FREE APPLE PIE!!!

[3Days_at_a_time]

Hi!
Now that I have your attention, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Ray, and my wife, son and I live in East Central Florida. Home of year round sunshine, Disney World... and its $20/day parking! Not to mention sweltering heat, burning droughts, and torrential rains. Sure, it has its downsides, but it's great to be able to hit the water all year.

I've been on the water for as long as I can remember, in fact, my oldest memory is watching my dad try and pull start a an outboard with a rope when the starter must have died... So why am I just now getting to this forum? Well, I’ve never had a cruiser before, I've had the pleasure of spending many great long days on the water, in a beautiful, fast, hell I'd even call it sexy, fishing boat. A real fishing boat too.. not one of those fancy pants boats with a dang out house for a center console. But one day.. All that changed, my wife became ill. It was terrible, she was always nauseous, in pain, heck, she was even painful to look at... but then finally something happened, it turns out that my wife wasn't just getting sick and fat, we were having a little boy!

Yay! now I have someone to always take out on this speedy little fishing machine! but unfortunately, my wife never recovered... all of the sudden something else was wrong, due to mysterious medical reasons, she could no longer enjoy the bright Florida sunshine all day, she could no longer pee over board... heck she couldn't even deal with dropping a deuce in a bucket (yes she has gone to sleep... so I can get away with this). But now she wanted something bigger(that's what she said?) and as her list of needs grew, my options of boats grew smaller. couple that with the fact that we weren't the only people trying to move up to a more family friendly fishing boat, (in Florida, the Bay boat market is on fire) and prices became ridiculous. I mean, we aren't poor, but I can't see spending half as much as my house on a fishing boat...

Alas, the solution, I had a walk-around cuddy cabin fishing boat when I was younger, it was great to sleep on for a night or two... especially for a guy who's only 19 or so, I'm mean, it was downright luxurious... I didn't even have to move dirty laundry to get to my bed. So I brought this idea to the wife, she liked it, however.... Once she learned she could get a boat with some minor amenities she went whole hog... I mean she wanted everything, it was at this point that I knew I had created a monster.

We had a little experience with extended stays on a boat, having done a sailing vacation on a chartered catamaran, back in the days before our financial liability was born. This was good to help reinforce to the wife that she would like spending extended periods of time on the boat; however, it posed a whole new set of problems... Her only experience with cruising aboard a boat was on a Lagoon 440, and my plans were for something a little less prestigious... Something that's not propelled by something as silently elegant as wind, or ruggedly powerful as diesel, but a lightly marinized car engine plugging a giant hole in the transom, and attached to a galvanic reactor... I felt was thinking a boat with a name that doesn't quite scream "I've made it! I'm a Yachtsman!" or “I’m remotely well built”. People who drive a Mercedes only recognize this brand because their friend once swamped one while passing them in their Hatteras in a no wake zone... I'm sure you've figured it out by now, yes... we bought a Bayliner.

But not just any Bayliner, Oh No!, we got the goofiest one we could find, its nearly half as tall as it is long, the Bow looks like they left off a foot or two. It's a Bayliner 246 Discovery, and in all honesty, we love it.

It has all the comforts of home, AC, Hot water, blah blah blah. It's a real weekender. Best of all, it was cheap enough that we could keep the fishing boat so we didn't have to compromise to get a boat that does it all (which doesn't exist). It even fits on a trailer!

Now who trailers a cruising boat you ask? Well, see therein lies the genius of my plan. Due to the aforementioned financial liability, formally know as Dominic, we have to keep our day jobs, for at least another 20 years I estimate, How can we do any proper cruising with a full time job? hmm, well we can't, I mean we could take the boat somewhere on our measly two or three weeks of vacation, but we would never get anywhere throughout the rest of the year. With the trailer, it allows us to take weekend trips all over the place. We can leave on a Thursday night and be cruising in Charleston, or Key West in the morning. It's a great method, and so far has worked great. We have been able to cruise Biscayne Bay one week, and the next weekend, watched a rocket launch near Cape Canaveral. All while squeezing in our day jobs in between!

So why are we so excited about all of this? Our family, most importantly our son, is the world to us. We want to spend every minute soaking him up and helping him experience all there is to see in the world around him, 3 days at a time.

Thanks for reading!
Oh, and about the Free Apple Pie, I’m sorry… It was just a clever.. Or not so clever… Marketing gimmick; however, if you really want free apple pie, I’d be happy to share some with you if you’re ever in the area..Cheers!

