when to take the plunge?

[wolfgal]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

If you are of modest financial means, and must do most of the maintenance and upgrade work yourself, then it certainly helps to have mechanical and electrical skills. Oh, and plumbing is essential. And fibreglassing. How about sewing, food preservation, electronics, and we haven’t even got into the challenges of navigating and living on a smallish boat.

As I have discovered, sailing is the easiest part of the cruising life. It’s all the other stuff around boat ownership and cruising that is hard(er).

Skills can be learned and improved. Some who come to this boating life start with high levels of skills. And some, like me, start far lower on the skills ladder. I think it’s important for all of us to try and recognize where we are, and to have the humility to say when we need help.

Mike, you are so right!

beyond not being an experienced sailor yet, beyond the confidence issues (and the fact that i've got this left-right issue so can at times, when i least expect it, be a bit unpredictable with the tiller...), and beyond not being an experienced navigator and passage planner (only vaguely remember how to do dead reckoning and finding where we are on the chart using the triangular method, etc), i dread pushing buttons, hooking up gadgets, getting electronics set up. (i once read about how an extra fuse can be hidden in the pedestal mount - to look there...).

and how exactly does grounding happen, with a wire attached to the engine...? and do i actually need to bond the bronze thru-hulls? there is so much to understand.

i'd much rather do mechanical stuff, stuff i can tug on a bit with a tool. and even if there are those things i've done, i've only done them once (like fibreglass work, cleaning a winch, sanding, priming, anti-fouling, rebedding with butyl tape - actually i did a lot of rebedding -- once...). the spectrum of knowledge required for boat systems is enormous, just enormous. thanks for bringing this up.

what's fantastic however is how folks help one another out there. more than anything i'm looking forward to being a part of a community. i always ready volunteer to climb the mast (even if i'm not sure what to do up there), because i know i'm easy to haul up there. and even though i'm more attracted to diesel engines than sewing machines, i will give them a go... the way i figure it: sewing is something i could learn to do, so to be able to give back.




maxpics, yes, there are two schools of thought:
one that says, just get a small boat for practice and change later. another says to go for the one (so to save the time, energy, and extra that would be spend): this, of course, is at the risk of choosing the wrong boat. it is an all-or-nothing approach favoured by those who either need to save every last penny so to make it happen or those who are running out of time...

you were motivated by the need for a home (another very good reason to get "the one"). and the therapy that came with the boat was surely a major plus! and you chose the right boat the first time around: this is fantastic. the Nauticat has caught my eye more than a few times. nice motorsailors!

you even dared to finance it. bravo for paying to off.

i'm a no-debt-type, so have saved the cash i need. even though it is not a huge amount, it gives me the advantage of jumping on an opportunity. yes, as you stated, i want my boat now... however, i'm also getting so very frustrated with the process of looking... and not finding. i've been looking for way too long, mostly at boats on the other side of the world, which isn't practical. so far, i am just not enchanted by those we find readily available in europe.

over there, there are so many wonderful boats to chose from: Alajuela 33s are absolutely fabulous; the mason 33s are incredible; the Able 32s are unbeatable; ...the Bristol, Crealock's Pacific Seacraft, Shannon, Cabo Rico, Baba (the Perry boats do have flair), even the Dana and the Nor'Sea... Oh the list goes on and on and on.

there was a baba 30 that popped up two years ago over here (some of you saw Lady Stardust advertised here on CF). i was not quick enough and am still kicking myself around the room. there was a Pacific Seacraft Orion that i went to see in the Canaries that was (ahem) sad.

there is a (slow, granted) Southern Cross 31 for sale in Greece that looks to be in fantastic shape (and priced double the going rate), but i did much too much research on the SC31's hull to want to pursue...

and there is actually a Hans Christian 33 (my first big flirt) for sale here right now. i know so much about these boats, from bow to stern, hull numbers, how they were put together, where, when... but, five years later, and i do not feel that i have the physical strength required for the loads, not to mention the deep pockets required for maintenance. this is a couple's boat. besides, an HC33 would cost a fortune in a marina in the med, being that the LOA is 41'...

i'm sticking to 33' or below, because this is limit before paying a whole lot more per foot. even if i could afford them, the LOA is just too much on the couple of Pacific Seacraft 37s, the two Tayanas (that have been on the market for a while).

