I REALLY LOVE My Boat!-gctid824796

[Cool_Beans]

Just saying...of all the boats I've been on or have owned, this one is the coolest!

The biggest boat I owned before this was a 1975 Ranger 33 with zero systems installed. I lived on that boat for nearly 4 years and had many many many projects to do to get it up to snuff and eventually sold it because it wasn't working out and the projects were sucking the joy out of the experience.

This boat though, 1987 3870, everything at the time of purchase worked! It has every system I wanted plus some! It has a wet bar with ice maker and blender! Which you might have guessed I've been using while posting this :P

Aft cockpit, twin diesels that apparently can take some neglect, 2 heat pumps, shower, 2 staterooms, nice salon, nice galley...every system I can think of so I have nothing to really add...it was ready to move in and start living on. Only things I've done so far is true upgrades to make the boat better. There's nothing serious to fix, even being neglected by the previous owner for so long...its mostly cosmetic (Ha! I might have just jinx'd myself, lol) . It's kind of boring with nothing requiring me to tear something apart :whistle: It's strange, I used to balk at any money spent on the old sailboat after a certain point, but so far I have yet to bat an eye at the boat bucks Ive spent as it is only making my home and boat that much better. I have yet to write a HUGE check, but I don't think it would bother me if I had to.

I mean, I've taken the boat out and used it more in the last couple months then I did my sailboat all of last year...2 cook outs, a family trip, several fishing trips, several "just cruise around" trips...untold amounts of just hanging out on the dock and fishing off the stern. it was amazing that everyone had room to chill and a fridge full of drinks and snax I just dove on the boat and cleaned all the running gear and intakes in preparation for going out tomorrow. If my little brother doesn't want to go out and hunt schools of Spot, I'll see if some family or friends want to out for a couple hours, or I might just run by myself somewhere and make a sandwich.

And what blows my mind even more, is that I payed cash for this boat with the DOWN PAYMENT I had saved up for "my next boat". How is that possible? Some of the boats I looked at, for what I would have payed...I could have bought 2-3 of my current boat.

For all those people who hem and haw and drag there feet about buying an older Bayliner, what's stopping you? You could do soooooo much worse :side:

Buzz is wearing off, going to hit "submit" before I decide to delete this, lol...

[Timcup]

You know it!

[jongleur]

I'm right there with you. Glad you posted it and didn't hit delete.

[RGrew176]

You are finding out what thousands of Bayliner owners already know.

[Jeffw]

Cool beans, Cool Beans!B)

[dmcb]

We have owned a lot of boats in our 60 years of boating. Our 38xx is the best one. A perfect boat for us. Just finished our 12th season on ours. The entire season at anchor. Haven't spent a night at a dock in the 12 years we have owned her and we spend the entire season aboard. We don't rent a dock. We launch, we are gone.

Exception a couple of night when we brought the boat up from Ohio 12 years ago.

That is between 1000 and 1200 straight nights.

Doug

[Pcpete]

You know it brudda! The Admiral has requested it in writing that I don't want a different boat, and I'm considering it!

[drewhaas]

I just couldn't agree more. My wife and I bought our '88 3818 one year ago after the last kid left for college. This was gonna be a two year experiment to see if she could tolerate living aboard; during which time we would pay off all our debt and put some money in the bank. If we decided to move back into a land-based residence we could keep this as the perfect second home and cruising boat. If she loved living aboard we would move up to a 45-50 foot and make it permanent. Meanwhile we're paying almost $300 a month to store our worldly goods...

We're halfway thru the two years and neither one of us can imagine moving back onto land. We had the kids and grandkids aboard for almost 4 weeks this summer and it got us to thinking about something with 3 staterooms. After visiting the boat show this week and seeing what's out there I think we're gonna hang on to this amazing boat and make her even more perfect than she already is. She was immaculate when we bought her (thanks, Gordon), and with a few additions (flybridge enclosure, galley remodel, and updated electronics), she'll be as perfect- or more so- than boats costing 4-5 times more.

Now if we can just let go of that "stuff" we're paying to store...

[ctbarbarian]

I bought the 3818 last year and am more than ready to get the electronics updated if the yard would ever get off their ass.

Any suggestions for a GPS, chart, AIS on the flybridge?

davits for a 10 ft caribe dinghy ?

VHS radio on the flybridge ?

I really want to update stuff before spring 2018 to start my trip down the ole Miss and heading for FL.

Oh yea, the big thing is too replace the old leaky water tank with a new poly tank.

[floatyerboat]

And we are all F*****G happy for you.

[iceclimber]

I was thinking the same thing yesterday.

[Cool_Beans]

Hahahahaha, one of my better receipted drunk posts

You guys are the best! And these are some awesome boats I've been messing with some LED fixture upgrades in the forward stateroom. Of all things I've found some 300+ lumen lights from Northern Tools and they are hella bright!!! And Westmarine has a sale on store brand flush mounts lights I've installed...probably make a post on it in the future.

Took the boat out this past Saturday for a 2 hour run and had dolphins playing across the bow which was awesome! Only other boats I've considered at this point is one of the larger Bayliner Pilot Houses. Maybe once I get my engineering degree...

