Is buying a Starter Boat a dumb idea?

[Don C L]

Yeah I think we better nail down here if you are talking about starting with a Corsair 31, or 28, which indeed are trailerable boats, trimarans, or a trailerable monohull. There is a world of difference in capacity and performance and price!

[tomfl]

Just some random thoughts.

Any fboat you buy will like spoil you for many other boats. They are stupid fun to sail and will beat the pants of just about any other sailboat you meet. It is laughable to compare a C24 to an M26. It is easy to set up a boom tent on a C24 and there will be plenty of room for weekends and even longer if you can find provisions along the way. Only real down side is the C24 will be at least four or five times the price of the M26.

Most fboat guys view the C27 as the sweet spot in terms of bang for the buck. While you could take it to the Bahamas (if you watch the weather window it should be an easy trip over and you may have to wait to cross back) it would be tight with two kids. Which raises another issue, some kids take to sailing like a duck to water while others just sulk around and can cause real problems if things start to go down hill. I have seen a ten year old girl totally mess up a cruise to DT on a fifty footer. I am also not sure how to handle sperate berths for a young boy and girl, not the least of which is sometimes they just need to be apart. On a C28 with an aft cabin the boy might wind up sleeping with you and the girl with your wife just to keep the peace. My first choice given what you have posted about your needs would be the C28 with the center cockpit.

A C31 offers a lot more space but it is a very powerful rig and you can get in trouble real fast if the wind pipes up. A C31 with a center cockpit would also offer the same separation the C28 offers. The C36/37/38 would obviously offer a lot more room but are not really trailer sailers and the minimum buy in would be at least a little North of a hundred grand. Probably would need to put it in the water at least for a month for trailering to be worth the cost and effort.

I spent a lot of time looking at fboats and almost got a C31 before I bought a Seawind catamaran. My reason was that the Seawind was a real cruiser that I could live aboard and not need to provision for months at a time while the C31 was more of a weekend boat or jumping from one marina to the next. After I did the Baja Ha-Ha and met Richard he convinced me he had the right idea, to own more than one boat. My plan was to go to Germany and buy what looked like a great deal on a C36, spend the summer cruising the canals in Europe, get to Paris in July and watch the finish of the Tour de France, and then head to the Med for the summer and once the hurricane season was over put the C36 on it's trailer head back to Florida get on my Seawind and head South; but COVID-19 put an end to that.

Bottom line is you need to get on some flavor of an fboat, the more the better, and see how you like it. Take the kids and wife and get their input as well. Do the same thing for what I call sub 30 foot plastic monohulls, again as many as you can. I am very much of the opinion that a boat needs to fit a person. Things like head room below, how much you have to contort your body to get in the Vberth, and can you comfortably sit on the head are just a few things you have to actually do to know if the boat fits you. I am 5'8" and over weight but I had no problem getting around in a C24 (the bigger fboats were even more comfortable) but have a 6'4" friend who would never consider such a boat. Hope this helps.

[Mystic38]

Well,
I shall express a contrary position.

IMO, yes, buying a starter boat IS a dumb idea..

The math for any conscientious boat owner to buy a boat, fix it up and sell it in three years rarely works out as optimistic as your figures show.. you can put $100k into a used boat and affect the resale value by as little as $10k..

buy the boat you actually want.. not a "just for now" boat.. pouring money time and effort into a boat that you will sell in 3 years is largely a pointless exercise as you will ultimately have lost the three years... If you then buy a boat you actually want it still will take another 2-3 years to get it where you want it..

You are far better off delaying your purchase until you find the boat that you see yourself keeping for a decade..

somebody else's mileage may vary, and its your money but buying a large capital item like a boat, just like a house makes zero sense for a short term..and boats are worse as you put more money into boats that you do houses, and sales commission is far larger..

cheers!

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Mystic38

Well,
I shall express a contrary position.

IMO, yes, buying a starter boat IS a dumb idea..

The math for any conscientious boat owner to buy a boat, fix it up and sell it in three years rarely works out as optimistic as your figures show.. you can put $100k into a used boat and affect the resale value by as little as $10k..

buy the boat you actually want.. not a "just for now" boat.. pouring money time and effort into a boat that you will sell in 3 years is largely a pointless exercise as you will ultimately have lost the three years... If you then buy a boat you actually want it still will take another 2-3 years to get it where you want it..

You are far better off delaying your purchase until you find the boat that you see yourself keeping for a decade..

somebody else's mileage may vary, and its your money but buying a large capital item like a boat, just like a house makes zero sense for a short term..and boats are worse as you put more money into boats that you do houses, and sales commission is far larger..

cheers!

It's a given you will lose money on the first boat.

Would you rather lose 20% on a $25k boat or a $250k boat?

Problem with assuming someone who has never owned a boat before should wait for the perfect boat...they generally have no clue what is a perfect boat, so odds are they won't get the boat they will keep for a decade or more and the boat they do get is more likely to have serious issues they didn't know about or discounted more than they should have during the buying process. Also the refitting of a bigger boat is exponentially more expensive both due to the larger heavier duty parts and the fact you don't know what you are doing so you need more professional help...things tend to spiral really quick.

