Want To Buy: Owner Financed Catamaran? - And some advice

[bergmd]

Hello,
My wife and I have decided to take our kids out of school and home school. With everything that's going on we think it is the best decision. We are planning on buying a live-aboard catamaran in the next few months to travel with them. Saving up for a boat wasn't on our radar until recently and do not want to tap into our 401k. We have a combined income of over $250k and both work remotely.

The boat we are looking for is between 38-53 ft and under $300k. We have not approached a bank yet about financing because much of our income is written off by my business. We are starting to save and have about $50k to put down.

I'd love to hear some feedback from anyone regarding our plans. I am 40 and my wife is 36. Our kids are 7 and 10.

Thanks In Advance,
Troy

[geoleo]

Originally Posted by bergmd

Hello,
My wife and I have decided to take our kids out of school and home school. With everything that's going on we think it is the best decision. We are planning on buying a live-aboard catamaran in the next few months to travel with them. Saving up for a boat wasn't on our radar until recently and do not want to tap into our 401k. We have a combined income of over $250k and both work remotely.

The boat we are looking for is between 38-53 ft and under $300k. We have not approached a bank yet about financing because much of our income is written off by my business. We are starting to save and have about $50k to put down.

I'd love to hear some feedback from anyone regarding our plans. I am 40 and my wife is 36. Our kids are 7 and 10.

Thanks In Advance,
Troy

Welcome Mr Dreamer

[svGenesis]

I would spend the "next few months" getting your ASA101, 103, 104 and 114, (this will pay for it self and save you money on insurance) Then do a long search for Catamarans, study all the systems on a cat, You will need at least 20% down for financing and owner financing will be extremely hard to find at that price point.

[bergmd]

@geoleo is it the income, price range, or home schooling that I'm dreaming?

Thanks @svGenesis for the advice. How long do those classes take? I definitely planed on taking a course but didn't know it impacted insurance that much. I'm familiar with boats mechanical systems. I owned a large boat previously.

If we wait another year we can have $200-300k. Not sure if it's worth saving or financing. I'm afraid that waiting will lead to us spending the money on a vacation home or something. We want the kids to attend high school, so our window of opportunity is closing in quick.

[svGenesis]

Originally Posted by bergmd

@geoleo is it the income, price range, or home schooling that I'm dreaming?

Thanks @svGenesis for the advice. How long do those classes take? I definitely planed on taking a course but didn't know it impacted insurance that much. I'm familiar with boats mechanical systems. I owned a large boat previously.

If we wait another year we can have $200-300k. Not sure if it's worth saving or financing. I'm afraid that waiting will lead to us spending the money on a vacation home or something. We want the kids to attend high school, so our window of opportunity is closing in quick.

The courses...101 is a weekend course, 103 &104 are usually taken together over a 3 day weekend, and 114 is for catamarans. You do need to do some pre-study for these.

Any kind of experience will impact your rates. My advice would be to watch some video's of cruisers that are going to area's that you want to cruise to and see the issues they have. Example...Dragging will almost always be an issue so I would over due the bow candy. (oversize anchor and chain) Learn about different systems and the issues. (power/battery/solar ect... As far as financing obviously the more you put down the less scrutiny on credit and income, but I feel that owner financing at that price is almost non-existant.

I would contact a catamaran broker and grill them on some of these details.

[valhalla360]

I don't object to taking some classes to learn but don't count on recouping your money on insurance savings.

You don't say where you want to cruise or how you will stay connected to continue working.

Assuming that the $250k is post tax, I would strip down the budget and sock away $100-150k, so you have a cash $150-200k and then start looking at used boats in the 38-42' range. That should be doable inside of a year.

Then I would look at coastal cruising for a start and budget for at least some time marinas. It's one thing for a solo sailor who loves solitude to anchor for weeks at a time in a remote anchorage but with two young kids being able to step off the boat makes life a lot easier. I'm assuming you can maintain your current income (or at least a decent chunk of it) so you can afford this. Probably more importantly it makes it easier to stay connected being close to infrastructure. Do a search of internet connectivity and get some estimates of what kind of connectivity you need. If you need constant video calling, it will be expensive to maintain.

Lots of great coastal destinations traveling the east coast. Then after a year or two when you have things down, you can consider if you want to do a Caribbean loop or RTW or some other more extreme trip.

[fxykty]

Price range seems reasonable for used boats. With two kids I would say a mid-40s foot cat to fit all the toys and to provide tweens with some personal privacy. Ensure that it is set up or can be set up to be single-handed, as that’s what will be required at times.

