September 10, 2013 we closed on the purchase of our new boat, named “Next To Me”, the same as our Great Loop boat. She’s a 40-foot Ocean Alexander, and our first trip was a 3-hour cruise from her former home at Bremerton Yacht Club to the marina in Gig Harbor where we will moor her, Peninsula Yacht Basin.
Here she sits at the dock at the State Park on Blake Island.
Her dinghy is an 11.5 foot RIB (rigid inflatable bottom) with an 18 hp Tohatsu motor, and we’re told at our combined weight, this dinghy will get up on a plane!
Another shot at the dock at the Bremerton Yacht Club.
Our apologies for the darkness of the interior shots, but they were taken inside the boathouse where she lived previously. This is the lower helm, which has good enough visibility to be used, on the starboard side of the boat with a helm door.
To port is the salon settee and dining table.
The galley is aft of the lower helm on the starboard side, equipped with a propane stove/oven which will be great when we’re anchored out. The refrigerator/freezer runs on 110 volt with an inverter.
The galley is on the salon level, so has big windows with lots of natural light, and is well equipped.
Like our Loop boat, this one has an aft master stateroom with queen-size walk-around bed, and plenty of drawers, shelves and hanging locker space (closet).
The flybridge is huge, fully enclosed with canvas and strata-glass, and lots of seating for comfortable outdoor relaxing when underway or entertaining.
The boat is powered by a Ford Lehman 120 hp diesel engine. The upside of this is that fuel consumption is only 2 gallons per hour and there’s lots of room to move around in the engine room for maintenance. The down side is this boat only travels at 8 knots (about 9 mph) unless the wind or currents give her a boost!
Other than our first trip to take delivery of the boat, we’ve made two fun excursions, and those will be described in the next blog post. We’re excited to be Cruisers again, having missed many aspects of that lifestyle since we returned from our Great Loop trip 5 months ago.
1 comment:
Next to Me looks absolutely beautiful! I love the look of the interior, with all its wooden panels and colors. And that queen-sized bed is a definite plus. You're so lucky to have a boat like that. Safe cruising!
Ralph S. @ Loans4Less
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