Want To Buy: Looking for a $10k liveable Sailboat

[Inicnat]

Location: Anywhere in the world

Price: $10k (If the boat needs a bit of repair)
$20k (If the boat is ready to cross the ocean tomorrow)

I need a reliable boat for some point go to Brazil. At the moment, i'm not a very experienced sailor, this will be my firts oceanic sailboat. I'm looking for something like a 30ft (or bigger), with a standing headroom, i'm 6’3” height...

If you have any advice for me, i'm open to it as well, thank you all

[Raincoast]

Advice? Your budget is not viable. This market is not 2002, it’s not even the buyers glut of 2015 anymore. Anything you could acquire for this price will require quadruple that in rebuild (not refit) costs, and you will certainly not find something “ready to cross an ocean tomorrow” for $20k.

$45k in this market gets you a hull with crevice-corroded standing rigging, mast compression, corroded thru-hulls on the brink of failure, and deck-core rot / delamination. If metal is more your vibe, it gets you a steel hull made of oxide dust barely held together with sloppy epoxy which you will need to replate considerably.

$10k will buy you years in a boatyard and at least $50k in sunk costs, now. The era of finding a cheap older boat and fixing it just enough to sail - is over.

[Ballsnall]

You generally won't find cheap boats listed by brokers or the boat sales website's. Word of mouth, visit DIY boat yards/storage yards. Craig's list is usually the best or occasionally some good deals come up on auctions.

[seandepagnier]

Originally Posted by Raincoast

Advice? Your budget is not viable. This market is not 2002, it’s not even the buyers glut of 2015 anymore. Anything you could acquire for this price will require quadruple that in rebuild (not refit) costs, and you will certainly not find something “ready to cross an ocean tomorrow” for $20k.

$45k in this market gets you a hull with crevice-corroded standing rigging, mast compression, corroded thru-hulls on the brink of failure, and deck-core rot / delamination. If metal is more your vibe, it gets you a steel hull made of oxide dust barely held together with sloppy epoxy which you will need to replate considerably.

$10k will buy you years in a boatyard and at least $50k in sunk costs, now. The era of finding a cheap older boat and fixing it just enough to sail - is over.

this is all nonsense you can cross oceans even for much less than 10k

[Wolfe10]

Critical question: how handy are you? There ARE some older (OK much older) well found boats that could fit your criteria, but only if you have both interest and knowledge to do a lot of sweat equity.


Have to pay a yard-- forget it.

[Bowdrie]

As already posted, the more "out of the way" boatyards and CL are where you'll find something.

https://portland.craigslist.org/nco/...489058633.html

https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/b...490898880.html

https://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/b...490626286.html

https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/b...489615737.html

Be prepared to get down and dirty, and scrounge around.
People have sailed around the world in lesser boats than these.

[El Pinguino]

This must be Naysayers' Picnic Day.

Not sure which side of the Atlantic the OP is on but I am aware of a boat - about 30 foot and about 30 years old - purchased in the UK about a year ago ( they crossed Biscay in October) for about UKP15k, another UKP15 put into her refit - which included new sails and rigging , second hand hydrovane, new Raymarine instruments etc - which is now in the Pacific bound west.
So maybe the OP needs to up the input $$$ a bit - but not all that much.

[nortonscove]

Originally Posted by seandepagnier

this is all nonsense you can cross oceans even for much less than 10k

Totally agree. The person posting the negative post lives in a place where 10k doesn't get you a parking spot and that may be clouding their vision.

[captlloyd]

Originally Posted by Raincoast

Advice? Your budget is not viable. This market is not 2002, it’s not even the buyers glut of 2015 anymore. Anything you could acquire for this price will require quadruple that in rebuild (not refit) costs, and you will certainly not find something “ready to cross an ocean tomorrow” for $20k.

$45k in this market gets you a hull with crevice-corroded standing rigging, mast compression, corroded thru-hulls on the brink of failure, and deck-core rot / delamination. If metal is more your vibe, it gets you a steel hull made of oxide dust barely held together with sloppy epoxy which you will need to replate considerably.

