Want To Buy: Looking for Advice/Suggestions for family of 4

[nortonscove]

Originally Posted by BenBowSirocco

I was told a rule of thumb years ago and also think it is mentioned in Beth Leonards excellent "Voyagers Handbook". Whatever the boat costs: make sure you leave another 60% of that for upgrades/changes to suit your needs in the first couple years. This has turned out true of both sailboats my wife and I have owned.

Another thing I picked up from the manager of a prominent boat yard in Ft. Lauderdale: boats cost 20% of their value per year to maintain.

Now these are not hard facts, but anecdotal measures to guide your budget. But I agree with Ben, get the boat that is right for YOU and your family. Because you and your family will need to handle, maintain, and live on it. Everyone else is just a tourist happy to be doing something new.

Last but not least: boats are exponential.
A 40ft boat is a very differently sized animal than a 50ft boat. Many highly experienced lifelong cruisers will tell you, bigger is not always better.

My wife and I helped a family buy a boat recently and the most helpful thing for everyone was that we sat down and made a three column chart: Must Have, Nice to Have, Can't Have.

Good luck! Honestly, the boat is in some ways the hardest part of the entire process of the transition because they are very unique and take a lot of inexperienced guessing. So stay positive and keep an honest priority list.

I can say that none of the boats I have purchased and owned have ever come close to these numbers I have seen tossed around and my first boat was built in 1986 and the next in 1994. That doesn't include the many other smaller boats leading up to those. I understand that there are those purchasing vessels to discard gear Willy nilly but that is a poor approach in my opinion. My boat is still running the instruments that were installed in 1994. It's various sails were good when bought and will keep going for some years yet. I'm thinking maybe many people don't think of necessity when spending on their boat but rather want. It's easy to fall into the trap of the market place and go for new.

[BenBowSirocco]

Our current boat was launched in 1981. We sailed 4 years and then did a refit of: hoses, standing rig, sails, engine mounts/inspection and coatings. The cost of professionals for this work is valued at about 60% of our original purchase price.
Instruments are from the 90’s, we navigate with portable devices, engine is from early 2000’s but has low hours.
Having a savings account set aside for these inevitable ownership costs right from the start makes them easy to take care of, rather than a budget pinching possibly stressful situation. For us the boat feels “like brand new” and inspires confidence that the core systems are new/reliable and will give good performance during our ownership.

Many people sell their boats before these big projects need doing, while I prefer to enjoy the results of these improvements and sail the boat hard while it’s fresh.
As stated above: this is all anecdotal and purely personal style.