Thoughts on Colgate 26?

[Rockinar]

Im a recent ASA101 newbie and trying to get experience so I can cruise the Texas coast next summer and thinking of buying a boat. Chartering has been slow and difficult getting a time slot I want on weekends, they are booked 2 weeks out, then weather pops up last minute on my day causing me to postpone, etc. Im just not getting much experience. Im kind of eyeballing a Colgate 26 (obviously just for learning, not cruising). They are super simple boats and low maintenance and I think I would use it more. The downside is they are not cheap, theres no bimini to guard from weather, etc. For the price of a decent condition one I can buy a “real” boat like a older Catalina 28 to practice on. But then you go down the rabbit hole of older boat maintenance. Theres also J80 for sale in my area.

Not sure if I should should look low maintenance boats like the Colgate/J80 type boats to learn on and make mistakes and tear up, or buy a real boat? Also not sure how hard a Colgate/J80 type boat would be to sell. Im in Galveston area with lots of clubs and racing so I dont think it would be too difficult.

[morrchr1]

I know this is from a month ago, but if you want to look at the Colgate, South Coast Sailing Adventures has a couple in Kemah that you can look at. As far as buying one, I recently listed this one that is in fantastic shape: https://www.popyachts.com/sloop-sail..._id=6631<br />

Let me know what you think and if you are interested, feel free to reach out on here or on the listing. I can tell you, for the first year or two while you are not looking to go cruising but just get out and sail, a simple boat like this is the way to go. Everyone at the dock will make the comment (almost every time you go out) about how jealous they are that you just walk down and 10 minutes later you're sailing!

I will also say, while it's probably the nicest version of this, (this being the super simple, no-frills, day cruiser to learn on) there are other options like a Capri 22 or similar that are a bit more cost-effective. I am not at all worried about selling this one though as it has a trailer and there are plenty of sailing schools that will want her.