Buying Patience

We finally decided as a family that it was time for a bigger boat. But how big? At first I thought, not too much bigger but big enough that we could all sleep on the boat for a few overnight excursions and a place for the kids to hang out below. The kids number one request was “an inside”. Our Flying Scot was 19 feet, so we began to look at boats around 22 feet including the Catalina 22. We started our search on Craigslist but we had never really been on a Catalina 22 nor did we know much about it. So we decided to take a trip to Brewer Yacht Yards in Westbrook to look at a few boats. There we got an opportunity to see several boats in this size range all up on stands in the yard. They were dark and small and I had trouble imagining all 4 of us sleeping on the boat. We did get to see a privately owned Catalina 22 in immaculate condition but it still seemed too small for the 4 of us. Then the salesman wisely took us to see a Catalina 25 that was in the water and all opened up. We all quickly changed our tune and realized that this was the size for us. It seemed easy to manage from a sailing perspective and dramatically bigger inside the cabin. But was the boat he showed us really the right one? And what about the price? Being the cautious shoppers that we are, we decided to continue looking. If that boat was meant for us, it would still be there when we were ready. Now that we thought the Catalina 25 was the right boat for us, we just had to find the right one. So we continued our search. We looked a bit at the Catalina 250 which is the more modern version of the regular 25 but I honestly did not like the layout. The only positive is the head with a door but beyond that it really isn’t set up to sleep more than 2 people. That was easily ruled out. Then one weekend in September, we were headed to New York to visit our family and came across a boat out on Long Island that was for sale. I spoke to the owner’s wife and she said “All he does is clean it”. That sounded like the right boat for us. We decided to take a drive out to see it and then take the ferry back to Connecticut. We met the owner and his wife at their house and then went down to the water to check out the boat. He kept it mored in a harbor near St. James Long Island. He rowed us 1 or 2 at a time in a small dingy out to the boat and we climbed aboard. The boat was incredibly clean even though it was a 1985 model year. He was the original owner and loved the boat but had not really sailed it much. He never stayed over night on it and never ate more than a can of soup on it. We took lots of photos so we could remember the details when we got home. We knew right away this was the one. The asking price was right for the condition it was in. We discussed it on the ferry back home and called him the next day with an offer. He gladly accepted and it was ours.