Posted: July 14 2006 at 15:47 | IP Logged

OK, I'll be the first Bluewater owner to post here. My wife and I are the proud owners of a 1979 - 40' Sport Sedan named Hunky-Dory. We purchased her in Oct. 2004 and our first cruise was to bring her home from Norfolk, VA to our home port at Three Seasons Marina on Neshaminy Creek, at the Delaware river. She performed flawlessly, even though she had been neglected for the last few years.

Upon our arrival at Three Seasons, we immediately had her hauled out and blocked. We then proceded to give her the TLC she so badly needed. She spent the next year on blocks, but not neglected. We have totaly upgraded all of the electrical system, most of the plumbing and a great deal of the electronics, so I now know her pretty well, inside and out. We are now giving her a facelift so she can return to her former beauty.

Right before (we saw the handwriting on the wall) Three Seasons suddenly closed up in Nov. 2005, we put her in the water and moved her to Neshaminy State Marina, where she stayed in the water for a month. We took her out several times before old man winter arrived and are very pleased with our decision to buy a Bluewater Yacht.

Her  home is now at Neshaminy State Marina, Pier 8, Slip 2. If you are in the area, stop by and chat. Or better yet, post something here so Terri dosen't have to remove us from the site.

Any other classic Bluewater Owners out there? 

Posted: August 19 2006 at 00:08 | IP Logged

Bill,

Welcome to the BoatUS/Boat Groups/Bluewater Yachts forum. 

Sorry it took me so long to reply but we just got back from a trip to the Chesapeake and I haven't had a chance to log on. Then, when I did, it logged me on as a guest and wouldn't let me post a reply. (My fault, I did some housekeeping on the computer and I deleted the cookies for this site.)

About the time you were purchasing your Bluewater, my wife and I were falling in love with them. We were crossing the Erie canal in our previous boat and came to the aid of a Bluewater with a dead engine. (just quit as he entered the first lock at the "flight of five" in Waterford, NY) After getting them safely out of the lock and tied up at the town dock, the Captain found and repaired the problem but it was late in the day so we decided to spend the night. 

We decided to travel together for a few days just in case they had more trouble and, because we were in a 24' Monterey, we spent the evenings aboard the "Dancing Baehr", a 40' Bluewater Yacht. After we parted ways, my wife couldn't stop talking about the Bluewater. We started our search five weeks later when we arrived back home. It took us a little over a year to find the right one.

The picture below is my wife and I as we left Norfolk to bring her home. If you look close, you can see the big smiles on our faces.

Posted: August 19 2006 at 21:05 | IP Logged

First you need a place to post a picture on the internet for use in your signature. If you are a BoatUS member you can use http://my.boatus.com . After you register you can upload as many as five pictures to their server for free and then use one of them in your signature. 

You will need to resize the picture that you want to use in your signature to 320 X 240 or less. I use Irfanview, which you can get for free at www.irfanview.com , to reduce the size

If you are a BoatUS member and you choose to use My.BoatUS, you click on "Choose Content" under Manage Your Content in the left hand column, place a check mark on "My Photo Album" under My Personal Content, and then click "save" at the bottom of the page.

When your page reloads, click on Add/Remove Photos and upload your picture.

 After you have uploaded the picture, click on the picture that you want to use and it will open in a new page. Copy the URL, preceded by [img*] and followed by [/img*]. No spaces and include the brackets, and paste it in your signature in the text box right above the text that you already have there,  leaving out the two *. 

It will look like this: [IMG*]http://my.boatus.com/memberPhotos/4839389_3_85872.jpg[/IMG*] (this is the actual code from my signature with the two asterisk's added to keep the code visable. without the two *, the picture would post instead)

If you have trouble, send me an e-mail. My address is in my profile.

    Jerry

PS you will notice I usually (but not always) choose not to put the picture in reply's to a topic that already has my picture somwhere else to save space and download time for those who do not have broadband connections. 

