Family liveaboard coastal cruiser recommendations

[Wandering Dixie]

My wife and I are in the market for a sailboat for our family, kids are 5 and 6, to cruise in over the next couple years. Our plan is to sail from Tacoma up the inside passage to Alaska next year after the school year ends and then head back down to the Bellingham area before the start of their next school year. We'd then take the following school year to continue to make any changes and improvements to the boat that we needed. Once we were confident with the boat and our abilities and the weather was right, we would make our way south, hugging the coast and making our way to Panama. The plan then would be to cross up through the Caribbean and into the ICW and make our way to Wilmington NC.

Our budget for the sailboat is currently $60k, plus an additional $20k in repairs. We would love to keep those numbers as low as possible, its just what we feel comfortable affording right now. My wife's biggest requirements are boat safety and 2 cabins. She really wants the kids to be able to share a V-berth or built a set of bunks on the boat for them. Skill wise, we feel confident doing a lot of the work. 5 years ago we completed a complete gut and remodel of 2 story house that was built in 1898. I've also done some basic work on sailboats, trading work for a season of free boat use.

With that, we're going to look at a 1973 44' Spencer sometime next week. https://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/b...515972229.html I'm trying to find some information out on the boat, but I'm not having a lot of luck. Are Spencer's a solidly built boat? I know that its going to be partially dependent on her previous owners and how well they've taken care of her, but you can't turn a Gremlin into a Toyota regardless of how well it's maintained. What are some other recommendations for boats. We're near Tacoma and our current list includes a... well that its for right now that has 2 cabins. There's a 87 Pearson 39 that she wants to go see, but it's north of our budget and I don't believe it has 2 cabins. So anything else you have that we should be looking at please let us know.

Lastly, how aggressive should we be in negotiating a price. For a vehicle I'd research online and start making my rounds to the dealerships to see who would give me the price I wanted. Boats seem to be a different beast. There's the survey, but it's going to cost me $1200+ just to make that happen. If feel like once that happens, you're kind of at the hands of the seller. Do you agree on a price before hand with the caveat that the haul out doesn't have anything unexpected show up. Even then you've just dumped $1200 into a boat you may no longer want. Would an honest owner that feels comfortable in his boat be willing to agree to an amount, then pay for the haul out and survey, then once it comes back clean the price negotiated would be accepted. Otherwise the seller would have to negotiate since he paid for the survey.

[jlcnuke]

As far as looking, I'm not looking at boats that old myself, but since boat selection isn't nearly as great as used cars, for instance, I think it may be helpful/preferable to not limit yourself to boats in your immediate area. Have you been looking online at sites like yachtworld etc where you can filter by price and length? Maybe a search like this?

I have not bought a boat myself yet (still got a bit to go before I'm ready for that), so take everything I say with that in mind. From my readings, however, you make an offer contingent on the survey. If the offer is accepted (after negotiating most likely) then you go ahead and get the survey done and renegotiate anything necessary based on the survey results. The costs for getting the survey (including the haul-out and the survey itself) are on the buyer from what I've read.

[Chuck34]

There are lots of boats with two cabins, some starting as small as the low 30 footers. My Catalina 34 had two private cabins. For your intended use, I would say nothing less that 40'

Standard buying procedure...
Find a boat you like, make an offer, seller will either accept, reject or counter. Offer should be contingent on satisfactory survey and sea trial.
Once a price has been established, it is up to the buyer to have a sea trial and survey. Costs of survey and haul out is on the buyer's dime. You can try to negotiate the seller picking up those items, but rarely happens. Also, do you really want a survey done by someone the seller is paying for? Can you say "conflict of interest"?
Once the survey is complete, then you have another sit down with the seller to re-negotiate the price based on the surveyor's findings.
Depending on issues found, you may say, fix these issues, or I will take the boat as is with a price reduction of $XX. If the seller doesn't want to cooperate and take care of issues found, you have the right to walk away. You get your deposit back but you are out the costs of survey and haul out.

DO NOT buy a boat without a survey.

[PAlter]

When you say 2 cabins - do you mean 2 cabins plus a main salon or a forward cabin and a main cabin? I have owned my 38' sloop "Sequitur" (LeComte NE 38) for 20 years and taken good care of her, new diesel, new main, replaced main electric panel, etc over the years and sailed from Maine to NY with extensive cruising in New England. Boat was built in Holland to Lloyds of London specs, fiberglass hull, teak interior, painted deck, beautiful seaworthy boat, easy to handle, great lines / great pedigree (Bill Tripp design - cut away forefoot, modified fin keel and skeg hung rudder - fully battened main with lazy jacks and jiffy reeling, roller furling jib. This boat is similar to the Hinckley Bermuda 40 (same designer) but actually sails better / is more agile due to underbody configuration and she is 2' shorter. If this seems to be of interest - let me know your email and I can send you the listing. Price is $ 55,000 USD - boat is in Massachusetts and will be in water in Mid-May. Great boat and my reason for selling is to move up to a larger boat.

Best wishes in your search and let me know if you have interest.

Paul