[we bought a boat]

As I’m sure you all know, we bought a boat while we were camping in June, and I realized I never shared that story!

We woke up one morning to find a grey, rainy day. I asked Greg what he wanted to do, to which he replied “Go buy a boat!” Now mind you, we were not in the market to purchase a boat. We had talked about how we would like to have one, but definitely never dreamed we would actually end up taking one home that trip!

We drove all over, stopping and looking at boats everywhere we went, just having fun. Where we camp, there are a lot of lakes and rivers, and therefore a lot of boats. So there were boats for sale all over the place. We would joke about buying the $10,000 ones, laugh, and drive on.

Then we stopped at a marine shop and saw a boat we liked. It was $5000 – a bit out of our price range, but we chatted with the old man who ran the place. He was talking about it, and then pointed out a couple others. Greg spotted a brown and tan boat and started asking him about it. This boat was $2300 – affordable enough that we could pay cash. We talked to the gentleman for a bit longer, then thanked him for his time and left. Greg wanted that boat, so we literally spent 24 hours talking about it! While it was an impulsive purchase, it did not come without a lot of thought and discussion.

So, we decided that we wanted it, and headed back. It was an ordeal to get the money transferred from our bank at home up to where we were, three hours away. But we managed, and drove off with our new (OLD) boat.

And old it is, lol. It’s a 1979 MFG Caprice, with an inboard/outboard (inboard motor, outboard stern-drive). It’s powered by a Chevrolet engine, 140 horsepower, with a top speed of approximately 40mph (yes, we’ve had it at that speed). It is 17 feet long, with seats in the bow (bow rider). It’s very 70’s, with brown vinyl seating and a bit of wood grain. At first I hated the colors, but they are starting to grow on me now. It would cost another $2000 to have it re-upholstered (we quoted it out). It’s quite nice! It runs well and rides smoothly. There are seats for 6, plus the bow seating (seats two comfortably while driving). It’s not meant to hold that many people though – Greg took six out in it once, and it handled but definitely sat low in the water and had a harder time getting going.

Beached at our campsite

On the trailer behind my Trailblazer (it’s bigger than my truck)!

On the water (Greg’s driving)

So that’s our new toy 🙂 We enjoy it quite a bit. We took it out a few times up north, and a few times here by home. It’s old, but in amazing shape. We get compliments on it all the time from complete strangers! It only had one owner before us. He asked the marine shop to sell it for him. When we got the title, it was the original. It was manufactured in late 1979, and he bought it in early 1980. Apparently he took it out a few times, then mostly kept it stored.

We’re still working on a name… we keep circling back around to “Impulsive” because that describes us, as well as how we bought it! We’ll see what we end up with, though. She needs a name before the next boating season starts!