Best buy in a solid cruising boat (go anywhere, $30k or less)

[sanibel sailor]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Pacific Seacraft Mariah 31 ($29,900):

1978 Pacific Seacraft Mariah Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

not much bigger than a Triton...

[sanibel sailor]

Originally Posted by CLady

How about a Bristol 35.5
There are a few listed for 39k that probably can be had for considerably less especially this time of year.

I paid 14 for mine, a repo needing work, but sailing within 2 months after purchase.

[sanibel sailor]

Shannon 38 sailboat
If you can work out the logistics, a smokin' deal, Shannon 38 (full keel, not CB) for $37,500, pics look good, nicely equipped and maintained. Recent refurbish, seems like a distress sale.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by sanibel sailor

not much bigger than a Triton...

But a little heavier at 16,000lbs.

[sanibel sailor]

Originally Posted by sully75

Bristol 35 looks pretty great.

Bristol 35 (Alden/CCA boat essentially) and Bristol 35.5 (Ted Hood) are completely different boats.

[sully75]

sorry 35.5 is what I was looking at.

Allied Seabreeze is pretty sweet too.

Most likely I will be sailing the Triton next summer and then putting her away in the fall and hoping to sell her then.

[onestepcsy37]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

No one has mentioned the CSY boats... they may be the most sturdy boat out there....

They ARE the most sturdy boat out there!

[Bluemansailor]

1983 President Nassau Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

Needs work but worth it! Nassau 34? who knows here- me been doing a refit on mine for 3 years- of which the last year I've been a full time liveaboard.

I'm almost finished with my refit - not many made, nor have many people heard of a Nassau 34. Thick hull- I can show you photos of plugs I've drilled out, full keel- with a forefoot cut out. Bulkheads are 1 1/4" thick and tabbed to hull, deck is very thick- cored deck, I had a leak from water damage- I fixed it no problem. Great u shaped galley,- sails really well- I singled handed mine down from New England -I also love the butterfly hatch- lets in a lot of air.

Email me if you want to know more about her- I'm also in contact with an another owner who's owned his longer than me.

[oldragbaggers]

We had a Cape Dory 28 which is almost the same design as your Triton. (Alberg was pretty set in his ways.)

We now have a Cape Dory 33 and space wise there is a huge difference, it is a whole lot more boat. I'd take a look at the 33 if you get a chance.

[roland stockham]

Not possible. You may get a hull for $30K but if you want 'go anywhere' you are probably looking at 30K in fit-out costs.

[sailmauinui]

There's an Allied Princess 36 off Maui. Good boat and well cared for. Check Maui Craig's list

[Island Time O25]

Originally Posted by sanibel sailor

I paid 14 for mine, a repo needing work, but sailing within 2 months after purchase.

A friend in FL got a decent shape early 80s Niagra 35 last year for under $15K off a craigslist. Put another $2-3K into it right away and had her sailing few weeks later. His only major issue afterwards was the v-drive, which personally I think is a terrible idea to begin with but that's another story.

So I think the $30K budget is doable but requires lots of leg work and time to go through all the garbage boats at this price range.

[sully75]

Originally Posted by roland stockham

Not possible. You may get a hull for $30K but if you want 'go anywhere' you are probably looking at 30K in fit-out costs.

Not totally sure that's an absolute but that's fine. I have a boat to sail in the meantime though and it's great, just a little tight. I put more than $20k into this boat, and I probably shouldn't have, so I know all about it.

[sully75]

Originally Posted by Bluemansailor

1983 President Nassau Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

Needs work but worth it! Nassau 34? who knows here- me been doing a refit on mine for 3 years- of which the last year I've been a full time liveaboard.

I'm almost finished with my refit - not many made, nor have many people heard of a Nassau 34. Thick hull- I can show you photos of plugs I've drilled out, full keel- with a forefoot cut out. Bulkheads are 1 1/4" thick and tabbed to hull, deck is very thick- cored deck, I had a leak from water damage- I fixed it no problem. Great u shaped galley,- sails really well- I singled handed mine down from New England -I also love the butterfly hatch- lets in a lot of air.

Email me if you want to know more about her- I'm also in contact with an another owner who's owned his longer than me.

That looks like a great buy for someone. I imagine the price is negotiable. Right now I'm not in the market for a huge project and not for a huge project in Alabama but looks like a cool boat.

Tough to know what to do about these short run boats. Something that had a long production line you can get an idea what the problems are. This would be a lot harder.

[oldragbaggers]

Originally Posted by sully75

Not totally sure that's an absolute but that's fine. I have a boat to sail in the meantime though and it's great, just a little tight. I put more than $20k into this boat, and I probably shouldn't have, so I know all about it.

We've had that feeling too many times, Sully. We always put too much into our boats. We put nearly $20K into a Bristol 24 once. Not even sure how we managed to accomplish that, but we did.

Deciding whether to refit an old boat or spend more at the outset and just go sailing is always a hard decision. At least it is for us. We have done it both ways and there are pros and cons.

In our younger poor years we were usually motivated by the fact that it was hard to get a boat loan for the older cheaper boats so it was easier to come up with the initial lower purchase price of a real beater and then "pay (and pay, and pay) as we go" while we're fixing it up. Then I think at some point this just became "what we do," the norm for us. And we discovered that we actually enjoyed working on boats and also enjoyed the pride of ownership that comes from knowing you took an old piece of crap that wasn't too far away from the chopper and gave it a new life. We like saving the old traditional boats. That's part of the enjoyment for us.

We only paid $15K for our Cape Dory 33, in need of a lot of work. Structurally she's very sound, the interior is in amazingly good shape except for some totally screwed up wiring the PO tried to do. Of course it needs new cushions and curtains, a ton of cleaning and varnish but I always do those things anyway, regardless. But there sure are a lot of the "working parts" that need to be replaced, rebuilt, or repaired, and the exterior really suffered from just sitting for years exposed to the weather. We figure we'll have $40-50K and a couple of years of work into her all said and done.

We could have bought a Cape Dory 33 for that amount that was sailable right away, but most likely it would still be needing upgrades, repairs and replacements, certainly not to the extent that ours does, but unless the PO just completed a total refit the day before everything will not be brand new starting out like it will be on our boat when we finish.

So we are trading a couple of years of our time, which we have right now anyway because we still have about that same amount of time before we can retire, for basically a brand new boat.

Our choice wouldn't be for everyone because not everyone enjoys the work of restoring old boats. We're lucky because we have done a few of them so we already have a pretty comprehensive tool collection, and we also have more spare parts than I even imagined. It seems like half the time we can find a part we need in a box in the garage or basement which is saving us considerable money. I am also offsetting the cost by selling on eBay old parts we find that we know we will not be using on this boat.

Good luck finding your bigger cruiser. But you are blessed to have such a fine old cruising boat as a Triton. Either way, you win.