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One of the features I thought would be the most useful to other readers when setting up this site almost 13 years ago was this page. I discussed it with several others at the time who redirected me towards making it something more than just a collection of listings to buy / sell last years junk, so the focus has always been related to “selling your boat, buying their boat and the “I don’t really know yet and just want to think about it for now” types of listings plus some that were simply meant to reflect better than expected service or support for any sort of Nordica or Halman related items.
I took on this portion of the web site knowing that it would take some time almost every month to keep it updated and in taking the necessary time to reprocess many of the photos to make them fit and function with what this software needed to have. I considered charging for the listings but decided against it simply to make it easier on the sellers / buyers / and myself in getting paid. Aside from that I always figured I’d learn something more about someone else’s boats in the process and that would serve as my reward for the work. It all worked out pretty much as expected and I have certainly gained my reward in the variety of people who have bought or sold (in some cases - both and multiple times) their boats and I believe I can fairly say that there has been a significant number of boats that have found “new Cap’ns and have gone on to learn a bit more about each other to their mutual benefit. I believe as well that the ads have served to acquaint many others to the variety that existed in both Nordica and Halman boats and especially when it comes to those minor variations that “look similar” but were not built at either factory. The overall “double ended hull” design is what they shared - much of it after that is more unique to the specific designers and builders preferences and most likely what “they preferred” to have over what their competitor might have offered.
The ads have probably stirred as much controversy as any of the other areas on the site. When the wind is right and the boss has packed the sandwiches, we can all go out and enjoy the day on the boat, but when someone from somewhere begins to argue about the location of the winches, ports, cleats, motor mounts, HIN numbers, etc.on a listing because it does not match theirs, I tend to draw a clear line... a simple one that says “who really cares” - the listings were not put up to claim absolute authenticity because our friend “B. Malta Mueller” has long since passed and didn’t leave us quite as many notes as we might have wished for but guess what, the boats still float, the sandwiches still taste good at lunch and we can all come into port with a smile because we had an outstanding day on the water. I think that was the point wasn’t it? The point of this paragraph was that in spite of some of the controversy, the variations serve to make us think and to make us aware that there’s almost always more than one way to “skin the cat” (really hate that concept) - and in presenting those variations we have by default opened up our thinking to other alternatives that just might be equal or better to what we previously thought - so it’s good for us too!
The listing below from “Cap’n” James is the last ad for the site for the near future. It’s coming into the time of year when a lot of those “armchair Cap’ns” are coming outdoors (once the damn weather on the east coast improves over what it is now) AND those that have saved up their Christmas money and the stuff the tooth-fairy left can now run their totals and say “See... this is all we need to put that boat in our driveway!” So read his ad and measure up your driveway for the stand that comes with this boat and start making your plans for places to see and things to do. This nice looking Halman-20 is waiting for you now.
When this boat is sold, the listing will come off and we will turn a page again in the site to limit this section to those “Resources” that can be useful to almost everyone. The primary reason for this is simply time management on my part. I really hate to do this but right now it is a necessity that must be resolved. My fight with Pancreatic Cancer is not over and while there are days and times when I would like to think that I’ve beaten it back into submission, there are those other days when I’m damn sure that this is not the case and I have to take up the repeated visits with the cancer clinic to “take on some more chemicals.” I would hope that sometime in the future there is an opportunity to add this feature back to the site and whether it will be done by me or by someone else remains to be seen. I would hope as well that you will continue to read and enjoy some of the photos on the site and to make it your preferred resource for all of those Nordica and Halman questions that continue to come up. Until another time, I simply want to say a huge and hearty “THANK YOU” for all of the years of your interest and support in this site and for the opportunity to be of help whenever you saw the need to buy or sell your next boat. It’s been a great experience for me and I do feel that I’ve been well paid in all that has been exchanged. - L. May
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