By Capt. Arnie Hammerman
Last year was challenging for most of us. Covid made it difficult to get out of the house, let alone to have some fun. As a boater I have been trying to make the best of it while maintaining social distancing and keeping my family safe. Our boat, a Cutwater 26, has proven to be a refuge as well as a much-needed source of entertainment.
We live outside of Seattle and are able keep the boat in a slip all year round. We fish, crab and cruise out on Puget Sound and in the nearby San Juan Islands. Normally during the summer, we also cruise up into the Canadian Gulf Islands, but this year border restrictions kept us in U.S. waters.
Following social distancing protocols is easy on a boat for us since we are traveling with our family, so everyone on board is part of our bubble. Marinas and fuel docks remain open and there are plenty of restaurants with outdoor seating and/or take-out food available.
Our Cutwater has a comfortable cabin with heat and air conditioning and the salon has a dining table. My wife Janet and I can cook meals on board as the galley has a deep stainless sink, a fridge, two burner propane stove, and a microwave with a convection oven. The cockpit has room to fish or crab and built-in seating and there is a swim platform with rails and a fold out stainless swim ladder. Recently we added a Magma propane barbecue that conveniently mounts on the rail.
We have a 260/8’6” CSM RIB along with a small outboard engine that we carry using Weaver Snap Davits on the transom. The dinghy allows us to anchor out or to pick up a mooring buoy and still get to shore in remote locations to explore or simply to walk our dog, Callie, a Shepherd-Chow Chow mix. She’s now four, but she’s been going to the boat since she was a puppy; she loves it. The Snap Davits make it easy to launch and retrieve the dinghy as well as to load it when we are going to shore because the stainless-steel clips hold us in place.
Our Cutwater has two cabins, including a comfortable double bed forward for my wife and me, and a midship cabin under the salon that my sons like. The salon table also lowers to make another bed, so the boys can sleep separately. The head has an electric macerating marine toilet along with a sink and shower, an opening porthole, lights, mirrors, and storage along with standing headroom and a locking door. Our cabin has reading lights and a DC powered flatscreen TV with a built in DVD player. We can watch in our cabin or the TV folds out so that it can be viewed from the main salon for movie night. A fusion stereo system with multiple selectable zones rounds out the entertainment system.
Cutwater packs a lot of accommodations in a 28’ boat, which allows us to spend weeks on the boat cruising if we want to. Usually our boat adventures are limited by work schedules, but this year both my wife and I can work remotely so we were able to spend more time on the boat.
Puget Sound has reasonable cellular service and most marinas have WiFi but there are areas with limited coverage. Since we knew we would be working aboard and Zoom and other video conferencing systems need good internet coverage, we put a Wave WiFi system on board. Wave WiFi hardware allows us to reach shore-based WiFi hot spots in marinas from farther away and we also have a dedicated SIM slot on our router so we can connect to cellular when no WiFi is available.
I use a Google Fi card that mostly connects to T-mobile around here but you can use any SIM you want and even buy prepaid cards for different locations and countries. Having reliable internet on board means we can work wherever or whenever we need to and then have some fun on the weekends and off hours. Plus, just being on the boat is nice even if you have to work. The kids also can get their homework done, stream movies and correspond with their friends on social media, which keeps everyone happy.
When we are not off cruising or fishing, we still use the boat. I find getting away from the house is nice and I can get some needed quiet working on board even just sitting at the dock. We also come down to the boat for happy hour and to watch the sunset or just to get a break from being in the house.
There are so many reasons that boats are a great way to spend your time and money. I have been a boater for years, so I am hooked, but many people that have never experienced boat ownership before are finding that boats are a great way to recreate.
Our Cutwater is very easy to drive and dock even for beginners, and is very fuel efficient for a mid-size powerboat. With all the accommodations we carry we also can stay on board, which saves money on hotels and is safer too. If you are itching to get out of the house and looking for a way to safely have fun, I urge you to look into buying a boat. Once you do make sure you check out Cutwater Boats. There are many reasons I own one and I strongly recommend them. Read more:
