On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 00:45:06 GMT, "Roger Long"
wrote:

If I suddenly had $40,000 to spend on a boat at this point, I would
put it into this one instead of trying to trade up to something
larger. We would then have a boat in which everything was right
instead of just a larger and roomier collection of problems and
projects.

That's a good point. The bird-in-the-hand theory is great if you are
doing these sort of upgrades for yourself and your own piece of mind
and completely chuck out any illusions of boosting the resale value.
Boats aren't like houses. Putting in a new galley for ten grand will
get you two grand on resale, instead of twenty grand on a house.

People ask why I keep my all-too-groovy Viking 33, and I say because
it's easy for me to upgrade it to better than factory over a series of
years and to incorporate new ideas as I learn of them. Thirty three
feet by ten is a perfect size for me to single-hand on the Great
Lakes, and it's essentially a racer I've made comfortable for limited
cruising by keeping the weight low and centered.

And, being a caveman-type, I like tillers G

Now, the next boat I'm shopping for is the antithesis of that old
racer, because I want to take it around the world. The trick will be
to somehow keep the Viking 33 on ice for five years so when we come
back and resume lakeside living, I can just resume my tinkering.

R.