After the two weeks spent with David Katz moving his 44'

Diesel Duck from San Francisco to Poulsbo, I bought a ticket for my wife
and me to Zhuhai, China. Bill Kimley, who is behind Seahorse Marine
along with his wife Stella and her son Fido, told me that 462 hull # 1
would be launched in November so that is when we bought our tickets for.
During last summer I decided this was going to be the boat for me and
the trip to China was merely a formality to let my wife decide for
herself. She needed no convincing. We were there when the boat was
launched and were fortunate enough to participate in the initial sea
trials. She was surprised by the quality and the room of the interior.
We immediately put our name on the next available boat, hull # 6.
There was a drive going on to get # 1 ready for shipment to
Seattle, the home of the owner, so it could be in the Seattle boat show
this past January. As my wife and I were leaving Zhuhai we met the owner
as he was coming in. He said he didn't know if the boat would be ready
in time or not. Several things occurred that prevented the boat from
being at the show. One was the cost of shipping. When he commissioned
the boat the shipping cost was around $25,000. When the boat was
completed 18 months later it had risen to $48,000.
In January I attended the Seattle boat show and met and had
dinner several times with the owner and his wife. David Nagle and his
wife Dorothy who have 462-2 being built were also in attendance and we
all soon became fast friends. Dave and I both suggested that the boat be
brought back on its own bottom. I think we both had underlying reasons
because the owner did decide to do exactly that and invited us both to
serve as crew. We were elated. This would be our opportunity to become
acquainted with the 462 design that each of us would eventually have.
One of the things I believed convinced him to do it was
this. In our conversations he said if he brought it back he would have
to buy a lot of expensive equipment like a life raft, Epirb, life
jackets, watermaker, SSB radio, paravanes, and so on. I asked him if he
was aware that Bill would give him a sail away package if he didn't ship
the boat that included some of these things. He didn't know what I was
talking about. Apparently because he had planned to ship the boat back
from the get go, Bill had never told him. Because Bill has to build an
expensive cradle to put the boat on, he will give you a life raft, life
jackets, Epirb, flares, etc, as part of a package if you take delivery
there.
The plan was made. The owner hired a professional delivery
captain and we were to all meet at the yard on March 1st and leave for
our Trans Pacific voyage about March 5th. Dave and Dorothy were already
there when I arrived on March 1st and the captain and the owner, after
having some problems acquiring all the navigation computers and charts
and the remaining gear, arrived on March 5th.
The boat was not ready. Because of the need to add the
paravanes, SSB, watermaker, and other things associated with a voyage of
this magnitude, more time was needed to have these things shipped into
China and installed. We lived on the boat at the commissioning dock for
most of this time. It gave us an opportunity to check out the live
aboard systems and become more familiar with how they work. We departed
for Hong Kong on March 16th and arrived at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht
Club the next day and spent four days there provisioning the boat with
food and spare parts and tools we could not buy in China.
We departed Hong Kong for Subic Bay, in the Philippines, on
March 21st. We had anticipated this trip would take four days but to
everyone's surprise we made the 650 NM trip in three days and six hours,
averaging 8.2 Knots. One of the things that made that possible was there
was a substantial wind on our port beam so we set out the jib; this
added .4 knots to our speed. I suspect the current was in our favor as
well. We arrived at Subic Bay well after dark and the moon was so bright
that you could have read a newspaper outside. Still, coming into an
unfamiliar harbor after dark was a little tricky and we were all glad
that we had picked up a Filipino captain in HK to act as pilot.
The yacht club there was wonderful. Our intention was to
spend a few days there deciding, based on the weather, which route to
take across the Pacific. That was our intension.  About this time the
owner started talking about how much it cost to keep his boat in Seattle
opposed to leaving it in Subic Bay. I could almost see the wheels
turning in his head. He would ask us almost everyday what we would
suggest and Dave and I both told him it was entirely up to him and we
would support any decision he made.
The facts were; a slip in Seattle was $650.00 per month and
at the yacht club in Subic Bay it was $150.00. That's understandable
when you realize that the cost of living in the Philippines in
reportedly 30% of the cost of living in the US. A Filipino boat
manager/captain could be hired to maintain the boat for as little as
$120.00 part time and $277.00 full time. The owner opted for a full time
person. For the savings over slipping the boat in Seattle for one year,
the owner can fly his wife and himself to the boat and his already
available captain can take them on a cruise of some of the over 7,000
islands that make up the Philippines.
Bill Kimley made the trip with us, with the Filipino captain
on board that made a total of six people and we all had plenty of room
and our own space. Bill stayed with us for about a week at Subic. During
this time he decided to buy a corporate membership to the yacht club.
This would allow buyers of his boats that took delivery in China to make
a shakedown cruise to the Subic Bay Yacht Club and have a nice place to
stay for as long as they wanted. This was all it took for the owner to
make his decision to leave the boat there. His plans now are to leave
the boat at the Subic Bay Yacht Club for up to a year before bringing it
back to Seattle.
By this time it was the 1st of April and the owner, Dave and
I had told all our friends and family we would be gone for two months,
we had a month left. We decided the boat needed further shaking down so
we and our Filipino captain took off. We visited Puerto Galera, Pandan
Island, Apo Reef, Maricaban, Coral Bay Resort, Concepcion Town, Culion,
Chindonan Island, Coron, and we stopped at Puerto Galera and Pandan
Island on our way back. What a great adventure, we did some snorkeling,
but mostly we experienced the great pleasure of traveling and living
aboard in paradise. The boat performed flawlessly. In Concepcion town we
gave a ride to five people to Chindonan Island and Coron and even with
nine people on board we had plenty of room.
We arrived back at the yacht club in Subic Bay in the
evening of April 22nd  , a Friday. Dave left for Manila on Friday,
April 29th to catch his plane, I left two days later and the owner left
on Friday, May 5th. Although each of us were anxious to see our family
and friends again, we hated to leave the boat, at least I know I did.
When my wife picked me up at the airport here in Roanoke, the first
thing I said to her was, "we made the right decision, not only about the
boat but about the lifestyle".
The boat is absolutely wonderful as many people are figuring
out. Beside us at one point there was a Europa style boat about the same
size as our boat that sells for one million dollars, I toured the boat
and I would not trade a 462 even for it. The 462 is more comfortable,
has a salty appearance that I like, and is more seaworthy. When you
stood at the yacht club at Subic Bay and scanned the 75 or so boats
there, your eyes immediately fell onto the Diesel Duck, it draws quite a
lot of attention as David's boat did in Poulsbo.
When we were in Puerto Galera at anchor, we put out the
paravanes for a few days. The locals would pass by in their Bankas and
say, "nice boat", or give us a thumbs up.  I emailed the designer,
George Buehler, and told him that I felt privileged to have my name on
hull # 5. Yes # 5, when I was in China this time Bill told me that hull

