Hello..I'm Lawrence.. nice to meet you all.

[lcoldufour]

Looking at retiring in a few years and would like to do the grand loop at some point. If everything goes well... maybe push my luck further in a far away country... clearly I'm hopefully I have many yrs ahead of me. Spend 30 yrs in the military as a grunt gunner always deployed far away from the water... too often in the middle of a dusty conflict zone. The ideas of been on the water seems like a good plan to me. I Just need to convince my wife now.

I'm thinking about acquiring a Trawler. I will have time, I don't need that much space nor luxury. So I'm in the early stage of what I hope will be a great adventure... thanks and very nice meeting you all!

Lawrence

 

[RT Firefly]

Bonjour,
Bienvenu d'abord. We boated from Ottawa to The Saguenay about 20 years ago. Spectacular scenery and water along Le Fleuve St. Laurent. Quebec City is marvelous!!!!

 

[Comodave]

Welcome aboard.

 

[Osprey69]

HOWDY! Lots of good folks here to help you as you were helping citizens for 30 years.

 

[rgano]

Welcome aboard there, sqauddie!

I would recommend taking it slow with the non-boater wife. Figure out how to get her water-acclimated without overpowering her.

 

[OldDan1943]

Howdy howdy howdy.
I wish you a smooth transition and decompression

 

[fgarriso]

Welcome Aboard !

 

[Bacchus]

Welcome aboard there, sqauddie!

I would recommend taking it slow with the non-boater wife. Figure out how to get her water-acclimated without overpowering her.

Lawrence,
Welcome aboard TF. I agree with Rich... your best bet would be to provide positive experiences so your wife convinces herself she enjoys boating enough to want to tackle the loop. Even if that never becomes a reality there are lots of great boating right in your backyard.
You might consider taking some courses together. Is there a Canadian Power Squadron nearby? Join and you will have a network of folks with boating interests and a great source for info.
Another opportunity would be to try chartering. LeBoat operates a charter fleet on the Rideau and could be a fun way to put new learning into practice.

 

[Mambo42]

Welcome aboard !
I trawler is a great boat to spend a prolonged periods of time on. They are comfortable, don't guzzle fuel like the IKEA boats and can handle quite a bit of sea.
Agree with rgano that you may have to go slow with the wife (unless she is instantly enthusiastic), otherwise you will find yourself alone onboard and that can hardly be the idea I guess.
When searching for a boat.........if you can find one with stabilizers I would go for that, once you have them you won't want to have a boat without them anymore.

 

[OldDan1943]

Hire a teaching captain for your wife, ideally a woman.
When she arrives, you get off the boat and go for coffee, go to the store <smile>
Work up a list of things you feel is important. One+ day for teaching and demonstration and 2nd+ day for her practical test.

 

[tvtfc]

On the wife/family thing, I plan to discourage participation in the boat efforts on the grounds that it is difficult, dangerous, and most people cannot hack it. It'll either work and they will want to participate, or it won't and I will be able to get stuff done more efficiently. Win/win.

 

[mvweebles]

On the wife/family thing, I plan to discourage participation in the boat efforts on the grounds that it is difficult, dangerous, ......

Ummm.....if this is your experience and expectation, you're not doing it right.

Welcome to TF. What kind of boat do you have?

Peter

 

[psneeld]

Coastal cruising can minimize difficulty and danger, but I believe he is planning long distance, open ocean travel. Tvtfc posted in another thread "to move my family around the globe".

I have had the experience that the vast majority of spouses that "get drug along into boating" pretty much want out when certain levels of difficulty/danger are met.

Simple things give it away pretty quickly....things like, "I will steer, but I am not going to learn to navigate". Met a boatload of them when instructing.

 

[Bacchus]

On the wife/family thing, I plan to discourage participation in the boat efforts on the grounds that it is difficult, dangerous, and most people cannot hack it. It'll either work and they will want to participate, or it won't and I will be able to get stuff done more efficiently. Win/win.

