Todd Powell Boats

How did we ever choose which boat to buy?

People are attracted to all sorts of boats for all sorts of reasons. When making a decision about which boat to buy, it is necessary to distill it down to a few key criteria. The criteria are different for everyone but if you can’t whittle it down, you will probably never buy a boat, or you will find out you have bought the wrong boat which can be a major hassle and expense. I thought I would share with you our process which led us to our current boat. Part One will cover how we selected the style and layout that ultimately our Grand Banks 32 fulfilled, and Part Two will cover how we decided on a specific boat within the GB32’s available at the time.

After boating for many years on a variety of boats, we’ve worked through some of the big picture questions. Did we want a power boat or sailboat? We wanted power. Did we want to day trip or stay onboard for several days and nights at a time? We prefer to stay aboard. Are we going to be on the open ocean or inland? Our cruising area is the Inside Passage which stretches from Olympia, WA to Ketchikan AK. There are some large bodies of water to contend with depending on your destination, but for the most part it is protected and by watching the weather you can cruise comfortably.

Now we move on to some of the harder questions and the first one most start with is-how big? I believe length is a bit of proxy for volume, but length gets your started. You will need to moor it somewhere and length can be a major constraint. Based on our experience, 36 feet in overall length seemed like the right upper limit for us. Small enough to tuck into some of our favorite smaller anchorages yet big enough to handle some of the larger bodies of water (always watching the weather of course!) we travel on. For us, added length and volume beyond 36 feet is not necessarily added benefit. Additionally, it can’t be larger than you are comfortable handling and as I do solo frequently, I was not sure I wanted to handle much more boat by myself. Especially a boat with a single screw and not a thruster to be seen! Our GB32 has a length overall of 36.5 feet.

Speed and mass is another early question to ask. After years of cruising along in a semi-planing hull at 13 knots we knew we wanted the weight and seakeeping ability of a displacement hull. The big trade-off is speed with the add-back of much lower fuel consumption. We went from a 7500 pound boat at 13 knots to an 18,000 pound boat at 7 knots. This gives a lot more stability when the waves kick up and so far this is much more relaxing. It’s possible to have both speed and mass, which is a semi-displacement hull, but you will need to plan your fuel stops accordingly!

Designated spaces brings us back to the volume discussion. The beam (width) and the depth of the boat starts to impact spaces and how you use them. Many boats have spaces that have more than one use, such as a dinette that converts into a berth or a salon that is also the sleeping quarters. This can be fine assuming the persons aboard will not need the same space at the same time for different uses. We wanted to keep this conflict to a minimum, so we had to decide on what activities were critical to us. We were looking for the following designated areas: helm station, head/shower compartment, sleeping quarters, galley, interior lounging and exterior lounging. We wanted all of these to be separate areas. With a length limit of 36 feet, we would need a wider, deeper boat. The GB32 met these requirements. We also like to live on one level as much as possible which the GB32 does well. The aft deck, main salon, galley and helm are on one level. The stateroom is three steps down forward and the flybridge (major sun zone) is up a ladder. More importantly, the stateroom closes off so that my early morning coffee making doesn’t disturb the late sleeper.

Every trip starts and ends with moving around the boat to set fenders, handle mooring lines or anchoring. Having spent time on other boats with wide walk-around decks behind bulwarks and rails, we realized how much easier this made the handling of lines, fenders and anchor. The GB32 has a low bulwark with a rail extending above. The decks are wide with only one step at the back of the cabin to the rear deck. You give up a bit of room in the cabin, but it beats clinging to the side of the boat with toes and fingers while the boat rolls. We find the trade-off worthwhile. The question of single engine vs. twin engine vs. thrusters vs. joystick control is worthy of its own dissertation but at the end of the day if you don’t think you can get it in and out of the dock, you won’t use the boat. You will need a system of controls that gives you that confidence. I am comfortable with a single screw, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been exciting on occasion!

Size, speed and mass, designated spaces, ease of handling-these were the “key criteria” we used to narrow our search. Yours might be similar or completely different but you will need to get it to just a few. No boat will be able to meet twenty key criteria but there are plenty of boats that can meet four, five or six. Once we started applying our key criteria, the list of possibilities shrunk dramatically. In Part Two we will finish up our discussion of how we ended up with an older, wooden Grand Banks 32.

Our Family’s Favorite Cruising Destinations

A recent question from son-in-law about my favorite cruising destinations got me wondering what the rest of the family would call their favorite cruising destinations. A phone call, an email, a text and a face-to-face gave me my answers.

