My name is Alan and I have been a
small boat sailor (owned up to 20') all my life. After a reasonable career at Duke University I have accepted an early buy out offer and am retiring at the end of January. Now I face the problem of should I bite the bullet and indulge myself in a life long dream of a
live-aboard sail, or just slink off into the shadows . . . . hmmmmmmm, what to do, what to do.
So I thought I would start here by asking some basic questions that have come up in my searching the used-sailboats-for-sail websites and hope you good people will help me out.
I have seen "fiberglass" and "reinforced fiberglass" hulls notated and wondered what the difference was and should it be an issue for me. I anticipate coastal sailing and maybe a bit of out island
Bahamas..
Also seen sloops and tall rigs. Is there actually a difference?
I am concerned what brands would be good to look into and what brands to avoid in terms of
maintenance, i have read horror reports on some brands, but don't know enough to make any value judgments.
Also, how old is too old? When do sailboats just become a liability no matter how well they have been taken care of?
I guess that's all for now, I am sure I'll have tons more questions before I make up my mind one way or another.