01/21 - 01/23 Seattle Boat Show/C-Brat Gathering

Roger, thanks to you and Linda for all of your organization prowess in this fine gathering. As to the Boat Show, I spent about 3 1/2 hours at the show on Friday before heading to the hotel gathering. My time there was 45 minutes at the Ranger/Cutwater display, 5 minutes (or less) circling the lone C-Dory at Master Marine and the remainder of the time visiting the various nautical associated venders.
Saturday afternoon, while most folks went to the Boat Show, David (Marinaut) and I drove up to the Snoqualmie Falls Brewery for Lunch. Carol and I did spend time Saturday morning touring David's Marinaut boat that he had on a trailer at the hotel parking lot. He has done a mighty fine job in creating that vessel!
It was great to visit with all of the C-Brat attendees at the hotel!
 
AHHHH another successful gathering !!!!!
I have a few Lost and found items that were left behind in the room we used.
one item is an 8x8 pyrex glass pan .
the other item was a very nice cork screw left near the wine.
I have them here at my home and will hold on for whomever claims them.
there was a black plastic serving spoon that got put in the box along with the other c-brat spoons
 
One special feature at the gathering was George's presentation of his Northwest Passage Trip with a video and slide show, masterfully operated by Roger (Sea DNA). Thank you George for presenting that. (I'm still impressed with how prepared you were for the polar bears that you encountered....LOL).
 
Yes - it was a great time at the CBGT on Friday night. I greatly enjoyed George's presentation and was glad I could do a little to make it viewable by all. Now all I have to do is figure out how to get about 1200-1500 gals of unleaded strategically placed throughout the Northwest Passage so I can make it through with the TomCat. :wink: I also enjoyed getting another look at Dave's Marinaut.

I was incredibly pleased, surprised and humbled by Ruthie's gift of a new Tomcat hat for me. I certainly hadn't expected that but you know Ruth and Joe - they're two of the sweetest damn people I've ever met. I stuck around BS'ing longer than normal on Fri so getting up and making it to the boat show on Sat AM was a little more difficult than I had planned on (but I was still there just after 10AM).

Yes - the C-Dory presence was limited and I wish I could have done more to help but I just hope that things turn around and that next year Triton is there in force.
I spent a good bit of time at the show on Sat. I checked out the Ranger Tugs and was very impressed - not my style boat but if I just wanted to cruise, they would be. I took a good look at the Cutwater boats. I really didn't like them much. They're beautifully built but the cockpit was a bit small for fishing and the rear seat and swim platform weren't really fisherman friendly. The boat just seemed too pretty to fish from. Also, I don't think I like the layout inside much either (on both boats). Both seemed a bit small inside given the size of the hulls. The external 'bling' was also a bit much for my tastes but I can see that some people will like the looks. I would be interested in seeing what the ride is like on them - the hull design is very different and supposedly quite stable.

I didn't get to as many of the vendors as I would have liked so I'll be back either Tues or Thurs evening. I need to get an Alaska Series dingy ordered and perhaps look at a few other things.

Finally, I also want to thank Roger for another great organizational job.
 
As a first time attendee, I was grateful to be welcomed into such a nice group of folks! And I also loved George's presentation - a real treat!

rogerbum":16ct5z2j said:
I need to get an Alaska Series dingy ordered and perhaps look at a few other things.
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FWIW, Roger you might want to check out "Maritime's Marine Centers" booth at the show. They occupy the old Jacobsen's space in Seattle and are the local Honda dealer, and when I dropped by a few weeks ago the manager there (forget his name) said he used to sell the Alaska dinghies, but he now manufacturers his own line of boats that he thought were better quality (and priced lower). Anyway, he was planning to debut some new models at the Seattle and Portland boat shows so it might be worth a visit.

Also, if any of you are going to be at the Seattle show tomorrow (Monday) night, I'll be at the "Meydenbauer Bay Yacht Club" booth from 6:00pm to 9:00pm (I think that's my shift) so say "hi" if you're walking those aisles.

Keith
 
SBS writeup in the Seattle Times:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014020422_boatshow25m.html
After two years of sluggish boat sales nationwide and low attendance at the 10-day Seattle shows in 2009 and 2010, organizers and boat dealers alike said they're seeing an uptick in the number of people expressing interest in buying a boat.
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A few booths over, Steve Winner was getting ready to ink a deal on a 29-foot Ranger Tug, a $230,000 tugboat-style boat made in Washington.

Ranger tugs ($50,000 to $250,000) are "a platform for adventure" because there's space to store kayaks and bikes, and the boats often have features like barbecues and shrimp-pot pullers, said Jeff Messmer, vice president of Ranger Tugs.

"This boat has all the amenities normally reserved for a larger boat — air conditioning, a heater, a generator," said Winner, who flew up from California and, at 61, is planning to retire in a year and travel in style.
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It's just amazing to me how much mention I see of Ranger tugs - those guys are clearly doing something right!
 
I had a ton of fun seeing new people and putting faces to names and it was really my priveledge to be able to share my sailing trip with such an experienced group of people. My buddy Doug was amazed at the great people at the gathering, he had no idea what he was getting into by coming along. We really had a great time and felt welcomed by all. Roger Clarke of Dreamer presented me with a beautiful custom helm hub which I will install tomorrow, thanks so much Roger for everything. Looking forward to Friday Harbor next and cruising this summer. Thank you Roger for the great help on the show and thank you to everyone for all the effort putting on the event George
 
Thanks all...Amy and I had a great time seeing you all again!!! Now we are are excited for May to arrive for the next gathering! Hope everyone had a safe journey home.

