Hare-brained Scheme

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by AllAboutMe

Check US listings for CS boats. They tend to much cheaper here, as they aren't as popular or well known here as they are in Canada. For comparison sake, I have a Canadian friend listing her CS 27 for 21,000 Canadian, and US friend listing his for 12,500 US $. Same year, same overall condition.

This is good advice. C&C and CS models command a "familiarity" premium in Canada, plus a "fleet" price as many of them are still raced in level fleet racing at the club/PHRF level.

It should be quite possible to shop the Finger Lakes or Lake Champlain and find a "freshwater" CS that is considerably cheaper and less favoured than anything here.

Conversely, shop Lake Superior. The boat will have less mileage, being in a place with a shorter season, and will almost certainly feature in-cabin heating!

[Nomad57]

That does sound like good advice. I'm just not sure I understand how to 'shop' those areas for boats if they are not listed on Yachtworld. (I'm a bit of a noob at used-boat shopping. My previous used-boat shopping experience was with the broker that was located at the marina where I had kept my next-to previous boat. The boat we were looking for just happened to be sitting on the hard there.)

The ones that I've found on Yachtworld in the U.S. are usually salt-water boats.

Nomad

[S/V Alchemy]

Like we said, check out boatforsale.org, YC cork boards, even Craigslist for Toronto. The freebie mags GAM and Lake Ontario Sailor have classifieds. Your best bet is the YC clubs. It's a fact of life that old guys with great boats die leaving fees for inheritors who don't give a tinker's about boating and just want to get rid of the boat. Sometimes the price is so stupidly low that you don't want to wait for a survey. If you are quite inexperienced, find a friend wise enough to eyeball a "bargain" to determine if it's a diamond in the rough, a giveaway by motivated, ignorant sellers, or an insurance claim in potentia. There's a lot of perfectly functional, dirty old boats with brown plaid cushions in there that sail really well and show like That '70s Boat. I should know, I own one.



Next year, you could make me an offer!

[Nomad57]

We picked up a copy of Ontario Sailor yesterday. Will be checking some more YCs. After our last experience, I think I can eyeball a boat pretty good. I've learned a thing or two from this forum about what to look for in the rigging (unless you want to volunteer).

Nomad