Our kids have all been boating from pre-first birthday so they have plenty of experience to draw from and I was curious, out of all the beautiful, and fun places we have visited, what would be their top two?

Lily (started boating at two months old): First, Telegraph Harbour Marina on Thetis Island in British Columbia (BC), Canada and second, Jones Island, Washington. She hesitated about two seconds when I asked the question.

Sadie (started boating at eight months old): First, Telegraph Harbour and second Ganges Marina on Saltspring Island in BC, Canada.

Seth (started boating at eight months old): First, Telegraph Harbour Marina and second the entire region of the Broughton Islands in BC, Canada.

Julie (started boating at 22, still wondering what she signed up for) First, Princess Louisa Inlet (commonly known by the falls at the end-Chatterbox Falls) in BC, Canada and Prybus Cove, Alaska.

Todd: (started boating too early to remember): First, Princess Louisa Inlet BC. Second, Butedale BC. Third, Conover Cove on Wallace Island BC. I get to have three since I am writing this and really couldn’t decide between two and three.

We wandered into Telegraph Harbor Marina by accident our first season of cruising on Jonta. We originally were planning on staying at the “other marina” in the harbor but we ran into some folks a couple days before who advised us the Telegraph Harbor Marina was the “kid friendly” place. We really didn’t know what to expect, but we were not disappointed. After tying up, we walked up to the small store to discover a 50’s era bar and stools with coffee from a local roaster and homemade pie. I had just officially entered boating heaven. The large lawn had shuffle board, swing sets, volleyball, horseshoes and a decent little beach for swimming if you were so inclined. Our first visit was in 2003 and I do not believe we missed a year until the border closed in 2020. The marina has changed hands a couple of times since we started visiting; the current owners are wonderful and the pie and coffee is still the best in the islands…in my opinion.

Jones Island is located roughly in the middle of the San Juan Islands and the entire island is a state park. There are mooring bouys on the south side and a small dock and mooring bouys in the cove on the north. This was a frequent place for us to meet other family members and the kids, and their cousins had a great time jumping from the pier and climbing among the trees. Each evening, we would walk over to the west side of the island and watch the sun set over Vancouver Island. Absolutely stunning every time.

Ganges Harbour (and Ganges Village) on Saltspring Island is one of the larger destinations in the Gulf Islands. We have always stayed at the Ganges Marina, but there are a couple other marinas as well as the option to anchor. Ganges Village is home to most of the businesses on Saltspring as well as home to an excellent farmers market on Saturday mornings. If you have been anchoring out for a bit, this is a “big town” option for a change of pace.

Princess Louisa Inlet (Chatterbox Falls) on the Sunshine Coast of BC. Much has been written about this destination referred to as the “Holy Grail” of cruising destinations and once you visit you will understand. We always leave early in the morning under running lights from Pender Bay, travel thru Agamemnon Channel and up Jervis Inlet to wait for slack tide at Malibu Rapids. Slipping through the rapids past the amazing Young Life lodge (interesting history to this structure) up to the head of Princess Louisa Inlet to finally reach the falls is worth the effort, every time.

Prybus Cove on Admiralty Island in SE Alaska sits in a bowl ringed with snowcapped mountains. The bay is large but when we visited there was only one other boat. We anchored not far from the meadow at the head of the bay where we could relax in the sunshine and soak up the beauty. For those of us use to the tight cruising areas of the Inside Passage and southward, Alaska is a bit of an adjustment. Everything is just bigger- the waterways, the mountains, and the weather. Maybe a “bit of an adjustment” is a bit of an understatement.

Conover Cove, Wallace Island in the Gulf Islands of BC is almost entirely a provincial park with a few small private holdings. Conover Cove has a small dock and enough room for a few boats to anchor and stern tie. Princess Cove, which is a little further north, has quite a bit more room for anchoring, as well as a dinghy dock for shore access. There is a trail from one end of the island to the other if you need to stretch your legs. Once completely privately owned by the Conover family, you can read about their experiences on the island in two books. First is Once Upon an Island published in 1967, followed by One Man’s Island published in 1971. There are still a couple of buildings and other items left from the resort the Conover’s operated while they lived there.

