Your boating history

I agree Capt. Rusty. Mom's too. I never had a very strong relationship with my father, but the strongest relationship was on the water. My Mom was the breadwinner and worked hard to avoid handouts and disability. She worked through 3 heart attacks, lose of sight, and kidney failure to keep our house and help me through my undergraduate degree, my current employer paid me to get two masters degrees at night. My sister and I were taught at a very young age the purpose of hard work to achieve our own self sufficiency. She passed at 50 my dad shortly after at 54. We never had a lot but we had what we needed.

I am a second generation boater. Our family's largest boat was a Thompson 22' cuddy cabin. I always wanted to anchor out and sleep on the boat, but my father was not comfortable with that. We fished off her for many many years off Wildwood, NJ. Remember heading through Cape May Inlet, the Rock Pile, to go out to the buoy (now I know it was the safe water buoy) to fish for flounder, weak fish, and sea bass. Remember our adventure to find Drum fish in the Hellaware Bay. Remember going miles and miles offshore and catching a 6' shark...LOL

I am only starting my journey in this boating adventure. Started with a 90 280 Sea Ray prior to getting married. Introduced my wife to boating when we were dating and learned that she could not swim, after one of our early docking adventures. I am blessed that she enjoys boating. Second boat is our current 330. She is serving us well on the bay and all my kids have been raised from age of 3 on the boat and love it too. My son who is 10 already speaks of when he will own a boat...
 
1st Generation.

We came out from England on a boat when I was 3, does that count?

My passion was always fishing, as a kid I fished off jetty's in Adelaide normally with friends my age, 8-11.

When I was 12 - 13 we lived in Queensland, Dad had a friend up there that was a mad keen angler. He had a 10' Aluminium Punt, no outboard. Whenever he had a day off he would ppick me up, and we would go fishing for the day.

At 18 in the Army, and bored with the usual teen weekends. I bought a canoe, and got back into my fishing.

At 22 I upgraded to a 12' punt and a 10hp outboard.

at 28 I upgraded to a 15' Fibreglass runabout and a 55Hp.....one day out on the water, my wife said I'm tired of looking like the paupers out here.

So I upgraded to an 18' Half Cabin with a 140hp.............one day out on the water my wife said.......loading this boat onto the trailer is no good for your back (I had fallen off the boat whilst on the trailer that morning!)

So we bought the 330DA, then the inflatable....................one day on the water my wife will say.................................(Did I ever say I love this Lady!)
 
Most of you guys are what I would consider lucky. I wish I had grown up with this experience. I've always loved the water, but no on else in the family did. I decided to get certified to dive at age 15...took a road trip to FL for my open water certs...that didn't go over well with the parents. After college I started sea kayaking in the SF Bay and Up the coast and over to Alcatraz, as well as shark diving. When we moved to SoCal I decided I had no excuses. I found a guy I worked with that grew up boating and latched onto him for help and knowledge. Bought my first boat about 9 years ago (26 foot Monterey). I learned on it for 1.5 years and then bought my current boat (sea ray 340). My goal is a 48DB and maybe someday a 62 Nordhavn. I can't imagine life without this as a part of it.
 
I'll make this as short as possible as I've been on the water many a year lol.....so it's 1982, I'm walking thru the mall with not a dam dollar in my pocket and see a few boats on display, and think "Man I would love to have a boat"...so I go home later that day and at dinner say to my father "Dad..I found a great thing we can do as a family...." Listen, my dad was in no position nor mindset to spend money on a new boat...but somehow I talked him into it, and we started boating. For the next 14 years, until my dad got tired of it and went back to his true love Flying, and building RC model planes as well, I learned as much as I could about boating, a lot about life, and enough about business that I was able to buy many a boat along the way to my current Skiff the 470 Sundancer. 1982 was a Very Good Year...
Oh "Props to You Rusty" you always hit he nail right on head buddy..df.
 
2nd Generation here - seems to be a trend. I started at age 8 when dad picked up a 19' O'Day rag boat. That was followed a year later by a 22' Tanzer, then a Catalina 27', and finally a Catalina 30'. By age 18, dad had to sell the boat due to health problems, but when I was able, I returned to boating in a 1986 Sea Ray 300 DA, followed by the current 2002 340.

Dale
 
[
so it's 1982, I'm walking thru the mall with not a dam dollar in my pocket and see a few boats on display, and think "Man I would love to have a boat"...so I go home later that day and at dinner say to my father "Dad..I found a great thing we can do as a family...."
Click to expand...

That's the best one so far. Love it!
 
