Why live on a boat? Why now?

June 02, 2018

There was a series of events that led up to our boat and living aboard. The last four years of health issues for ourselves and family had implanted a sense of concern and a worry that an active future was not at all certain. Then when Carol very unexpectedly became unable to work for medical reasons during 2017, she wanted to do something positive instead of moping around. About that same time, a friend bought an RV with the comment that too many neighbors had become permanently disabled or worse in the past year. The thought was simply, "We've put off doing things until "someday" and we realized that if we didn't act now, life events would change "someday" into "never".

We decided we'd much rather be water gypsies than land travelers. We'd talked about doing the America's Great Loop many years ago but it was always a "someday" item. So we started looking at motor trawlers for stability and possible living aboard. Carol needs to be in high humidity and balance issues preclude boats that tip a lot like sailboats or boats that go fast. We looked at a number of boats described as being good "Loop boats" by reading online and touring other boats during "trawler crawl" at our first American Great Loop Cruisers Association meeting in October, 2017. That 4-day meeting had over 300 people attending. Some people were in the planning stages. Others had completed the loop several times and lived aboard their boat for 10 years or more. Many of those that came by boat allowed attendees to board their boats each evening. It was amazing! We sucked up every bit of information we could. On the way home to Mt. Juliet from Rogersville, AL we realized that our long ago dream of living on a boat and traveling around the US might actually be possible with the right boat. At the meeting, we'd learned about Great Harbour trawlers, but did not see one (actually 2) until the next weekend on Kentucky Lake! It was the first boat that we could imagine living on for the year or more it takes to do the Great Loop.

JADIP -Steve is getting anchor ready to deploy.

The Great Harbour N37 is a slow trawler - meaning it only goes about 6 -7 knots (7-8 mph) max. It is a full displacement shallow draft hull. The shallow rounded, almost flat bottom makes it very stable on the Intracoastal Waterway and inland river waters. We have no plans to be going far out to sea. And if the weather is bad, we don't go anywhere. We have two relatively small diesel engines for economy and to have a spare if one fails (already took advantage of this option). Having two engines also helps maneuverability. We have a nice salon, and navigation & helm stations inside, a queen main and small crew stateroom, and a good size galley (big enough for 2 people side by side.) And Steve loves that he can stand up in the engine room! We also have a flybridge so we can steer from high-up on good weather days - just like a convertible. Its great for 2 people, but not meant for extended guests mostly because although there are extra bunks, there is only 1 head and 1 shower. So it can be nice when staying at a marina with facilities like showers, etc for guests. We love to entertain, but since every foot of boat costs more initially, more at marinas, more for maintenance, more complicated systems, and is harder to maneuver, purchasing a longer boat to accommodate the occasional guests to stay overnight much doesn't make sense. Thirty-seven feet seems just right for the two of us most of the time. And we still have room for friends to ride along when motoring and visiting during the days. Then we stay at marinas or hotels.