Buying Decent, but Cheap Boat in Med

[dniello]

Hello All,
Im thinkin of buying a boat in the Med and sailing around there for a bit. Now I would be looking for a sailboat in the 28-35 ft range and ideally is fairly cheap. Anyone have any good ideas as to places with the most selection? I would even consider UK or areas outside the Med as well. Any advice on this would be much appreciated.

Derrick

[dniello]

Wow, great Post

[barnakiel]

Decent, cheap and in the Med?

No idea!

Tried Yachtworld? Seen a Rival there at Mallorca, cheap thence rather not decent. But a rival can be made decent.

b.

[DoubleWhisky]

Try PM hoppy, he have the recent experience regarding buying in the Med

[zeta]

Maybe buy one in the US (boats are currently plentiful and cheap) and have it delivered to med or sail it yourself. Probably sell it over there and pay for your cruise. Just a thought.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by dniello

Any advice on this would be much appreciated.

Derrick

Buy where you intend to use. that way it won't matter if she is not ready for long distance cruising........and no transocean capability would open up model choice as well as boat condition choice.

for location I have no idea, would go for Yachtworld and see where boats for sale are clustered - won't be every boat for sale in the Med and cheap often doesn't get much by the way of sales effort, so not everything is on the internet.......but woud give you a heads up for Mr Google.

Or just come over to Europe anyway, base yourself somewhere cheapish - get a car and spend a month or 2 getting boots on the ground. If you find a boat then great, if not - then worse ways to spend the time

Funnily enough I am mulling over buying another (smaller) boat for European adventures - around the bay trips, accross to other islands and..............odd trips accross to Northern France - and up the Inland Waterways for extended periods (Under Canvas - and B & B!). At the moment am thinking..........17 foot ........or even a 21 Foot Cat ...........but I'd like to fit a motorbike onboard.............

[mannyt]

try an x charter boat in Croatia.. much cheaper then anywhere else I looked at.. just bought a 45 foot Elan 2001

[DoubleWhisky]

Originally Posted by mannyt

try an x charter boat in Croatia.. much cheaper then anywhere else I looked at.. just bought a 45 foot Elan 2001

Welcome to the CF mannyt

Congratulations - the Elans are really nice boats

[zeta]

How about something like this: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...0-a-57745.html

[swagman]

If you are serious you'll find hundreds of boats for sale via the web. I agree with those others who suggested buying in the Med if thats where you want to sail - and IMHO you'd get better value buying an well set up boat from an existing cruiser than buying ex charter and then adding the toys.
Enjoy the hunt and hope to see you there on the water.
JOHN

[bobdersegler]

Hi Dniello, whats cheap? I have a 29' Ranger-1965, full kiel, Aries wind steering, cockpit tent, 2 burner gas cooker, fridge, wc, 4 berths, 2 main sails, 3 fore sails + spinnacker, 3 anchors, yanmar 2 cylinder diesel, 45ltr diesel tank, 80 ltr water, life raft, tender with outboarder.Radio-dsc etc. No roll reff gear, no selftailing winches. Pure sailing! Had a super 3 month solo through the Baltic, IKA is to be seen and sailed close to Lübeck, N.Germany, if your interested contact me.

[dniello]

Great posts! Has anyone ever done this? Im just curious if there are any regulatory issues I should be aware of as far as buying a boat outside the US. Also, would just like to hear an overall impression from somone who has "been there, done that" (or still doing it....or planning it).

[hems]

We bought our boat in Greece about 2 years ago. We're still in the Med heading West this year. We registered it in US and paid no US sales tax if you never bring it to the US. Make sure the VAT is paid on the boat is you're going to resell it here in Europe.

BTW what's cheap? We found ours on Apollo Duck, but I know YachtWorld is a huge site as well.

See you on the water!

Erik
sevensailors.us

[krissteyn]

Not sure what cheap is , my parameters are much the same except need space for a wife and 10 year old active boy. So was looking at a neglected Catamaran I can fix up. But I nearly fall off the dingy when the prices quoted reach my eyes. I am sure a distressed cat 36 - 44 ' is available , but where to start ?

I am curious what restrictions there are if we leave the boat and come back next year - when is the boat deemed to be "local" and how do the authorities keep track - if its a sailed accross the pond boat with foreign registration , what are the benefits / pitfalls ?

Interesting posts so far

Kris

[Tia Bu]

The parameters of cheap approach the limit of $0. Read Joshua Slocum's "Sailing Alone Around the World". That's how much he paid for the very famous Spray. I have a buddy who recently bought a 27' sailboat in the U.S. for $50. It's in pretty decent condition for coastal cruising. A friend told me last night he's going to pick up a 20' racing keelboat he bought for $1700 to complement the successful club racer bought for $1200 a few years back. I paid $2000 for my 30' blue-water sailboat that needed a LOT of work (but not much in parts or materials). I got the idea to start looking that cheap from reading Captain Fatty Goodlander's magazine articles. He paid, as I recall, $5000 for the 36' boat on which he's cruised around the world for the past twenty-plus years. Another buddy of mine paid $4000 for a 30' boat that is in beautiful condition today.

If you're industrious and willing to work hard, go for it. If you're the kind who never quite gets around to those projects you planned to tackle (nothing wrong with that-- lots of nice folks are that way), then save yourself the heartache (and the world another derelict boat) and look for something in better shape. Remember, it's a lot of hard work just to keep a boat in good shape. To bring one back up from project status takes determination!