John & Amy (Teddi says hello)
 
centerisland":27xfo4kc said:
As a first time attendee, I was grateful to be welcomed into such a nice group of folks! And I also loved George's presentation - a real treat!

rogerbum":27xfo4kc said:
I need to get an Alaska Series dingy ordered and perhaps look at a few other things.
Click to expand...

FWIW, Roger you might want to check out "Maritime's Marine Centers" booth at the show. They occupy the old Jacobsen's space in Seattle and are the local Honda dealer, and when I dropped by a few weeks ago the manager there (forget his name) said he used to sell the Alaska dinghies, but he now manufacturers his own line of boats that he thought were better quality (and priced lower). Anyway, he was planning to debut some new models at the Seattle and Portland boat shows so it might be worth a visit.

<stuff clipped>

Keith
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Keith, I'll check out the Maritime's Marine Center dingy before I make a final choice. Thanks for the tip.
 
Thank you Roger for hosting this event again. We had a great time talking to everyone at the hotel. The food was great and the it was really nice getting to see all our friends again. George , we really enjoyed your presentation. I think you and your two friends are a little off your rocker but if you every decide to do it again give me a call.

the boat show its self was ok. the lack of a c brat table was a disappointment. I thought we were going to have one at the Masters Marine area but when we got there we saw nothing. Susan had volunteered to work it and then nothing happened. very sad. I did stop by the Kitsap marine dealer and talked to them for a while. nice to put a face to the name.

On Sunday we walked the boats afloat show and Susan fell in love with a 42 grand banks motor yacht with the down kitchen. Very nice boat. One day we will live aboard and that will be our first choice.

Well I hope to see a lot of you this summer in the island. any weekend someone is going to the san juans we are almost always in the area on the weekend so give us a call for a raft up.
 
It's hard to go wrong with those classic Grand Banks boats. I like the trawler cabin forward/cabin aft layout, with a common area in the center.
 
Caroline, Tom Jr, and I had a great time at the gathering Friday and Saturday night. Thank you all for making us, and especially my son, feel welcome as well as thank you Roger for putting it together.

Tom Elliot, your wife is right. When you go on board, you feel like you're at home.
 
Ah, I love trawlers! Here's a picture of mine at Van Isle a couple of summers back (for some reason I don't seem to have good pictures of the boat!):
vanisle.jpg
 
It's a one-off ferro-cement boat built by the yard manager of the Samson facility that was in Tacoma in the 70s. The design has much in common with commercial fishing boats that were built in that era - large fish-hold (I converted to storage), trolling valve, stern cockpit. It displaces 30 tons and draws 6'. I'm the 3rd owner and I've had it for about 10 years. I used to be at University Marina in the U-district, but I removed the false stack and modified the electronics a couple of years ago to get it under cover at my club in Meyndenbauer Bay.

I haven't had a chance to go very far with this boat - a few trips to Canada, and only once to Desolation Sound. I used to have a small steel Romsdahl trawler that I took to Juneau and lived aboard and I'm just itching to get back up there. I can work in a 2 or 3 month trip, but Jenny works full time and can't get away for that long so we're having a hard time getting in a SE Alaska trip. <sigh>
 
Had a great show, enjoyed the Grand Banks as always nice boat, the ship that caught my eye though was the Fleming 55. Nice detail on the chain washer button on the fly bridge, the whole boat was really well put together They go for about 3.9 mill so I'm short a bit. Way lower centre of gravity than the Nordhavns. Having been on a Nordhavn 86 at Swiftsure last year they're off my list. Thing was making folks seasick in only 4-5 foot chop. I'd expect something like that to feel like a church at sea.

So those 2 are off my list, I think I'll go with Kerri On, :thup

George
 
Well as long as we're just dreaming here, I was impressed with the Coastal Craft on display alongside the Fathom 40 at Qwest Field. Really nice 40' aluminum-hulled cruiser, made up the road in Vancouver BC. Still, for $1.1 million, I think I can get a lot more boat on the used market, no?
 
timflan":aiqlwc2w said:
Well as long as we're just dreaming here, I was impressed with the Coastal Craft on display alongside the Fathom 40 at Qwest Field. Really nice 40' aluminum-hulled cruiser, made up the road in Vancouver BC. Still, for $1.1 million, I think I can get a lot more boat on the used market, no?
Click to expand...

The Coastal Craft is made in Gibsons, BC, and a former 25 owner, John Schuler, has a 32' CC. Nice boat! Built like a tank.

Warren
 
Tim, you should check out a 450. The beam is larger and all of those details in the 400 really come to light much better.

Our pick is the Elling E4 ocean class A rated 48 footer. What a unique boat and all of those unusual details really strike a cord with us for some reason. The Norhavns are great but after the above comment about handling, you got me thinking they may not be the best choice for the long term.

What we really need is the low maintenance, flexible, economic 45 footer. The C-dory of the light live-a-boards. Does such a boat exist? We are looking for it...... Bracewell 41 is next on the checkout list.

Greg
 
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