Well, I know it happens but I have never had anything taken from a boat. I have had my camping gear stolen in Wisconsin and I have had my wallet stolen in Florida and my Swiss Army knife in Jamaica and an SLR stolen from my airplane at Oshkosh and on and on--lol. I figure on always having lot's of insurance, if they want it that bad a little cuddy door will not stop them, heck, they will just take the whole boat---lol.
We usually travel a great distance to water also and once the boat goes in it stays for several days to several weeks at a time, slipped or once on a lift at a marina. Once we even left it down in Florida at said marina in dry storage.
I love center consoles, simple, efficient, purposeful. Great for diving, exploring, even fishing--imagine that!! But your right and you make good points, a nice cuddy is a wonderful boat though I don't think we would ever spend much time below deck so it is just wasted space for us--but yes I understand their appeal. We have full canvas, Mills forward shelter, porti potti for the Admiral even. We have been diving off of small boats of various sorts for decades, I cannot imagine owning a boat and not diving from it or having a boat from which diving is not possible. Do divers actually have boats not suited for diving--holy cow?
Eh, Waterskier, I used to ski bunches, do you remember the old Connely Shortline from around 1976ish, I still ski mine behind the Whaler but I also bought one of those jumbo old man skies. I have run four at 38 off on my Connelly at 36 MPH boat speed. I used to barefoot a lot also. The Whaler could do it but I fear I lack the muscle now for that. I have a ski pylon (afeter market) for the Whaler but have not cut it to make it fit yet, I just use the tow bridle--not in competition anymore--so it is good enough for play.
Wife aboard the Whaler Nemrod:
View forward showing Garelick three step ladder stowed and Roll Control tank storage:
Ladder bracket on platform:
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