There is not enough information on the
Irwin to make any kind of decision. The asking price makes me very very nervous. Indicates it's not in good enough condition to sail back to the States where it should have a greater value. It's got a front door
refrigerator under the
galley sink. That will be useless except in a marina unless you run the
engine or
generator most of the time.
As the size of the boat goes up, the cost of stuff and
repairs goes up at a greater rate. If you are on a serious
budget, stick to as small a boat as you can live with. You can keep the expenses under control where a bigger boat just seems to bleed
money.
To go cruising, all you need is a hand held
gps,
sail boat and
sails. Everything else is nice to have. Personally, won't leave home without a
self steering vane. Driving gets real old, real real quick. Autopilots are a poor substitute for a
wind vane. They are electrickery so prone to failure and need lots of electrons to feed them. You have to
budget spares and
charging options into the cost of an
autopilot. A
dinghy is nice to have unless you don't mind swimming to shore everywhere you
anchor. An
Avon RedCrest would me minimum for me. I like to have a knotmeter/log for DR
navigation should the need arise and I just like knowing how fast I'm going. A
depth sounder would also be high on my wish list because it can used for
navigation as well as keeping you from running aground. Oh, forgot to add a personal
Epirb just in case I have to go swimming without the boat. An
Epirb for the boat isn't such a bad idea, either.
Things like a life raft,
VHF radio,
HF radio,
autopilot for motoring, light air sails, and a whole host of other things are on most peoples boats. They aren't absolutely necessary to get underway but make life at sea a bit more fun. I'd suggest you get a West Marine/Defender Marine/etc. catalogue and go through it looking for items that you'd like to have on your boat. Make a list and check it against the equipment list on any boat you consider
buying. Add up the cost of
buying these items and include it in the real
purchase cost of the boat.
FWIW it's, sailed my first boat, a
Columbia 26 all over the Hawaiian Islands with three sails, a hand held
compass, a second hand Danforth
Anchor and an
outboard. It was all I needed to sail there or any area where I could DR to my next
destination. With the addition of a GPS, could have sailed that boat almost anywhere. Would have been stupid to do that 'cause the boat was really crappy but I could have bought a
used boat for about the same amount of money that would have been fine for crossing oceans.
Now I've got a 35' boat, have spent more than twice it's
purchase price getting it ready to cross oceans and I'm still not done. Have sailed it to
Hawaii but need to do a lot of
work to get it ready for the next leg. I'll have way more in it than it's worth when I get done but it's been fun and the
kids don't get to blow the money as part of their inheritance. Got lot's of bells and whistles that make me feel good but, for the most part, don't really have a lot to do with actually crossing oceans.