Found a dream boat, just to realize I'm financially not yet there.

[mvmojo]

Not much market for steel boats therefore LOTS of negotiating room. Make an offer you think you can afford and who knows, you just might get the boat of your dreams! But beware, boats are ALWAYS a lot more expensive then you plan for. Insurance has a way of going up year after year, maintenance costs rarely decline over time and there's always "something else" the boat needs or you want. Work up a business plan and some realistic financials before taking the plunge!

[Clivevon]

Seriously i would not recommend you to buy a boat if you dont need one At all, as you said.
I would only suggest you buy a boat if you cant live without one, in which case you should buy it now - life is short.
Dont buy your dream boat. Stop dreaming & buy a real boat that works for you for now.
Or else just keep on dreaming, not doing....
I assume you have been chartering boats for trips at least once a year for several years now??
If not, i just dont think you are serious...

[Windinyoursail]

Financial focus, thanks that was indeed one of my main thoughts writing this down..

Your first point is what is very clear to me hence my choice for the boat, it's not by far a modern complex ship.
Most manual winches, just two electric.
I would say 90% I can maintain upgrade myself and is already roughly put on paper abd budgeted.

So to summarize that, this size of boat won't come cheaper without having serious problems and structural quality is not found often..

Your second remark is also spot on and one of those nagging questions, I don't know I hope my kids might enjoy but I seriously realize that could be more hope than reality.

And also going just smaller to only accommodate a small enthousiast crew makes really sence..

I think you nailed my biggest worries, choices perfectly...

But how to get those more clear, as always we want to make the best most rational choices but checking if we do is not easy..

Love your post thanks!

[Cheechako]

My wise words are get a smaller boat you can cruise for a while and which is readily resellable. Especially if your wife is not committed yet. You will then know a TON more if you do that when it comes to getting a bigger live aboard boat.

Also forget "dream boat". Once you've had a few boats you realize that having an oddball boat because "you know what you want" is really just silly. In todays world steel is silly for most people.
There are reasons boats have certain design features. There are X square ft in a boat and anything you make bigger takes from something else.
Get a boat, use it. Find out.

One of my early cruising boats had 2 stock interior designs. But NOOOO I had to make a few changes. I spent two years of my life finishing that boat as custom. When all was said and done I never thought of the changes I made and found myself wondering why in the heck did I obsess on all that work instead of buying a stock layout and sailing.

[Greg Mason]

Windinyoursail, the issue I see is that you have no wind in your sail. You seem to have a dream, is doesn't appear that you don't have someone to share your dream. Yet. I married a mid-western girl, she claims I started talking about going offshore the day of the wedding, I remember it being a least a few days after. We did. It was my dream to start, but eventually, it became our dream. We followed the cruisers lament, 'go now, plenty of time to work later.' We spent everything we had saved at the time, rented our house, and never looked back. Tis is only our story, many others have a different point of view, and a story to match. Regrets was never an option for me.

[Windinyoursail]

Not much market for steel boats..

Thanks for your remarks.

I know the rough market for boats, well the ones I'm interested in..

Also current selling conditions not being great and a serious economic escalation being a real possibility.

I think I budgeted yearly costs of sailing rather high than low, thanks to going true many topics covering this and talking to boat owners and the basic idea I want to have enough to do this for 10 years with just assuming no income what so ever, that could be the hard reality after all.

So I think these are realistic covered as far as not assuming repeating extreme set backs...

Concrete remarks are very welcome, every thing could help...

[bailsout]

I would never buy steel unless I was a welder and could do my own repairs. I have a wood boat and will never get another boat unless I lose this one. And my next one would be wood. Then again, I bought wood and can barely nail two sticks together. Fortunately, I haven’t had to make any repairs- not counting maintenance which I CAN do.

[nortonscove]

Way too many people have tried this particular approach and failed. There isn't a dream boat in the world. All have issues and can be improved upon with very little experience. My boat checked nearly all of my needs when I got it but would have a different checklist now after eight years with this particular boat.

Would I end up with the same boat? Maybe given financial constraints and size desires, not requirements, it would be very similar.

You offer no background information regarding sailing, just financial and that makes me question the focus of the search more than anything else in the post.

[mvmojo]

There's really not much welding required for steel boat ownership. The real maintenance skills needed involve grinders, dremels, sanders and paint brushes. Occasionally you may need a welder to make some changes, but they're generally not that hard to find and generally not that expensive to hire.

[MicHughV]

I'm sure you are familiar with the expression that every battle plan changes the moment the first shot is fired....

So it goes with sailing....the moment you untie the dockline, any plan you may have had, goes out the window.

Forget budgets, plans, talking to other sailors, etc....the more you talk to other sailors, the longer you will stay tied up. Their plans are not your plans. You will meet new people tomorrow, the next week and the week after. The weather tomorrow will not be the same as it is today.

The biggest hurdle for most wannabe sailors is untying that dockline....consider it an umbilical cord...you can stay hooked up to mama...or you can strike out on your own...talking about it resolves nothing.....zero...nada...zilch..

Which is it to be???

[pushstudios]

I needed to hear that. Great words. Thank you, MicHughV!

[Gaia]

Originally Posted by SV Trillium

I went through a similar experience, sometimes it feels as if you will never get there.

One suggestion, if you have not already done some extensive cruising, there are crew sharing sites where you can hop on for a few passages. It scratches some of the itch. More importantly, it helps you continue to refine your expectations - both for the boat and for your life's dreams and goals. It's usually just a cost-share for food/fuel, so it's cheap. I've done it several times, my friend circumnavigated that way hopping on three boats for different legs.