Butedale, BC I find interesting as it is one of the last remnants of the industry that use to bustle up and down the Inside Passage. Founded in 1911 as a fishing, mining and logging camp, it eventually became a large cannery operation powered by a water-powered electrical plant. The cannery ceased operations in the 1950s, but the generator was still operating a few years ago when we last visited (they even had WiFi!). We were treated to a tour of the remaining buildings by the caretaker. I am not sure the current status of renovations, but hopefully this unique property can continue to be part of the fabric of the Inside Passage.

The Broughtons is a grouping of coves, waterways and islands with views of snow-capped mountains north of Desolation Sound stretching up to Queen Charlotte Strait and typically is less crowded than destinations to the south. Dotted with pristine anchorages and a few family-run marinas it definitely has a slower relaxed pace and working your way past the rapids to arrive will give you a sense of accomplishment. I think you will find it worth the effort.

Obviously, there are many other places we love. Each one a unique combination of past memories and new ones created with each visit. And of course, we are always on the hunt for the new places we have yet to visit.

Buying a Boat Sight Unseen?

Part II-The Fog Begins to Lift.

In Part I we discussed deciding to buy a boat and ultimately how we got to buying one we had not seen. We pick it up here with taking delivery-the first time we were able to step onto our “new” boat.

On a sunny mid-July day of 2020, Julie and I hopped in our truck along with our two daughters and headed to Anacortes WA, a small waterfront town in the Northern part of Washington state. Shawn was bringing the boat from Sidney BC and would meet us there. The plan was that he would then step into a chase boat and head back to Canada. Once we arrived, Shawn gave us a quick overview of the operation of our new boat, “Next Dance” and departed. At this point, there was no going back. The paperwork was completed, money transferred and we were committed. So, we loaded up a few supplies, waved goodbye to our daughters who would run the truck back home and we fired up the motor. The run from Anacortes back to our marina in Des Moines (small waterfront town South of Seattle) is approximately 77 nautical miles which at our hull speed of 7 knots is about 11 hours (depending on currents etc.). We were leaving Anacortes late in the afternoon and I was not feeling like running at night with a boat I was not familiar with. This turned out to be wise, the next day we lost all electronics, including radar, just north of Elliott Bay, Seattle’s busy commercial port. Instead, we decided to stop in La Connor along the Swinomish channel, a short cruise of just a couple hours.

Once tied up in La Connor the emotional pendulum began its first swing… I was prepared for this, but much like jumping into the Puget Sound, even though you know its cold-it’s still cold. Thus began the second guessing, the doubting, the sackcloth and ashes, the critical eye looking for any and all flaws. I spent a somewhat sleepless night (Julie didn’t seem to share my concerns or sleeplessness- was she not paying attention?) Oddly enough, the sun still rose the next day and with it, the pendulum began its swing back in the other direction. Underway by 5:30am to catch the current, we began a pleasant run down to our home port of Des Moines. The water was relatively calm, the sun warm and we enjoyed sitting on the flybridge soaking up the warmth. This was what the trawler lifestyle is all about! Even, losing all the electronics couldn’t dampen my pendulum swing. By mid-afternoon we arrived in Des Moines and our little shakedown cruise was over.

I did some initial clean up, tracked down the loose ground wire to bring the electronics back to life and we used the boat for the rest of the season while I compiled a list of winter projects. After a final trip to the San Juan Islands in September, I buckled down to an average of 30 hours a week of work from October through April of 2021. My list of completed projects, big and small, is lengthy and I have another list for this winter. However, this fits my system well. Use the boat all season and work on it all winter. This is how I get 12 months of enjoyment out of my boats in the PNW.

Would I buy a boat again without seeing it in person? My answer? Maybe. Certainly not if we could not have seen other boats of the same model to get a feel for layout. Many of the boats in the old boat world are one-offs and you don’t have the luxury of being able to see essentially identical boats. Also, with such a strong production run (861 built with almost no change to layout) there were plenty of people to talk to about their experience with the GB32. I’ve never found anyone who speaks negatively about the design. I also had plenty of input about the wood GB’s, where the weaknesses are and what to look for, so far that has tracked right along as expected. Now would I recommend it for another person? My answer, depends on the person…but probably not. I don’t want the guilt of a recommendation gone wrong.

Buying a Boat Sight Unseen?

Buying a boat sight unseen is a bit like looking through the fog for your destination. You can’t really see anything until you get there. Once we had made the hard decision to end our relationship with Jonta and confirmed that the Grand Banks 32 was the model we wanted, it was time to buckle down to boat buying. It was time to start calling brokers or owners, and start driving and looking at boats which, you could argue, is the best part of buying a boat. You have not had to spend any money yet and the anticipation of the as-yet-unknown, new-to-you boat is a bit delicious.

