{"id":60489,"date":"2023-06-27T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-27T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/?p=60489"},"modified":"2023-06-27T11:56:56","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T15:56:56","slug":"tell-tales-dream-boat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/yachts\/tell-tales-dream-boat\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding the Dream Boat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Steve <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n “My 25-foot Mako with a pair of 150s\u2014a boat many considered the best in its day\u2014cost me $19,000 brand-new.”<\/span>\n Steve Haefele<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been searching\u00a0 for two seats and a console, but have been stuck in the wayback machine. What was once called a utility boat became a center-console<\/a> in the 1960s. A blend of woven roving, mat and polyester resin, the center-console was a hand-rolled wonder. There were just a few brands, and if you can find one today, it\u2019s likely on life support. I shared my obsession with a sales pal for a reality check. It didn\u2019t help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill is my vintage, and he shares my passion for center-consoles. He has two waterfront homes with docks, and keeps two seats and a console at each one. He buys them factory-fresh with full warranties and trades them in every few years like leased pickups. I think he\u2019s lost count of the numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While he claims his system works, the math bugs me. I understand the benefits of new boats, motors and warranties, but the prices\u2014yikes. I\u2019ve done my best to understand the modern markup, but it\u2019s hopeless. I walked past a boat store just the other day and eyeballed a late-model, pre-loved, 30ish-foot example with a pair of supersize outboards. My ogling came to an end when I focused on the price tag pasted on its transom: just shy of $400,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read More from Jay Coyle:<\/strong> Tell Tales<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I called Bill to rant about the unfairness of it all. \u201cMy 25-foot Mako with a pair of 150s\u2014a boat many considered the best in its day\u2014cost me $19,000 brand-new, for God\u2019s sake,\u201d I groused. \u201cI could have bought 20 of them for that kind of money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIts day was 1980,\u201d Bill replied. \u201cI hear this sort of thing all the time from experienced boaters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ouch! In yacht-sales tongue, \u201cexperienced boater\u201d is code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, I know,\u201d I said. \u201cI have more good days behind me than ahead of me, but that\u2019s not the point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSeriously, Coyle, when was the last time you bought a new boat?\u201d he asked. \u201cThey\u2019re not slathered together with a mop and a bucket of resin anymore. Today\u2019s buyers insist on flawless finishes, high-tech materials, and plenty of horsepower and electronics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, yes, I know,\u201d I told him. \u201cThey\u2019re hard to miss. They\u2019re everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re cheap, Coyle,\u201d Bill said. I reminded him of the losses I\u2019d suffered in past restorations. \u201cIt\u2019s really not the money; it\u2019s the value,\u201d I insisted. \u201cClassic center-consoles have a certain mystique. They\u2019re different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I returned to the wayback machine and forwarded Bill my findings. \u201cTake a look,\u201d I said. \u201cYou don\u2019t see one of these above water every day. It\u2019s a rare ride.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few moments passed in silence. \u201cAre you still there, Bill? Did you get it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, I got it,\u201d he said. \u201cI get it, and I got one,\u201d he admitted as he texted me an image of a small boat\u2019s soggy remains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the leftovers of a 20-foot Bertram center-console and…a cow? \u201cIt\u2019s in a pasture in North Florida,\u201d he said. \u201cI bought it for $1,400 sight unseen. It just needs a bit of freshening up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Really? And I thought I had a problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All I want is two seats and a console. Why is that so hard?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":60490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Jay Coyle","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"163","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Even when the specifications are simple, finding the dream boat can be a difficult task, especially at a doable price point.","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":true,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","sponsored_url":"","social_share":true,"ad_targeting":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true},"categories":[163],"tags":[712,2111,569,164],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60489"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}