Looking to Get a Boat

[Usagi]

Well, I've decided that the numbers will eliminate any boats that are far afield. Beyond that I've also read that one should look or a boat that just plain turns your head.

The Moody looks interesting. However aft cabins make me nervous. I feel trapped there. That has a lot to do with having a Gulfstar with an aft cabin and being boarded by Florida Marine Patrol in the middle of the night with guns drawn. If I'd have even moved wrong I'd probably be dead. But Thank Gawd that we have the "best police in the world to protect us." Anyways, I digress; that's another subject.

My preferred layout is a quarter-berth on one side with a galley on the other. Next forward, on one side a dinette with two benches and a table between. I'd prefer storage on the opposite side but probably will have to settle for another settee. Next forward, head on one side, storage on the other. For my "family" (three rabbits) I have no need of a v-berth and would prefer to have more storage there. However the usual idea of most manufacturers is to see how many people one can fit (sleep) on a boat, sort of like the old game of seeing how many people can fit in a phone booth or a VW Beetle, so real storage space is minimized. Making a live-aboard/cruiser for a single person seems like an impossible task for the people who make boats. I fold clothes and store them in plastic zip locks to keep them from getting damp and icky. Hence, I see little need of a hanging locker. Drawers or shelves are better.

As for the cockpit, I'm not fussy but I'd like to be able to stretch out and snooze under a bimini for shade. I prefer a tiller but can put up with the ubiquitous and space wasting destroyer wheel which many seem to think is "yachty" and therefore necessary. A dodger will be required to keep me somewhat dry if the weather turns foul when traveling.

Some of this I'll be able to customize when I get the boat, as long as I don't care about resale value. It seems that a lot of people are into the phone booth game and are not that interested in storage space.

Yes I am looking at a lot of older boats. They often have better numbers. They are usually heavier, hence are more seaworthy and have heavy displacement which equals a more comfortable ride as well as larger payloads. So I can continue to be a bit of a pack-rat.

I guess I've figured out that the boat is likely to cost about $20-30,000 overall. Either I pay that up-front for a ready-to-go boat or I get a fixer-upper for say $10,000 and put $20,000 into it. As Robert Heinlein said, "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch." You pay now or you pay later.

Once you're over the initial "wanting" a boat, the fever cools and you take off the rainbow shades you discover that a LOT of boats are a smoking pile of poo. And yes, that sure does help in selecting one that smells less than others

I also do have the advantage of living on a boat for about 10 years and in delivering water to people in Boot Key Harbor. I got to see a lot of boats, sometimes their interiors as well. I can't remember the brands that well but I do remember some of the features that I liked.