bertram31.com

I was at Bokamper's Sports Bar and restaurant two nights ago, and a female water taxi captain came up to my table and asked if I owned the 31 Bahia Mar. I proudly responded yes, and she introduced herself as Caroline Bertram and told me that Richard Bertram was her father. She was in a hurry, but posed for a picture in front of my boat. That was so cool, and my friends who were all from out of town and don't know a Bertram from a Bayliner were very impressed. They were even more impressed as people kept coming up to the boat and saying how great these boats are when we were also at South Port Raw Bar and the Bahia Cabana the last couple days. Please forgive me for using the Bertram name and Bayliner in the same sentence.

Great story Craig! A couple Hail Marys should do the trick. ;)

Craig,
Incredible story...about meeting Caroline that is.
About people stopping to give accolades to the Ol'boat....just get used to it, happens all the time.


Bayliners have there place and that can be seen by the amount of people that restore them to there former glory.

I had a similar encounter with Caroline 10 years ago. I had my 20 Bertram Baron on a trailer taking it off Martha's Vineyard on a ferry. She introduced herself, told me that Bertram didn't make many of those Barons and chatted me up. She also gave me her brothers phone number and told me to call and ask for a Legend of Bertram book. They sent me a free copy. Very cool.....

so were is the pic ?you should post it

My first successful picture posting on this site. A milestone for me!

Yea? Where is it?

I see it when I use my IPad, but not my phone. I thought you were joking until I checked on my phone. Let me try this again, since I moved the picture into an album in photobucket, it might have gotten deleted.

Craig, thanks for sharing; neat story. Which Bokampers (there are several) and did you catch the Water Taxi service she was working for?
As Carl said, get used to the accolades!

It is the Bokampers just north of Oakland Park Blvd. bridge on the east side of intracoastal water way. I think it is the only one on the ICW. I did not catch what water taxi she works for, there might only be one in the area. As far as the accolades go, I'm already accustomed to that for ten years now. :)

You know if you and your lady friend got out of the shot...I could get a better look at the boat.








Cool, very cool.
Carl

How is that, Carl.....better?

Much better Craig, thank you!

Who wants to see people...I see them all the time.

LOL


Good looking boat! I like the looks of a shorter tower.
Carl

Thanks. I wish the tower was about another foot shorter. It is 12 feet above the waterline and I live behind the US1 bridge in Pompano requiring me to do my boating around the tides or use my friend's dock on the other side of the bridge. That is a stainless steel Marlin tower that was installed in Italy along with the curved stainless windshield frame.

Craig,
I also put the flag where you have it.
I found that if you put it where it belongs, on the transom that is, you risk serious injury especially when you jump-in in the evening, when the deck is wet... or when you had one too many !

SS, I was going to make mine from SS but found an Alum tower off a 25 Mako and reconfigured.

A foot shorter shouldn't be a problem. Sawzall would make quick work of it. Trim off the feet, finished footprint would be real close...you already have little tube bases that give some extra leeway on the angles.

Work done in Italy? I thought Pipewelders was expensive...How did that come to be. Usually I hear of our boats going over seas...not coming back.
Sounds like another good story.




Yannis- I like it in the transom....oops, let me rephrase that. A flagpole in the transom mount is...argh! What a pain in the.... Never mind.

Carl,
I just hadn't thought of that !!! I'm learning something every day !

Carl, my boat went to Italy sometime early in its life and eventually became in need of a restoration. The previous owner was a Carnival Cruise executive based in Italy and purchased the boat and brought it to Senage Boat works in 1995 for some restoration work. That is when the stainless tower, hard top, new windshield and engines were installed along with a new awl grip paint job and teak deck. . Sometime after that and before I acquired it in 2004, the previous owner got transferred to Miami and I am guessing Carnival paid to ship it back to Miami. The previous owner then had a custom made boat similar to a Hinckly made in Italy and traded the Bertram in as part of the deal. Through a friend of mine who was involved in that deal, I purchased my Bertram sight unseen for a very good price as opposed to it getting shipped back to Italy for the ship yard to re-sell it there.

That sure is a story worth hearing, thanks for sharing.

Carl