Honey...I found a boat!!!

This is how it all started.  As we often do when we are dockside in the early morning enjoying our coffee, Karen and I were browsing the pages of Yachtworld and looking at anything to do with boats.  In some cases we are looking to see what we can do to improve our own boat; in other cases, we are simply dreaming.  Our dreams normally end up looking at larger boats but not just any boat, mostly Burgers, Browards. and many of the Dutch built cruisers.  Karen and I first came upon a Burger some years ago when we happened upon "Silver Cloud" an 80 foot Burger!  This boat was a gem and for the asking price, we should have jumped at the opportunity.  Still at 80 feet, she was just a bit too much for us and soon, "Silver Cloud" found another owner.  We do hope that some day we will cross her wake.

The Burger that started it all!

From that point on, the Burger name was always in our searches.  Now, you can find Burgers out there in various condition and at various price points.  Some owners try to sell their boats for far too much as they try to recover the funds they put into upkeep over the years, and others are simply trying to avoid sinking more funds into their boat.  Some people have failing health and simply can't enjoy their yacht, while others simply acquire yet another project boat to fill their days with.

Back to our search, when we came across "Mandalay" something caught our attention.  We were at a point in our lives where we would either going to settle with "Tropical Horizons" or we were going to do something grand.  So began our adventure.  Some of you not familiar with yacht listings, may not know that sometimes the photos show a yacht in far better shape than she really is.  You get your hopes up, only to have them crushed as you visit the boat.  Karen and I were fully aware of this when we first saw the listing.  The first thing we did was research.  Lots and lots of research, Karen is very good at this and we trolled the internet searching for anything to do with the yacht named "Mandalay"  We did find a few bits of information such as her former name "One Too Many" which personally I liked!  In any case we contacted the listing broker and asked if she was still on the market and for further details as we were interested.  My first impression with the broker was that I was not  being taken seriously....so we contacted Curtis Stokes and asked if he would entertain being our buyers broker.  That was the best decision we made.

Photo from the listing

Curtis was great, he traveled out to see the boat in Maryland, took many stills and a walk through video to give us a good idea of the condition that she was in.  He then sent me the link to his dropbox account and we downloaded everything for review.  Curtis gave us his honest opinion.  To be fair to Curtis, he could have pointed us towards other boats that he was listing.  He had a Burger for sale too!  But that isn't the kind of person he is.  Curtis is straight, honest and most of all, he works for you.  So he gave us his assessment of her condition and told us that he was surprised that she was in such great condition.  Now you have to take into account the asking price and the vintage of the vessel.  Se will need some work and some upkeep as do all boats in this age class.  Well that goes for just about any boat really.  I spend plenty of time working on "Tropical Horizons" to keep her running smoothly.

Now we had a decision to make, it was time to book our flights and head down to Annapolis, MD for a weekend visit to see if "Mandalay" was a fit for us.  So we packed an overnight bag, drove down to Rochester NY, hopped on a flight to Baltimore MD, rented a car and checked into a hotel in Annapolis MD.  Well didn't it turn out to be a football weekend Navy vs. Memphis and add to that the Kunta Kinte festival and the entire town was buzzing.  Well we made it down and had a serious look at "Mandalay".  As we walked up to her it soon began to sink in that this was a bigger boat than we were used to.

Mandalay in her slip 

Although it was intimidating at first, once in the pilot house I did start to get a good feel for the view from the helm.  Don't get me wrong I have lots to learn about this boat, but more importantly I'm up to the challenge.  Once on her decks, she felt nice.  Wide side decks made it easy to go from the pilot house to the bow and the handrails were at a great height so that Karen felt completely comfortable.  Flush decks mean that the only stairs to be negotiated are indoors, which is nice again, the pilot house, aft deck, side decks, and bow are all at the same level.  So far so good.

Port side deck looking forward from wing door

Starbord Side deck looking aft from bow seat.

What else sealed the deal for us?  Well to start with, she was in fairly good shape.  Which is nice because although she would still need work, we could live with her as she was so that means we can tackle projects one at a time and keep them manageable.

As we had a look at the pilot house, I felt right at ease.  Yes there is lots to learn but this isn't any different than when I first took the helm of Tropical Horizons.  In many ways this helm was far more friendly, uncluttered with lots of space to open up a chart, set out a coffee, all while providing an unobstructed view to the bow.  What else?  Well she was set up so you stand at the helm, which, believe it or not I prefer.  There is a bench but you won't really steer from there, that is more in place while the autopilot does the work for you.

View forward from the pilothouse.

Helm Seat

As you make your way forward in the pilothouse, you find a companion way that leads you down to the Salon deck.  Now this is where Karen was so happy, "Normal Stairs!" You see the Sea Ray, because of the need to make the most of the space provided tended to have very short and steep steps no matter where you were going.  This was difficult for Karen with her injured knee, so to have reasonable sized steps is a welcome change.