true there is a Nantucket Island 33 that i've been literally stalking for years now. a peter cole boat, i love the interior... (who needs a condo when one can have a home!) it is just the high freeboard and the arrangement of the cockpit, the lines... can she heave to? (i need to ask reef magnet)... hmmm...



and so, of course, i am looking at the boats here, the golden Hind 31 has fantastic draft, can cross oceans and can be in excellent shape (the late ones - but some exceed 33' LOA), the Great Dane 28 (which should be too small) is a tough cookie-of-a-boat with nordic-man standing headroom and a warm teak interior. then there is the contessa... perhaps the contessa is the better compromise, especially since the yard is still up and running in Lymington (across the channel). perhaps...

just today, a friend warned me, told me to take care not to buy a boat that doesn't fit my criteria because i'm tired of looking. i'm thinking on this... sometimes i get tired of looking all together. sometimes i wish that my gal would float right up to me...

thanks again, all!

[JPA Cate]

Good day, wolfgal, et al.

I'm glad you're pretty clear on what you want in general. That really helps. Finding what you want can really take a long time. Just remember, it's sort of like "you gotta kiss a lot of frogs." It took us 3 years of active looking to find this boat. We almost put an offer on a (gasp!) catamaran, because we hadn't been able to find a mono cutter that we wanted in Oz, while the Yank dollar had more strength here. All those requirements on the list, you know. But, the PO was an acquaintance, and a mutual friend called him up and told him he was going to lose a built in customer if he didn't let us know she was for sale--and we've been friends now for around 14 years! You don't have to fall in lust for the boat, AND she does have to tick as many as possible of your boxes. For us, the one she doesn't, is the sit down nav station, and it turned out not to matter that it's stand up.

I don't know if you can get hold of it, but given how you like to work, you might try and locate a copy of The Twelve Volt Doctor if you're having trouble visualizing that type of info. Also, fwiw, sometimes the best teacher for stuff like this is not the whiz who understood it intuitively, but someone who had to struggle for his/her understanding.

I'm not sure what is holding you back, at this point, but it sounds as if something happened that gave you a blow that knocked your confidence, only, but that you have plenty competence on which to draw. You're lucky in that. All i had was small automobile mechanics (from the days when cars had distributors, and one had to fiddle with points, and adjust one's valve clearance.) Oh, yeah, also knew how to use a drill to make a hole where I wanted it. Just go ahead and do it, you may never feel actively worthy or self confident, but in the mean time, you can still do what you want to do. It's more of what you've already done, pick what you like for you, and go sensibly, one step at a time. You'll find the boat that ticks enough of the boxes. The gal that could sail up the Nile, she can do this.

(By the way, a lady named Pat Henry circumnavigated in a Southern Cross 31, singlehanded. We met her in 1990.)

Cheers,

Ann

[SailAmore]

It took me 10 years of sailing different boats to decide what was right for me. Even then, I'm glad I didn't buy the first boat I made an offer on. Check it out at FB/SailAmore. Good Luck!

[p435]

Originally Posted by wolfgal

please do tell me how you knew when you were ready to buy the sailboat

You can buy a sailboat when you are legally old enough to do business and have enough money for the boat you want.


When are you ready to sail this boat?


When you know how to sail in general and, if needed, you have the skills and license to sail the boat you bought.

[Capt JJ]

-15yrs looking, dreaming...

-2 of those yrs listening to my friends tell me “Go to Florida to buy a boat” when I’d show them boats in California/Wa state/Hawaii...

-looked at a boat (my first) just to see in person a boat my eyes liked in pics for 15yrs...guy liked me, my story and made a deal w/me “get this boat outta this canal by end of month and I’ll give you the boat for free”
Great first boat and learning liveaboard the yachtie culture...wayfarer 24...

-after being boatless 16mo I’d watching boat market and my current boat (32 Islander MK2) popped up on market, I called asking if he needed deposit to hold it for me till I could make it to finish transaction? He said he couldn’t come for a week so we made arrangements to see it/buy it & drove 400miles and saw her in her slip and my mind was made up...looked her over and bout her...most easiest transaction I ever made, nice marina I had 10days to get her out, great people helpful all way till bon voyage...

-kinda superstitious about boats...
Looked at a lot of boats where boat, owner or marina/yard were projecting “funny business”
Had a lot of boat deals fall thru which I take as deals not meant to be, much like relationships that were difficult...
Like Tanya Tucker song goes “If it don’t come easy, better let it go”

[SailAmore]

Originally Posted by wolfgal

please do tell me how you knew when you were ready to buy the sailboat

When I found myself spending way too much time browsing on YW (and this forum, too)!

