About the boat

After completing the Great Loop on a 38' Marine Trader Sundeck - which was an excellent choice for us on that trip - we decided a different style and size boat was desired for continued cruising as liveaboards. We started with our wish list:

something in the 50' range so still manageable to operate with 2 people
pilothouse style with defined salon, galley, pilothouse/dinette, cockpit
Full walkaround side decks
Minimal exterior teak
midship master stateroom - island bed
2 staterooms preferred - 3 acceptable
2 heads - both with separate showers
dual helm chairs on flybridge
twin engines - prefer Cummins, CAT or Yanmar - not Volvo's
Draft under 5' - less is better
Folding radar arch to achieve air height under 15-1/2' to travel western Erie Canal

During our search we looked at:

DeFever 49 RPH
Meridian 490
Hampton 490
Krogen Express 49
Eagle 53 RPH
Offshore 49 Pilothouse
North Pacific 45
Symbol 54 Pilothouse
McKinna 49 Pilothouse
Ocean Alexander 510 pilothouse

Ultimately, we finally scored a 2003 Ocean Alexande 511 pilothouse that had just completed the loop. Oddly, we saw this boat the prior year when the owners - Ray and Dianne - were passing through Myrtle Beach. We had contacted them asking for a quick tour just so we could either decide to keep or remove this model from our list. We contacted them in Jan. 2022 the week they "crossed their wake" and completed the Loop to see if they were interested in selling. With the super heated boat market at the time, we worked a deal directly with them and finally took delivery in May 2022 in Stuart, FL.