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June and I traveled I95 numerous times; up and down the east coast of the US looking at boats. Annapolis, Myrtle Beach, Lake Lanier, Titusville, Merritt Island, Green Cove Springs, Indian Town, and too many boats to even remember them all in NC. We looked at all sorts of "blue water cruisers' including Tayana, Pacific Seacraft, Hans Christien, and we almost bought a fresh water Corbin (but that didn't work out). We sat down and for a second time, inventoried our needs...blue water, livable, sea kindly, strong engine, ease of maintenance, comfy for two... all the normal things came up on the list. Then we looked at "blue water" and decided that, for us, "Blue Water" did not mean "Pacific". That was hard for me to admit. I don't do "bucket lists" but I had had a dream of transiting that canal. I decided that the canal was not for me, although I had spent 12 years in the "Pacific Fleet", I'd never again sail in the Pacific. And then 2 years later I transited the Panama Canal as crew on a sailboat delivery and sailed up the Pacific Coast half way to Mexico (never say never). But, as Cap'n Fatty says... "that was an adventure". (I had never been knocked down on a sailboat before and I haven't been since).
After we "re-calibrated," expectations for "our" boat, some boats that had been left out came on the list. One such boat was a "CSY 37". We decided that we wanted a tall rig for the trade winds. We decided it had to have a shallow-ish draft to cross skinny water and to get close to dive spots. The boat also had to be small enough for two. A CSY 37 is small enough for June to handle single-assisted comfortably and even to solo in a pinch (and the cabin top in a CSY 37 is "ginormous"). She has a proper nav station and the cabin has a pullman queen. Her new Beta 53 engine has just a few 100 hours on it.
We are outfitting Kuleana to support scuba diving so having a huge deck is very beneficial to that (but it makes pinching tight upwind a fanciful daydream). Her "shoal" draft is 4' 6" (more if she has had a lot to drink) and her air draft is just under the AICW's Wilkerson Bridge (62'). We are refitting her mostly ourselves with the boat yard staff being tasked with the technical stuff that we aren't equipped to handle (building a fiberglass bulge for the Forward Looking Sonar for example). We should be frolicking off the coast of the ABCs and Colombia and visiting my daughter on Grand Cayman Island in two years. Until we do, we are local knowledge for NC's ICW and for Ocracoke Island, NC, USA.
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