And budget maintenance of 10-15% per year of your purchase costs in addition to your monthly budget and up to 30% of purchase price for upgrades, depending on how ready your boat is for living aboard and cruising. Have you thought about the lifestyle you want to maintain and how much income or savings you’ll need to maintain that?

Have you and your family sailed a catamaran? If not, definitely charter for a week or two to make sure everyone is on board as it were. You can do the basic series of sailing courses live-aboard on charter boats, which will give you more experience on board and will also help you decide on what kind of boat features suit you before you buy.

If you decide to finance, make sure you can pay it off before you plan to go offshore. You definitely don’t want to have regular payments with an irregular cruising income. I’m not sure what your business is like, but once you go offshore even with satellite the internet is very slow.

But if you spend your first year on your boat cruising stateside and getting prepared to go further that should provide you connectivity to keep your business and income going.

No issues at all for home schooling your kids, or to make it more structured for them and easier for you buy correspondence school courses. I spent 3 years during grades 8 to 10 working on correspondence school courses on a 10m yacht while cruising with my parents around the South Pacific. By the time I was 15 I was very ready to get back to a school with other kids and had no problems academically completing high school (socially I wasn’t quite ready for the immaturity of my fellow students, but got over that quickly). So your cruising window is quite wide before your eldest will want to get off the boat.

Older teenagers generally need the wider teen socialisation of schools, but until them most thrive in the cruising life. Kayaks, SUPs, wind surfers, kite boards, sailing/rowing dinghies, snorkeling, free diving and scuba diving all provide kids with things to explore with and space for you - no need for marinas or civilisation for them.

Sounds like an awesome dream. Go for it sooner rather than later. But remember that as skipper you have your family’s lives in your hands, so prepare properly with courses and gradually expanding experience before going offshore.

[fcftampa]

Originally Posted by bergmd

...With everything that's going...
...I'd love to hear some feedback from anyone regarding our plans. I am 40 and my wife is 36. Our kids are 7 and 10....
Troy

Not wanting to get into politics here but interested in your thinking.
Don't you think that the same things will be going on when they'll be at the riskier HS grades? Mine is 13 and I've considered this same route. My excuse is that it's quite harder since he's an only child and about to enter high school.

[bergmd]

Yes, the same things will be going on but it really depends on how the kids are socially and psychologically. I'd hate for college to be their first class room environment. If we can still afford college.

[fcftampa]

What's on your list of prefered catamarans and vintage?
Are you planning on cruising beyond US waters?
Txs

[bergmd]

We don't have a list and still becoming familiar with all the models. I'd love to hear some recommendations. Yes, eventually we would like to go outside the Caribbean but not if that means an extra $100k in a boat. Given that price is the major gateway to our dream, I often reconsider the catamaran choice. Mono-hulls appear to be so much cheaper.

[boatman61]

If I may.. I would suggest a Lagoon 380 owners version.
This will give each kid their own room and the other hull for you.. a common living space in the saloon and lots of space on deck to escape for quiet time outside.
About the most economical to maintain.. easier to sail shorthanded and solo.
The bigger 420's+ with flybridge may seem more appealing but for me have to many downsides.. extra windage.. More expensive in dockage and maintenance.. with little extra value for the higher costs.
But.. thats just my 0.000005centimes.. Americans it seems need more living space than the average European.. to whom its just somewhere to sleep or shelter from wind and rain.. topsides are for spending time on, not indoors..

[belizesailor]

Re owner financing. I doubt you will find many owners who will go for that. Financing a mobile asset is riskier and repo could be a bitch (I know of some bank financied boats which were repo'ed from international locations...and were trashed of course...very spendy repo & rehab to prep for sale).

On the upside, owner financing can help grease the skids on a sale. I've owner financed boats and businesses to help close the sale...fortunately they all worked out.

[fcftampa]

Originally Posted by bergmd

We don't have a list and still becoming familiar with all the models. I'd love to hear some recommendations.

-Consider fitness of partner and yours to handle large rigs.
-Consider a relatively wider model since cost, effort to sail and maint. is more correlated to length.
-cabin ventilation
-Age and simplicity of boat vs your ability to repair its systems.
-resale value

I would give you my list but it changes every week + it would reduce my chances of finding the best deal/match

[akprb]

We did exactly that.

Approach your bank and credit union and see what they say before assuming the answer is no.

Owner financing? HIGHLY UNLIKELY.