A quick need/want refresher...

Having a couple of boat related blogs that tend to fixate on the less expensive side of things, I get quite a lot of mail of the "how-can-I-have-the-stuff-I-want-for-not-a-lot-of-money" sort.

I'm pretty sure my answers to those folks are almost always disappointing because the words 'want' and the phrase 'not a lot of money' seldom, if ever, play well together.

For instance, a bunch of years ago I really, really wanted a Krogen 38 because it had just about everything I wanted in a cruising boat... Shoal draft, good performance, flush deck, good headroom, and a civilized interior suitable for long term living aboard. In other words, the perfect boat for me!

Well, except for the little fact that back then a new Krogen 38 was completely out of my price range (unless I took up a life of crime and went into politics or won the lottery).

Not having a talent for crime and since my luck is the kind that is sort of reverse to what one wants (the only lottery I ever won was the one for my draft number which I most certainly did not want to win!) the Krogen, as a new boat, was simply unattainable...

Sadly, today a used Krogen 38 is still far more than I can afford or what I care to spend on a boat.

So how to get what I felt I needed (Shoal draft, good performance, flush deck, good headroom, and a civilized interior suitable for long term living aboard) for what I could afford?

An older boat to rehab was my first choice but the search for a possible boat was unsuccessful as there are just not a lot of real shoal draft boats in the used market that actually sail well.

So instead, I built a Bolger sharpie as something of a stopgap because living in Paris was expensive and being able to move on to a boat would allow me to save money towards the sort of boat I wanted (I still dreamed of the Krogen) and we could sail to our hearts content when we wanted to in the meantime...

Loose Moose nestled in its Paris (Joinville le Pont) suburb berth which we paid $66 a month for including water/electric/showers.

We only planned to have Loose Moose for a couple of years but it was so comfortable and sailed so well that we wound up living on it for nearly five years... It may not have been the boat we wanted but it did fulfill our needs.

Loose Moose saved us so much money on Paris rents alone that we were able to amass enough cash to pay Phil Bolger to design Loose Moose 2 to better fill our needs  and build it.

The build and outfitting of Loose Moose 2 came to a fraction of what a Krogen 38 would have cost us and was entirely paid for by our savings from living on Loose Moose. Most folks get and understand the cheap and affordable boat thing but, what most folks don't understand is Loose Moose 2 (and Loose Moose before it) were both awesome boats...

Fact is, in my wants department Loose Moose 2 beat the Krogen on every point except a flush deck. It had a better more livable interior, more easily accessible storage space, good headroom anywhere you actually needed it, and would out sail and show its transom to a Krogen without even raising a sweat. Oh yeah, it could also SAIL in two feet of water!

What Wooden Boat Magazine had to say about Loose Moose 2

Which is a long and roundabout way of saying if you address your needs you just might find you get what you want.