Boat Shopping

Frontier Airlines flight 1772: Grand Rapids – Orlando, Seat 25C

There’s so much to know. So much to learn. A job to do. Kids to raise. A house to attend. But here I sit on a flight to Florida. This follows a trip to North Carolina (that boat was a wreck). A trip to Mobile followed that. That boat could work; the emphasis should be on “work”. Lots of projects before that boat would be ready. I want to go adventuring with my family, not become a Boatwright. I’m not super excited about the amount of work it would take to make that boat “right.”

What boat is right for us? I’m not sure. Lots of things could work. It’s nigh impossible to discern a boat’s qualities from a few online photos. Hence, the traveling.

Doubts plague me. Are we more likely to find value in a heavy-displacement classic or a more modern production model? No doubt either way we go, we’re looking for good bones. No boat needs to be perfect, nor can one be. But something solid, fast, comfortable, affordable, available, and sporting a layout that provides our kids enough separation to keep the future therapy bills contained.

Sometimes it feels an impossible task. We need equal measures luck, grace, wisdom, and a realization that it won’t be perfect. We just need a boat. We need to adventure as a family. I need to stop shopping for boats. All in due time, Marcie assures me.

UPDATE: Nothing I went to see is going to work. Sigh.