I would wager that there won't be many TF members that will confirm "success" with this route... as they are likely no longer boating... at least as a couple.

IMO The most successful and happiest cruisers are those that take the team approach seriously. Participation doesn't have to be 100% or 0%... Find a sharing that works for all and take advantage of opportunities to build competence and confidence.

 

[mvweebles]

My partner and I are preparing to head south on an open-ended cruise. Our commitment is that as long as it's fun, we'll keep going. If the fun stops, we'll put Weebles on a ship to Florida. It's an important compromise for us both: she would not sign-up for a hardship cruise. For me, being a guy, I'm a bit hardwired to just grit my teeth and endure until Weebles is in Florida. So we redefined the goal - fun.

I was chatting with a dock neighbor 2-days ago. Jerry is 82 and lives aboard a 40-ish foot 1970s era IOR sailboat, a classic from the days of California boat building. He's been sailing all his life but expressed his motivation to keep going has waned in recent years. "It's really hard to do it alone," he said.

From time to time, TF sees a newbie who has global aspirations of Force 12 survivability with declarative statements and strong opinions, perhaps formed from 'Huck Finn' style advenurism, but maybe from the rabbit hole of keystroke research. Often, idea of a willing partner is eschewed, which really furrows my brow in bewilderment. There is an African saying "if you want to go fast, travel alone. If you want to go far, travel with a partner."

Peter

 

[SteveK]

On the wife/family thing, I plan to discourage participation in the boat efforts on the grounds that it is difficult, dangerous, and most people cannot hack it. It'll either work and they will want to participate, or it won't and I will be able to get stuff done more efficiently. Win/win.

Are you a troll?

 

[tvtfc]

I don't want to monopolize this guy's intro thread. Any of you salty mariners who might have a question (rhetorical or otherwise), or concern for the well-being of my poor family, is welcome re-state it back on 'my' intro thread if so inclined.

Thanks

 

[OldDan1943]

When dad got married, he had a sailboat and an ice boat. First child, ice boat sold. Second child, me, sailboat sold.
That left one more hobby, duck hunting (one day each year) which left dad with some spare time so they had 2 more children.
Sister and mother enjoy boating until they got married then, boating interest disappeared.
LOL

 

[Nepidae]

Hey Lawrence

This is what happened with my wife and I and I'll suggest some modifications.

First, I did nothing but talk about the Loop. I read a lot and talked to everyone I could. Weekdays I'd would have found a few boats to look at so on the weekends I'd go look. I'd ask if she wanted to go and she always said that I'd find what I wanted.

Finally, my wife a non-boater from VT on the Canadian border suggested we charter a boat so she could see what I was talking about.

We charter a boat in the Chesapeake for 4 days and took our twin boys, about 10 at the time with us.

About 2 weeks after the charter, she asked me, when are we going to go look for a boat? I had set the hook.

Second, most trawlers are generally about the same, except for a classic, sundeck & pilothouse design. The rest is fairly standard, galley, saloon, heads, staterooms, etc.

I'd suggest you start looking and offer that a boat is like a woman. You will gravitate to a design you like the looks of. Then start perusing the internet for like boats. With COVID becoming less of an issue there may start to be more boats on the market.

Find a place you can charter a boat. Our 4 days included a night on the hook which is what got my wife hooked. Also, the charter was a sundeck and we saw the benefit of that. So that is what I started in earnest to look for and what we bought.

I like the looks of a pilothouse, but I don't like the fact that all the SR are in the bow. Our MSR is in the stern, and I find that a better place to have the MSR. Our 2nd SR is in the bow and there is a separation for when guests are onboard which I also like.

Any specific questions you might have you can PM me and we'll discuss.

Good hunting.

 

[ronobrien]

Welcome aboard and thank you for your service. I know better than to call you "Sir." Telling your wife that you would call her "Ma'am" might help convince her. Best of luck.