Posted: August 21 2006 at 22:15 | IP Logged

Bill,

Glad I could help, I was actually going to ask you to post a pic of Snowbird when you asked how to do it. She is gorgeous! They sure have changed from 1979 to 1992.

Yeah, that is one of the features about Bluewater Yachts that not many boats can duplicate, especially boats in that size range. We often anchor in a favorite cove on the Delaware River at Newbold Island. As we enter the cove we have to slowly maneuver around all of the boats clusterd in the mouth of the cove to about 1/3 of the way in where the water depth is about 9' at low tide. As everyone hails us and tries to wave us off, we continue on into the cove where the depth is about 4' and drop our hook. Usually the nearest boat to us is 300-400' away.

I don't beach her there because the tides in this area run about 8 feet and unless I want to keep moving her, I would end up really beached or floating away. Sometimes I feel bad because we lure other boats in and they end up aground. They think because we are there, there must be plenty of water. Oh well, that is what charts are for.

Actually, other than the channel, the Chesapeake is a shallow bay for the most part. Even down near the mouth the depths are only around 30'. The rest of the bay is an average of maybe 20' or less, with lots of places much less than that. Without local knowlege and good charts, it is a good bet to stay in the channel.

Posted: August 31 2006 at 10:46 | IP Logged

Hi Ken & Judy, welcome aboard.

We also chose Bluewater as our retirement boat. We have owned several boats over the years, starting with a 16' Thunderbird in 1968, and progressing upwards from there. (actully, my first boat was a 12' canvas canoe that I built in my parents basement in 1960)

Isn't it funny how your needs change as you get older? In the 60's and early 70's, my idea of a boat was something that went fast and could pull several skiers. In the late 70's thru the 80's, it still had to be fast and pull skiers, but it had to have room for the kids. In the 90's, it didn't have to be so fast, but it still had to pull the skiers and it had to have some comfort built in. Now, comfort is everything and there has to be room for the kids and the grandkids, although my goal is to ski (behind a friends boat, not Hunky-Dory) from Burlington Island to Trenton on my 60th birthday, which is only four weeks from now.

Bluewaters are ideally suited as liveaboards and/or for cruising, especially if you like to stop and smell the roses along the way. Because of their shallow draft, they can go places that most boats in their size range can't.  As Bill says above, one of their best tricks is the built in design that allows them to be beached when you see that sandy beach along the way that just begs to be explored.

I have spent the last two years working on a total refit/upgrade on Hunky-Dory so I am very familiar with her systems. My goal is for her to be in Bristol condition when my wife retires, but I have several years before she does. If I can answer any questions you have, I will be glad to help.

Jerry

Posted: September 23 2006 at 23:06 | IP Logged

Hello All,

Just returned from looking at a couple of Bluewaters and thought we would see what forums might be out here for the "fans".  We have narrowed our choice down to a boat like Jerry's and hope to see some good examples when we venture north to St. Paul next weekend.

Should anyone like to offer input on particulars of the late 70's early 80's boats please fire away!

Jon and Tamm

Posted: September 26 2006 at 21:52 | IP Logged

Hi Jon and Tamm,

I also wish you the best in your search for a Bluewater, they are not as plentiful as some brands but they are definitely worth the extra effort to find one. My wife and I love ours.

The biggest issue I had with the Bluewaters' we looked at before we bought HUNKY-DORY had nothing to do with the boat in general, the design, or construction. It was the lack of proper maintenance and poor repair techniques used by previous owners. 

The most prevalent thing we found was the addition and/or removal of extra equipment without properly sealing screws and bolts and drilling holes in the water tight bulkheads to run wires and or plumbing without sealing them.

Another thing we found on two of the boats we looked at was a water soaked keel caused by cracks in the very front from beaching. (a very nice feature of the Bluewater is it's ability to run right up to the beach but this also invites damage to the keel if you do not use common sense when doing it) 

I have to disagree with what Snowbird Bill said above concerning their sea keeping abilities, unless he is referring to the newer models. I am not familiar with the newer models like his but, the 70's - early 80's models like mine have a very low center of gravity. The engines, the gen-set, and all three fuel tanks are below the waterline. I have been in some pretty rough water and she handled it well.

