Hi ya’ll, welcome aboard. My name is Kim and I am embarking on a new adventure. My boyfriend, Randy, and I have decided to purchase a 40′ trawler and live aboard.

Now, this wasn’t an overnight decision, however, both of us have always loved the water and loved boating. We’ve always wanted a good sized vessel so that we could cruise the Bahamas, the Keys and anywhere else we fancy. Problem was, we decided we wanted to start enjoying this lifestyle now, rather than wait until we were 60 and retired. Once we realized that it was too costly to own both a house and a boat, we decided that we would save our money to buy a trawler that we could both live and work on, as well as relax on during the weekends or 2-4 week trips. Having parents (mine) that also live aboard has certainly made this transition easier.

So, here I am, sitting on our new-to-us 40′ trawler. Out of all the boats we scoured over and looked at, it was this 1974 40′ DeFever that stole our hearts. To be honest, I at first refused to even look at this boat because of it’s age, but after some coaxing from Randy, I decided to have a look. And I was pleasantly surprised by how great the condition of this boat was. It was definitely taken good care of and it was just about everything we were looking for, so we had to have it.

The DeFever has a single Perkins diesel engine and is equipped with bow and stern thrusters. The main cabin is an aft cabin with head and the v-birth sleeps two and also has a head. The main salon and galley area is large, thanks to the 14′ beam of this boat. She definitely needs some TLC and cosmetic work, but the boat is solid. In a year or two, she’ll really shine.

So, stick around a while and follow along on this new adventure and see what it’s like to move aboard…I’ll be covering everything from the survey and sea trial to bringing her home, to naming her and moving aboard. I’ve got lots to learn about cruising and living aboard and I intend to post everything here. Hope you enjoy!