Welcome aboard another vintage boat project, a 32' 1941 Monk cruiser called Yolande. Yolande was named after the wife of the first owner and came with paperwork
all the way back to the beginning. Bottom line: we decided to take her on because she just seemed to call our name and we wanted a hang-out up in Puget Sound. If experience counts for anything, Yolande is our forth vintage cruiser in the PNW.
Before describing our efforts to get Yolande safe and cruise ready, let's take a quick look around. All of these pics are from 2025 or late 2024.
Click the buttons for more details, including the button at the bottom, "Let's talk", which has contact information and some thoughts on our concept for eventually passing the baton.
Also, this website was formatted for a PC. Is that obvious? ha.
The drive-up appeal from "outside". This is a fast-forward peek. The previous owner of 4 years used her as a condo, never leaving the dock.
A look inside the salon, kitchen, head and V birth.
Oh. That's not a stain on the floor of the salon. It's a shaddow cast by the coffee table. :)
Fish for dinner, with beans and toast, all cooked on the grill. Yeah.
A few looks into the galley, then a look from the galley back to the salon, then a pic into the head. Basic, but effective.
Choose your v-birth setup. Head at the bow or to the stern. Works either way. Couch/settee converts to a double birth too. Yolande also carries a tent for the upper deck, and a truckers urinal up there. Huh? You know, an empty water bottle.
A couple of action shots. Piloting in the San Juans and fishing off Cypress Island. A collection from different trips.
Two comments. There were seven crabs in that crabpot. Not a typical overnighter, and, then, WOW. And no, we weren't sure just what fish that was in the middle pic.
Was it the fish for lunch a few pictures above? We ain't talkin cuz you're only supposed to harvest game fish in season. We DID NOT eat the dogfish. There were better things on the menu: oysters, clams, mussels, crabs and fish with smaller teeth.
A couple more shots of the upper deck, one looking forward and one looking aft (taken while in her slip at Anchor Cove, Anacortes):
Her haul out for a careful ($4,000) bottom job in June of '25
A quick look under the "Hood", I mean Hatch(es)
A closer look at "Eyes Aboard," a wifi enabled system that allows you to see the water level, temp and battery voltage,
plus turn on/off a bilge pump, heater and/or battery charger from anywhere in the world.
Next, a quick shot of the late 60's Gray Marine 327 motor, installed in the early 2000's.
Are these a redo of American Motors or GM? I was able to buy tune-up parts from Autozone by saying "GM 327". We do have the paperwork from the engine install.
Now...let's fire this baby up! (Early Dec. 25, after sitting for six weeks.)
Accessories?
Test question: how many times would your motor on a vintage single-screw cruiser have to fail before you wished you had a backup power source?
Answer: ONCE! What's an easy fix for emergency power? Answer: A little transom bracket that allows you to drop your dingy motor onto the swim platform. It'll get you out of a seaway at a minimum.
Next Question: How many times did we need this little kicker during Yolande's revitilization? Answer: ONCE!
Final Question: Did we build the kicker bracket before or after we needed it? Answer: None of your freaking business. hahaha
Moving right along, here's another innovation that probably isn't needed that often.
A bow thruster that hangs off the bow (when desired) to give a little sideways thrust entering or leaving the slip in a current.
This was made from an electric trolling motor with remote control. It has enough poop to make a difference of, say, a bow swing of 6 feet.
Is this a belt or a suspender? Not sure. DON"T FREAK OUT! It just seemed like a good idea at the time.
It DID draw a crowd from the single screwers when we first hit the button to swing our bow out of the slip toward open water.
OK.
Let me back up a bit.....
To Do:
Add a big discussion here of how we insured that Yolande wouldn't let us down "out there". ehh, what? Yeah, she did a couple times. Call those little moments of excitement
"growing pains." No harm no foul. There's much to say, but perhaps little interest in the story except by someone who might like to accept Yolande into her next level of adventuring.
Now that's another conversation.... to be had when the time is right. And to that end, click here for a list of details about her systems.
Having said what we've said, Is it time for us to conclude that the clock may be ticking on our Yolande adventure, not because we want or need a better boat, but because our days of adventure boating are falling behind us? The reasons have
nothing to do with Yolande, but rather life choices and realities of a different kind.
A final observation. Everybody knows that seals like old wooden boats. This seal must be dreaming about the good old days as it slept right outside Yolande's kitchen porthole. Sleep tight friend. We come in peace.
Stay tuned. In the mean time, this next button provides an email that invites a conversation about Yolande's future. You'll see that it isn't about the money. It's about a good home and the enjoyment, by somebody, of the energy and karma
that Yolade still has to give.
Unplanned. Out of nowhere.
Now...let's fire this baby up! (Early Dec. 25, after sitting for six weeks.) 
