Want To Buy: Sailboat in Florida or Gulf Area

[rover88]

Call me prejudice.

1971 bristol herreshoff design sailboat for sale in Florida

Love ours. Points a dream, solid as a rock, bit tight below but very livable. This one has been on the market for a long while. Bet it would go for a lot less than listed.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by rover88

Call me prejudice.

1971 bristol herreshoff design sailboat for sale in Florida

Love ours. Points a dream, solid as a rock, bit tight below but very livable. This one has been on the market for a long while. Bet it would go for a lot less than listed.

Nice boat...

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Nice boat...

Yea, nice but the OP wouldn't like the 6' draft. I might offer $13K if it looked worth it after an initial lookover. After all it is 40 years old.

[Bergovoy]

its not that i like or dislike the 6' draft, the local waters wouldnt like them....

i am guessing that the draft is directly related to the boats handling...and ability to sail into wind...

[rover88]

BUDS puts the value of a '71 Bristol 34 at $28k, but in this market $13k to $15k would be a fair offer unless there are far more extras than indicated in the listing. That of course is assuming all is as it should be with the underlying boat.

As for age, '71 was an era just before real mass production meant slip-shot glassing and over-all diminishing quality in the mid-range boats. The Bristol hull is thick hand laid glass and unless saturated or blistered (not an issue with these boats and mine has only had a few smallish ones) the hull should last another 40 years. The downsides is the draft - great for offshore but tough in thin waters. Even a $18k it's at lot of boat for the money.

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by rover88

BUDS puts the value of a '71 Bristol 34 at $28k, but in this market $13k to $15k would be a fair offer unless there are far more extras than indicated in the listing. That of course is assuming all is as it should be with the underlying boat.

As for age, '71 was an era just before real mass production meant slip-shot glassing and over-all diminishing quality in the mid-range boats. The Bristol hull is thick hand laid glass and unless saturated or blistered (not an issue with these boats and mine has only had a few smallish ones) the hull should last another 40 years. The downsides is the draft - great for offshore but tough in thin waters. Even a $18k it's at lot of boat for the money.

I agree about the age and the hull but there are a lot of other things on a boat that 40 years will have deteriorated, i.e. rigging, deck, deck hardware, bulkheads, through hulls, etc. etc. In fact there is not much other than the hull that won't be worse off. Certainly worth a look see though. For the OP's sake, I hope its a winner. Personally, I like Bristols.

As for the draft, it wouldn't bother me but then my boat's draft is 6' and it's been in a lot of thin water. The Bahama's, ICW and the CB are not out of the question. Just be careful and pay attention.

[Bergovoy]

your probably right about paying attention, and i promise to do that, but from what i read, everyone runs aground sometime... and i am guessing that the frequency goes up as teh keel comes down... hehehe

[RTB]

Hey Berg, I threw the Hunter out for you to see. It doesn't really do much for me, but I'm not the one looking. I figured the price could come down at least to your range if not below. As other's said offer 12K if you liked it.

I don't think you will get excited about the water here. But, on the other hand, it is a very boater-friendly area. Affordable cost of living too.

If you want to be in Florida, and have some nice water nearby, just head straight there. I can't see the Galveston area having any advantages, other than cost of living, and maybe more boater-friendly. Florida seems to have some negatives from what I have read, but can't confirm that personally. You would need more local knowledge finding a place to live aboard there (once you arew a boat owner).

Ralph

[Bergovoy]

yea, i understand, no worries... i am sure all places have pros and cons... i know florida get really muggy/humid, and hot... I know the flat land located as it is is prone to strong winds and hurricanes... and they got some big ass bugs... and snakes...

Texas prolly has similar pros and cons...

from what i can tell, the 'treasure coast', near indanville/stuart, florida seems to have lower priced properties... Im seeing apartments from $500-700 are plentiful... thats a good thing for me as i only plan to sleep there and stage there until i can untie


part of my current issues are my lack of knowledge on how to sail... i did read that I can 'learn how to sail' in a day, but spend the rest of my life perfecting it.... thats cool.. thanks...

I would love to know how to read charts and or get familiar with the coast lne and moorings/marinas.

can you just pull into any marina and get fuel and provisions? do you have contact them in advance and if so, how?

Im also getting a little paranoid of keel depth and sand bars and low tides... hehehehe

I am guessing at first i will be playing at the entrance to the marina the boat is currently moored. figuring out and getting more assurance, then going out further and further... and anchoring and overnighting and all that. and hopefully figuriing out that i can either get help no matter where i am at, and or reach a safe marina...

I equate this frustration to when i learned how to ski... i would stay on the bunny hill, near the chalet, I would ski slower then i could walk just to make sure i wouldnt go running off out of control and into the chalet... or parked cars...

after the weekend was over, i was blazing down the hills way faster then i could ever run or move... knowing how to stop, where i wanted to stop and all that. i could slide and spray snow 20ft and stop exactly where i wanted to.. not some hap hazard / random spot.

I would hope you could manuever your boats and stop exactly on the spot whereever you had to or selected.. MOB would be case in point?..... right now, i would hope to get close, and am sweating docking my boat and not causing damage... arrrggghhhh...


i know how things 'should' handle and maneuver.. i understand MASS and laws of motion and all that, and understand that water is less friction then cars and they weigh a lot more as well...