5 had backed out and I could move up one if I wanted to. I said okay

and I understand he has moved the others up as well, I think he has ten
462s under contract and there are more people inquiring everyday.
I have found Bill and Stella very accommodating to work
with and have been willing to discuss any dumb idea I've come up with.
Hull # 5 will be the first 462 with a flybridge and teak decks. Bob
Austin was very close on his estimate of options cost for passage
making. My options include the flybridge, stainless steel railings
package, teak decks, keel cooling, 9KW gen set, flo-scan, high output
alternator, Red Dot space heater, watermaker, flopper stoppers, washer
dryer, microwave, flat screen televisions and DVD players, increase in
inverter size, radar upgrade, and necessary canvases. Those options were
$48,730.00.
Now I know that teak decks, stainless railings, and two flat
screens are not mandatory for passagemaking so your cost may vary. Hull

5 will be ready sometime in mid 2006 and I suspect, don't tell my

wife' I suspect that there will be more options added between now and
then, like that forward looking sonar I've already told Bill I wanted.
I would also like to add that my total boating experience
has been these two trips I have described, reading everything I could
find for the last three years, attending boats shows, and of course this
list and the Trawlerworld list for which I thank all of you very much
who have been so free and forthcoming with information and your life's
experiences.
I can't wait.

Sincerely,

Randal Johnson

Great story - sounds like a great boat. Will you bring your DD462 back on
her own bottom, or go elsewhere? Would you hire a captain? How did the owner
find a Philipino captain in Hong Kong, or was this a different captain?

Sounds like a great experience - Cliff

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