Would YOU buy this boat?

[picklesandjesse]

Originally Posted by Flod

This probably won’t help but here in Europe the prices and market for this kind of boats have just went down and down the last few years. Nobody wants old sailboats anymore. You practically have to give them away. This kind of boat you would get for nothing around here. Only chance to get anywhere near that asking price would be if it had a new engine and so on. That said, it looks great and if you like the boat and can afford it and also like to do some DIY repairs then why not go ahead? The survey itself is not a no go in my opinion.

You're not kidding. We bought a very nice Contessa 28 in The Netherlands last year and cruised for 5 months. Kept her maintained and redid the brightwork etc while we were cruising. Sold her this year about 3 months ago for 30% of what we payed. Lucky to get out of it before this winter and more costs built up. Big market drop !!!

[NevisDog]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

... could we talk about the place where it looked like it had unrepaired collision damage?...

Surveyor says damage repaired, elevated moisture, monitor. I'd want to do more than monitor. I'd want it dried out and repaired PROPERLY! That will take many months.

No, on second thoughts I wouldn't, I'd just go look at other boats. Why waste time on collision-damaged, poorly repaired sandwich construction - that's the last thing I need.

[NevisDog]

Dammit this boat has almost zero value IMO! Why are we still discussing it? Just because it looks pretty?

[captlloyd]

Originally Posted by NevisDog

Dammit this boat has almost zero value IMO! Why are we still discussing it? Just because it looks pretty?

You are free to drop out of the discussion at any time. I never understand posts like this.

[NevisDog]

Originally Posted by captlloyd

You are free to drop out of the discussion at any time. I never understand posts like this.

So, tell me, why are we still showing any interest in purchasing this boat? That was my question - I don't understand, so please feel free to explain.

[JPA Cate]

Because we don't know yet if DenverSailors have decided to try and make this one work for them. And maybe, for many of us the weather's awful, and we're trying to stay warm and not too bored.

Ann

[captlloyd]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Because we don't know yet if DenverSailors have decided to try and make this one work for them. And maybe, for many of us the weather's awful, and we're trying to stay warm and not too bored.

Ann

Yes, apparently mr. NevisDog has decided sight unseen that this is a bad deal and we all should move on.

[Island Time O25]

Originally Posted by Flod

This probably won’t help but here in Europe the prices and market for this kind of boats have just went down and down the last few years. Nobody wants old sailboats anymore. You practically have to give them away. This kind of boat you would get for nothing around here. Only chance to get anywhere near that asking price would be if it had a new engine and so on. That said, it looks great and if you like the boat and can afford it and also like to do some DIY repairs then why not go ahead? The survey itself is not a no go in my opinion.

It's pretty much similar situation here in New England. Don't know about the rest of the country but from what I hear it's similar throughout.

One of the reasons I was told is that in Boston and nearby places there are many active boat sharing sailing clubs, etc. And the young professionals don't have time, money or inclination to get into the boat ownership business. Especially considering that the type of a boat they want to sail (late model with decent sails, etc) would be too expensive for them to finance and maintain and the boat that they could afford (older IOR type) would be too much of a headache and still too expensive to own and maintain compared to the few thousand dollars of club fees and headache free experience.

So who buys those older boats in less than Bristol shape close to the asking price? The very few dreamer types with little or no ownership experience (been there done that ). And once you gain this experience you know for sure that the guy selling that boat would take a fraction of the asking price just to get rid of it (been there and done that also, on both sides of the equation ).

And unlike many other things in life there is another boat as good or better around the corner and for less asking/selling price than the one you passed on.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Because we don't know yet if DenverSailors have decided to try and make this one work for them. And maybe, for many of us the weather's awful, and we're trying to stay warm and not too bored.

Ann

Ani't that the truth
Tomorrow will be better

[picklesandjesse]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Because we don't know yet if DenverSailors have decided to try and make this one work for them. And maybe, for many of us the weather's awful, and we're trying to stay warm and not too bored.

Ann

Northern Rivers..... magical day. Sunny, warm ( not too hot ) light breeze from NE. Not boring.

[Island Time O25]

Originally Posted by NevisDog

Dammit this boat has almost zero value IMO! Why are we still discussing it? Just because it looks pretty?

For many (most?) boat buyers buying a boat is not a rational decision. Thus an attraction to such a boat. Even though from value point of view, as you succinctly stated, it's value is zero, i.e. buying it at $32K, plunking another $20-30K into it and it will still be worth $20-25K, at most, to a semi-knowledgeable buyer in today's market.

Or it could be that the OP enjoys putting around the boat, fixing things, and doing little (or big) projects more than sailing. I'm like that myself. For me day sailing around our neck of the woods got stale years ago. To sail a little farther out is difficult as far as arranging crew, coordinating everyone's schedules, etc. So personally I could see myself getting such a boat for say under $10K and little by little making her more or less well found.

PS I get my "real sailing" fix by crewing on friends' boat on FL-New England deliveries, down the Caribbean or around Florida or some such.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by picklesandjesse

Northern Rivers..... magical day. Sunny, warm ( not too hot ) light breeze from NE. Not boring.

Would you not like to trade for >50 hours straight of rain, 14 degree noonday temperature, 30-35 kts from the South (pole) and 1 meter seas running through the anchorage. Ahhh, come on, you know you would...

But we did have a fortnight of truly beaut wx as we sailed down, and for the next ten days here in Tassie. Seemed too good to be true... and it was!

Jim

[picklesandjesse]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Would you not like to trade for >50 hours straight of rain, 14 degree noonday temperature, 30-35 kts from the South (pole) and 1 meter seas running through the anchorage. Ahhh, come on, you know you would...

But we did have a fortnight of truly beaut wx as we sailed down, and for the next ten days here in Tassie. Seemed too good to be true... and it was!

Jim

It will change here too..... for the worse. And soon a bit too hot.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Would you not like to trade for >50 hours straight of rain, 14 degree noonday temperature, 30-35 kts from the South (pole) and 1 meter seas running through the anchorage. Ahhh, come on, you know you would...

.......
Jim

Crikey Jim, ya doing OK, we didn't make double digits - but then again we didn't have any sea running across the paddock although the creek is running high

[svMarite]

She looks definitely like a Morgan 382 or 383. I sailed my '78 382 for 15 yrs - they're great boats - I did two trans-Ats in mine and cruised the Med and Caribbean. I completely refit mine for 17k. The deck wetness is no issue to fix - Morgan was one of the early pioneers to use 4x4 wood tiles in the deck - not core. The deck cleats are easy to fix by filling and redrilling - easy day's work. Did that to mine. The engine stuff is what you'd find on any older Perkins or Yanmar. The wet readings in the hull would be worrisome and worth further investigation - but mine always had some moisture. I had blisters over the years that back that we'd just grind out, dry out and vinylester, paint. My boat was sold 5 yrs ago and she's going strong with yearly trips to the Bahamas from Jacksonville. Lastly I'd highly recommend you check out the Morgan 38X online group - several of us were prolific writers of all the mods and repairs. It's a great source for this boat. Best of luck to you