Brad:
True, the boats I listed are not Hinckleys or Aldens in good looks. Also, I errrrrrr wasn't trying to insult your wife?!?

I wasn't calling YOUR boat ugly, I have no idea what kind of boat you own. I do not want to make this yet another mono vs cat debate, the board has plenty of those already. I am a mono guy. Thats just the way it is. Your a cat guy. Not that there is anything wrong with that....
Speedoo: The main cabin is not a berthing cabin in my requirements. I like the KP's, but they are short a cabin. In my 3 cabin requirements not all 3 cabins have to be big. A small 3d cabin is fine. But we want each kid to have their own little space to call their own. I also have another key reason for this requirement related to ideas on also chartering our boat at some point.
Michael: I am JEALOUS! Congrats on the Stevens and great to hear your casting off the land lines. I ended up
buying an '83
Hunter 34' the week after I looked at your
Islander as it was turn key. I sailed her 2-3 days each week all through the summer and early fall but
sold her in October as the
sale price got me out without a loss and with the lake levels so low and going lower owning a boat on the lake struck me as a bad idea. The Stevens does strike me as a great boat, my only concern is getting and refitting one within the price range I have set.
Kanani: I will check out the Cal 2-46. I tend to agree with you on
buying an older boat that is in need of a complete refit. I am very mechanically inclined (have rebuilt over a dozen cars including vintage racecars) have lots of tools and I get projects done.
Buying an older boat that has not just had a complete top to bottom refit seems like it would almost always result in getting a "hodge-podge". By this I mean you have a boat with some
gear original and thus perhaps 30 years old, some
gear 10 years old, some 5 years old and some new. Technology changes rapidly relative to refrig systems, A/C, inverters, generators and particularly
radar and
electronics. Having a hodge podge of gear results in inefficient systems that really are not perfect for each other. It also results in less
reliability overall. So you pay more for a supposedly ready to go boat but you end up with systems integration issues and ongoing
repairs to the older systems.
I would prefer to buy an older boat that pretty much needs everything and get it
cheap. Then dedicate time and
money to going through the boat from one end to the other and replace everything. That way is all new, everything is chosen so it works well with everything else and in the end you have what is in effect a
new boat for way less than 1/2 the price of an actual
new boat. For example: buy an older mostly original Gulfstar 50 for $85K or so. Then spend $110K+ on a total refit doing most of the work myself. The end result would be far better than most anything you could buy at the same end price. Plus, through doing all the work myself I end up knowing every system upside down and backwards... a huge plus when it comes time to do
maintenance or fix stuff.
Terry