I’m Buying a New Boston Whaler!

These last five years have been the most domestic and sedate in an otherwise adventurous life. When I was married, my ex and I were hardcore canoeists. We paddled everywhere, and often. Although I wound up with the boat, it’s way too big to paddle or even get onto the car by myself. I have few opportunities to be on the water, and I miss it. Also, as I get older I feel increasingly motivated to live my life while I still have my health. So last February I ordered a small powerboat.

Unfortunately, everyone else has decided to buy one too. Trying to buy a boat nowadays is like trying to buy a house. Not finding what I wanted on the used market, I decided to buy new. Although I was disappointed to learn that I had to wait six months to get it, the waitlist has only grown longer since then. I was originally scheduled for a build date of July 19th, but it got pushed out to August 9th. It will then take a week to build, then another week to ship it from Florida. Then, the dealer has to work on it for another week. So, around the first of September the new flagship of my garage navy will finally arrive. I’m hoping to get at least a month of solid boating in this year, if the air isn’t too smoky to breath. At least I got to choose the color and options exactly as I want.

I chose the Boston Whaler 150 Montauk with a 60 HP engine. Mine will be a 2022 model, hull number 141. With a length of 15 feet, it’s one of the smallest “real” boats out there, one step above a dinghy. It’s for lakes, rivers, near shore, and maybe out to Whidbey on a calm day. I will be able to tow it with the car I already have, and hopefully keep it in my garage. I won’t go into my travails of trying to legally get my garage door opening raised by a few inches to accommodate it. I’ll be able to trailer, launch, and drive it all by myself if need be. Whalers are legendary; the company has been making this model since 1958. However, it will have modern amenities such as a GPS chartplotter/ fishfinder, USB phone charger, and wireless engine monitoring through an app on your phone. It gets about 8 mpg in cruise (pretty good for a boat), and tops out around 33 mph. They are truly unsinkable – you can cut one in pieces and all the pieces will float. They have an excellent resale value, and are designed to be exceptionally easy to maintain. I plan to share my adventures using my new GoPro camera.

I had originally ordered a 130 Super Sport, which is Boston Whaler’s smallest boat. When I did more research, though, I realized that the 130 SS is just a runabout with limited utility. The 150 Montauk should be a much more versatile boat, which will give me many more options for how I could use it. I feel good about the decision to upgrade.