Hi there,
I've been prowling around for a while, and it's high time to say hello. I'm fresh out of college, living in
New Orleans and looking to
liveaboard.
Classic tale...
Plenty of Marina options, but finding a
boat is tough. My
budget is pretty low. I've more or less arbitrarily set 10K as my cap, even though I'll need a loan regardless.
At first I was pretty picky in terms of what I wanted: dead set on something akin to the
Alberg 30 or other similar fullish
keel designs. I still love the look of these boats, but have relaxed my desired attributes to include fin keels with skeg hung rudders, but would need some convincing to go with a spade
rudder. It just makes me a little nervous I guess.
My issue is, around here (i.e.
New Orleans to
Pensacola, an area I've decided is reasonable for me to travel to check out a boat) seems to deal only in Catalinas and O'Days etc. I'd like to be able to hit the
Caribbean as well as up the
east coast, and the
ICW isn't exactly enchanting. I ain't knocking the catalinas, I've sailed on a c22 for years, but I'd like something a bit stouter.
Searched Craigslist, Sailboat Listings, and Yacht World but haven't found anything that really flies my hair back. I'm willing to do some labor within reason, but wary of really rough
project boats. In high
school I bought a disgusting Alfa Romeo Spider in the rain from someones front yard, and worked on it ($$$) until I got it running and realized that the cost to get it looking good now that it was running would have me spending far more than if I had purchased a mint version in the first place. I parted it out and just broke even after almost 5 years. Anyway, that lesson is learned.
Done some week longs with buddies in the keys on a
Morgan Out Island 41. Got a buddy with a deep pocketed dad that brought me along on a
BVI Moorings Cat
charter - that
boat was ridiculous. Been sailing as long as I can remember, and ready to stop paying rent.
Ultimately my questions are these: what are other models to look at that I'm missing? Where else can I look? What kind of boat can I realistically expect?
Found a great looking
Albin Vega for around 7k but I'm 6' tall. It is tempting me still....
I've seen some CD28s, Bristol 27s, and such, but they're either too far away or already
sold. Hoping to pick your brains a bit. Let me know what you think, or if you need any more info from me.
Thanks,
Duncan