Winter 2017

Last Cruise of 2016

We took the boat out on Boxing Day (December 26) for a quick spin, with me (Liz) practicing at the helm on the flybridge. As I increased speed, we noticed the tachometer didn’t register. Shawn quickly descended to see what the problem was. He found that the tachometer would only register when the engine bank was charging only the start battery. As soon as the charging relay kicked in, the voltage would drop and the tach would quit. We headed back to the dock for further investigation. We haven’t figured out what was going on, but we did discover the water pump was leaking at the same time; perhaps causing the alternator belt to slip with the additional load of the house bank. The engine room and alternator were drenched with antifreeze. We saw this as a sign to lay her up for the winter, so yesterday we changed the oil and winterized her. We will fix the alternator/voltage/tachometer/water pump problem this winter! (And I am hoping we can still grab some of those random warm winter days and cruise).

The adventure begins

I (Liz) will be blogging about our boating journey. I readily admit I am new to the boating scene, despite spending my childhood in the Northern Neck of Virginia near the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, Rappahannock River and Great Wicomico River. My maternal grandfather was a fisherman, living in the fishing village of Weems, Virginia where my mother grew up. My husband, Shawn, also grew up in Weems and has spent all his life in and on the water. My life in the Northern Neck (from whence I departed at 18) was land-locked. It has been through my reconnection with and subsequent marriage to Shawn that I have been introduced to the boating lifestyle. And it was love at first experience! I have much to learn and am fortunate to have an expert teacher as we embark upon boating together.

We both enjoy the feel of the sun on our faces, the wind in our hair and the smell and taste of the salt water as it sprays our faces while on the water. Life is about the journey as much as the destination, so when we began to look for “our” boat, we determined we wanted a trawler.

Shawn spent hours perusing boat listings on various websites. I could mention a state and he could immediately inform me of every trawler (and details of each trawler) for sale in that vicinity. We explored many marinas and trawlers in the quest to find “our fit”. While our goal is to be full-time trawlers; we both work full time, so we knew we needed a small, manageable trawler. We found our fit in Colonial Beach in August of 2016.