Quote:
Originally Posted by Fence Man
How crazy would it be to buy a catamaran out of a charter fleet that was seaworthyish enough to make it to the mainland, but in need of some work with the intention of building some sweat equity?
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I haven't bought a boat out of charter (but many on the board have). If the intention is
Caribbean sailing on the
cheap and doing it now, I have to ask what projects you're actually going to do to it?
Consider that the charter boats have been working in the Caribbean for 3-10 years as they are. They are probably able to continue doing so just as they are with appropriate plans made in advance for any bad
weather. If your intention is to
cruise the Caribbean, why not just use it as is and leave it down there in the off-season? Especially if you're
buying something in the 3-5 year old range.
I would think at most at the 10-year
purchase point, you may want to change the standing/running
rigging, possibly new
sails, some light
engine work on high hour diesels, adding
solar, and upgrading the
backing plates on the
deck hardware. Some of this might already have been done, you can request to have it done before
purchase, or it could be done down there in fairly short order. Most past threads recommend making the short hop from the
BVI to St Martin's and taking advantage of cheaper material and labor prices/more options there.
Might be worth a PM to boatman who bought his
Beneteau out of
BVI charter and then sailed it to the UK. I think MarkJ did something like the same thing but kept going around the world.