Hey all,
My name is Charlie and I've been a long time lurker for many years, probably since before I could drive a car legally (I'm now 24). I've been drooling over owning a skiff for the past few years and busted my ass the past 2 years to finally be in the position to pull the trigger on one around August of this year. I had been watching the market and researching what I wanted for the last year and came to the decision I wanted to find an older HB/Gordon Waterman. After putting out some feelers and seeing what was available I had a pretty good idea of which boats I had the ability to purchase.
I was fortunate enough to come into contact with MS member NSBHeron. Ken is a super cool dude and I was itching to buy a boat so I reached out to him to see if he would consider taking offers on his 2005 Gordon Waterman 18. He obliged and the next day I made the trip from Charleston SC down to New Smyrna FL. I wasn't able to see the boat the day we had planned on but luckily I brought a buddy and some surfboards and we made a little surf trip out of it as well and decided to camp for the night and I would see the boat the next day. Surfed that morning and then finally met up with Ken in the afternoon to wet test the skiff, I knew as soon as I stepped on the boat I wanted it. Tom Gordon builds a badass boat and for being 15 years old this boat looked great. It had a few little cosmetic issues that I would have expected for a boat its age but Ken kept this thing is good condition and stored in a garage when not in use. This boat got fished weekly by Ken, but when I saw it I knew I was going to make an offer and try to buy it.
We came to an agreement on a price and before I knew it I was the proud new owner of sick piece of skiff history. Now that I've had the boat for a couple weeks I can say this thing is a skinny water machine. I've had it back in low tide creeks pushing it through 3-4 inche deep streams of water sometimes less wide that the beam of the boat and it floated right through. I was seriously impressed with how well it poled, tracked while driving (no blowouts), and drafted. I've made a couple smaller changes just to make the skiff mine and personalize it a bit but It's setup to be a simple fly and light tackle fishing machine. I've got a few things planned to give it a little bit of a facelift and bring it into the new decade but for now I can be found fishing the snot out of it!
Glad to be a part of this community and finally realize a dream that I've had for so long to own a badass skiff like this. Thanks for having me!
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![164306]()
My name is Charlie and I've been a long time lurker for many years, probably since before I could drive a car legally (I'm now 24). I've been drooling over owning a skiff for the past few years and busted my ass the past 2 years to finally be in the position to pull the trigger on one around August of this year. I had been watching the market and researching what I wanted for the last year and came to the decision I wanted to find an older HB/Gordon Waterman. After putting out some feelers and seeing what was available I had a pretty good idea of which boats I had the ability to purchase.
I was fortunate enough to come into contact with MS member NSBHeron. Ken is a super cool dude and I was itching to buy a boat so I reached out to him to see if he would consider taking offers on his 2005 Gordon Waterman 18. He obliged and the next day I made the trip from Charleston SC down to New Smyrna FL. I wasn't able to see the boat the day we had planned on but luckily I brought a buddy and some surfboards and we made a little surf trip out of it as well and decided to camp for the night and I would see the boat the next day. Surfed that morning and then finally met up with Ken in the afternoon to wet test the skiff, I knew as soon as I stepped on the boat I wanted it. Tom Gordon builds a badass boat and for being 15 years old this boat looked great. It had a few little cosmetic issues that I would have expected for a boat its age but Ken kept this thing is good condition and stored in a garage when not in use. This boat got fished weekly by Ken, but when I saw it I knew I was going to make an offer and try to buy it.
We came to an agreement on a price and before I knew it I was the proud new owner of sick piece of skiff history. Now that I've had the boat for a couple weeks I can say this thing is a skinny water machine. I've had it back in low tide creeks pushing it through 3-4 inche deep streams of water sometimes less wide that the beam of the boat and it floated right through. I was seriously impressed with how well it poled, tracked while driving (no blowouts), and drafted. I've made a couple smaller changes just to make the skiff mine and personalize it a bit but It's setup to be a simple fly and light tackle fishing machine. I've got a few things planned to give it a little bit of a facelift and bring it into the new decade but for now I can be found fishing the snot out of it!
Glad to be a part of this community and finally realize a dream that I've had for so long to own a badass skiff like this. Thanks for having me!