[Spot]

Originally Posted by SailAmore

When I found myself spending way too much time browsing on YW (and this forum, too)!

I spend too much time here and I already have a couple boats...!?!


Seems like being ready is part physical (have money for boat, can sail some, can maintain a boat some) and part mind-heart-soul (ready for change, living with less comforts and more according to weather, being willing to take some risks).


Currently I am a trailer sailor, dragging my boats around like a child does a toy on wheels. I wonder too what it would be like to make more of a life change, get to a climate where the water does not turn into ice and bonk me on the head as it falls off the roof (recent event) and turn a hobby into a lifestyle...


Wolfgal, are you looking at any boats in person? Do you have the big book on maintenance by Don Casey?

[wolfgal]

Originally Posted by Spot

I spend too much time here and I already have a couple boats...!?!


Seems like being ready is part physical (have money for boat, can sail some, can maintain a boat some) and part mind-heart-soul (ready for change, living with less comforts and more according to weather, being willing to take some risks).


Currently I am a trailer sailor, dragging my boats around like a child does a toy on wheels. I wonder too what it would be like to make more of a life change, get to a climate where the water does not turn into ice and bonk me on the head as it falls off the roof (recent event) and turn a hobby into a lifestyle...


Wolfgal, are you looking at any boats in person? Do you have the big book on maintenance by Don Casey?

Hi,

Yes, yes, I've got the Don Casey and the other big ones. I haven't read all of them yet, but tackel in bits. (i find that, if i do not use the knowledge, i cannot make it stick). Beth Leonard's is the easiest to read since she has such a global, less technical approach.

and yes, i've been visiting boats, not a whole lot, but enough to know that, most of the time, the broker hasn't a clue as to its condition and is waiting for someone to fly out there and do the leg work for him. in the past, i've inspected boats that have been very far from their stated condition. one broker asked me for my images and notes.

just yesterday, it happened again: there was a Southern Cross 31 for sale in Greece on YW (that disappeared this morning). over the last month, i emailed a bit with the broker, and he did not tell me that another potential buyer had gone out to see the boat earlier this year and reported it to be in a bad condition. i had to squeeze this out of him. subsequently the advert is down... but some brokers will keep the advert up, knowing that the boat is about to sink (if you want an example, look for the Pacific Seacraft 27 in tenerife).

so, yes, i do see boats in person but then, sometimes i get exhausted by the process and take a break. part of this is also because there is a boat that i am seriously interested in but have yet to see. the owner is in northern europe and the boat in southern europe (and me, i'm in between); and we haven't been able to coordinate yet. we are in touch though and will make it happen sometime this spring.

so the search continues...

thanks everyone for the responses. i've had my eye on Brookie as of late, which inspires me on one hand, and makes me feel a bit envious on the other. in any case, i am happy for anyone who makes it happen, and my time will come.

good things

[p435]

Greece, Teneriffe...



Where do want to buy a boat?



Are you UK citizen? Brexit will change your rules of the game.


Are you EU citizen?


Brokers are mostly useless people who don't know much about the boats.



I know only one European broker who knows all or close to all about the boats offered, but this broker only sells catamarans. But this worldwide.

[wolfgal]

Originally Posted by p435

Greece, Teneriffe...

Where do want to buy a boat?

Are you UK citizen? Brexit will change your rules of the game.
Are you EU citizen?

am dual/bilingual. am looking for a boat here, yes, all over. been to see quite a few in england, then scotland, canaries, greece, italy, all over france. trains and planes, yes... not yet to the netherlands, some good boats up there... though not sure the ones for which i'm looking

vat and ce inspection both present barriers to the boats that tick the boxes for me. as a eu resident, it's required. minimum cost for ce inspection is in the 6K but one could be required to change the engine if it doesn't pass the emissions test (and/or earlier that 2004).

some boats (newer models, not the classics) do not even pass the measurement tests (campanionway, hatches, port lights, etc.). some have been turned away.

this is the primary reason why the boats that appeal to me are not here in the first place. sometimes one can find one in turkey; but then, vat is usually not paid and the boat is not ce inspected.

getting around ce? possibly, but with one hand in the cookie jar...
and vat, one pays it and that's it

will be mobile in another couple years, so, if it comes down to it, getting a boat here will not be a necessity. one day at a time...