2nd Generation Boater here. I was 4 in 1964 when my parents bought their first boat and it was new. 14' with a 40hp Johnson Sea Horse. It sank in less than one week! When the factory drilled the holes to mount the seats, they went through the bottom but did not break through the gel coat. After a few boat rides it cracked through and sunk at the dock. The Dealer came and pulled it out and took it for repair. My parents ended up getting another new boat to replace it by the Dealer. A 16ft Crownline with a 65hp Mercury! My first boat in 1968 was a 14ft jon boat. I rowed it everywhere on the river! By 1999 our kids grew into great swimmers and my wife's sister had a river lot with docks. Time to get my own boat! I always wanted a Glastron Carlson. I found a one owner 1988 CV-23 with a 5.7L merCruiser Alpha 1 with 350hrs on it at Lake Wallenpapack. $5,500 and I was a boat owner! In 2003 I picked up a 1974 Glastron Carlson CV16super with the original 1150 Merc w factory power trim. It really brings back the old two stroke days. In 2010 we bought our 270 Sea Ray. It's great to entertain on and stay out late or overnight....yes I have three boats! Now I'm going for my USCG 100 ton Captains License at 53. Just love being on the water. We put the 95 ton Hiawatha in the water tomorrow at 9am for it's 31st season....it's trailer is amazing, Mike.
 
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First gen here, bought my first boat in 2008, I was 34. It was a 2007 17 foot Glastron open bow. Ok boat for the inland lakes on the prairies. Moved to the west coast in 2010 sold the Glastron. Last summer bought my 94 290 DA. Wishing I could have grown up boating, so much to learn at 40 lol.....


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Btcowboy said:
First gen here, bought my first boat in 2008, I was 34. It was a 2007 17 foot Glastron open bow. Ok boat for the inland lakes on the prairies. Moved to the west coast in 2010 sold the Glastron. Last summer bought my 94 290 DA. Wishing I could have grown up boating, so much to learn at 40 lol.....Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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BT,
We grew up on the island, where do you boat? We've moored at North Saanich, Brentwood Bay, Ladysmith, Nanaimo, and Parksville.

Got any pics?
 
My first boat in 1988 was a 19' Imperial closed bow in spring of 2003 bought a 21.5' Baja fall of 2003 found out my wife had a brain tumor had surgery tumor came back a year later. The Baja scared the hell out of my her to fast to unstable . Sold the Baja in 05 and in 2011 bought the 230 wk.that she feels safer in even on Lake Erie.
 
Chris Nowell said:
BT,
We grew up on the island, where do you boat? We've moored at North Saanich, Brentwood Bay, Ladysmith, Nanaimo, and Parksville.

Got any pics?
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Just around gulf island between Nanaimo and so far as south as Cow Bay. We are hoping to head down to Brentwood or Victoria to overnight this year.

e2edevy3.jpg
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4ydu3ega.jpg


This is a new Ipad so these are the only pics on it. There will be more this year. First two pictures are Dodd Narrows and the thirds I believe is Gabriola Island


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My 4th boat going in the water! What a trailer! 95 tons.
 
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Btcowboy said:
Just around gulf island between Nanaimo and so far as south as Cow Bay. We are hoping to head down to Brentwood or Victoria to overnight this year.

e2edevy3.jpg
ybumyqer.jpg
4ydu3ega.jpg


This is a new Ipad so these are the only pics on it. There will be more this year. First two pictures are Dodd Narrows and the thirds I believe is Gabriola Island


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Do you guys realise what beautiful waterways you have?


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My parents never had a boat. There was a group of 12 or so families that went camping almost every weekend in the summer. Two of the families had 17' Mark Twain tri-hulls. I learned to ski behind those boats. If we weren't camping, we took the boats up the Mississippi to a sand bar for an afernoon and evening. Nothing more exciting that crossing a barge wake at midnight coming home. I loved it. My wife's grandparents had a cabin cruiser they kept on lake Michigan (Chicago) that she grew up on. We rented boats here and there while we were dating and early in our marriage, but never considered buying.

In 2004 we were driving by a local hotel that had a "boat show" in their parking lot. Our boys, 7 and 9 at the time, wanted to look so we stopped. The 240 SD caught our eye, but we were sure we couldn't afford it. The salesman we were talking to insisted on getting us a price from his manager. I distinctly remmeber telling him "Don't waste your time, we can't afford it." He came back with a scrap of paper with the price. My wife and I looked at the price, then each other, and said "sold". Best decision we have ever made. My boys are taking over handling the boat now, and love to introduce their friends to boating. I hope it will be a permanent part of their lives. We have only had two boats and just bought a jet ski, slackers by comparison to some here.

My goal is to eventually have something in the 60' range on the Gulf coast for my grandchildren to enjoy.
 
