A $35 000 coastal or $175 000 world cruiser?

[Nellos]

Hi sailors! I love this forum and all the great combined wisdom and experience that's here. I hope you have a moment to help us.

Me and my girlfriend are looking for a boat. As you know, it's a jungle out there. I'm hoping that by giving you some of our requirements and thoughts and you'll be able to recommend some brands and boat models.

We're planning for a cruising lifestyle.
Price range: Around $35 000 or max $175 000
The big choice is whether to get a boat in the lower range (to cruise Scandinavia, western Europe and the Mediterranian) or go straight for the bigger boat which should be able to take us anywhere in the world.(except polar regions which we're not interested in)

Important:
- center cockpit OR a good aft owner's cabin in an aft cockpit boat
- Few beds and few toilettes (it's for us, not for chartering)
- Easily crewed by 1-2 people. (We both have certificate to sail 38+ feet boats)
- Smaller boat: good coastal live aboard. Bigger boat: good world cruiser.

Thougts
- no fix-her-up project
- we'd rather have a boat tjat's somewhat modern compared to a 80's boat. Thinking primarily about electronics and equipment here.
- Of course want the boat to be as fully equipped as possible with gear, dingy etc but don't need to write specifics here.
- We're primarily thinking about monohulls, mainly because the budget doesn't seem to allow for a cruising catamaran.

Plan
- buying the smaller boat 2017 and sailing it in sweden(our home), Scandinavia, western Europe and the Mediterranian in 2017-2018/19.
- Buying the bigger boat and live aboard and cruise around the world. Either right away in 2017 or after the trials with the smaller boat.

So considering all this, if you have any recommendations for the small or big boat we'd really appreciate it. We are yachtworld junkies like everyone else but recommendations are worth a lot.

Thank you!


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[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Nellos

Price range: Around $35 000 or max $175 000

Even your list doesn't narrow it down after that.

Go onto Yacthworld.com and do some searching at different prices to see what you like for the price. Far as a "starter" or a "final" boat I vote you get the final boat. All a starter boat does is cost you money to maintain and later sell in order to get the final boat (been there done that).

Advanced boat search for new and used boats and yachts - YachtWorld.com

[tbodine88]

I bought small and cheap first, later larger more expensive.

I couldn't afford to keep larger and more expensive after the cruise. Now I have the small and cheap, still having fun.

[Jack Lahr]

If you go small and cheap first you will learn a lot and be able to make a much better choice on the next boat-- and confirm that your basic plan still looks good before the next larger expense


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[Island Time O25]

I am also firmly in the camp that a first boat like a first car should be something you should not regret later to part with, thus small and cheap.

You are guaranteed to lose money on any boat which you will sell after X years of use. So if you sell a $35K boat after say 3-5 years of use you will lose less than if you sell a $175K boat after the same number of years. Not to mention that your pool of potential buyers is exponentially higher for a $35K boat than for a $175K one.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Island Time O25

I am also firmly in the camp that a first boat like a first car should be something you should not regret later to part with, thus small and cheap.

You are guaranteed to lose money on any boat which you will sell after X years of use. So if you sell a $35K boat after say 3-5 years of use you will lose less than if you sell a $175K boat after the same number of years. Not to mention that your pool of potential buyers is exponentially higher for a $35K boat than for a $175K one.

I completely disagree, but am not going to type with a long post. The only part of the above that is true is that you will lose money selling a boat.

[SaltyMonkey]

I've got a car problem. My car needs a hello of a lot of work. About $4000 dollars. That amount is the same as the bluebook value. Is it worth investing money into a car that will never be sold for the amount I purchased it for? This, also is just a precursor, evidence that more issues are going to present themselves soon. Isn't it better to just go with a newer car?

Same with boats. Get a cheap boat and you will be paying for UPGRADES, REPAIRS ETC. There is no sail away cheap boat. You will have natural issues with age. Seals oxidize, hoses, batteries, you name it. They won't present themselves in the survey. They are coming down the line. And then there is outfitting costs. Expect $$$.

