First Boat Purchase . . . Humboldt Bay

[david7]

Hello Everyone,

I'll preface this by saying that I have searched quite a bit on this site but still find myself with questions. I'm 24 years-old and will be moving to Eureka CA in March or April of 2012. I have some sailing experience on Laser and Hobies. I also got my ASA 101/103/104 in Los Angeles and we sailed to Catalina. I have been doing extensive reading and research and plan on buying a 30'-40' boat to liveaboard, gain experience, and someday sail around the world.

Now my questions...

1) I'm dreaming on a budget and was curious what you guys think of some of the 10-15k boats available on the west coast. I'm mainly looking at older Ericsons, Catalinas, Columbia, etc...for example 1984 Ericson SAIL Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com I realize I will eventually have to buy sails, winches, and so on...but would a boat like this be a good idea and at least able to sail from Marina Del Ray to Humboldt Bay?

2) Which leads me to my next question. I know that if I really put my mind to it I could probably sail up the coast on my own. Other people have done it with less experience and knowledge than me but I don't really want to take the risk. (plus some of the rules regarding anchorages, marinas, and radio protocol are still a little fuzzy to me) So I would probably need to hire a captain to transport the boat for me. What might this cost and would it be possible for me to crew with them on the trip? (gaining experience along the way and getting to know my new boat) Is this a feasible plan?

3) How hard would it be to get a loan for an older boat like this. My credit score is 736 and I would probably have at least 2k as a down payment. Then I need to figure tax, insurance, cost to hire a captain, survey, and slip fees. Is there anything I'm forgetting?

Thanks in advance for anyone willing to help me out. I probably have a thousand more questions but these seem like the pertinent ones at the moment.

[Bash]

It would seem a bit silly to buy an Erikson 30 in Newport if you wanted to keep it in Humbolt. They're all over the place, and at any given time you should be able to find bunches of them for sale.

It may be easier to get an unsecured personal loan for $8k through your credit union than to get a boat loan on something that old.

[david7]

Originally Posted by Bash

It would seem a bit silly to buy an Erikson 30 in Newport if you wanted to keep it in Humbolt. They're all over the place, and at any given time you should be able to find bunches of them for sale.

It may be easier to get an unsecured personal loan for $8k through your credit union than to get a boat loan on something that old.

Thanks for the reply...I was thinking that an unsecured personal loan might be a better option too. I've only searched on yachtworld but I didn't see very many boats in my price range much closer than that. Not even in SF Bay. If there was one in Humboldt that would definitely be great but I wanted to cover all possibilities. Is there a better place to look for used boats? I did google "used sailboats in Humboldt Bay" with not much luck.