First of all, I'd like to say thanks to all those who have written posts in the past. I have been reading the PUP for quite a while now and love it! My wife and I have an older 50' Hatteras Yacht Fisherman (just has a small cockpit) and are leaving for the Pacific Northwest in a couple of days from San Francisco. Our piggy bank could not afford a long distance trawler (Norhaven, etc.) and we settled for a solidly built boat with twin V871 Detroits. I figured for the $400K - $500K savings, we could buy a lot of diesel... Since we don't have the capability to go off shore for long periods of time, we plan on harbor hoping up the coast and ultimately get up to at least Juneau. I have SAILED to Hawaii and back three times and probably accumulated over 30K miles total under sail over the past thirty years. Power boating is new to me, only five years now but, its all the same being out on the water, enjoying what you love. As several have already said, you only go around once in this life-time and if you wait for everything to be perfect, you'll never cut the dock lines. Keith Lady J