A
s the maxim goes, wind and
tide wait for no one and just
outside of the breakwater
exists another world. To
some boat ownership is insanity, as
boats require constant maintenance
and are always breaking, but I would
argue that few other activities afford
such opportunity to transcend the
humdrum of modern life.
I had just $2,000 when I set out with the
dream of owning a bluewater yacht. It
wasn’t an easy journey, and my fi ancée
and I learned some tough lessons along
the way, but two years and three boats later
we couldn’t have been happier with our
24ft motorcruiser. Here’s how it all began...
Childhood dream
I was 10 years old when my parents sold
their 21ft Chaparral 2100 SX bowrider, on
which we’d cruised Florida’s East Coast.
My thirst for adventures on the water,
however, had not yet been quenched and
two years later I bought an 8ft imitation
Boston Whaler for $400 that I kept in my
parents’ backyard. That little bathtub was
used in a typical Florida river – that is,
nothing more than a man-made drainage
canal. I rambled about in it for a few years,
but it fi lled with rainwater and sank more
often than it traversed the placid, often
disgusting, brown waters of the canal.
When it was sold and towed away for
more than I had initially paid, I was
The American
dream
College student Drew Maglio
turns a $2,000 investment
into a smart bluewater
yacht... by buying and
selling used motorboats
relieved. I’d made a small profi t and my
parents were ecstatic to no longer have it
scarring their embankment. I was now
boatless, but my longing to be out on the
water persisted throughout my high
school years.
Fast-forward to May 2014 and my
fi ancé, Avery, and I had just completed
our fi rst year of university in West Palm
Beach, Florida. We were invited on a
dinner cruise on the Intracoastal Waterway
(ICW). As the guests mingled, Avery and I
stood at the bow peering into the glassywater. At that moment I knew I had to have
a boat again. Somehow, some way we
were going to own a boat.The search begins
I searched the online adverts. Because of
my motorboating experience as a child, I
wanted an open bow boat with a
sterndrive engine. This wasn’t the wisest
choice for Florida’s briny waters;
sterndrives generally have raw-water
cooled cast-iron engine blocks, which are
susceptible to rust. Plus, they can’t fully
trim up in shallow water. However, I have
to say that we’ve since had reliable
sterndrives over the years.
Nonetheless, while browsing the
classifi eds I found a bowrider that piqued
my interest: a 1996 Regal Valanti SE 202.PRACTICALPRACTICAL
ABOVE Worn vinyl
of Regal Valanti.
RIGHT The Regal
on its trailer