My my my,

What have we started?

First I feel compelled to say:  EMAIL as a way to do this SUCKS.  When I
first posed the question of designing the PPM I shared the notion that we
would put a great deal of effort into defining who was buying or building
this, what it was going to do, what it was going to cost and what features
were going to be necessary to make it meet an overall comfort and cost
budget.  As I watched the exchanges progress I learned several things:

a.  Many people jump right to I want this or that, the hull should be steel
or fiberglass, it should be a cat or a monohull.
b.  Many people don't read previous postings and completely understand whats
being said.
c.  Its very hard to stay on topic

I tried once or twice to bring it back to scope and had some success, but
honestly we never got off step one, who are we building this for.  Where I
was trying to start was by defining who the most likely user was.  In our
year of travel (a very poor sample period) I have seen as many people in
their 40s and 50s as in their 60s and 70s.  I was trying to understand if
others felt the majority of people moving into passagemakers were older or a
combination.  The reason I felt this was important to define was because I
ASSUME at some point self sufficiency is going to become a TOP Priority.  If
Self Sufficiency is as high a priority as I think it will be, then we have
to define if we expect a 60 or 70 year old to be climbing to the top of a
mast to service an anchor light or reattach a disconnected exhaust stack
because the rubber mounts have failed in the blistering tropical sun.  If we
decide that all components need to be serviceable without a bosons chair
then the Dashew choice of a wet exhaust suddenly becomes obvious.

I do believe there are choice out there that can be brought together to
yield something that may to appeal to many.  The Diesel Duck would have been
an awesome choice for me, but my wife couldn't see herself living in the
designed spaces.  Some people are critical of Nordhavn for building
expensive, luxurious boats.  Don't you guys get it?  When you bring two
people into the long distance Passagemaking purchase equation many times
there is a spouse along that has veto power.  If the couple doesn't walk on
the boat and have it appeal to both of them, well guess what, it's a
non-starter.  That's who Nordhavn is building boats for.  Ever wonder why so
many Nordhavns come on the market with just a few hundred hours on the
engine, or a year of service?  Because often times these people have no idea
what they are getting into.  Or, they have experienced the cruising
lifestyle and are ready to move on to other things.  In our case we always
knew this was a two year gig and that I would be returning to work.  The
point I'm trying to make is that PAE has targeted a market that is primarily
a husband and wife in their mature years who have the income and desire to
own a boat that not only gets the job done, but does it comfortably.  Oh,
Selene and Krogen also are after this market.

Ben Gray and Idlewild are nothing short of astounding.  I had the PRIVLIGE
of meeting this astounding Canadian when we rendezvoused in the Straits of
Georgia and Hal Wyman on Que Linda and Carter Miller on Sr. Moment provided
an escort into their Vancouver mooring location.  Ben and his sons are proof
positive that Canadian Sheep Herders are tough as nails, they are tougher
men then I'll ever be.  They are also proof positive that a purpose built
boat can circumnavigate with a crew that doesn't have decades of experience.
Anyway I digress.

I've also come to another conclusion.  While I believe its possible to
define the PPM I think the challenges of doing it in an open forum like this
are too great.  The fact is the guys that are out there building their
perfect boats just don't have the time to contribute to an effort like this.
Their knowledge and skills are being applied to the effort at hand and they
don't have any motivation to expend the time necessary to contribute to this
forum and then defend what they say because someone took something out of
context or disagrees and makes a bad comparison.

I have learned a lot from this and I may try to keep the conversation going
and on track.  On the other hand maybe I'll go write an email to the T&T
list to try to save some poor sap from running aground twice in one day,
like I did yesterday!!!  Take it from me, at dead low tide both Lockwoods
Folley and Shallotte Inlet have bumps in the marked channel where a boat
that draws 4 foot 9 inches can and will go aground!  Good news is, its sand
and its easy to back off!

That's all for now good buddies!

Scott Bulger, Alanui, N40II, Seattle WA
Currently in Myrtle Beach S.C.

Friends:
With help from a number of contributors, I have managed to incorporate much of
the discussion on PUP about the elusive "perfect passagemaker into the
passagemaker wiki: http://passagemaker.wikispaces.com

Some people have added directly to the wiki, and in other cases I have taken
comments from the PUP list and plugged them in where (hopefully) appropriate.
I've identified the commentator for each comment.  Please take a look if you
get a chance.  If you do not want your contribution included in the wiki,
please let me know and I will remove it immediately.

If you want to make other comments to the wiki, let me know and I'll add you
to the editors list (plus, I think you can do it yourself, but I'm not sure
how to do that.)  It is fairly easy to edit pages and add new pages, though
setting up the links I found to be a little confusing.  If you want help to
add something, contact me.  I see my job as more keeper of the wiki rather
than editor.

I would greatly appreciate any comments or suggestions you might have on the
wiki.

Jonathan Haas
(no boat yet)