Stairs from pilothouse down into salon.

The salon is quite spacious and there are are few things that will need to be looked after, such as new furniture, relocating the TV, cleaning up wiring, and adding our own personal touches, which may just end up including some painting along the way.  What is nice though is the amount of space that this area provides on a rainy day or night and just a great place to gather with guests.  From the Salon deck, there are stairs leading forward to the galley and crew quarters and on the opposite end, stairs leading aft to the accommodations deck.  This is a nice layout and I'll explain why later.  The galley also hides the access to the engine room and mechanical spaces again this is a good thing.

Salon looking aft.

Salon looking forward.

In the galley there is a nice small dinette that can seat 4 with two 1950's era style stools and a banquette.  The cooker is original and fits the space well.  There is a household refrigerator that I will likely replace sooner than later, and the counter space works.  There is a dishwasher which we both thought might be a waste, but having said that, we will keep it in place for our future plans.  All in  all the galley works, I'll have to see how it really stacks up when I get settled in and start cooking.

Galley looking aft, stairs heading up to salon.

Galley looking forward leading into crew cabin.

Engine room access under galley stairs.

Forward of the galley you will find a full crew quarters, complete with a heads and shower, two bunks, access to the anchor locker, lots of storage and the windlass motor mounted to the deck head along with an escape hatch.  About that windlass motor, having it outside of the anchor locker is great, simply because it is easy to service, and this also cuts down on exposure to moisture thus reducing the risk of corrosion.

Crew Quarters with chain locker access forward

Aft of the Salon deck is the accommodations deck where you will find 2 guest cabins a shared guest/day head and the master cabin with a private head.  Both the master and guest/day head are relatively identical, comprising of a toilet, shower and sink.  Nothing as luxurious as you will find on many mid-sized yachts today, really how much time do you spend in the head???  I would rather spend my time above either on the aft deck or the fore deck or even the sun deck.

Master Heads

Guest Heads

The cabins or "staterooms" as some may call them are functional with a decent amount of storage.  In the guest cabins you will find crisscrossed over-under single berths with a hanging locker to one side and a bank of drawers to the opposite side as well as an under berth drawer under the lower bunk.  Each cabin has it's own air conditioning unit, reading lamps and an opening porthole for light and ventilation.

Guest Cabin Port.

The master cabin is a bit different than most would see today.  Back in the 50's when Tropical Horizons' keel was laid down, it wasn't uncommon for couples to sleep in separate beds and this is no exception.  You enter the cabin amidships and immediately to port is the entrance to the master head.  Aft of the head are two hanging lockers that are quite deep with sliding rods to allow access to your complete wardrobe.  There are two twin berths to each side with drawers under for storage and shelves and storage cutouts outboard.  The berths are separated by a dresser with banks of drawers down each side and an escape hatch cleverly concealed behind a mirror that allows for egress in the event of an emergency.  You will find that most Burgers of this vintage have been modified to have a single king or queen berth along the center line with storage to each side.  I like the separate berths since both Karen and I can have a mattress that meets our own physical needs.

Master cabin looking aft.

Finally there is the engine room.  This is one area where I did have to compromise as I did want a stand up engine room but I am still happy with a crouch down and sit down engine room.  Everything is quite accessible and for the most part it is all well organized.  There will always being something to work on, but at least on this boat, the lighting is good and the there is plenty of space to get on all sides of those big DD6-71Ns.

DD6-71N Engines 

So what other features did "Mandalay" have that tilted the scales in her favor, to start with, thrusters!  Yes she had already been retrofitted with bow and stern thrusters which is a huge bonus when cruising shorthanded as we often do.  She was also stabilized with Naiad Stabilizers which again was something of a bonus especially when heading out into open ocean and the rough waters of the great lakes.  Crew comfort is very important.  She is also equipped with a water maker, which we need to invest in to get working again, but that's fine, all the major bits are in place, we just need to plumb it back in and reconnect the pump.  The autopilot is also another bonus as Tropical Horizons does not have one and hand steering for hours on end can make for some long tiresome days.  The electronics on board were all quite good and the older CRT radar works just fine.  So all in all she is almost in turn key condition.

As we finished our first inspection of "Mandalay" Karen and I felt good about what we saw and were ready to make an offer.  We had a quick conference with Curtis and told him of the number we were thinking of and he put the offer together.  As it turned out, the current owner as a little reluctant to accept the offer, but at the end of the day it was early fall and the winter was on the horizon.  He did have another party interested but they turned away from this Burger in favor of another (in my mind, their loss).  After about a week or two of waiting, I can't recall exactly, our offer was accepted and we were now in phase two of the purchase, planning for the surveys and sea trials.