I really want to go out sailing with a 'buddy', but have 'issues'... (btw, that was a sneaky, HIDDEN but...)

[flysci]

Bergy, I'm really starting to worry about you buddy. So many unknowns and seemingly no plan to make them knowns.

Originally Posted by Bergovoy

thats a good thing for me as i only plan to sleep there and stage there until i can untie ..

Why wouldn't you move onto whatever boat you're going to buy? That's the way you save the $$ for paying for the repairs/upgrades. There are a number of boatyards that will let you live aboard while you work on your boat.

Originally Posted by Bergovoy

I would love to know how to read charts and or get familiar with the coast lne and moorings/marinas.

Sign up for Coast Guard Auxilliary classes - find them on line - they are cheap or free. When I was getting ready to buy a boat, in addition to live aboard sailing courses (multiple) I took the CGA basic boat handling and seamanship course, and then their navigation class.

Originally Posted by Bergovoy

I am guessing at first i will be playing at the entrance to the marina the boat is currently moored. figuring out and getting more assurance, then going out further and further

No, you are thinking about this wrong. What you need while you are learning is seaway, lotsa room to make mistakes in. Stay away from those other marina boats and all the traffic at the entrance. And you need kindly weather - low seas, light winds - so your inevitable mistakes will be small in consequence.

Originally Posted by Bergovoy

I would hope you could manuever your boats and stop exactly on the spot whereever you had to or selected..

Well that's part of the learning curve you have ahead of you. Get the Annapolis Book of Seamanship, and look at all their drawings of all this stuff; then get some lessons!; then practice, practice, practice.

Originally Posted by Bergovoy

I really want to go out sailing with a 'buddy', ...

Buddies aren't the best for learning. If you pay someone to teach you, it's a better environment for learning. The teacher will tell you things your buddy won't, and put up with things from you that might strain relations with a buddy

Here's my recommendation to you:
1. pick a place to live.
2. take sailing classes, land and water
3. meanwhile keep looking at all sorts of boats, not just on line, but in person. Just 'cause you know you're not ready to buy, you don't have ot tell the broker. Make him earn his keep!
4. buy a boat and move aboard.
5 when it's seaworthy, start taking it out for day motors and day sails in benign weather.

And voila! you are a cruiser (though a newbie)!

Margo

[Bergovoy]

yea, sorry, thats my plan... the apartment is for while i am looking for a boat, and getting her ready.. I am sure there will be some overlap, and i am cheap enough to minimize that expense...

I understand learning in more open waters, and hope they are close to the marina.. or easy to get to... but yea, i dont want to run into anyone elses boat.. that would suck... I do plan and will have more then the minimimum in libility coverage... a couple hundred bucks well spent...

and yea, i will be taking lessons... i am sure buddies would try to teach me, but I would be a pita asking stupid questions about everything... where as i would expect a teacher to have a plan and present things in a normal effective manner... I still hope to get wet before i take lessons... I want to check out different boats and figure out how they handle/perform differently.. to help me figure out which boat to get for myself...

i am lost.. but, i do have a plan, and with the exception of figuring out if i am driving casually across the country vs bee line, seems to be the only variable...

I actually looked for a ride share on craigslist, but have given up...i would feel real bad dropping someone off in Phoenix, but would if they were umm 'less then tolerable'...

i already hate the drive, i dont want to dread it or regret it...

hehehehe

[snort]

Berg,
In setting up your drive cross country with a cat, you may want to stay at Motel 6, since they don't charge extra for pets. Google 'review motel 6 + town you'd be staying along the route'. Motel 6's out west are generally good, but in the south....you may be sharing your room with other critters, so read reviews before you just drop in. That should save you some hassles.
Also, yelp.com, tripadvisor.com, and chowhound.com (may be chow.com nowadays) are good resources for restaurant reviews (hotel reviews too for the first two).
Don't push yourself, telling yourself, "I can stay awake the next couple of hours till I make it to Albuquerque..." Long trips like this means you'll be 'zoning' at times. When you get tired, find a place to stop, rest, and stretch. There are places along the way you'll want to take the time to see as well, especially in the southwest.
One more thing, I'd go the southern route all the way at this time of year. I'd drive down to San Diego and take I-8 out of the state. If you take I-40 through AZ, you'll eventually be above 7K feet and it can get pretty dicey with snow and ice.
Have fun and enjoy the adventure!

[Bergovoy]

i will check out hte sourthern route to see how much time that will add and what cities will be along that route...

thanks for the tip of motel 6.. i wasnt sure which hotels allow and which dont...

i was thinking of cheking out www.couchsurfering.org i think it is...

i just dont know how to predict where i will be and when...

i am guessing if i take the 10, that i will be near Phoenix by dinner time ish???

Kinda of a short drive for day one but i cant start until lunch time... im also on the look out for WAFFLE HOUSE restaurants, and i think there is one in Phoenix...

[RTB]

So Berg, what's your float plan? A-Z? What is your destination in Florida? I guess the route is still being considered...

Ralph

[snort]

My bad. You don't need to go as far south when you've got the I-10 right there where you are. If you like tamales, you must check out this place when you reach the Phoenix area: Pedro's Mexican Restaurant - Glendale, AZ
They make the best sweet corn tamales in the world (well, as far as I know). It's a dive of a place, but you'll like those tamales!
One more thing! Pick up a cheap GPS, if you can.