Buy Big (and Cheap) - Go Now ?

[zeehag]

what hiker sed--if ye get antsy and cant stand it anymore-- pm me and y'all can learn to sail while kids study...or go to yacht club and learn to race sailboats..... learn learn learn-- then when kids are out of school and of reasonable age to understand and not be self centered anymore-- comes at about 20 or thereabouts,as i recall.. ye can pick up stakes and go sailing-- down size in meantime, as well.....

[Weyalan]

Another thing to just keep in the back of your mind. If you buy a "cheap" sailboat, and based on the assets that you have outlined, that is what you will be buying, then be prepared for the boat to need a lot of work. Ongoing work. You can pay for this to be done, but you will pay through the nose, which rather negates the point of buying cheap, or you can do the work yourself. Doing the work yourself can be fune and can teach you learn heaps, but it is time-consuming, hard physical labour, frustrating, dirty etc. But, if you want to do this on a small budget, you will need to learn to love working on your boat.

[delmarrey]

Buying a boat is not the answer to financial problems!

[zeehag]

lol ye both above me are correct-- second one dead on..lol first one-- ye dont know cheapo boats--i have one i got for 10k usually sells for 60 k
lol i am putting in a lot less than i was advised i would have to dump into her-- lol i was told 150k and 5 yrs..LOL i knew better as i know boats wellenough to figger out how and what and where about repairs, pretty much. good thing i am smarter than many folks look....
with the $1k-ish i am putting into her shaft tube and packing gland situation, i will have put into her a total of 5k including repower and bulkhead and deck repairs no i dont do the work meself. no i dont hire drunks and/or druggies or bums.
listening to naysayers speaking against the cheap boat thing-- there are many ways to get work done when you cannot do it yourself and it isnt gonna break ye.
my boat market value-60-80k
replacement value--180-240k
purchase price--10k.
LOL
they are out there so donot give up. doesnt hurt to find a master carp0enter and master mechanic in the dumpster trying to find stuff to feed kids with00- hire them at a reasonable rate and work is done fine, manis happy and so are you. what is the problem in this crummy market with finding an unemployed man trying to feed a family and giving him work????
guess no one here saying this soul cannot go cheap on a boat and make it?? lol i am sorry, guys-- that thinking is outmoded. avoid yacht brokerages-- they need their commission to survive-- you do not NEED to pay it. many boats that are badmouthed are not as bad as the naysayers say-LOL they are merely jealous. you will find a lot of that in your search. good luck-- is fun to find the GOOD deals in larger boats. take someone with you who knows inside and outside of boats..take ix with a digital camera of places in the boat you cannot stick your head into to see how it looks--lol you would be surprised what the owner will "forget" to tell ye about the boat..LOL...

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

Buying a boat is not the answer to financial problems!

That one brought the laughter. I'm nominating it for the Understatement of the Year Award

[callmecrazy]

I'm with zee. I got a very cheap boat except nothing wrong with it, not a project, not even a fixer upper. It was just the market and the circumstance of the seller... Still needs a ton of stuff, but nothing like people make it out to be. Anybody with a minimum wage job can work on, and keep a sailboat PROVIDED they take responsibility they keep things simple, learn what needs to be learned, and do what needs to be done.

I've gone back and read through this thread. Very encouraging to see so many well thought responses. I don't have kids so I'll leave the advice to the more experienced folks here. But, I was a kid once... it seems like your kids have a good foundation, they'll be ok no matter what you decide, and no matter how it works out. it's not going to break them to deal with a few things before they're out of highschool... and in the end, it just might make them stronger

[Weyalan]

I wasn't actually advising agaisnt buying a cheap boat, just pointing out the reality for most of us... to those of you who found a gunboat for ten dollars, good on ya, but for those who didn't, and who don't have heaps of coin, doin your own carpentry / fiberglass work, fitting, painting, servicing, etc. is the normal way of things. I wouldn't actually want it any other way, really... just saying how it is... for me, at least

[canucksailor]

If you're going to do this, look into donated boats. While it seems the bigger boats don't often get donated, you might get lucky. But find the right boat, or your dream will be over before it's started.
I've got a donated boat - cost me well under $10K - needed an engine, found a two cylinder Yanmar for $450, used. Installed it myself, first time I'd ever installed an engine in anything, but I couldn't afford to hire the work out, so....
Sails were excellent, no other real problems although I did paint the boat a year later. Since 2001, I've cruised over 25000 nm in this boat, from the Great Lakes to Cuba and the Bahamas.
I'm not saying do it - I'm just telling how I did it when I burned out. otoh, I'm single with no kids.
Good luck, whatever you decide. And, you already know you have whatever advice here you may end up needing. Great resource, this forum.