Almost immediately in our search I saw a possibility pop up in Sidney, BC in Canada listed with Grand Yachts (see note at the bottom re: Grand Yachts). The boat appeared well cared for and had a solid list of system upgrades. Even though it was in BC, I called anyway and spoke with Shawn Francis, the broker handling the sale. While the boat sounded promising, we could not get into BC with the border closed (Covid restrictions), and there were a few other boats in our area I wanted to look at. So, I ultimately left it with Shawn that I would continue my search and we agreed to stay in touch.

Shortly after that call, the boat went “pending” and I crossed it off the list. Some of the 32’s available I ruled out simply from their description online. If they had high engine hours or looked pretty rough around the edges I set them aside. The other thing I found interesting was how hard it was to get some brokers to return a phone call about boats they had listed. I literally chased one broker for three weeks to get a return call. Our search continued, but we were nearing the end of what was currently on the market. The 32 is a popular model and Covid added an influx of social-distance-seeking buyers who were rapidly drying up the inventory. However, it was June and boating season was starting; we weren’t going to sell Jonta until we had purchased another boat. There was little pressure to make a decision we didn’t feel confident in.

At this point I received an email from Shawn at Grand Yachts letting me know that his buyer had declined to move forward after he had done his mechanical and structural inspections. While there were no major problems noted, there was a list of deferred maintenance that the buyer did not want to deal with–he wanted to go cruising now! We still had the problem of a closed border so we did a walk thru via facetime. Buying a fifty-year-old boat essentially “site unseen” is not for the faint of heart and I would not recommend it for most people, but I figured a little risk never hurts and it keeps the heart rate up. So with a thumbs up from my wife, we made an offer (contingent on inspections) which was accepted. And to be honest, I figured there was enough pressure in the boating market that I could resell at a minor loss if need be.

With our offer accepted, I was then able to buy the inspections from the previous buyer at about a quarter the cost. As mentioned before they showed a list of deferred maintenance but most of that was in the wood, paint, and varnish category, which I can handle. I have built, rebuilt and worked on wooden boats (hobby only) for years and I knew I would find some more issues as I went along. But I have learned that viewing the boat in person would not necessarily expose them. Only getting to know the boat over time would do that.

We crossed out fingers, removed our inspection contingencies and took the plunge…

Next week Part II-The Fog Begins to Lift.

Note on Grand Yachts, Port of Sidney office: I cannot say enough about the quality of service we received from Shawn Francis who works out of the Port of Sidney office. He was endlessly patient and tirelessly professional. If you ever had a chance to work with him and the office that supports him, you won’t be disappointed.

Heading toward Fall…and a List of Winter Boat Projects

I am never sure how I feel about Fall. On the downside, it’s the end of the summer boating season. On the other hand, it’s the transitional time to start gearing up for the big winter boat projects. For me, this is the way I get twelve months of enjoyment out of a boat: spring and summer cruising and fall and winter boat projects. Some folks button up the boat and head off to home and hearth. You can find me all winter long with tools in hand. Winter boat work is the best.

This summer we here in the PNW had an amazing summer of cruising. Countless warm days (and a few smokin’ hot ones by our standards) mostly calm, flat water and, in my case, enough time this year to go out and enjoy it. The weather cooled a bit in the first half of September but we were able to enjoy a mostly dry, calm trip to the San Juans for a couple of weeks. The Dickinson diesel stove, after taking the summer off, ran continuously to ward off the chilly mornings and cool evenings. Some years we even get a bonus of great weather thru September and into October, but not this year. We returned from the San Juans mid-September and the weather switched to rain, wind and occasionally, sun. Unfortunately, the few good days conflicted with already booked “other” events.

This Fall I’ve been picking off small projects that can be done in a day or less. Most of those are maintenance related after putting a lot of hours on the boat over the summer. At the same time I started mapping out the winter work. Some years, I’ve been able to keep the boat ready to go all winter in case we get a good day to get out on the water. This winter I have bigger projects and the boat will be out of service for quite some time. Last winter was similar. The projects started mid-October and I didn’t finish until the end of April. Typically, I wait until November 1 to start, just in case October offers up some nice cruising days. Year round, I keep a running list of projects, divided up under Spring Haulout, Winter Projects and Completed. The completed section is just so I can look back and remind myself that I’m moving forward. Sometimes I need that about mid-winter when it seems like progress is some nautical version of Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day.