Yall are awesome!

[Guest]

There is indeed a lot to love about these boats...and the fact that one can be had in decent condition at a price that a mere mortal can buy it with cash makes it all that much better. I find myself *wanting* something a little bigger and a little faster and a little more luxurious...but then, I really don't *need* that, it's just a *want*. I like the 3988's and the 45xx pilothouse boats (and there's a Meridian 441 on our dock too...what the Bayliner motoryachts became is also very nice)...but I always come back to "do I really need anything bigger or faster/more thirsty?" I really like these 38xx's...it's got everything we need, and nothing we don't. There's something to be said for NOT buying something larger or faster/thirstier than you actually need, especially since everything boat is always by the foot!

My significant other and I both work during the week, but we spend pretty much every weekend in Carolina Beach, NC, on the boat. We usually go somewhere within a few hours about once per month for a night. And we are planning to continue taking at least one week off each July 4th and cruising the boat somewhere we like (last year, we were bringing this boat up from Hilton Head, SC...this year we took the boat to Beaufort, NC for a week...both of these trips were fabulous.) Some of the stuff near us that we can visit for a Sat night includes downtown Wilmington, NC (awesome waterfront city!), Wrightsville Beach, Topsail Island (which an acquaintance affectionately describes as "a drinkin' village with a fishin' problem"...LOL), Southport NC (sleepy little town), Bald Head Island (NC resort island accessible only by water), and Masonboro Island (nature reserve, 7 miles of deserted beach accessible only by water also). And when we are simply at dock, our marina is a short walk to downtown Carolina Beach, which has a plethora of restaurants and bars, lots of live music, karaoke, ice cream, coffee, shops, etc. Even the ABC store is walking distance...about the only thing we drive to is the grocery store. We prefer to just walk. (I sit at a computer all day, I want and need to walk!) We usually park the vehicle on Friday night, and don't move it again until we have to leave on Sunday late afternoon. :P

A little over half the time, we invite guests down with us. We've had some fantastic times. Back in the spring of this year, we had one of my musician buddies down...he and I sat on the aft cockpit playing acoustic guitars and singing for a couple hours while my SO gleefully listened and brought us drinks. Pretty soon we had a bunch of dock neighbors gathered around listening too, including the dockmasters. The next day the dockmasters asked us "can you guys play (for pay) at one of our events?" We said "Sure". This weekend, we played at the clubhouse for a group of yacht club folks who were there to watch some dragon boat races that ran right off our docks. It was a great time.

So, not only do I love the boat...I love how we use the boat even more. I had thought about buying a beach condo for a long time...until I got the idea of getting a boat with living quarters. I'm quite glad I made that decision. Yeah, a boat will depreciate whereas a condo or beach cottage would appreciate...but one of these 38xx's is also a fraction of the price of a beach condo or cottage (purchase price was less than the interest I would pay on a mortgage for a beach condo)...and you just can't get any more water-front than on a boat, and I can take this "floating condo" just about anywhere I would want to go. I've often said that it doesn't matter if it's a $5000 boat, $50,000 boat, or $500,000 boat, the view on the water is the same. In my opinion, any boat that gets you on the water safely and reliably is a "good boat"...and any boat that also gives you quite comfortable living accommodations (functions as a "floating condo" rather than just a "floating camper") is a "great boat". These Bayliners 38's are definitely "great boats". None of the many guests we've had down with us have left unhappy. In fact, most of them leave saying either "When can I come back?" or "I want a boat like that!".

The prior owners had this boat for 20 years...they had it at Catawba Island in Ohio, they retired, sold their home in Ohio, cruised the boat to South Carolina, lived on it while they provisioned a house in SC (for about 6 months, IIRC), and moved into their new land-home there. The PO's were done with cruising a few years after that, and listed it for sale...and I bought it (and score for me that it had spent the first 20-some years of it's life in freshwater). If I simply maintain this boat and continue to do small improvements, I will very likely get what I have in it back out of it if/when I decide to sell it. The prior owners took care of her, and I intend to continue that trend. And so far, I've only had a few minor problems, so the boat is also taking care of us.

Life is really good, and my significant other thinks so too. :P

Cheers!

Dave

[Jim_Gandee]

We love our 3888! The 45's and 47' also have a terrific layout and enough room for a "den"!

[Pcpete]

When the Admiral gave me the go ahead for a larger boat last year, the first boat I put her on was a 45xx. A primary concern was and is access to the flying bridge. We are in our late 60's and plan to keep boating for another ten years. So, she looks around and finally says "too big" and too much. Crap, now what? After 29 years with a sunbridge, wanted a boat where we could see out of the salon that was easy to get aboard. That eliminated the traditional trawler types, she looks at flush decks with a cockpit as everything being upstairs and the other brands similar to the 38xx just don't work. Also there had to be a walk around master berth.

It took me about two weeks to figure out how to reconfigure the ladder without taking up half of the cockpit and a day or so later our boat popped up on Craigslist. It wasn't perfect, but on balance was in better shape than others on the market. So far the "surprises" have been minor and few. We put over 125 hours on the engines in the last year plus all of that "just being on the boat time". We flat out love out 38 and should have bought one years ago.