We Are:
Evan
Rana
Ethan
Sweetie Pie
(Captain)
(Navigator)
(Engineer)
(Security)
We are the Crew aboard Willow B.
The Captain has been involved in boats and the nautical life since his early teens. He had a 16' jon boat with a 20hp Mercury outboard which he ran the coastal marshes, Intracoastal Waterway, Lakes and Rivers of SW Louisiana and SE Texas. This early experience lit a passion for the nautical life that is still alive over 45 years later. He worked on Offshore Oil Boats and Offshore Charter Fishing boats thru his early 20's. The local economy took a turn for the worse, and he moved to Central Texas, where he fished every Texas lake he could. He also trailered boats to the Texas coast for offshore fishing.
The Navigator was not exposed to the marine environment until 1996, but soon grew to love the water where she spent many days and weekends aboard.
The Engineer was raised fishing the lakes, rivers and bays of Texas. His first two saltwater catches were Blacktip Sharks of modest size on light tackle. His third saltwater catch was a Bull Redfish measuring 42" long and weighed in at 38 lbs. This, too, was on light tackle. This Redfish took him 45 minutes to land. What a fantastic start to a fishing life.
The Crew moved to Southern Ohio in 2014 and began construction of a new home.
The Captain knew that a cruising boat was in their future and over the years researched as many boats as possible. He was looking for a solidly built, fuel efficient cruiser. Upon learning about the Prairie 29, just a bit of research revealed that this was the best compromise that would satisfy the majority of requirements.
Remember, there is no such thing as a perfect boat. Every boat is a compromise in one way or the other. Well the ONLY item we are compromising on is the Prairie 29's speed (or lack of).
Her theoretical hull speed is 7.2 knots. With her 50 hp main engine, the Prairie 29 is a 6 knot boat.
A Prairie 29 came on the market in Boston, MA and the price was negotiated, based on a satisfactory survey and sea trial. As the captain was in the middle of a project and could not be present for the survey and sea trial, he hired a highly reccomended surveyor in the area.
Long story short, we purchased the little coastal cruiser in October of 2014 and had her hauled in Hingham, MA for the 2014-2015 winter.
The boat was launched in May 2015 and we began the process of ferrying her home.
This story began as the easiest way to keep family and a few friends updated as to our movement as we left Hingham, and made our way home with our little cruiser.
There was never any intention for this blog to go public, but it was shared and it kinda went from there. It became a bit more popular than I had realized, and I was asked by many what happened when it went offline.
Due to it's popularity I relaunched the website in 2018, and will make every attempt to keep it current.
If I offend anyone with my opinions or my take on events, I do apologize in advance, but I will continue to call it as I see it.
We will make every effort to take way more pics and videos!! With that said, Here we Go...
The following is the accounts of our adventures aboard our Intrepid Cruiser,
Willow B.
| E-Mail Willow B |