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Old 18-06-2018, 06:52   #31
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Re: Advice for first time boat buyer

didn't read the replies, so excuse duplicates.


from my own experience (i bought a boat blue-eyed and am now the 3rd year on it): you would do a lot differently when buying a second boat after having lived and sailed for an extended time on your first. but then again: you will start fixing issues on your boat, and if you trade it for a second, there will be issues again and you will have to fix those too.



50k should give you a very decent boat (at least in northern europe). but i assume in north america you should also
for extended sailing i would now (being on a short keel) consider a long one and a heavier boat. doesn't move fast, but when there are waves it doesn't move (that) fast either


apparently, when you sell a boat, you hardly get out what you've invested (see "fixing issues" above). or so they tell.
so i guess you will just have to make your own experience.


one great advice is to read up on the issue!
Don Casey has a few very good books on sailboats, their maintenance & repair and buying them. There is also an "6 books in one" of him. I highly recommend it!


last advice:
you seem to have a very clear time-frame & schedule. my experience is that, when sailing, schedules make you feel under pressure and bad. take your time. you're "going sailing", not "to destination X". it's a shame how many people are just motoring away "to get there" (i did so to for too long). you can take a ferry or a plane instead, you won't feel rewarded. take your time instead. boats need it. the weather demands it. and you will be gratefull about the possibilities that "time at hands" offers you to for exploration
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Old 18-06-2018, 07:14   #32
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Re: Advice for first time boat buyer

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Originally Posted by blauohnewasser View Post
didn't read the replies, so excuse duplicates.


from my own experience (i bought a boat blue-eyed and am now the 3rd year on it): you would do a lot differently when buying a second boat after having lived and sailed for an extended time on your first. but then again: you will start fixing issues on your boat, and if you trade it for a second, there will be issues again and you will have to fix those too.



50k should give you a very decent boat (at least in northern europe). but i assume in north america you should also
for extended sailing i would now (being on a short keel) consider a long one and a heavier boat. doesn't move fast, but when there are waves it doesn't move (that) fast either


apparently, when you sell a boat, you hardly get out what you've invested (see "fixing issues" above). or so they tell.
so i guess you will just have to make your own experience.


one great advice is to read up on the issue!
Don Casey has a few very good books on sailboats, their maintenance & repair and buying them. There is also an "6 books in one" of him. I highly recommend it!


last advice:
you seem to have a very clear time-frame & schedule. my experience is that, when sailing, schedules make you feel under pressure and bad. take your time. you're "going sailing", not "to destination X". it's a shame how many people are just motoring away "to get there" (i did so to for too long). you can take a ferry or a plane instead, you won't feel rewarded. take your time instead. boats need it. the weather demands it. and you will be gratefull about the possibilities that "time at hands" offers you to for exploration
Thanks for the heads up on the books, I know that is a spot I am "behind" on!

Yeah, I hear you on taking our time on going place to place, that is something that I want to make sure I do. I'm trying to figure out if 5 months is a realistic time period to do fixes, a shake down cruise, more fixes, and "leave" type time frame. I realize it all depends on the boat I buy, what needs to be done to it and what we choose to do. I realize people spend years doing refits, and that makes sense for them, but that is defiantly not what I want to do. I guess no one is going to be able to tell me if that is realistic or not, I will just keep it as my "goal" and do what I can to keep to it, not much else I can do.
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Old 18-06-2018, 07:36   #33
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Re: Advice for first time boat buyer

had the same intention. get a "good" boat, do quick fixes, get sailing for a summer, resell.
well, took me more than a month to get it ready. and then me to get ready for it another few weeks. instead of reaching the Med (more precisley: Adriatic) i ended up in Portugal after one summer. and changed plans. still living on the boat during summers, but now i take the time to see things and enjoy the places i get through along the way


if you're interested, here's my blog
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Old 18-06-2018, 08:18   #34
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Re: Advice for first time boat buyer

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Originally Posted by blauohnewasser View Post
had the same intention. get a "good" boat, do quick fixes, get sailing for a summer, resell.
well, took me more than a month to get it ready. and then me to get ready for it another few weeks. instead of reaching the Med (more precisley: Adriatic) i ended up in Portugal after one summer. and changed plans. still living on the boat during summers, but now i take the time to see things and enjoy the places i get through along the way


if you're interested, here's my blog
I'm good with a month! Hopefully I can repeat your experience.
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Old 18-06-2018, 08:25   #35
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Re: Advice for first time boat buyer

So given that I am in Colorado and I would ideally purchase a boat in S. Florida and I don't want to fly out there unless the boats are actually good candidates has anyone tried using some of these services that have people go look at things for you? Something like TaskRabbit or wegolook?

Basically someone with at least some basic boat knowledge and the ability to do a video phone call to go look at things and give us a semi-expert level of looking at the boat?

Thanks,

Matt
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Old 18-06-2018, 09:18   #36
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Re: Advice for first time boat buyer

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Originally Posted by stormalong View Post
The biggest issue I see with your plan is your timeline.

