Blue Water Boat

Okay, what makes a blue water boat and why isn't our boat a blue water boat? Good questions. Well lets start with why our boat isn't a blue water boat. 


We thought the hull was thick and sturdy. Her displacement is 13,500 empty and dry and to us the hull looked really thick. Not so much. She also has a really big cockpit. Great for entertaining and cruising around the sound and inland waters, but to big for the open ocean. It holds too much water and doesn't drain quickly enough. Then there is the hull shape and the spade rudder. The hull is wide and a little flat above the keel. This makes her fast but not sea kindly, meaning you would get the shit beat out of you in heavy seas. Then there is the spade rudder. If it fails at sea you have no real way to steer.


So what are we going to do. Man we are in way to deep to cut the loss and then there is the what if's that go on and on. Aren had said the boat would be a fine inland, Puget Sound cruiser. He encouraged us to make her what she really was and enjoy her around Washington and up the coast to Alaska. 


So that is what we are doing. There are many unanswered questions, like what to spend money on and what can go to the side. What is a must and what is a luxury. What the boat needs to be safe and reliable. What will sell the boat as a great family cruiser.