1988 Bayliner 2455 Ciera Sunbridge

Before and After

6/06.   During the 80s I used to live aboard a Freedom 225XL on the weekends when I lived in Spokane, Wa.  Loved it.  I was ecstatic when Debbie said she'd like to have a boat to spend weekends on, too.  We spent a couple weeks looking and after assembling a dozen boats, whittled them down to 4 where we could expect to see them all during a weekend road trip.  The first one was at Lake Okoboji, IA.  Although the boat was much newer than the rest, it needed more work.  We spent until 10:30pm looking at other boats, and then decided to press on towards Dubuque to look at the 2nd one.  At around 3am Saturday morning we couldn't stand it anymore and slept a few hours in the truck.  Got to Dubuque early the next morning, and the broker there was closed.  While we left messages and waited for a call back, we looked at 2 other marina's boats.  By 10:30 we gave up and headed to Fox Lake, IL (suburb of Chicago) where there were 2 identical 2455s for sale.

 		 We made many calls to the privately-owned boat owner, and he never returned our calls.  Snooze, you lose.  We went to a Marina to look at this one.  The boat was listed for $10K, which in itself was a decent price, especially when you consider all the extras that came with it.  It had all the life preservers, emergency oars, bumpers and holders, lines, etc. 


The worst part was that the trailer needed new tires badly, as the old ones were the original  bias-ply F78-14s.  After getting the boat hooked up around 7pm, we drove to the local Wal-Mart, only to find that it wasn't a Super Center.  No tire shop there.  We decided to just start driving West towards home until we came to the next one.   We finally found one around 10pm, and then headed for a hotel.  Our luck went South as it, and everything in a hundred mile radius was booked solid.  It took until after 1am to find a hotel room, and that was only because it was flagged for a running toilet.  We got the room for half price and used the shut-off valve to silence the toilet.  :>)  Found a Wal Mart the next morning only to learn they don't carry trailer tires.  Same with the next place we tried.  Finally found a local Farm/Fleet-type of store that had some, and we got the new tires on.  Back on the road around noon.


You'll notice that only the rear bows for the camper canvas are up.  A $2200 custom camper and cockpit canvas was made recently for the boat, so we put on the cockpit cover for trailering after wrapping up the camper canvas in the bows and installing the boots.  Somewhere in Iowa a truck comes alongside us and says part of our canvas has blown off.  To make matters worse, we were extremely low on gas, and had to weigh turning around to retrieve the canvas and running out of gas (8mpg towing the boat) vs. finding the next gas station first.  We turned around and found the boot in about 4 miles.  We also found a gas station in time, so we got lucky there!  Side note:  The boat's current name is "Get the Led Out".  We're going to change it.  So far it looks like Seas the Day is the winner, followed by License to Chill and Just Add Water (sounds like a horse race, doesn't it?).  UPDATE:  We finally decided on License to Chill, and custom lettering is being made up.
The topside upholstery has all been re-done, and is in beautiful shape.  Debbie especially likes the port-side L-shaped lounge.  There's also a table mount in the middle of that area.
Another shot of the topside deck, showing how nice the new upholstery looks.  The camper canvas is up on this picture.
At the aft end of the deck there is another table mount where the small table can be put.
4/28/07.  After a couple of weeks of prep work, the stripes are re-painted.  I used 4 colors, with the primary two being teal green and dark blue.  Both had pearl in them, so they came out looking great.  I used a medium blue and a black to do some shading on the main stripes.  Yet to come are some tape pinstripes above and below the main stripes, as well as the Bayliner logos.

5/27/07.  We finish up the boat stripes by laying down the pinstriping and putting on the transom graphics.  The boat is now officially named License to Chill.
6/10/07.  We finally get a free weekend with halfway decent weather, so it's time to try out the new paint job.  Dale is with us that weekend, so he gets to come along.
After a great day of boating, I motor it over to the trailer.  Looks good in the water again.
8/25/07.  We take the boat out for the weekend, and I finally remember the camera to take more photos.
Here's the new interior that Debbie sewed up last year.
The aft bunk where we sleep is visible behind the galley.
1st Mate Debbie is in charge of the bumpers and lines.  Here she is putting everything away at the end of a nice weekend.

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