Jerry

Posted: September 27 2006 at 20:50 | IP Logged

Hello Snowbird Bill and Jerry!

Thanks for the replies.  I travel almost weekly and consequently don't respond as quickly as I'd like.  Your input is and will be very helpful.

It seems there are still some nice Boatels out there as well.  The 47 Islander is particularly appealing to us.  Should we shy away from these and stick to the Bluewater designation? 

We are meeting some great people whilst we look and enjoying our time on the river.  As a former pilot and owner of many aircraft over the years I see of course many parallels in the "hunt". 

The seaworthiness it seems come down to use and perhaps resale.  Surely these boats are better tackling the waves than say a Gibson or maybe even a Harbor Master which seem to be decently made craft in there own right.

Looking at a Ford powered tricabin this weekend.  Not too many of those around it seems.

Catch up with you later.

Jontam

Looking at a 351 Ford powered tricabin this weekend.  Not too many of those it seems. 

Posted: September 27 2006 at 23:56 | IP Logged

Jontam

No, you don't need to shy away from the Boatel name. Originally Bluewater was a model designation for the yacht division of Boatel.

I have a friend who has a Boatel Bluewater 40. Boatel being the make, Bluewater 40 being the model. He has done the great loop in her and cruises the Ohio and Mississippi rivers freguently.

In 1979, the yacht division was doing so well, it was given it's own identity and became kown as Bluewater Yachts.

Here is a link to Bluewaters web site: http://www.bluewateryacht.com/index.htm 

Here is a link to their history page: http://www.bluewateryacht.com/about.htm#a4

Posted: September 28 2006 at 09:38 | IP Logged

Interesting for sure.  Also the early 70's Whitcraft seems to have some similarities to the newer Bluewaters.

Jontam

Posted: October 05 2006 at 20:48 | IP Logged

Bill,

Good advice, thanks.  I've been traveling for work so out of touch for last few days.  I looked at a 40 tri-cabin in need of bottom paint.  Marina recommends 7 coats of something or other to "strengthen the fiberglass"?  Total would be about 10k for bottom blast and paint.  Is this a snake oil deal or?  Another one I looked at just had been entirely repainted a year ago (16k) with some kind of newer paint.  Seems everyone says the bluewaters are tough, lots of fiberglass thickness and very heavy.  Are they that much heavier than same loa harbor master or holiday mansions?  I intend to eventually have the boat on lake michigan so the two latter brands seem slightly less desirable for the seas up there.  Am I being overly cautious?

Jon

Posted: August 08 2007 at 14:42 | IP Logged

Hello,

Is this the Bluewater Owners forum?

Dave

Posted: August 08 2007 at 14:57 | IP Logged

I am a very hopeful Bluewater Owner wanna-be.

We are going to look at a 42' later this month but I'd really like to find a 45-47 double stateroom. The truth is we probably can't afford it but the Bluewaters look ideal as a liveaboard - cruising that I believe there will be on in our future.

We're located in NY close to the Hudson so if you know of any within 250 mils I'll get in the car.

Thanks.

Dave

Posted: August 08 2007 at 17:29 | IP Logged

Simply Stunning!

Do you have exterior shots?

Dave

Posted: August 08 2007 at 17:40 | IP Logged

looks like a real labor of love

Dave

Posted: August 20 2007 at 20:13 | IP Logged

Pat,

Congrats.  Looks great. We finalized our Bluewater purchase last June, and have been putting in some work on her, but still needs to be done.  We will be full time live aboards starting in '09, and starting the Loop later that summer.  Hope all goes well for the departure.

Ken & Judy Tucknott

Posted: August 22 2007 at 17:28 | IP Logged

She's a beauty!

We checked out the 42' but needs quite a bit of work. More work than I'm prepared for at this time.

1986, 800 hours, $75,000 Does anyone know if this is the going market?