10 months to go..

[bclaypole]

Hi All,

3 years ago the wife and I made plans to retire early, buy a boat (cat) and see some of this world before we are too old to travel. To date we have completed ASA courses 101 to 104. I have sold my business, she quit her job and took a 1 year maternity leave, fixed up the house to get ready to sell and started selling our possessions. (I have to work - as part of the business sell - until Oct 1 2020)

Initial question I have: I have narrowed my boat search down to a few models - is it wiser to buy now in the fall of 2019, as boat prices are lower in my part of the world, and store it until I can get on it full time. Or, wait until next fall when I'm done working full time? Reason: I have no idea if my selected models will be available next year and I don't know if saving 20K on purchasing a boat this year would be eaten up by storage fees for a year?
Thanks for any replies.
Brad - Ontario Canada

[sailorboy1]

The only real reason to buy a boat is to sail it. If it is just going to sit in storage just wait (boats don't really like to sit in storage).

There will always be boats for sale!

[JoeRobertJr]

Hi, Brad. to the forum!
The boat at the top of my list is a Pearson 424. Recently, one came up at the right price and location. I am still a year from being able to retire and enjoy the boat full time. After seeing the Pearson, I realized that I would be very frustrated not being able to devote the time I want for maintenance, repairs, and upgrades, not to mention actually sailing it. This past year I watched friends buy a cruising boat. They also are not quite ready to quit working full time. Half their available weekends were devoted to boat projects.
We finally settled on getting a weekend trailer sailer until we can cruise full time for real.

[carraigdog]

Im almost in a similar position, currently doing my RYA theory for day skipper having completed the qualified crew course, and also strongly thinking about buying now, mainly because I like the idea of having it to work on, already retired once (early) discovered I may have retired TOO early so have returned to work for another while, also have some caring responsibilities for my mam, upside is that the budget I had is now increasing

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Brad.