[VirtualVagabond]

Originally Posted by canucksailor

If you're going to do this, look into donated boats. While it seems the bigger boats don't often get donated, you might get lucky. But find the right boat, or your dream will be over before it's started.
I've got a donated boat - cost me well under $10K - needed an engine, found a two cylinder Yanmar for $450, used. Installed it myself, first time I'd ever installed an engine in anything, but I couldn't afford to hire the work out, so....
Sails were excellent, no other real problems although I did paint the boat a year later. Since 2001, I've cruised over 25000 nm in this boat, from the Great Lakes to Cuba and the Bahamas.
I'm not saying do it - I'm just telling how I did it when I burned out. otoh, I'm single with no kids.
Good luck, whatever you decide. And, you already know you have whatever advice here you may end up needing. Great resource, this forum.

Canuck,
I've never heard of donated boats. How does it work?

[atoll]

got my little week-ender from the sea cadets,people are allways giving them boats,they cannot use them because they are not coded,so they have to sell them on,all money goes to their charity.

[Charlie]

Zeehag has an Erickson 35 in San Diego for sale. Don't know the price but you could fix her up and take a nice trip down to Mexico in her or cruise So Cal for the summer. If it works you have a nice boat. If it doesn't the boat can be sold again for a minimum price.

[canucksailor]

Hi Virtual Vagabond - people donate boats to certain charities for the tax deduction - the charity sells the boat for funds. Sometimes you can find a really good deal, but you need to be patient.
Google 'donated boats', or check sea scouts, disabled sailing groups such as CRAB in Annapolis, there's a good group in Clearwater FL associated, I think, with a museum there - keep in mind, they're donated for a reason - wouldn't sell, need lots of work - sometimes though, you can get a perfectly good boat that just needs a lot of TLC - and at an affordable price.

Wally

[Khagan1227]

Originally Posted by VirtualVagabond

Canuck,
I've never heard of donated boats. How does it work?

There are several places out there that sell donated boats and at least one or two boat rescue sites.

Boatangel.org and woodenboatrescue.org are two that come to mind. I've seen some very good boats on boatangel looking for a new home. I believe boatangel still uses ebay to sell a lot of their boats.

[VirtualVagabond]

Thanks guys... something to look into

[foggysail]

Ton40--

Your immediate situation appears to damp your self assurance. Throwing in the towel, purchasing (somehow?) an inexpensive sailboat, dragging your family from familiar settings to live on a boat is not well thought out IMHO. Inexpensive boats are inexpensive for a reason............ what you purchase is going to force another burden on your shoulders. If you walk away from that, what will you then do? How do you think you will feel after 2 failures in a row?

Do you have any experience at with boats? Have you taken and boating courses involving safety and navigation? How do you KNOW you AND your family will like living in a 150 square foot (if your lucky) damp, no running water unless your at a dock or gerry can the stuff, tiny bathrooms known as heads, maybe no hot water, no air conditioning. Worse of all, you may not be able to afford anything more than a mooring and have no electricity.

I know, I know, I am peeing on that dream you think is reality.

You need to rebuild your self confidence!!! You should consider the advice offered by BlJones above in this thread. Sure others will and have advised "GO FOR IT!" But YOU have a family, you cannot afford to take a major lifestyle change, one that you have zero experience with.

After regaining your self confidence by knocking on every door as BlJones suggests, rebuilding your life, then and then only should you even think about renting a boat for a couple weeks and of course you will have taken safety course at a minimum before taking a boat from a dock.

You can do it!!!! You are not alone!!!! I have walked similar steps in my life.

Foggy