There is an addition to the Wildwood DeVries family to announce.
We had been waiting to share this until we were certain.
We're excited, but a little nervous too since we haven't really experienced this ever.
The kids were soooo excited when they got the news ...
Announcing a new addition to our family ...
There it is, and it's real this time ... though there's a bit of a story for that, we'll get to it in a bit. For now suffice it to say that we have a new girl in the family, a 22' (24' with the swim deck ... 6' 10" with the afro ... throwing a little Fletch in there for you Chevy Chase fans) Chaparral Sunesta 223.
We're all pretty excited! This is the front of the boat. It has filler cushions so that the whole front turns into a layout/deck. I see Emma and Cyndie spending a lot of time up there (probably Auntie Laura too). There's also what they call a "shower" though it's really a spray thing like most kitchen sinks have. The anchor hatch is there too, and a hidden 3 step ladder. We really wanted the wrap around windshield ... not all deck boats have them, but it can get pretty windy around here, so we thought it would be nice. There's also a little fold away door between the cockpit and the bow that, when you close it, blocks all the wind.
This is the back of the cockpit. There is L shaped seating as you can see. The Bimini top is in really great shape and will provide nice shade to the driver (ME) and his equally temperature sensitive son! There's TONS of storage, which is great. On the right you can see the little sink.
Here's the front of the cockpit. The bulbous looking thing in the middle is the door to the head (or bathroom to you land lubbers).
Here's the back end or transom ... there's a door into the cockpit, control for the trim (lifting the outdrive up and down), stereo controls, a trunk (ha, I think that's a funny thing to have in a boat), and the swim deck. There's also a "shower" here, and a ladder that folds away into the swim deck.
Here's another shot of the cockpit, looking back. You can see the door out. Under the back seat (see the handle) is the large engine compartment.
Here's the helm.
An, of course, the feature that Cyndie almost always mentions first, the head, complete with porta potty.
So there you have it! It's real this time. We found the boat on some random web site that we really hadn't been looking on much. It was a repo'd boat, and the marina was acting as a broker for the bank. We got a GREAT deal. When we told the surveyor what we were going to pay for it, he said he'd buy it if we decided not to. We had been feeling pretty good about it before he said that, and great afterward.
The little back story in dealing with this marina is that it's in kind of a seedy part of town, and, because it was a repo, they'd only take cash (or wired money), and this that and the other thing. That, plus the price we were getting made us a little leary give our experience a week or so ago. I was 98% certain everything was good, but we still hid the cash with the jack in the suburban until we were sure! It turns out that the broker was a really helpful and friendly guy, and the surveyor was too. It was a really good experience in the end (other than me dislocating my ring finger for 30 or 40 seconds ... but that's another story).
So we're hoping to take her out tomorrow for a late morning spin (the weather was beautiful today). Then we'll put her away for the winter. Exciting stuff!
Here's a link to the brochure for the boat from when it was new. Ours is the 223 Sunesta and it has some options on it:
http://forum.chaparralboats.com/publications/brochures/2003/sunesta_deckboats.pdf
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