New to cruising- boat and outfit budget

[Sea Dreaming]

Originally Posted by moctrams

This boat will do the job with no major refit!
http://www.sailboatlistings.com/view/53659

I love cape dories!

For the op: read Ocra by John Pennington, good story about a cape dory 30

[chuckr]

Wow -- not sure where to start - but 30k for a boat and upgrades - interesting -
and experience would be sailing (ie motoring) down the ICW as it is generally a motor boat trip with a few places you can sail for generally for short distances.

Where and what are you sailing now? What will you do for money once you start your great adventure? Suggest if you do get a boat trying to spend a winter in the Bahamas and how equipped your boat and you really are.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Meghan.

[mkeith005]

Originally Posted by chuckr

Wow -- not sure where to start - but 30k for a boat and upgrades - interesting -
and experience would be sailing (ie motoring) down the ICW as it is generally a motor boat trip with a few places you can sail for generally for short distances.

Where and what are you sailing now? What will you do for money once you start your great adventure? Suggest if you do get a boat trying to spend a winter in the Bahamas and how equipped your boat and you really are.

To clarify, once we get the boat ready we will be sailing down the east coast/ ICW when necessary. We intend to make quite a few stops along the way, but will start small and work our way up to longer ocean passages.

We will then be cruising off the coast of FL, towards the Caribbean. We will be cruising there for a few months, until we feel comfortable with our abilities and the boat. We will have 40K left after buying the boat as our cruising kitty and will make it last as long as we can!

Currently, we are sailing a small wooden sailboat. We're sailing in local rivers and lakes, but are working up to a weekend sail and such. We don't intend to rush into anything.Were mostly trying to get a feel for whether it is possible for us to get a decent boat and fix it up in our budget, but any and all advice is helpful!!

[gjordan]

I agree with the attitude of sail the boat for a while before you start spending on major (large budget) gear. You will see dozens of arguments on this forum about autopilot vs windvane. Having both is the best answer, but for a small boat with limited battery power I would not go to sea without a windvane. This is not a contradiction, but I would say to put off buying a vane until you get to the Carribean. There are vanes for sale there from people that have crossed the Atlantic and dont need them anymore or cruisers that are broke or are trying the charter trade and dont want a vane on the back. I bought an Aries for $250 that worked wonderful. Something to consider when looking for a boat is the stern/transom, and if it is suitable for easy mounting of a vane. Boomkins, mizzen booms or anything else can make installation much harder (expensive) and maybe make your vane work poorly. I mention the Aries (I have had 3), but it is probably too heavy for the size boat you are thinking of. There are many brands of vanes. Another point is that there are lots of boats in that size range that would do well, but dont live up to the hype of the Island Packets or Pacific Seacrafts, but also dont demand nearly as high a price. The very Best to You._______Grant.

[chuckr]

this boat was just put on a sailing site on FB

1976 Ericson 36 C Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com



a suggestion - instead of heading to the Carib go to the Bahamas for a season as it will test you a bit and is cheap and sailing can be good and navigation can be tricky at times - a good testing place