I'd go for the smallest most expensive boat you can afford with respect to where you want to go and your cruising budget.

[Lizzy Belle]

You've narrowed it down to .. about half the boats for sale under 175k

Electronics are easily added / removed / upgraded, wouldn't worry too much about that when looking at the boat. Boats themselves aren't so easy to adjust, so focus on the boats themselves when looking for what to buy.

You wrote "it's a jungle out there" - that's cos you haven't really narrowed down your search and you can't see the forest for the trees ...

Pretty much every well build and maintained boat will take you where you want to go.
The narrowing down is something you guys have to do for yourselves. You could get hundreds of opinions from others, but that doesn't really help you.

"The right boat" is a very personal choice and match, and should be based on your needs, wants, taste and preferences. You just need to figure out what those really are.

[Paul J. Nolan]

Are you new to the sport? Forget a center cockpit and forget an aft owner's cabin. Concentrate on what's important: safety, seaworthiness, strength, and excellent sailing qualities. My advice: go to Europe and buy a Contessa 32. Have Jeremy Rogers outfit her for serious cruising. You'll still be close to the low end of your budget and you'll soon realize you don't need anything larger to go anywhere in the world unless you have a third child (Google Dave and Jaja Martin). If you insist on something larger, there is a Hinckley Pilot 35 for sale on either Hinckley's brokerage site or Yachtworld.

Paul

[Celestialsailor]

Hallberg Rassy Rasmus 35 and you have all your criteria. They must be like picking bananas where you're from.

[scuba0_1]

Most cheep boats will require lots of work. Don't go to small that you don't like sailing. It's not that big a learning curve.

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[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Island Time O25

I am also firmly in the camp that a first boat like a first car should be something you should not regret later to part with, thus small and cheap.

You are guaranteed to lose money on any boat which you will sell after X years of use. So if you sell a $35K boat after say 3-5 years of use you will lose less than if you sell a $175K boat after the same number of years. Not to mention that your pool of potential buyers is exponentially higher for a $35K boat than for a $175K one.

Absolutely correct!

Based on your post, I'm betting you have very little experience. If you buy the more expensive boat, odds are you get it wrong and take a bath on the resale.

All boats are projects and electronics are out of date within 6 months. A large $175k boat is just as likely to have issues as a small $35k boat especially if you don't know what you are looking for.

Also what is your idea of "large" or "small". If large is 20m, even at $175k, odds are they will all be fixer uppers.

Keep researching and asking questions (a little more specific would be better) and get the smallest boat you can be comfortable on (keeping in mind a 1 bedroom apartment will be spacious compared to a typical 15m boat)

[Kenomac]

Buy a used Hallberg Rassy in good shape at the size you can afford. Then go anywhere.

[IntoMyHealth]

Hi Nellos!

Congrats on the decision and goals! You guys need to get on some boats. There's nothing like the feel of a boat pulling on your heartstrings. You can eClimb aboard endless dozens of potential winners on yachtworld, and rule them out in a short minute in real life. During the "rule out" phase you'll meet a bunch of brokers chompin' to guide you to your perfect dream boat. Write all their names down. Once you have your boat list narrowed down, and it'll narrow pretty quick (three months?), I suggest you pick a broker you trust to represent you in finding "the one". Let him/her do the detail work and make the appointments, schedule test sails, negotiate, etc. Enjoy this search. You'll see lots of interesting and cool boats...and people. But first, you need to narrow this down in-person with a LOT of boats. Get it down to six... or ten. That's when I think this forum will become immensely more helpful to you. Enjoy the hunt!

-Bill

[Cruisingscotts]

I wish this site was around 20 years ago.

If you are at all convinced you may want to go long term cruising, buy big and down size later when you find some where you want to stay and have many miles under your belt to know what a simple boat means to you. The inverse will cost you twice as much. Just on this site there are alot a very nice well thought out proven bluewater cruisers for sale. Lots of paitience and research will get you a turn key boat close to your top end.