Help! Quit my job and buying a boat!

[Unchained]

My wife 2 adult children and our dog are looking for a liveaboard that is in good sailing conditions. We will be living in the key and need to move this June. Our budget is a maximum of $65,000. All and any information is very helpful as this is all new to us.

[DDabs]

Good luck! Get as big of a boat as money will allow, especially with 2 "adult" children and a dog.

[a64pilot]

In honesty I'm not sure what the question is.
If you go up on the top menu and click on the search label, but use the Google custom search as it is much better, you will find hours and hours of reading related to what I think you are asking.
Of course you may ask questions, that is I believe CF's purpose, but you'll find treasures in the search function

[Lizzy Belle]

Welcome to CF, unchained!

Listing every boat that sails and is under $65k will take us months ... (polite way of saying we're not going to do that ). There's websites already listing boats for sale.

How much sailing experience do you all have? What kind of sailing are you planning on?
Have you looked at boats? If so, which ones do you like?
Plastic, steel, aluminium ..? Monohull or cat?
What size are you thinking?
How many people will live aboard full-time - just you and your wife, or the adult kids (!) too?
Do the adult kids each want their own cabin with their own heads as well?
Does your $65k also include all the necessary upgrades etc.?

There are many websites listing boats for sale - go through them and see if you can find some boats everybody who has to live on it full time agrees on. List what a boat has to have (number of berths etc.) and what you would like (but isn't a dealbreaker) and see how many boats you can find that fit - if it's really 4 adults and a dog, it'll be a challenge for that budget, to say the least ...

On edit:

"Quit my job" ... not sure how you'll pay for all the maintenance, slip fees etc. - hope you have money set aside for that too. Buying a boat while unemployed isn't the best move (IMHO) but obviously, your choice Did you already check with marina's to see if they have a slip for you, if you're allowed to live aboard and do you know the costs involved?

[DDabs]

Yachtworld.com is your best friend. Get comfortable with it and spend hours and hours dissolving into the ether there.

[leftbrainstuff]

Originally Posted by Unchained

My wife 2 adult children and our dog are looking for a liveaboard that is in good sailing conditions. We will be living in the key and need to move this June. Our budget is a maximum of $65,000. All and any information is very helpful as this is all new to us.

Thats a small budget for a boat you intend to sail and live on.

You are probably constrained to 1970s and 1980s era vessels. Difficult to find good ones in that price range.

Start trolling yachtworld.

Do you have additional budget for upgrades and maintenance?

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[Unchained]

Thanks for all the reply. I quit my job here in colorado but will be working in the keys. My sailing experience is minimal. As far as types of boats I don't have enough knowledge to exclude wood steel aluminum or fiberglass. I do like the idea of a walk through or pilothouse. Yes all 4 adults and the dog but the adult children just for one year.

[Lizzy Belle]

Only a year or longer ... they'll need beds etc. all the same.

But what exactly are you asking us? What info are you looking for?
See my previous post

[Unchained]

Thanks, to clarify my question. Having very little experience and currently living in land locked colorado. I have no idea how to buy a used sailboat. I look on yaht world a see some boats close to my price range. Is it common to negotiate 10%, 15% off asking price. How reliable and valuable is a survey? I lived in a 100 year old house once and it was great. But with sailboats how old is too old? Most I am looking at are late 70's and early 80's. As for maintaining cost we will all be working, making muck less than now but my wife and I will net about $4000 a month and our care and MC are paid for.

[Lizzy Belle]

Originally Posted by Unchained

Is it common to negotiate 10%, 15% off asking price. How reliable and valuable is a survey?

If you don't know much about boats, you'll need a survey - not sure how else you're going to know what a boat is worth, how much work she needs and if you should even buy her.
How reliable the survey is depends on the surveyor

And no, there isn't a standard formula for x% off asking price. Some boats are priced to sell, others not so much. Some aren't worth a dime, others maybe even more then asking price.
Usually, boats will sell for less then asking (with plenty of exceptions to that rule) but the % will differ greatly.

How old is too old? My plastic boat is 40+ years old, and in good enough shape I'd trust her on an ocean crossing. How well a boat was built and maintained is key here. But ... older boats will have older engines, rigging etc. too usually, and that can get pretty expensive very quickly.

You have given yourself very little time, and with the 2 extra adults you'll be hard pressed to find a boat within budget. Personally, I'd wait until the 2 adult kids have found their own living space.

[a64pilot]

Maybe the best money you will ever spend is on that survey, value of a survey is of course dependent on the surveyor.
I ask this trying to be helpful, but are you a Jack of all trades? Comfortable adjusting the valves on a Diesel, setting fuel pump timing, a great plumber, have had a multimeter most of your adult life, that kind of thing?
Reason is within your budget and even much more than your budget to be honest, most likely boat will need considerable work, and if you have to hire it all out, it can get very expensive, very fast, and not every mechanic out there is honest and or competent.

I'm not trying to scare you off, just be realistic, I find enjoyment and crazy as this sounds but fulfillment in working on my boat, most times, the other times I'd sink the thing
But I have heard several times that cruising is fixing the boat in exotic places, and that seems to be somewhat true, older boats seems of course to need at least in the beginning, more fixing

[a64pilot]

Four adults and a dog, your talking BIG boat and big boat stuff is many times more expensive than small boat stuff

Kids only for one year? Don't buy a four person boat for one year, wait that year out on land, then after they leave buy a 30' to 40' boat for the two of you

[Lizzy Belle]

Yup. And only to house 2 extra adults for a year - after that, you're left with too big (and expensive) a boat for 2 people ...

Again, I'd wait until the adult kids have found their own living space, and use that year to learn more about boats and save up some more money. Then, buy a boat fit for the people who'll be living on it: the 2 adults. And the dog (let's hope it's a small dog and not a Rottie-sized dog ).

Edit: stop editing already, a64pilot! Now I'm just parroting your post haha!

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Lizzy Belle

Edit: stop editing already, a64pilot! Now I'm just parroting your post haha!

I only do that to keep from having so many posts, looks sort of silly to have three posts in a row. But I did the edit three minutes before you posted, great minds think alike
I also am extremely handicapped typing, I am not one who grew up doing that, it sometimes takes minutes for me to type a post I'm so slow.

[Adelie]

Columbia 45, one in NY and one in FL.


Best bet is the C&C Landfall 43 in FL: http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1984...s#.VqFKH4o77CQ

Decent bluewater boat with enough room for all. Perhaps a bit cramped which would be a good way to keep the young'uns from lingering. Then you are left with a boat that is probably bigger and more costly to maintain than you really want but you are in a tough position either way.


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