Interesting Thread. Hope I don't kill it.
First exposed to boating and boats when I was 12, 1973. Wattsbar Lake in Tennessee. Spent the summer at a cabin there with a friend of my grandfathers. He had a boat and my Uncle brought a borrowed boat. It was a small V hull, red and white, outboard, a Johnson I believe or a Chrysler. I remember it was white. He spent the first 2 days trying to get it to start. I tried to help, all that my 12 years of help could muster. He was so frustrated, and sunburned. I asked him if he was angry, and he said, and I'll never forget it, "Nope, just frustrated. I'm working on a boat, and this beats being at work." I told him I would help him and that "we" would get it started, and we did. I got the first ride. It was something I will never forget. My grandfathers friend had a green and white Tri-Hull, had a Merc Outboard on it. We made so many trips to the Marina store to get parts in that boat, they even let me drive. Supervised of course.
I remember the smell of the outboards, the roar of them echoing off the lake in the morning.
Hearing people scream and yell as they rode tubes and skied.
I learned to water ski and get up on one ski that year.
I knew I had to have a boat, and a lake house.
Fast forward to 1987. Bought my first boat of my very own. 1987 Chaparral 187XL, I/O Volvo 4.3. It was a nice boat. Sold it 5 years later, got divorced, remarried, and in 2000 bought another Chaparral. 196 SSI. Fuel injected (wow) 5.0 liter Volvo Penta. Another Awesome boat. 5 years later, yep, sold it. 2011, bought a 270SLX. Big Giant Bowrider.
I think it may be time to move up and get a cruiser. The kids are all but gone, 1 left, he enjoys it, but not as much as I do.
Maybe a nice 310, or 320 Sundancer......
I don't think I inspired any of my kids to buy a boat or hooked them on boating. They were always in to other things. I blame Microsoft and Nintendo. And myself.
Still don't have the lake house. Maybe one day. Maybe not. But I have the boat!
 
IanBat said:
Do you guys realise what beautiful waterways you have?


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Thanks IanBat, we feel blessed with the opportunities our waterways offer us.


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You're not the only black sheep Jason:) We're first generation too, no one in our family likes boating they're all into traction engines, organs etc. we bought our first small cabin cruiser in the UK and our children loved it. After moving here worked up to the 340 and our son now has his own boat but is often with us. Our daughter and family love to come with us too. Boating is one of, if not the best, family hobbies all can share in:)


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Im 29. I grew up in Rochester NY on the shores of Lake Ontario, with a yearly summer vacation to the 1000 Islands (Clayton) where my parents HS friend owned a cottage on the St. Lawrence and a boat. That weekend was always the highlight of the year for me, boating and being by the water. We also owned a Sunfish that I learned to sail when I was 14, plus my uncle lived on a pond with lake access near us, but his boats were always in a state of dis-repair. I had a friend in HS whose grandparents had a cottage on conesus lake and we used to sneak down on a friday or saturday afternoon in the summer and take their boat out without their knowledge with some friends.

Then I graduated college and went to buy my first new vehicle and bought a 2006 Nissan Frontier. Everyone asked why I needed a truck and I said I was going to buy a boat, which they all laughed about. Lo and behold, a year later I moved to FL and brought the truck. A year later I was settled in and bought my first boat (now on my 2nd), and its been hell and high water since then but Ive made a lot of great friends, drank a LOT of beer, and have a hell of a good time since.

EDIT: And my mother LOVES boating. She always calls me to see if I have anyone who wants to go boating on a Saturday because she'd like to go (don't worry, I sometimes schedule her in, Im not THAT cold ;) ) and my father HATES it, but has come around a bit more on the 260 vs the 176...the 176 would always have finger prints on the windscreen from him on anything less than glassy water. On the 260 he will bring some wine and cheese and crackers and lay back.
 
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I guess I am sort of a 3rd generation boater, with an asterisk in between. My grandfather had a lake house on Lake Attitash in Amesbury, MA with all sorts of boats growing up, pontoons, bowriders, canoes, paddleboats. I spent as much of my spare summer time paddling around that lake, fishing, swimming and whatever else would keep me at their place until they sold it to live in a tin can trailer in Florida in the early 90s. My Dad on the other hand has never owned a boat but was a sailor in a different kind of tin can, a Gearing class destroyer, for 6 years during Vietnam (but light duty shadowing Russian cruisers in the Med, going to Greece, Malta, Morocco, etc, lucky him) so maybe that counts for something.

I bought my current 320 Sundancer as my first boat 3 years ago. I also have an uncle who owned a 480 sedan bridge and 480 Sundancer in the last 10 years. My 320 is a mini me of his 2005 480 DA, I liked the color combination.
 
Grew up with a 7.5 horse Ted Williams model on an 8 foot aluminum....fast forward about 25 years to 2003, and my wife says "we're buying a boat!" and I'm like what are you talking about??? We don't know anything about boats. She went to the dealer and bought a 2000 fourwinns 268. We took the boating course and nervously took it out to the river, then eventually the sound, then eventually across the sound to Long Island many times...and we just learned with our 3 young kids (at the time) and the beauty of lots of river current and a single engine. 3 years later we bought the 320 which I've had since 2007. I would have gone bigger but with a 19 year old, 17 year old, and a 13 year old involved in sports and everything else I can't justify it (yet) due to not enough use. I'm the one that sometimes threatens to sell, but my wife will hear none of it.
 
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