Quote:
Originally Posted by TanzerTom
You may change your mind after paying for maintenance on a five year old Mercedes, Land Rover, etc. Unlike sailboats, there are tons of data on cars. Your experience with a Honda was a rare one. You base your opinion on an exception.. if everyone did that with boats, nobody would every buy one. While I don't care for the blandness of the car, if I were to buy a circumnavigating boat based on a car analogy, it'd be a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord. There are some fair analogies between cars and boats, but not many. I know a LOT about cars and am just beginning to learn what I need to know in order to make a good decision on which 30 year old boat to buy. I'd like to be able to buy a Toyota or Honda kind of boat, but the closest I can come to that is the Catalina 30. I'll likely end up with exactly that but not until I exhaust reasonable alternatives that fuel a little passion, like a Hunter 34's performance per dollar or a Contessa 32's sheer perfection. Just my two cents
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Hmmm.....I'm currently driving a 2000 Ford Taurus, with 315,000 miles on it, the only failures in all that time were an
alternator at 215,000 miles, an
air conditioning pump at 255,000 miles and a
fuel pump at 305,000 miles. Regular
oil changes and
transmission filter/fluid changes every 65,000 miles the major upkeep. I bought it in 2004 for $4,500.00, I've gotten my moneys worth there. I'd say that Taurus is closer to a
Catalina 30 than a Honda or Toyota, I've owned a
Catalina 30 and although a nice
family boat I don't know if I'd want to cross an ocean in it without significant modifications to the boat, it was never designed for that type of undertaking, although it's a fine
family coastal cruiser. I did use that boat in conditions that exceeded it's design intent and was surprised with it's robust nature for such an affordable boat but would still think twice before using it for a world cruiser, the Catalina 27 with modifications would be a better choice. They do make other models like the older 36 that are better suited to that cause, with modifications of course.
Like an automobile, an older boat, no matter what make, is often the end result of the previous owners
maintenance and care; maintenance and upkeep are the main factors in the quality of a
used boat. The quality of the original build plays a part in the longevity of a
hull but won't overcome poor maintenance. If you can pick up a
used boat of good quality that's been properly maintained then what the heck, why not.
I've seen quite a few well built boats ruined by poor upkeep and the owners still wanted top dollar for them, I've also seen some pretty robust production boats which were well maintained that would make perfectly good cruising choices.
You figure your
budget, then figure spending that much again on upgrades/repairs then go looking for a suitable boat.
I lucked out on the present boat, it was well maintained and all the expensive repairs/upgrades were done. Of course I still need to buy new
sails and
electronics before heading off, but you pretty well plan on doing that for any used boat you buy. Did I mention the
plumbing......