Be patient on the purchase - make sure it's what you really want/need and most importantly can afford. Budget for refitting etc. Boats will usually be 2x what you expect in time and money.

Enjoy the ride.
Cheers,
Cam

This is good thinking. The perfect boat doesn't exist. And to make things worse the idea of perfection changes with time and experience. The best way to narrow down on that elusive concept is by sailing different boats in different conditions and crewing is a good way to do that especially if there is time to meet other sailors out there. Also helpful are the many blogs out there with people who might be willing to communicate. Ideal would be to get something affordable just to get out there amongst people doing what you want to do to hone your preconceptions. And then after some experience buy what you then consider perfection. I guarantee that opinion will change. If you buy something initially with that thought in mind it should be something of known value so you do not lose too much on the later switch to the ideal. By working at improving such a pre-ideal boat you might not even lose money. That idea of gaining the neede knowledge can be approached by chartering but that gets expensive.

All the above assumes no extensive previous experience of the permanent cruising life.

We quite recently crewed on a large catamaran in a partial crossing of the Atlantic thinking we might want to go to that kind of yacht.. The experience although delightful and we would gladly do again changed our minds and made us appreciate what we already have more.

Good luck

Jim sv Gaia

[Narfi]

I would not be happy away from my wife, she would not be happy with me away.

If it becomes her dream, your mindset and budget changes......... Instead of needing to support 2x homes and 2x lifestyles and 2x traveling back and forth...... A shared dream only needs one.

If you both live full time on board then your house can be sold or become rental income, you no longer are traveling back and forth for holidays, etc.....

Find out what she wants what would make her happy at Sea, it doesn't have to make sense to you but if you embrace it, then the dream becomes shared and the possibilities can actually be realized.

For example my wife is set on a catamaran, she does not want a boat that is always leaning over. She wants to live above and not down in a 'cave'. She wants there to be space around the mattresses for getting in and out of without crawling over each other or from the foot and so that the edges are easily accessed for cleaning and making the bed. She wants the kitchen in the same living space, not separated. Etc.....

None of those are deal breakers for me, but I can easily embrace them because now I have a shared dream with my partner who will in turn ensure we have the budget to make it a reality. So we both work multiple jobs building and dreaming and making plans.

Otherwise I hear divorces can be ugly and expensive, you can probably sail off in your coleman canoe after that

[joelhemington]

Originally Posted by Windinyoursail

Financial focus, thanks that was indeed one of my main thoughts writing this down..

Your first point is what is very clear to me hence my choice for the boat, it's not by far a modern complex ship.
Most manual winches, just two electric.
I would say 90% I can maintain upgrade myself and is already roughly put on paper abd budgeted.

So to summarize that, this size of boat won't come cheaper without having serious problems and structural quality is not found often..

Your second remark is also spot on and one of those nagging questions, I don't know I hope my kids might enjoy but I seriously realize that could be more hope than reality.

And also going just smaller to only accommodate a small enthousiast crew makes really sence..

I think you nailed my biggest worries, choices perfectly...

But how to get those more clear, as always we want to make the best most rational choices but checking if we do is not easy..

Love your post thanks!

Sounds like you need to focus on a smaller boat you can afford now just to see if your family is at all interested in the idea. Hopefully a boat in high demand which can be easily sold later should the big steel boat becomes a reality. At the moment it's going to be hard to know where you'll need to be given your family questions. That said , interim boats can be difficult to sell and will undoubtedly eat up some of your long term budget in ongoing repairs and maintenance.

[MicHughV]

just to clear the air....

I built a steel boat....why ??...# 1. it is bloody strong. #2. It was relatively inexpensive to build. # 3. Despite all the things people say about steel boats, it was (and still is) a terrific sailing boat. It carried me safely for 1000's of miles.

That boat is still around, now on it's 3rd owner....it just turned 40 years old. The new owner intends to take it to Antartica. Nothing like a steely for peace of mind floating around icebergs.

I hear so much crap about steel boats. True, most, but not all, are home builts, but many are in relatively good shape. True, you get the occasional rust bucket, but you can't let one rust bucket define all steel boats.

Talking about rust....most steel boats have hulls 1/8-3/16" thick. That may sound thin, but I'm here to tell, it is incredible strong. Much, much stronger than plastic or composite. You can get any surveyor to measure the hull thickness, you can do it yourself with the purchase of an ultrasonic sounder. It is simple matter to have the entire hull sounded. You can record the hull thickness on a diagram of the boat you intend to buy. You can have 100's of soundings in a matter of a morning. From there, should you know the hull thickness, which you should, you can see if there is a problem anywhere. Remember this, seeing some rust is not an indication of weak material. Steel can throw of a tremendous amount of rust. Investigate any suspect areas that have low readings. If you find a bad spot, move the ultrasonic sounder all around the area, which will tell you if it is an isolated spot or over a larger area.

You are not likely to be able to pound another person's boat with a hammer and chisel to search out rust, nor will you be able to tear apart the inside to search for rust.
Which is why the ultrasonic sounder is a "must-have" device. There many examples of this gadget. $200 will get you a pretty decent model.

You can measure the hull thickness from the outside. Any suspect areas will then be easily identified for further investigation.

Fixing a problem area is easily done by any experienced metal worker or you can do it yourself. You can buy a small portable welder for next to nothing these days. You can even rent oxy-acetylene bottles of you want to do your own cutting, etc.

On a boat for boat basis, there is an equal amount of junk plastic boats out there. Rotten decks, etc, etc, etc.

Today, there are any number of products available to tackle rust that were not available even a few years ago.

Ok, I'm done for now......