This year I dug the list out in late September and prioritized the projects. Supply chain problems this year had to be considered so I did order some items right away but most of what I have going this year is wood repair in the deck and cabin, along with plenty of painting which is mostly my labor. (See “Todd’s Boats” page and look for “Grandy” for some background on the current boat). So as the rain comes down and the days get shorter, I’ll start to dig into this year’s projects. I will keep you posted…

Why Own a Wood Boat?

Growing up on the waters of the Puget Sound and surrounding lakes left me with the firm belief I need to be on the water as much as possible. And to my way of thinking that means having a wood boat…or two. And judging from the number of boats in our area, plenty of other folks agree with me. But why choose a wood boat?

The Common wood boat question… or is it really a question?

Any wooden boat owner knows the most common question from folks is “Isn’t it a lot of work?” Now I believe this question is really more of a rhetorical statement with a variety of meanings such as “You are an idiot” or “You are a strange, strange person.” I used to try to rebut the question, since it isn’t so much the wood that causes the work as they age. Old stuff wears out, end of story. Those with “Fiberglassics” can attest to spending as much time on their fiberglass boats as we wood folks do. And oddly enough, I never hear anyone questioning the sanity of people who buy older homes built of wood.

The better wood boat question

Very rarely, someone asks a different question that actually seems to want an answer “Why wood?”. You will probably get a different answer from each wood boat owner you ask. For some it is nostalgia, for some it is the history, for some it is the uniqueness, for some it is the community and for some, like me, it is to work on them. Now these are not the only reasons, but I believe most people fall into these categories and most fall into all of these in varying degrees. Let’s break them down a bit.

Can a wood boat create nostalgia? First, what is nostalgia? A quick internet search gives you this definition: A bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past. Now if there is bitterness involved then would a person really want to be part of that? Probably not, but if there is sweetness, then certainly. I fall into the “sweet” camp. I enjoy the feeling of longing for the past and it does not need to be my past, just a past that I find interesting. Some are definitely trying to recreate their youth but others are just trying to create an environment or experience from yesteryear that they think they might enjoy.

What about wood boat history? This could be interest in a specific boat or a boat builder or both. When we bought Jonta I became very interested in the builder Grandy Boat Co. This was a local (Seattle) builder that started operations in 1922 on Seattle’s Lake Union and closed down in 1967. I spent hours digging through the internet, interviewing past employees and even created a website (with help! But now discontinued) to record what I had found. For anyone who enjoys a mystery, or some nautical archeology this is a great way to spend the winter months. Imagine tracking down as much information as you can about the owners, builder and history of a specific boat built decades ago. It could keep your sleuthing gene occupied for hours and hours.

What is unique about a wood boat? To start, there are a limited amount. While new wood boats are being built, it is a tiny percentage of all news boats each year. Plus many of the older boats were of limited production. It is not uncommon to find a boat that had a production run of one or boats built by a small to medium size builder that only produced a handful. Now for sure there were some builders that built a large number of boats, such as Chris Craft, Lyman, Grand Banks to name a few, and these tend to have large dedicated, followings. But I think the biggest factor to a wood boat’s uniqueness is that if something happens to it and it is destroyed, there is no replacement. Most of the physical items in our lives if they are destroyed, we can just get another one. Those items we cannot replace are the items we tend to value the most.

The wood boat community:

Communities grow up around all sorts of interests. People like to get together and talk about what they are interested in. Just look at the number of clubs in your community-you probably don’t know about most of them. The community around wooden boats is no different. People join in for the socializing, the resources, the opportunity to show others what you value and to know those people understand you. The wooden boat community is pretty diverse proving that you only need one thing in common to get along with someone and enjoy their company.

Finally, wood boat work:

I suppose I could have gotten into building furniture or restoring cars which I did try once. I rebuilt a 1966 VW Karmen Ghia. Finished it, sold it immediately and last I heard it was in Belgium, which might not be far enough away. Boats give you variety, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and most importantly, wood, paint and varnish. Many people winterize and ignore their boats during the cooler months, but I get 12 months of enjoyment out of my old wood boats. I boat all spring, summer and fall and work on them all winter. Sometimes projects are pretty straightforward and other times, due to the age of the boat, you might have to do some serious digging to come up with a repair plan. Learning how to do something new stretches you and frequently introduces you to new people and resources. The planning, organizing, implementation (and the do-overs) can be challenging, rewarding and generally great fun.

So back to the question “why wood?” My answer? I really don’t like fiberglass dust.