[Sea Dreaming]

Welcome to CF!
Ya sure, I came for the pie but stayed for the lovely pictures of your family. Now please, step away from the coffee pot.

[ozsailer]

Well you had me till I found out there was no apple pie Seriously it does not matter what type of boat you are out in cruising, the big thing is your out there doing it with the family. I see so many people wanting to cruise but hang out for their dream boat and never get on the water. By the time you retire you will know if cruising is for you and you can work out what really would be suitable.

Keep living the dream

Greg H
Lagoon 410

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Ray.

GREAT first post!

[Tayana42]

3Days_at_a_time, that is a great way to give your son wonderful memories on the water with his mom and dad. A beautiful family, a trailerable boat, apple pie, orange juice, palmetto bugs...life is good.

[3Days_at_a_time]

Thanks for all the warm welcomes! I'll gladly take the Palmetto Bugs over the No-seeums any day

[Prairie Chicken]

Welcome aboard! Enjoy the ride, and by the way, you can bake in the galley of those fancy motor yachts.

[MV Wanderlust]

Welcome aboard. Great story and pics.

[janice142]

Yours was THE BEST first introduction letter I've seen anyplace. Wonderful.

And your liability is cute as a button. You're a lucky man.

Welcome aboard.

[3Days_at_a_time]

Wow! Thanks so much. I hope to keep my further posts as entertaining! You all are great!

[Seeking Solace]

I came for pie and read a story about a Bayliner. I'm going to need some compensation at this point.

At least the kids cute. Are you sure you can't edit your post and make it something like a 64' Oyster or something along those lines?

Please post your address so I can come by and get that pie! Peach cobbler is a suitable substitute if somehow there is an apple shortage.

[3Days_at_a_time]

Originally Posted by Seeking Solace

I came for pie and read a story about a Bayliner. I'm going to need some compensation at this point.

At least the kids cute. Are you sure you can't edit your post and make it something like a 64' Oyster or something along those lines?

Please post your address so I can come by and get that pie! Peach cobbler is a suitable substitute if somehow there is an apple shortage.

I'm sorry about the letting you down with the Bayliner.. our other boat is a scout if that's helps at all?

As for the address, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. And when I'm not there you can usually find me at Mar-A-Lago resort in West Palm.

[Seeking Solace]

Originally Posted by 3Days_at_a_time

I'm sorry about the letting you down with the Bayliner.. our other boat is a scout if that's helps at all?

As for the address, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. And when I'm not there you can usually find me at Mar-A-Lago resort in West Palm.

LOL! A good sense of humor too. I doubt the President would share his pie with the likes of me.

Oh a serious side, I like the Bayliner. Living here on the Gulf Coast there are a lot of them on the market and in the water. I'd never seen any negative stuff about them until I read it on these boards. I actually was very interested in a US Yachts 28 which was made by Bayliner, but someone with deeper pockets wanted it more than me.

Mabe as the kiddo gets bigger you'll be searching for something bigger too and will know what cruising grounds you like best by then. Right now you've got the best of both worlds and I would say a fortunate situation.

I'm glad my wife doesn't read these forums because our youngest starts 6th grade in a few months. i thinks she's getting that imminent empty nest thing going on. Even our dog is getting old (13 year old dachshund). Can't let her get that baby fever.

I'll be sailing past Mar a Lago in a month or so and I hope I smell apple pie! Meanwhile my Moody 27 has an oven and I may just bake one for me and my kiddo (11).

Thanks for a good belly laugh this morning. How do you tether the baby?

[Steadman Uhlich]

Howdy! Welcome Aboard CF.

I enjoyed the introduction post, the photos, and your sense of humor.

Also, you (and your admiral) may enjoy a social group on this forum, where the focus is on cruising with young children. Here is a link to it.
Cruisers & Sailing Forums - Cruising with Kids

Have fun on the water and in the forum too.

[3Days_at_a_time]

No offense taken, we had an older ('88) Bayliner when I was a teenager, it was a good boat but there was a ton of places where they could have done better. Our current Bayliner is an 07, and to be honest, I find very few places where they went the cheap route any more than any other production manufacturer. So I'm really happy with it. But with this boat it wasn't so much a brand or cost decision, as we were looking for a cruising capable, trailerable boat, with a proper hard top and there just aren't that many options.

We are in the melbourne/ Palm Bay area it's about 90 miles north of the winter white house. PM me when you are in the area, we're be happy to meet up.