As a newbie buying a boat after looking for a long weekend will probably result in buying the wrong boat. Having a short deadline will pressure you to make a decision you may regret.

The second issue is expecting to sail away in just a few months. You need time to outfit your boat the way you want it. And at this point you don't even know enough to know how you want it.

You need more experience. I suggest that you cruise the east coast of the U.S. to gain that experience. Once outside of the U.S. your availability of both equipment and expertise drops off considerably.
Having just gone through a similar scenario, I could not agree more with this poster. The best laid plans... please... pay attention to this one.
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Old 18-06-2018, 11:02   #37
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Re: Advice for first time boat buyer

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I was hoping I could get some advice on how to start this process. I am a first time boat buyer with limited experience (ASA classes, charters, a couple of day trips). I currently live in Colorado and our idea is to leave Colorado around Sept 1st for Florida, spend 90 days finishing up work, buying a boat and fixing it up, do a 30 day shake down cruise in the Dec/Jan time frame, do whatever needs to be done and leave for the Western Caribbean after that, hopefully sometime in Feb at the latest. After a year we would likely leave cruising or upgrade to a different boat. We are a late 30's couple with a yellow lab looking to spend a year or more cruising. We would like our budget to be 50k (cash) or less for a boat in the 35 foot range.

My general thoughts are that with the budget and dog a pilot house boat might make sense as it would hopefully be easier for the dog to navigate. I would rather trade "bells and whistles" (Radar/Water Maker/Solar/etc) type of stuff for a boat that has better fundamentals (hull/rigging/sails/etc) that wouldn't be hard to leave in our time frame.

The challenges that I see at this stage in the game are finding a pilot house boat in that size and budget. How do I get this moving from Colorado before hand? Is a buyers broker really going to help in this scenario with my budget in mind?

Ideally we would spend a long weekend in August in the Miami area finding a boat, survey it, purchase it and then "move onto it" when we get there in Sept. This all sounds very aggressive to me in my head, what do you all think?

I'm sure this isn't easy but do you all see any obvious red flags or have any suggestions on how this could be done easier/better?

Aside from the questions above I have been searching CF for the following topics but anything anyone wants to through in here would be great on the following topics:

1. Boat purchase for first timers
2. (large) Dogs on Boats
3. Boat Brokers in the 50k range
4. Timing
5. Any other advice
It beats me why you are obsessed over a pilot house. I've met many folks who long distance cruise with a dog and none of them have pilot houses. I suppose the dog doesn't know the difference.

Get yourself to Yachtworld.com and look what's for sale that meets at least a few of your criteria.

I think a one month 'shakedown' is too long. If you're like many others, you'll start to shake down within a few days.
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Old 18-06-2018, 11:08   #38
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Re: Advice for first time boat buyer

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It beats me why you are obsessed over a pilot house. I've met many folks who long distance cruise with a dog and none of them have pilot houses. I suppose the dog doesn't know the difference.

Get yourself to Yachtworld.com and look what's for sale that meets at least a few of your criteria.

I think a one month 'shakedown' is too long. If you're like many others, you'll start to shake down within a few days.
Yeah, after some of the comments here I've let go of the pilot house idea as something that is super beneficial.

Finally someone that thinks at least a portion of my proposed timeline is to long!
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Old 18-06-2018, 11:39   #39
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Re: Advice for first time boat buyer

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Yeah, after some of the comments here I've let go of the pilot house idea as something that is super beneficial.

Finally someone that thinks at least a portion of my proposed timeline is to long!
I don't wish to discourage you but you'll find plenty going wrong almost immediately upon taking off. The key is buying a boat with systems you are 100% sure of being able to fix when they break and they WILL break.

My first boat was simplicity itself. It had an icebox (uses ice) pump water and a toilet. The only 'system' was the diesel auxiliary which I had to go bang on from time to time, but mostly we simply sailed about the Pacific focused on the travel rather than the boat itself.

My second boat was a tribute to systems. Hot and cold pressure water, an electric windless, reverse cycle heat pump, an elaborate refrigeration system and I can go on. In sailing that boat for 1.5 years in the areas you're looking at, I NEVER ONCE had all systems fully functional. This was a 42' sailboat with about a 55' mast and I had to sail her singlehanded because I never got the autopilot to function more than a few hours at a time. Then I'd have it repaired for between $500 and $2,000 only to have it die again.

I'm thinking of my third boat. My requirements are simple: if it has anything on it that I can't fix, I won't buy.
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Old 18-06-2018, 11:53   #40
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Re: Advice for first time boat buyer

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I don't wish to discourage you but you'll find plenty going wrong almost immediately upon taking off. The key is buying a boat with systems you are 100% sure of being able to fix when they break and they WILL break.

My first boat was simplicity itself. It had an icebox (uses ice) pump water and a toilet. The only 'system' was the diesel auxiliary which I had to go bang on from time to time, but mostly we simply sailed about the Pacific focused on the travel rather than the boat itself.