[Rafe W]

You should look at a Flicka20 with a trailer. They are a blue water sailer and can be gotten in the $25,000 range for a ready to sail boat.

[ssmoot]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Yeah I think we better nail down here if you are talking about starting with a Corsair 31, or 28, which indeed are trailerable boats, trimarans, or a trailerable monohull. There is a world of difference in capacity and performance and price!

Yeah, I just threw the Morgan 26 out there since it was a small, affordable boat more in line with most of the feedback, that also has three berths. I don't know that it's really an option for us. My wife is not a fan of heeling or rolling at anchor so we've always assumed a multi.

[BugzyCan]

This thread is funny, it is so similar to the question of whether to buy an old beat up motorcycle, or to just get that gixxer 1000 dream bike brand new instead.
The answer is, when you are learning, get something you are not afraid to scratch, dent, drop etc. In the case of a boat you need something you are OK to bash into rocks, docks and flip over on occasion as you learn. When you have the skills for that gixxer, then you are ready to buy it.

[Tetepare]

Yes buy a starter boat. A Corsair though may be a handful.

Larger boats are forgiving until they are not. Those who buy a big expensive first boat love to brag about their ASA courses and how they’ve had no problems. Oddly, they are the same ones we can spot immediately pulling into an anchorage, docking, and sailing sloppily. When something bad does happen to them they think it’s an act of God, not personal failure.

Learn on a small boat. You learn more, and it does less damage to other boats.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by ssmoot

Yeah, I just threw the Morgan 26 out there since it was a small, affordable boat more in line with most of the feedback, that also has three berths. I don't know that it's really an option for us. My wife is not a fan of heeling or rolling at anchor so we've always assumed a multi.

Well, if that's the case, go with a good ol' mono that is in good shape and 2 Flopstoppers on outrigger poles! It'll be trailerable, very stable at anchor and WAY cheaper, as in a tenth of the price.

[ssmoot]

Originally Posted by BugzyCan

This thread is funny, it is so similar to the question of whether to buy an old beat up motorcycle, or to just get that gixxer 1000 dream bike brand new instead.

Anyone who wants to ride a liter bike and put a knee down on the street isn't ready to.

Would I recommend a new rider go out and buy a Goldwing? No. But I also wouldn't recommend they buy a 250CC Nighthawk. For most people, that's just throwing your money away. A medium displacement naked bike is the right answer 9 times out of 10 IMO.

My last bike was a ZRX1200R. Wheelies, stoppies, and putting a knee down was never my thing. Riding a few hundred miles at a time comfortably with some hard case luggage for the destination, endless torque, and a smooth easy-going flow in the curves (not flicking it) is what did it for me. I've had a couple "unexpected gravel patch" 5mph low-sides in a decade of riding (gave it up shortly after my son was born), but I've never been over the bars or been anywhere near high-siding.

I'm not looking for a "go fast" boat. I have zero interest in racing anything faster than a slow jog. I just want something flat on the water the four of us can enjoy as a family with enough room that we're not on top of each other. And I don't want to leave it in the water or at a marina. I'd also like to do some gulf passages but that may be too ambitious. I don't know.

Either way I'm looking for the SV650 of multihull family cruisers. Not a "forever boat", but not a throwaway trash-bike I'll outgrow in a year either.

[Don C L]

Perhaps this thread may offer some tips:
https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...es-175115.html

Trailerable trimarans will be high on price and low on interior living space generally.

[ssmoot]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Well, if that's the case, go with a good ol' mono that is in good shape and 2 Flopstoppers on outrigger poles! It'll be trailerable, very stable at anchor and WAY cheaper, as in a tenth of the price.

I was under the impression most on the forum considered them more trouble than they're worth?

Thanks for the tip though. I haven't given any thought to flopper-stoppers in years.

[Captn_Black]

I got my 36' steel Junk-Rigged Spray for E10,000. 50k is a bit steep. My first boat was a 27' Columbia I brought in Maryland at the end of the 2008 recession, $2500. Shop around. Usually you can get a seaworthy boat with a bad interior for a good price, and do the interior yourself.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by ssmoot

I really hate paying rent on our toys, so while it might be a mistake, and I’m sure there are times I might regret it, I’m pretty dead set on something trailerable.
...
Maybe instead we plan to own a vacation boat. The on-water version of our travel-trailer. And maybe that scratches the itch and we don’t feel the need for the big cat until we’re well and truly set up for retirement.
...
Something more like a Corsair 24, MacGregor 26?

To me, you're more on the right track with the above. A first boat that's easy to own and maintain, and trailerable. Something between 24' and 28'. Big enough to house your family and to give you a "cruiser" experience, but with better mobility. It's no harder to rig and launch most trailerable sailboats than it is to set up a campsite.

(if you find a good deal on a slip or mooring, you can also leave a trailerable boat in the water for the season. Won't hurt it)

The market for decent trailerable sailboats is pretty steady, so you should have no trouble finding something that interests you... and easy to sell when you're ready to move up.

[Captn_Black]

I definitely recommend Columbia's. I weathered hurricane Ida in 2011 in mine, 150 miles offshore, 12-15 meter waves. We were fine. Knocked down many times, but never rolled.