At last!
We have a buyer for our business and that means come mid February we will be seriously in the market for a
boat to be our new home.
We are in
Australia now but don't mind where we start our new life so we will travel to find the right
boat.
In fact our first stop is
Greece, followed by
Spain and a couple of other European countries. If we haven't been totally bowled over by the
Star of Africa covered in dust and mildew in a marina somewhere,we will
head to the
USA to continue our quest.
I know all the travel sounds like a waste of
money to the 'buy in your own backyard' folk, but this is more fun. And if you think about it, negotiating the right deal for the boat you really want will probably recoup the $10k invested in the search.
The size we will be needing will be from Vagabond 47 to CT54 size, with
Formosa 51 or
Hudson Force 50(cc layout) being the ideal. I've been a
member of the owners'
forums so I'm well aware of all the build issues and
repairs and upgrades necessary.
I also know that in many instances enthusiastic owners have done the hard yards and the boats are more like the vision Garden and Perry would have had in mind at their drawingboards.
And if anyone has anything nasty to say you'll be answering to Zeehag!
We've been watching Yachtworld and Sailboat Listings and have a list of boats to take a look at. We've also been talking to brokers and find that in some instances prices will be very negotiable, but not in others. This may have something to do with the condition of the boats too.
The
funny thing is 18 months ago there were a lot more in the
USA,
Caribbean area, but right now our most serious contenders are in
Europe.
If any members here know of any boats from the list above that owners are thinking of selling, or have just listed locally, we'd love to hear about it.
Our
budget will be around $120,000, more or less depending on condition and lust factor
.
If we go too high it just means dry toast and black coffee for a couple of years, but we'd do it for the right boat!
We would also need the boat to be reasonably close to
cruise ready because visas will only allow us 90 days in USA. If the boat needs some
work done we could always
head for Mx or DR where we could get
work done more economically, but obviously the boat needs to be able to get there.
We've often heard that there are boats in
marinas that aren't listed because they're distressed
sale situations. Nobody wants to spend
money they already don't have!
It's a long shot, but if any of you have boats in your
marinas that may fall into this category we'd like to hear about it.
2012 is going to be a year of enormous change for us, and the start of a whole new chapter. No doubt we will be asking a lot of questions and seeking all kinds of input from members here, as well as
posting the inevitable highs and lows of the journey.
Look forward any comments, suggestions or
advice here, or via PMs, or vichankins at yahoo dot com.
Vic