HONEYMOMMY
Well-Known Member
I know some on here have followed our journey from the beginning as boat less wannabe's, so I thought I would give an account of our first year of boating. 
After deciding on non tidal cruising to start us off, the boat choice ended up with the option to go tidal later as our experience and confidence grew.
Our lovely newly acquired Sealine 305 Statesman (which would be great for tidal later) was duly pampered, and kitted out accordingly. Engine and stern drive work, antifouling, batteries, battery charger etc etc to start us off, later heating and the worst job of all sorting out the stinky toilet.
We took time to go out and practise our handling skills, Hubby and son doing a lot better than me due to my lack of confidence and constant worry we may hit something.
LOL
We watched hire boaters making mistakes and felt very much like them at first, but with our experience now, we find them either hilarious or dammed scary. Rowers for the most part have been OK, with the odd incident when they decide to take over the whole river and sit there. I think the best one was returning from pangbourne in a line of three boats a rower overtook us just before the lock then commented “You were going to fast on that stretch” to which hubby replied “No, but we did have a nice clear run with no rowers in the way” That stopped the conversation dead.
I was an embarrassment for a short while, giving manic instructions to whoever was at the helm whenever we entered a lock or went to moor up. This lead to a few teeth gritted discussions until I learned to keep my mouth shut and just try to smile. It worked, and I soon realised my wonderful hubby and son had learned basic boat handling skills while I had only learnt to throw ropes. (Quite an important skill, handy to stop the boat floating away. ) From then on we relaxed and really started to enjoy our time on the river.
We have taken every opportunity to go out and about, sometimes just a short day trip but best of all the long weekends which gave us time to get much further up the river.
We have met some wonderful people and made a load of new friends/acquaintances. We learnt to wave at everyone and start up conversations with complete strangers. We are hooked.
Now to our dilemma....
We love our boat; we love the layout, and all the storage, including a few secret ones.
. It’s in great condition for its age. (We know that after seeing so many others before). We have our stuff organised and cleaning is easy. It has become our second home....
BUT!!
There’s just too many of us and it’s cramped. We have no problem on a day out but a weekend away is really difficult as it’s really 6 adults each time (we have had 7). Our 4 kids are grown and don’t like the idea of sharing a bed (especially with the epileptic octopus snoring one!)
So hubby and I have been talking... We think we need a bigger boat!!!
I feel quite sad right now, is it normal to get attached to a boat and feel bad about perhaps selling it? I know it will be a good thing to have a boat that meets our space needs, but we have put a lot into this one it's part of the family... Funny really..
After deciding on non tidal cruising to start us off, the boat choice ended up with the option to go tidal later as our experience and confidence grew.
Our lovely newly acquired Sealine 305 Statesman (which would be great for tidal later) was duly pampered, and kitted out accordingly. Engine and stern drive work, antifouling, batteries, battery charger etc etc to start us off, later heating and the worst job of all sorting out the stinky toilet.
We took time to go out and practise our handling skills, Hubby and son doing a lot better than me due to my lack of confidence and constant worry we may hit something.
LOL We watched hire boaters making mistakes and felt very much like them at first, but with our experience now, we find them either hilarious or dammed scary. Rowers for the most part have been OK, with the odd incident when they decide to take over the whole river and sit there. I think the best one was returning from pangbourne in a line of three boats a rower overtook us just before the lock then commented “You were going to fast on that stretch” to which hubby replied “No, but we did have a nice clear run with no rowers in the way” That stopped the conversation dead.
I was an embarrassment for a short while, giving manic instructions to whoever was at the helm whenever we entered a lock or went to moor up. This lead to a few teeth gritted discussions until I learned to keep my mouth shut and just try to smile. It worked, and I soon realised my wonderful hubby and son had learned basic boat handling skills while I had only learnt to throw ropes. (Quite an important skill, handy to stop the boat floating away.
) From then on we relaxed and really started to enjoy our time on the river.We have taken every opportunity to go out and about, sometimes just a short day trip but best of all the long weekends which gave us time to get much further up the river.
We have met some wonderful people and made a load of new friends/acquaintances. We learnt to wave at everyone and start up conversations with complete strangers. We are hooked.
Now to our dilemma....
We love our boat; we love the layout, and all the storage, including a few secret ones.
. It’s in great condition for its age. (We know that after seeing so many others before). We have our stuff organised and cleaning is easy. It has become our second home....BUT!!
There’s just too many of us and it’s cramped. We have no problem on a day out but a weekend away is really difficult as it’s really 6 adults each time (we have had 7). Our 4 kids are grown and don’t like the idea of sharing a bed (especially with the epileptic octopus snoring one!)
So hubby and I have been talking... We think we need a bigger boat!!!
I feel quite sad right now, is it normal to get attached to a boat and feel bad about perhaps selling it? I know it will be a good thing to have a boat that meets our space needs, but we have put a lot into this one it's part of the family... Funny really..
