both of these boats strike me as being strong as oxen, but just not designed for our family or lifestyle.

We saw these at The Catamaran Group’s service location.  It’s a little place under a bridge on a river, but functional.  Michael, the broker that I’ve been working with, also showed us some Lagoons while we were there.  The Lagoon 410.  They are a very nice boat, but unfortunately out of our price range.  He also showed us the new Lagoon 440: it has a fly bridge and all - very nice!  I didn’t go on her because it would be hard to go back to what I need to look at.

So Far this has been a productive trip.  Now we’re heading over to Naples to spend the night.  It should be fun - down Alligator Alley…

Take Twois a custom made boat. The specs on her are endless - the broker did a great job putting all the details down. Michael’s first response is run away. I’m curious as to why. The boat seems solid, she has a ton of stuff and she’s got more room than any other boat we’ve seen. Although there are a bunch of items that can be done, I’ll just have to figure out if they’re all small items or if they include major items.

The other thing with this boat is the size. It’s 48 feet long. What does that do to our costs for the long run? Is she a boat that we can sail - short handed as we are? These are things that are definitely concerns.

The boat has 4 cabins - they’re nothing special! She also has 4 heads - again nothing special. Each hull has storage that seems to go on forever. Also because it’s a custom job, they aren’t as refined as they could be.

^{Click play twice to view the video}

The pearl of this boat is the saloon/galley area. It’s huge! It has a large u-shaped galley, a large dinette, a couch and a full size chart table.

Outside is also large; I could play Frisbee up on top, at least that’s how Kenny put it. By far this boat has more room and storage places.

Do the goods outweigh the bads?

The next boat we went to see was an Admiral 38, Windigo.  This is a South African Made catamaran, just like the Norseman we saw a few weeks ago.  The interior was similar and Michael, the broker, says it’s pretty typical of the SA cats.  There are no liners and there’s a gelcoat on the interior.  The quality of this boat is not the best.

This particular boat has a couple bulkheads that are cracked through and through.  I’m not a naval architect, but that doesn’t look like a good thing to me. 

The boat seems cheaply made and seems to be in poor shape for a 6 year old boat.  This boat just isn’t on the short list.

Latitude: 26°17'7.88"N, Longitude: 80°05'27.52"W
Location: Lighthouse Point, Florida, Map It

Back on January 11^th, I talked about seeing Carpe Vita. Today, I finally got to see her. The Venezia is a nice boat. It has most everything that we’re looking for.

There are 4 cabins each with a queen or a double berth. Each berth has enough storage for a person or two worth of cruising clothes. Under the bunks is more storage for items that aren’t used as much. We would probably use it as a three cabin and use the last one for storage and spares. Two heads in the center of each hull. The heads are a little larger than I expected, but there is no separate shower.

The main saloon includes a galley-up. This makes the saloon area a little smaller, but allows the cook to still be part of the action – which is how we live now – we always like Debi to be part of the action. I’d have to find some way to customize it for more working space.

The cockpit is nice. There is one storage locker under the seat; this is where the generator is placed. Under the floor is additional storage, for items that you don’t mind getting wet. The deck is clean and uncluttered. Perfect for the kids to go play out in the “yard.”

This boat, or at least this model, is a definite contender!

Latitude: 33°38'25.86"N, Longitude: 84°26'26.89"W
Location: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Map It

 It’s a month later but I’m finally on my way to Miami.  I left the house this morning at 3:45 am after only 3 hours of sleep (just 5 the night before due to work).    I’m currently in the Atlanta airport and waiting for my flight to board.  I’m a little tired, but very excited. I’ve been emailing back and forth with Michael from the Catamaran Company.  He’s been very helpful so far.  Much more so than the last broker I was working with!  We finalized all the arrangements yesterday, and it looks like it will be a productive trip.  I’ve got 6 - 9 boats lined up to see in three different cities.  It’s going to be a busy few days.  My best friend since 1^st grade, Kenny, is picking me up in Orlando and is going to take the tour with me.

It looks like I’ll be spending the night in Titusville tonight at Kenny’s house.  Which is good, because I haven’t seen his family in a couple of years.  We’ll be heading to Daytona on Thursday morning, Ft Lauderdale for the afternoon.  Friday we’ll be at Punta Gorda and then on to Sarasota.  Finally, back to the airport for a 5:30 flight on Friday afternoon.  I’ll be landing at around 11 pm in Manchester NH and should be back to the house by 12:30 am.

I’ll keep you informed at every step of the way.

See all our reviews

I met Atlantic Coast Yacht Brokers (ACYB) at a boat show in Boston, MA last fall.  The owner seemed like a great guy and promised to help us find a catamaran for our family.  He just wasn’t as good as he claimed to be.

I typically had to email and/or call several times to ever get a response back from ACYB.  If there is one thing that truly annoys me it’s not returning phone calls.  I don’t mind having to leave a message, I know people have a lot going on.  But learn some system to keep track of messages and phone calls - use a planner for goodness sake.

ACYB had arranged some boat showings with me in Annapolis, MD for one Saturday.  Unfortunately they forgot to tell the other brokers and the boat owners.  When I landed at the airport, ACYB picked me up and drove me down to Annapolis.  Once we got there ACYB got a cell phone call and was told the boat I really wanted to see, a PDQ36, had just left town two days earlier.  Now this boat was the reason I went to Annapolis.  I bought a plane ticket and what a waste of money!  We ended up looking at several boats, but it was chaos and I had to drive the whole process to keep him on track.  I swear he would have just drove me back to the airport.  Now this is one nice thing about ACYB - they took the time to pick me up at the airport! Not everyone would do that.

I’m a pretty loyal guy, I was giving ACYB another chance.  I asked him to get some more info and set up some other viewings.  All of a sudden, poof, ACYB vanished and I never heard another word from them.

ACYB also took video of the boats.  They put it on a disc for me to bring home to Debi.  This was very helpful for us and another thing that they did right.

 All in all, I don’t recommend Atlantic Coast Yacht Brokers.  This is based solely on my one experience and I realize that others may have had better experiences.  Maybe ACYB just didn’t like me.

See all our reviews