Buying a Boat ?

[ffbandi]

Ok, bare with me. Im sure these questions have been asked quite a few times but here are mine...

Im looking to buy a used boat. No rush right now because I want to make sure I do it right. Quality not quanity. Im thinking next winter.

I really want a cruiser/mini yacht= 25-35' what make or makes? I need to really narrow my search. Carver, searay, ect. I have seen so many different ones now that I am lost. The primary use would be open ocean cruising I.E. trips to Catalina from San Diego with just a few friends

What handles well in rough water? And what to look for on a boat that would help determine that?

What type of motor? Brand, inboard, outboard?

Is there a difference between a cruisers and motoryachts? Im so confused!!!!

I have already considered docking, maintenance, & insurance fees. Also a safety course and possibly a sailing/captains course. But I cant even get to that point until I figure out what I should be looking at. I wanted to spend a lot but after looking it seems as if I could find something around $25,000-$40,000. I just really need help on determining what makes, models & years? Im thinking 1990-2003

Thanks for your help I cant wait to read what you all have to say

[James S]

Welcome to the forum ffbandi.
Your right...its probably the most asked question we have, and a very difficult one to answer definitively.
If you use the Google box in our search function you'll find days worth of reading/advice on this subject.
This is what came up when I did the search for "what Boat to buy"
What boat to buy - Google Search
Good luck.

[dacust]

The link James posted is a good place to start.

Then, one good way to get a response in here is to post a link to a boat for sale, say what you like/dislike about it and how you plan to use it. You are guaranteed to have plenty of responses telling you how you are wrong, what you missed, what boat you should be looking for instead, etc. Some of these comments will actually have relevance to your post. You just have to weed through them to find which ones.

Just watch for my responses. They will be the insightful, thoughtful, intelligent, un-biased replies.

Oh, and welcome to Cruisers Forums!

-dan

[Boracay]

San Dan Diego to Catalina Island looks to be about 100nm, to do this during daylight you'd need to average 15 knots over open water. In any sort of rough weather it would be an unpleasant trip.

If you have some idea of how many persons of each age and sex you may want to take, what sort of sleeping arrangements are acceptable and what sort of toilet/bathroom is needed this can also guide your choice.

Can you also give us some idea of your mechanical aptitude and experience, your ability to repair a boat and how many hours each week you could put into maintenance and an estimated monthly budget for keeping the boat.

If you restrict your choice to the smaller, more seaworthy outboard powered boats that could be trailered to Dana Point this may be more practicable.

Why not drive up to Dana Point, take the ferry across to Catalina Island, stay a night and then see how you may feel about doing this in a small boat in bad weather?

[u4ea32]

San Diego to Avalon is 81 statute miles, 130 kilometers. Hence, a displacement trawler will get you there or back in a long day at 8 knots. On a typical long day, you will see calm winds up to about 15 knots from the west -- on the nose from San Diego. A long swell that really only matters if you are going fast, but the chop builds all day long.

A planing hull will drink lots of fuel, and straight upwind and straight downwind are not favored directions for such hulls, so speed will be much lower than you might hope, with seriously fatiguing harsh motion of the vessel. Expect to break your champagne flutes.

Therefore, I'd suggest a displacement hull powerboat with a deep, fine entry. You'll just always go the same speed, instead of sometimes going faster. You will always use a small fraction of the fuel (like 20% as much as a planing or semi planing hull), and one thing you WILL notice in this modern world is that boat fuel is a large expense, unlike for the past century. You will always have a more tolerable motion at sea, both going to the island and returning.