2023 A year of change

Grahamu

After many discussions between the 2 of us we have decided to make a major change in our boating life. My wife will be retiring late spring and we have decided to do more extended cruises. In fact if all goes well we are seriously considering the Great Loop. With that in mind we have put our Rinker 342 FV up for sale and have an offer on a 1995 Monk 36 Trawler. A much more relaxing style of boating but then we will have time to enjoy it.
I appreciate all the help and suggestions I have received and hope some of my input has been useful on this site. It is the only social media site I have ever been on, my wife is the opposite, LOL.
I will still check in as it has become a habit every morning. Wishing everyone good health and safe boating in 2023.
Graham

YYZRC

Congrats @Grahamu !!

raybo3

Congratulations and best of luck. Your always welcome here at the RBOC. 

aero3113

Congratulations, good luck! 🍾 ⚓️

Cableguy Greg

Congratulations! When you do the loop, if you need anything while you are around Illinois, hit me up. I’m only a few hours drive from Chicago and down to the Ohio River. I would be more than willing to run you supplies or anything else. 

Pat310

@Grahamu all of the best in your new adventures. Thank you for all your input here. I would love to hear about your great loop trip with lots of photos of the sights you get to see. 

TonyG13

@Grahamu - Congratulations and good luck with the Loop! I'm a harbor host for AGLCA in Chicago, so just give shout when you come through!

benvenuttioki

Congratulations! I’m envious!,

LaRea

Exciting news!  And that Monk seems like a perfect Loop boat.  Good luck with the sale and purchase!

Dream_Inn

Definitely exciting news.  Some day we hope to be doing the same thing.  If you are on the Chesapeake, let us know. I enjoy connecting with Rinker members.  Enjoy!

halifax212

congrats @Grahamu on your new adventure...happy for you and the admiral.

Liberty44140

Wow very cool, good luck, hope you post your adventures 

randy56

Great your working on your bucket list. 

rasbury

Start a you tube channel and who knows, you might get paid to take the loop! Start with the purchase of the boat- people make money live streaming chickens!

Grahamu

Thank you  everyone, our offer on the Monk has been verbally accepted, just need to sell the Rinker now. Toronto Boat show is coming up later this month so will give us an idea how the market will be in 2023. Thanks @Cableguy Greg and @TonyG13 I have made a note of your posts. @rasbury yes I have been following a couple of Great Loop you tube threads, one of them is definitely paid but it's a lot of work editing the videos so we will  see if we have the time and connections for that.

mattie

@Grahamu
Be sure to stick around. The knowledge base is important. 
Owned 2 new Rinkers in past myself. 
Boat repairs & assoc info is pretty universal.

YYZRC

mattie said:

@Grahamu
Be sure to stick around. The knowledge base is important. 
Owned 2 new Rinkers in past myself. 
Boat repairs & assoc info is pretty universal.

Well, that and this site can't afford to lose another great contributor!

YYZRC

@Grahamu are you going to stay on Simcoe or are you relocating?

Grahamu

We will bring the new boat to Port Credit by water which will give us an idea what may need upgrading and also to outfit her with our personal stuff for cruising. If it's the boat we have an offer on it is a 10 - 12 day trip down Lake Michigan and thru Lake Erie, Welland Canal to Lake Ontario. 

rasbury

That will be a nice trip itself- very jealous!

Liberty44140

Let me know if you need anything while passing through western Lake Erie. If you have 3-4 days to spare there Kelly’s Island, Put in Bay, and Pelee Island (canada) are all great places. If you have to pick one go to Put in Bay. 

Grahamu

@Liberty44140, thank you for your offer I have made a note of it. Unfortunately we will not have time to spend in the area but Put in Bay is a stop I have planned for should we do the delivery.

YYZRC

@Grahamu saw your boat on YachtWorld; it shows amazingly well!  Good luck with the sale.

Grahamu

@YYZRC, thank you, only one other of same year listed in Ontario. On another note, the trawler we had put an offer on failed survey. We started having doubts after we saw the boat, 7 hour drive one way, it needed some serious house cleaning after finishing the loop. 

YYZRC

Sorry to hear @Grahamu - that’s frustrating! 

YYZRC

@Grahamu how is the market looking? Any progress on sale or acquisition?

Grahamu

@YYZRC, There is some interest in our 342 but nothing will really happen until launch as it is up on beams and in it's covered slip. Marina does not approve of boarding it. Most of the carpets etc are stored below so not presentable for viewing. There are a couple of others for sale.
The trawler market is very tight , lots of older ones but I am not into a project boat. Also a problem with a non North American made boat is that it attracts a 9.5% import duty. We know of a couple of Mainship 390s completing the loop and coming on the market that we are in touch with. Going away soon to Barbados for a couple of weeks and will get more serious when we return.

YYZRC

I didn’t realize that you cannot board the boat when on beams. Interesting. Hope you have a great trip south!

Willhound

We looked at a boat at @Grahamu 's marina before we bought our 270 in late fall after it was lifted for winter but it was in the presence of the broker that works out of the marina. I guess commission talks. Granted, that was about 6 years ago, may have changed since then.

Grahamu

There are notices posted at each slip re "No Boarding while on beams" but as @Willhound posted they  allow marina people to board. I think it's more a liability issue as the boat is over open water, (ice this time of year). Certainly not easy to get onboard our boat.

Willhound

Good time to inspect the drives!