Hello all, my spouse and I are quite new to sailing only having experienced hobiecats while vacationing and a weekend sailing course here on okanagan lake.
a little bio I am a self employed fabricator/weldor of primarily
stainless steel and
aluminum. I
work from home on our 28acre mountainside hobby farm.
originally grew up alongside the Johnstone straight on
Vancouver Island. unfortunately never had the opportunity to get into much
water activity
I have my spouse obviously two girls 5 and 7 and two heeler/Shepard cross
dogs
what we (myself) are wanting to do is
purchase a
trailer able sailboat capable of doing weekends and perhaps longer on both the lakes of BC and the waters around
vancouver island.
there is not much
for sale around my part.
my local and semi local choices are
catalina 27 fully outfitted for a princely 15k with
tender, full soft top
Bimini,
heater, fridge, hot and cold
water lots of
sails, bottom recently blasted and recoated,
safety and
communications gear etc. newer
macgregor 26 for 12k with
solar . an olson 30 for 9k (not really suitable for weekending) and a
catalina that is undergoing
refit near completion for 7k
I am definetly leaning towards the cat with more stuff as the extras all add up real quick
my intent is to become proficient in sailing coastal waters over the next few years and hopefully transition to full time cruising/ circumnavigate before my
kids are too old to experience it with us
a little back story on what put the seed in my
head.
I was with my spouse Dawn before we had
kids on a camp trip on the sunshine coast having lunch at the local marina (Lund BC) taking her around where my dad used to deliver dairy products. I got in a conversation with the waitress who happened to be a cruiser rebuilding the kitty they were out doing it with there kids this is about 9 years ago and I have never been able to shake the yearning or the wanderlust that has been passed down through both sides of my
family.
so here I am finally making real progress. sorry for the long read it's not usually typical of myself
thanks all