She's in the water and she's ours. After a seemingly endless spring the weather has broken (kinda) and we got the one we were looking for. Cygnet as she's named was put in the water on the morning of May 15 for the Sea Trial. The old owner was there with a pal of his to get her prepped for us. The Marina got her on the crane and into the water while we checked her over.
The big Crane lifts the Swan
Slowly into the water
The Sea Trial didn't last too long, under two hours. We checked all the systems throughout, including the plumbing and electrical. All seemed to work well. Once in the water the previous owner started the engines and generator, and with just a little hiccup all ran well. We did find a slightly low idle on the Port (left) engine, but nothing to be concerned about. Kevin is very familiar with working on marine engines and should have it in tip-top shape soon! The cold and rainy May day made it impossible to check the function of the air conditioning units. All three ran well with a nice quiet fan and warm heat when in the heater mode, but the temperature was too chilly for the compressors to kick in. We are taking the word of the previous owner that they all work well in A/C mode.
We ran her around the Calumet River with the previous owner at the helm and the surveyor in the engine bay checking the engines. She ran great at cruising speed, about 12 miles per hour, the engines humming happily. Then we cranked her up to full throttle. The tachometers climbed past 4000 RPM as the hum turned to a growl. Twin 454 Big Blocks pushing out all 700 horsepower through some beautifully balanced brass propellers. The tachs topped out about 4200 RPM and we saw 23 miles per hour on the GPS. OK, so she isn't fast, but she ran great and tracked steady. All the gauges sat right where they should. These engines were built to run, and they did their job very well.
We returned to the marina, but went to the slips, not the launch dock as we'd been before. The surveyor gave his report, he was pleasantly surprised at how well she did for a 26 year old boat. She's been well taken care of, and just like a lady, she repays that loyalty. With a handshake we settled the deal, and she became ours. Payment has been made, documents signed, and she will now be our home. We are her third caretakers, the first owner only put 20 hours on her before he was transferred out of the country and had to sell her at less than one year old. We've gotten her from owners that loved and cared for her since then, almost 25 years.
Cygnet is a Swan
You can see she's ready. As she sits next to the much smaller boats in this little harbor she stands proud. She ran majestically and shows that she is up for many more years of love.
As a boater from the Green Bay area, I love what you're doing and love reading the blog! One curious question - did the lower helm factor into your boat selection at all? Seems like that consumes quite a bit of space that could be used for living and/or storage.
ReplyDeleteStarted tracking your blog a couple years back and happening to revisit today after perhaps a full year's absence noted that we ended up purchasing (nearly) the same boat!
ReplyDeleteAfter a period of casual investigation aimed at refining our needs & criteria, we launched into a very deliberate process this past July that resulted in our focusing on the 4207 as the perfect match for our needs. We narrowed to a short list consisting of a pristine '86 (full fwd suite/absent the dinette) that was re-engined with new 8.1 Mercs, trans & running gear in '06, the alternative being an '89 re-engined with Cummins diesels. We were low bid on the latter & aggressively pursued the '86, successfully closing on the sale in early Sept.
The boat was located in Bay City, MI, requiring repositioning to the other coast and our home port of Saugatuck, MI. Although growing up around boats in our younger years, my wife and I were seriously lacking large boat experience and hired a credentialed skipper for the trip, learning a ton over the 5 days that ensued, say nothing of our time aboard thru the end of the season when the boat was hauled in early Nov.
Along the way we bought a dinghy that just happened to be equipped to leverage the Weaver davits we already had installed on the swim platform and enjoyed the flexibility of scooting across the harbor as well as sightseeing up & down the Kalamazoo. We also assessed & equipped the boat to our liking, removing all conventional lighting & replacing with LED (bulbs, tape [all the indirect lighting ... master bed platform, forward suite & salon] and otherwise), flat-panel TV's in the salon & suites, replacing a shower sump, changing the fuel filters, servicing the genset, etc. As it goes with boats, there's never an end to the to-do list OR the wish list of things to replace or upgrade!
Having spent more months living in our motorhome than our conventional house [in the Chicago ‘burbs] over the last 6 years, the 4207 seems cavernous by comparison, especially when standing in the galley and contemplating the ceiling height from that location and we LOVE it!! Also love the design that affords engine room access without taking apart the salon or otherwise.
All this to say that we're chafing at the bit to get the boat back in the water & enjoy a full season in 2018. We may just venture across the lake to visit Chicago & travel up the western shore a bit ... will just have to see ...
Glad to hear you are a new member of the 4207 brigade! It's a great boat and every time we look at something else we think how lucky we are to have Cygnet, it's the most ideal (if not perfect) boat for us. Feel free to drop by sometime if you are in the neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteLikewise, Kevin ...
DeleteIf you ever find yourself over on the other side of the Lake, we're at Tower Marine in Saugatuck (technically, Douglas), MI. The Air & Water Show is way up our list and a friend recommended tying off on a can in Monroe Harbor. It's Aug 18-19 this year & the Lake could well be cooperating on the weather front. We'd likely bring our dinghy along & would more likely venture up the River in that with a requisite stop to the Bridge House along the way ...