Do I have a boating problem?

[hetek]

"Hello. My name is Jon and I am a boat-a-holic".

Or am I?

In the interest of full disclosure, I admit, I have owned several boats. Not counting the model sailboat I made in Junior High, they are, in order...

1. 12' Glen L "TNT" [1977]
2. 14' Checkmate
3. 18' Baja [1975]
4. 19' Donzi St Tropez [1969]
5. 16' Donzi "Sweet 16"
6. 18' Donzi Classic
7. 26' Penn Yan Family Cruiser [1976]
8. 32' Pacemaker Convertible
9. 30' Pacemaker Sport Fish
10. 22' Boston Whaler Revenge
11. 23' Penn Yan Avenger
12. 27' Chaparral 278XLC
13. 25' Carver Mid-Cabin Express
14. 28' Carver Mid-Cabin Express [1993]
15. 27' Albin FC [1984]
16. 15' Boston Whaler Sport Limited
17. 24' Penn Yan [1975]
18. 27' Sea Sport Pilot 2700 [1991]
19. 25' Albin A25 deLuxe [1977]
20. 24' Rosborough 246

Fun fact: I still have numbers 1, 16 and 19.

Since I'm turning 60 at the end of this summer, that averages out to a boat every 3 years since the day I was born.

So... That's not a problem, right?

[coolchange]

have you killed anyone to get these?
does your family still talk to you?
do you steal from others to support your habit?

if all are NO then you're ok

[Nancy]

Coolchange, I love how Jon would have a problem if his family still spoke to him. lol!

[WillieC]

Ah, Nancy! Love your eye for detail!

[hetek]

Ah ha! But you're all correct! I would change the 2nd questions to "sometimes", rather than "no", to be more accurate.

Boat #1 I built from plans in my parent's basement in NJ when I was in High School. Took me 2 years and all my lawn mowing money.

Between #2 and 3, I became a Marine Mecanic. OMC Certified and everything.. I guess that was the beginning of my "problem". I now knew how to work on them.

I actually owned all three Donzi's within a single month. I traded #4 for a new #5 but #5 was too small so I traded it for new #6 less than a month later. The Donzi dealership LOVED me!

I've worked at two marinas starting as a yard boy, then mechanic and new boat rigger/electronics installer. I was a factory service technician at a marine electronics firm (Aqua Meter Instrument Corp - later bought out by Rule Industries).

One of the marinas was a Boston Whaler/Chaparral/Penn Yan dealership. That might explain #7, 10, 11, 12, 16 and 17.

Lighthouse Marine Supply is within walking distance from my office. They LOVE me too! I probably put the owner's kids through college.

That's the story of my life. Thanks for letting me share.

Is that coffee and donuts I see in the back of the room?

[jleonard]

You need a hobby,...…. and therapy.

[Treeman]

Buying ANY boat is almost never a sound decision. That being said, you made some great choices! I wish I had that Whaler to complement my Albin.

[hetek]

Jleonard - My hobby IS my therapy!

I always say, if I didn't spend my money working on boats, I would be spending it laying on a psychiatrist's couch.

Just wish I didn't spend so much money on my hobby/therapy. I could have put my own kids through college!

[DesertAlbin736]

So where in NJ? My being a New Jersey native myself, Barnegat to be exact. Well, you've got me beat. Besides an old 15 ft tri-hull outboard runabout in the late 1980s, my boats since 1998 include (all sailboats until the Albin) :

1) 1980 Windrose 25, 1998-2000
2) 1979 Vagabond 14 daysailer "Moon Pie", 2000-2001
3) 1980 Montgomery 15 pocket cruiser "Scamp", 2001-2005 (sailed Chesapeake Bay, Marina Del Rey to Catalina Island, raced off Monterey, CA)
4) 1987 Catalina 22 "Listo", 2005-2008
5) 1989 Catalina 25 "Orinoco Flow" (sailed from San Diego to San Pedro & out to Catalina Island & back), 2008-2013
6) Albin 25 "La Dolce Vita", 2014-present.

[hetek]

DA -

I grew up in Maplewood, NJ mostly. 5th grade through my first year at Rutgers. That's where I built boat #1.

I did spend 4th grade in Point Pleasant and Normandy Beach, near your old stomping grounds. Used to hang out with a friend that had a 13' Boston Whalers and we'd buzz around Barnegate Bay.

Hey! Maybe that's how my "problem" began!

[Norseman]

I am addicted too, brief resume of boats owned not counting numerous dingy’s and bigger boats bought and sold for “Flipping”:

2001 Albin 28TE, Yanmar 6LP-STE
2005 Cobia 175, 90hp Yammie,
2016 Glacier Bay 2770, 18 months.
2006 Duffy Balboa 18', 2 years
2005 Griffin & Sons 18' Panga, 3 years
1995 Answer Marine 21' Divemaster, 1 year
1979 CSY 33 Cutter, 14 years
1956 Bill Tripp Jr. Bermuda, 44' Yawl, 3 years.

Had other hobbies in the past: Model airplanes, motorcycles, cars and some I won’t mention, but boats keep coming back to me. Stuck with boats now.
This is the current fleet: Commercial Charter boat and toy boat for days off:

[hetek]

Fort Laurderdale - The Venice of Florida, isn't it?

My grandparents had a place in Plantation Isles with a canal behind the house too.

I'm jealous! And welcome to Boater's Anonymous.

[Rondo]

Junkies unite!
First boat I ever owned was a 12' wood rowboat. My parents had a lake cottage in Michigan. All one summer I had begged the neighbor to sell me that boat. As we were closing our cottage for winter, he said $20, so my dad helped me bring it home. I was 12 at the time. I scraped and sanded and fixed and fiddled most of that winter. I even scarfed in a new gunnel on the starboard side. Glued, and filled, and painted, and it looked really fine by April the following spring. I should probably mention that my dad was a cabinet maker, so I had a mentor, and a shop full of tools that most kids could only dream about.

I was applying the last coat of paint that spring. She was upside down on a couple sawhorses in the front yard. Some guy driving by, stopped, took a look, and said "I'll give you $125 for that boat. It was the first, and last time I sold a boat for more than I paid. A real land mark, because I've owned many since.

Our new-to-us 35CB barely missed being named "Last Boat XIV"
Ron Owens
2007 35CB "Journey to---"
Apollo Beach, FL

[DesertAlbin736]

"I was 12 at the time...."

... as was I in 1964, driving Dad's home built wooden Garvey clam boat on Barnegat Bay, NJ. The inboard engine was a salvaged 1937 Chrysler flathead 6 cylinder car engine, the tiller was galvanized iron plumbing pipe. The transmission came with the engine from the car, the shifter was a truck-like floor mounted stick, heated with torch & bent over into a loop, the clutch operated with an angle iron lever, run in 2nd gear (if I recall) for forward, & reverse for backing up. Used mostly for tonging for scallops & perch fishing in the marsh creeks off the bay.

IMG_1369.JPG

[hetek]

DA - You haven't changed a bit! Except maybe the spectacles now.

Here's me and my #1, my Glen-L "TNT", circa 1977 on the first day it got wet. Me with my two younger brothers. I'm an old man at 17 here (the handsome chap on the right)...

20190813_182252.jpg

Fun fact: For those AOG North East Rendezvous-ers, that's Coecles Harbor, Shelter Island behind the sailboat's mast. The photo was taken in East Marion on Peconic Bay, Long Island, NY.

And here is my #1 today, circa... well, today... In my garage.

20190813_183514.jpg

If I ever find a cheap 25-35 hp 2 stroke OMC outboard I might just put it in the water just for the fun of it!