January 30, 2020 - We bought a boat in Florida ....

January 30, 2020 - We bought a boat in Florida

On November 25, 2019 we accepted an offer on our Selene 47 Moonstruck after owning her for 3 years.  We had decided it was now or never that we would step up into a slightly bigger boat with a master stateroom in the center of the boat versus the bow.

We were really happy with Moonstruck's upper level - the galley was perfect - and the overall size would allow us into some tight anchorages.  But the lower level was getting to be a challenge, particularly with guest aboard.  The guest bunks just were not working out the way we wanted - so off we went looking for a larger boat - in the 53' to 55' range.

We did a bit of shopping looking at:

• Blue Moon 53' in October
• Akela 54' we had seen the prior summer
• Moondance 55' (listing only)
• Paige Marie 58'
• Theodore 53' in Virginia in January
• Three Belles 57' in Virginia in January
• Spyhop 56' in Florida in January
• Josephine 59' in Florida in January

We had not seriously considered a boat as large as a 59' boat until January 11 when a fellow Selene Owner said he thought this was one of the best configured boats and it might be worth considering.  He sent us a several page write-up about the Selene 59/60 and his summary goes like this:

I will freely admit to being a biased source, but I would suggest you at least consider looking at a 59/60. There aren't that many available, and that is a challenge, but I think it's by far Howard's best design. There are a lot of things I could say about it, but I think the biggest ones are:

(a) The easy access stand-up commissary/utility room between the master stateroom and the engine room. This is what sold Roseanne on the boat. It's the best feature of the boat and it's unique to the 59/60 design.

(b) The full standing headroom engine room is awesome (at least for everybody under 6 feet.....which includes me!)

(c) The stern door into the lazarette, and through to the engine room, which makes maintenance on the mechanical systems so much easier. Not having to lug 5 gallon jugs of dirty motor oil out of a low-ceiling engine room through the master stateroom and up teak stairs into the saloon or pilothouse is wonderful. I always had nightmares of the handle breaking on the oil jug and spilling dirty motor oil all over the stairs and teak floors!

(d) The wonderful huge flybridge, which easily seats 8 for dinner.

 

I know that 60's are a bit more expensive, but they're in the same range that Akela was.....most are selling around $1.2M. Maybe that's too much, and I totally understand. Don't be dissuaded by concerns over handling the boat....properly setup, they're pretty easy to maneuver. I am confident in single-handing Koinonia in most all conditions. Obviously, it's easier/better with another person, but it's really not that hard to single hand them.

So on January 24, 2020 we took a look at Josephine and had to agree that we liked the layout the best.  Plenty of room to move about, standing head room in the engine room and lazarette with spacious accommodations below.  She appeared to be a well maintained boat both mechanically and aesthetically with many recent upgrades.  And of course the price was higher than our starting range - but this is our final, no kidding, final boat.

January 30 - Our offer is accepted and we are now owners of a Selene 59 that we need to get to Seattle!