.. and a Grand Banks 36:

It was time for Ruth to look at them.

The plan was to make a return trip to see the boats after the Annapolis Powerboat Show in October.  However, Al Smith:

Ruth liked the boat (and it was Bill's top choice).  It was a 2002 Monk 36 model built by North Sea Yachts at a yard in Nova Scotia.  We decided to put an offer on the boat.  At the Annapolis Show we met with the broker and negotiated a deal.  Now we were truly committed!

THERE WERE MANY steps to go through to buy the boat.  We had to have hull and machinery surveys conducted.  We located surveyors and a yard to haul the boat for survey.  We chose Hinckley Yacht Services:

.. for the hull survey, and a Cummins-trained mechanic from Cummins South for the machinery survey.  We conducted a brief sea trial as we took the boat from her home port to the yard.  It seemed fine.  Bill grinned the whole time.

Tom Eve is a very personable, professional and thorough surveyor.  He found thirty items that he recommended we correct.  Most were important but minor.  Not so minor was a pesky leak in the keel somewhere that could sink us (literally and financially).  We needed help from the current owner and negotiated repair of this into the purchase.  Whew!  Fortunately, the main engine and generator were in good shape with a couple of minor concerns.

OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEKS, we selected IMIS Corporation (Al Golden's agency) in Maryland as our insurance broker, obtained some funding at Trident Funding Corporation in Annapolis and decided to have Hinkley do the yard work.  There were a million details to discuss and work out - changing the yacht documentation, locating a marina to berth the boat, locating vendors for all sorts of upgrades, etc.

BY NOVEMBER 24th all the critical documents were signed and delivered and we were the owners of…DA BOAT!