CHECKED OUT

CHECKED OUT is a 19.8-metre Pacific Mariner built in 2004 to a William Garden design, and she is a purpose-built answer to a specific problem: how to charter comfortably in the Pacific Northwest, where the scenery is world-class and the weather is not. Her answer is enclosure. The flybridge is enclosed rather than open, the aft deck is covered and screened on three sides by clears, and the deckhouse windows run the length of both sides. The result is a boat that can be used twelve months a year on Puget Sound rather than eight.

The salon runs the width of the deckhouse, with an L-shaped sectional to port, two teal armchairs opposite and a burl coffee table between them. An entertainment cabinet with a wine fridge is set into the forward bulkhead. Forward and one level down, the galley runs along the starboard side, stone counters, a full-size side-by-side refrigerator, a range under the deckhouse window, and opposite it a leather dinette booth with a burl table seats four. It is the breakfast room and the chart table and the place the crew actually works.

Six guests sleep in three ensuite cabins. The primary suite takes the full beam, with a king berth on the centreline, leaded-glass hull windows to both sides and a built-in desk and vanity to starboard, a genuinely full-beam owner’s cabin on a 65-foot hull, which is not common. The VIP sits forward in the bow with an island berth and opening portholes both sides. The third cabin runs two single berths either side of a bedside cabinet, and those berths slide together to make a king when the group needs a third double. Each cabin has its own head with a glazed shower.

Outside, the covered aft deck is the primary living space at anchor, laid out with a pedestal dining table, folding chairs and an L-shaped settee, with the boarding gate and swim steps just aft. The enclosed flybridge carries a second helm, a lounge and the tender. At anchor she deploys an inflatable floating platform off the quarter with a kayak tied alongside, a dry, stable place to sit at water level, which in Pacific Northwest water temperatures matters more than a beach club would.

Twin Caterpillar 3406E diesels of 800 horsepower each give her a 22-knot cruise and a 25-knot maximum. That is quick for this coast and it changes the itinerary arithmetic: Seattle to the San Juans is a morning rather than a day, so a week-long charter spends its time at anchor rather than in transit. Two kayaks, two paddleboards, fishing gear, a crab pot and a flybridge barbecue round out the inventory, along with indoor and outdoor audio.

She runs with a crew of three and is offered for weekly charters out of Seattle through Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands, with island hopping, whale watching, fishing, kayaking and paddleboarding all on the standard programme. She also runs private four- and eight-hour Seattle day charters for up to twelve guests, which makes her one of the more flexible boats on this coast, useful for a family that wants a week away and a separate afternoon on the water with friends.