$10k will buy you years in a boatyard and at least $50k in sunk costs, now. The era of finding a cheap older boat and fixing it just enough to sail - is over.

30 ft. Columbia for sale on Cleveland Craigslist for $6200, Volvo diesel, new sails, looks to be in good condition and well taken care of. Many other similar offerings for under $16,000. I’m sure the OP can find deals like this pretty much anywhere in the US.

[jipcho]

I bought a 28 year old 42 foot kauri wood cold molded sailboat in New Zealand in 2002 for US$ 50,000. I spent another 20,000 replacing sails, rigging and adding gear like a water maker and wind generator. Sailed her around the world over the next 15 years, and sold her in New Zealand, where she was built, for US$38,000.

$20,000 may be a bit too low, but I advise that you go to NZ, Australia, or Malaysia, and you will find a good ocean going vessel for $40,000-60,000. Just be patient and hang around the boat yards and marinas. Many American and European sailors cross the Pacific and don't have enough interest in crossing the Indian Ocean, for many reasons. They are often keen to sell, rather than continue to pay marina fees.

[cottonsail]

You are not realizing facts. Ok, I bought a 1980 Swallow Craft Swift 33. It was in really bad shape. The layout and tankage was exceptional. 33’ with 2 90 gallon water tanks and 75 gallons of diesel and id this is a must buy boat. I have financial resources and a FAA mechanics license with both airframe and power plant ratings. Additionally my first real job in life was as an apprentice tool and die maker at Grumman Aircraft. Yes I can accurately measure. I have put 5X the original cost of the boat into it. Yes it is now almost perfect. So unless you have these abilities you will piss away years and money

[Oeanda]

We bought our boat here locally three years ago, for $15,000 Canadian (12,000 US). A fair amount of interior damage and neglect. Pretty neglected all around actually. But still a lovely boat and completely functional to the point that we’ve been using it since day one for fishing and extensive travelling locally within a couple hundred miles.

The to-do list is always long and it is very labour intensive to get her back to her former glory. You really have to enjoy the process. But other than that, it really hasn’t been an issue and it hasn’t been quite as expensive as some might say. Yes a lot of marine gear is hideously expensive but if you have DIY skills, like learning new tricks, and are into searching out good quality used stuff where possible, then it’s fine IMO.

I would not want to deal with this 39 foot boat on my own. It takes two. But something in the 30 foot range would be manageable and correspondingly cheaper/better for the purchase price, and hopefully more ready to cross oceans.

In our case- I actually really prefer having a fixer upper. I mean, we’re gonna have to learn how to fix all this stuff eventually anyway. I wouldn’t know what to do with an expensive boat where everything was absolutely perfect and I had no idea how any of it worked. We enjoy the process of working on the boat and learning new skills as we go. It’s not an opinion that I hear much on this forum. So maybe we are just in denial and something major is going to blow up soon? Perhaps, but we’ve been riding fine on denial for three years now and generally having a great time with it all. So far so good, and no regrets at all.

Seems to me that getting a handle on a boat like this is roughly equivalent to getting a university degree. Kind of like four years study for the basic one and several more for anything approaching a masters. Plenty of people pay far more for some useless degree that they never do much with, and have much less fun along the way.

Good luck to the OP.

[boatman61]

You can pick up a Lentsch Tripp 29 (190cm headroom) fully kitted out for €10000 in Zeeland, Holland being advertised on Inautia right now.
Old style full keel fast sailboat with solid GRP deck so no sandwich to fret over.. narrow Hull (2.73m) so not a floating apartment but great sea boats.

[apf]

I sent you a PM about our Sadler 34

[Rumrace]

I think you want the used Chevy van forum.
The last OP dreamer had a 20K budget.
A floating insured boat in a safe club costs more than 10K a year.
Yacht clubs are kicking out liveaboards.