Your
price range will limit what is available. Based on that
price, you should tell us what part of the world you will keep the boat. I suspect that you will get some very different answers based on location.
I have a 2002 32 foot
Hunter that is up
for sale in
Florida. It is a great boat for day and weekend sailing, in fact we just motor/sailed from Corpus Christi to Tampa in 29 days on the GIWW. Some downsides, for example: it does not have AC, it was a bit small to spend that long in close quarters. It does however have a
heater and
radar and structure scanning sonar. My wife and I agreed when we got to Tampa that the only way it would have been a better trip would be to have a bigger boat (with AC) and to plan a longer trip. (YES, you heard that right, the Admiral said I should get a bigger boat!)
OOPS! just realized I was hijacking your thread... back to the original question. You should do a lot of looking to see what is available near you, or near where you want the boat. The cost to move it will not fit in your
budget. Things to look for in this dream boat (in no particular order):
Can you live with the condition of the boat?
Can you fix it?
Does it leak?
What is the condition of the
motor, the various systems?
How bad are the
sails?
How old is the boat? While at first glance that might seem like an unimportant question, the older
fiberglass boats that were built into the mid '70's are very sturdy boats (the
fiberglass is very thick) some of the boats have issues with de-lamination of the material. For these types of questions, come back with a specific manufacturer, model (length) and year of construction.
What are you going to do on/with this boat? Sit at the
dock and never take it out? If this is the case, find out what the slip fee's are in your area and consider
renting an apartment near the
water for the months that you want to be there. It will probably be cheaper than a "Dockominium". If you want to actually sail it, consider spending more and getting a boat in slightly better condition, or perhaps smaller and not
living aboard, but sailing more.
Bottom line good luck with this idea.