My second boat was a tribute to systems. Hot and cold pressure water, an electric windless, reverse cycle heat pump, an elaborate refrigeration system and I can go on. In sailing that boat for 1.5 years in the areas you're looking at, I NEVER ONCE had all systems fully functional. This was a 42' sailboat with about a 55' mast and I had to sail her singlehanded because I never got the autopilot to function more than a few hours at a time. Then I'd have it repaired for between $500 and $2,000 only to have it die again.

I'm thinking of my third boat. My requirements are simple: if it has anything on it that I can't fix, I won't buy.
Yeah, I like to think myself reasonably handy but there is going to be a learning curve for sure.
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Old 18-06-2018, 11:59   #41
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Re: Advice for first time boat buyer

We are from the Uk and had a holiday home in St Pete Fl, we bought a 25’ Boston Whaler for day boating...it was great but really whetted our appetite for bigger things. We sold our bigger house and 25’ Whaler and decided to buy a smaller house n a bigger boat....45’ Searay. All of this was done whils we were here in the Uk, we used the broker at a Marine Max to find us a boat, gave him our spec and budget and he found us a perfect boat. We bought it in Jacksonville Fl and paid a Captain to bring it down over 3 days for us....all we had at this point was photos....we put all our faith in our Broker and apart from the 35K that we chose to spend on upgrades he did a great job.
What we have found since then, boat is an abbreviation for BREAK OUT ANOTHER THOUSAND! There is always something that needs doing, repairing, maintaining, upgrading, cleaning etc etc. But, that being said, we love our month long trips 3 times a year to get the boat out of her berth n motor away to new horizons. Our last trip, we did St Pete, Sarasota, Boca Grande then crossed America via the Okeechobee canal and Lake, popped out on the opposite coast down to Delray Beach, Miami Beach, around the Keys (with a few stops) then back up via Marco Island, Captiva Island and Boca Grande before arriving back feeling full of accomplishment.....we too are quite new to big boating so we are very proud of our adventures.
We were advised when looking for a boat, not to buy from Miami as most boats have had some storm/hurricane/weather damage....just a though.

Good luck on your adventures....life is for living not regretting. Just booked our return dates for Sept til Oct.....weather permitting we are hopin* to make it across to th3 Tortuggas,
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Old 18-06-2018, 12:06   #42
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Re: Advice for first time boat buyer

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We were advised when looking for a boat, not to buy from Miami as most boats have had some storm/hurricane/weather damage....just a though.
Second time I have heard this... Makes me think... So your advice is purchase further north and then move it down?

Mind if I ask what broker you used? You can private message me if you want.

Thanks,

Matt
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Old 18-06-2018, 12:06   #43
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Re: Advice for first time boat buyer

Best advice on buying a boat is don't. Lots of cheaper hobbies. By the time most of us have owned boats for 30 or 40 years paid interest insurance berthage repairs new kit and sails we could have saved a substantial amount of dosh. Just look at any marina on a lovely summer weekend and how few boats are used. As to type for blue water, almost any boat can make a passage in fair weather, almost all boats will flounder in Cat 4 and 5 hurricanes.

I suppose the most positive thing I can say is that having boats has kept me too busy and too broke to be in the bars!
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Old 18-06-2018, 12:09   #44
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Re: Advice for first time boat buyer

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Best advice on buying a boat is don't. Lots of cheaper hobbies. By the time most of us have owned boats for 30 or 40 years paid interest insurance berthage repairs new kit and sails we could have saved a substantial amount of dosh. Just look at any marina on a lovely summer weekend and how few boats are used. As to type for blue water, almost any boat can make a passage in fair weather, almost all boats will flounder in Cat 4 and 5 hurricanes.

I suppose the most positive thing I can say is that having boats has kept me too busy and too broke to be in the bars!
Hopefully you wouldn't trade it for anything...
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Old 18-06-2018, 22:41   #45
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Re: Advice for first time boat buyer

I should add that for a few of us who untie the dock lines and head off someplace very different than our own backyards, at some point, after the frustration heartbreak fear and wondering why am I crawling along the deck again in 50 knots, will have a moment when you realize that THIS IS IT! I am DOING IT.

That yes I are doing it. This feeling completely overwhelms normal conventions and concerns that made untieing that last dock line so difficult. As we head further and further downhill on the trades with no friggin idea or plan about how to get back up the hill. The realisation that this little bit of plastic flotsam is home and you are committed to the ride. That what was normal and usual is now abnormal and very unusual. Yet what was unusual is now normal.

You will realize what little gadget you should have bought for $20 and use everyday and the large amount of the fancy stuff you don't need as much as you thought or were told. That the adage off bring 1/2 the clothes and twice the money you think you will need is good advice. But even if your budget is getting stretched you can always save money and have just as much fun cause You Are Doing it.

You will get used to making good friends in a couple of hours and then never see them again in a few days. Only to meet some new good friends. Remember the normal conundrum.

People will have big boats big budgets and homes to return too. People will have small cheap boats and bugger all, except their small cheap boat. You will meet everything in between but all are bound in the hear and now of that they are doing' it.'

PS if anyone can figure out what it is let me know cause my kids think I am nuts.
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