Just to confirm, yes…we found a renter for our house, and WE HAVE A CONTRACT ON A BOAT!!
A 2003 Leopard 3800 to be exact. This was Matt’s dream boat, but there is hardly any inventory on the market and those that are for sale were well out of our price range. The fact that we found one that we could afford, already here in MD is fate. We put an offer on it within 15 minutes of being on the boat and we had a signed contract the next day. Unfortunately we don’t have any pics, but this website has some great pics of another 3800 for sale to give you an idea of what we’re in for.
Just to clarify, no we did not buy the boat from a Guatemalan boat dealer. We do have some sense in us when it comes to the boat buying process, despite what our parents may think.
So, now that we have the boat and it’s dimensions, the next step was to do some marina shopping. Our criteria for selection was that it had to have some decent amenities, like wash rooms and laundry facilities, close parking, and fuel/pumpout stations. By nice amenities, we’re not expecting the Ritz, just some nicer facilities that will make our transition from suburbs to sailing a bit easier. A nice shower room for us to get ready in before work goes a long way when you think of all of the other sacrifices we’re making by moving off land.
We called around to the half dozen marinas in Annapolis and eliminated nearly all of them due to the size of our boat. They just didn’t have room to accommodate a boat that was nearly 22? wide. The others only had summer docking and didn’t allow year round live aboards. Again, fate intervened, and the one marina that we really loved not only had a space for us, but it’s out on the end of a dock so we can have a bit more leeway while we hone our docking skills this summer.
Behold our new home!
Marina Madness
