I would think the layout of this boat is just about optimum for 2 adults - always provided they are friends :-)!
Remember that with two adults sailing the boat, ONE of them will always be single-handing while the other is off-duty. Do you know how to sail, i.e. 1) do you know how to do the
work on
deck? 2) do you know how to navigate a boat? 3) do you know how to
skipper a boat - which is a whole different thing?. 4) do you know how to do the ongoing and eternal
maintenance?
Does you friend know what you need to know in each of those four rubrics?
If you do NOT know any of those things, don't despair :-) If you were close by, I could teach you item 1) in a couple of weekends. Item 2) would require two weeks of hard work. Item 3) takes a lifetime to learn, but if you are just entering university, you HAVE a lifetime to learn it:-). Just go at it steadily! Item 4) is more of a trick because doing this work requires skills that one would normally serve an apprenticeship to learn, not because the work is particularly difficult, but because there are "tricks to every trade". But there are a great many yotties who are autodidact and still do a great job.
On you
displacement of, what?, 22K lbs, you'd need a 40HP
diesel. When you buy a boat this age you are essential
buying a
diesel with some other stuff "thrown in". If it happens that the diesel is sound, you'll be fine. If the diesel packs it in, to replace it with a brand new diesel "marinized" from, say, a basic Kubota industrial
engine will cost you about US$20K, so as long as you've budgeted for it, you'll be okay. Similarly with your
sails. If they are good, you'll be okay, if they are not, a new suit of just the basics three
sails for a 40-foot
cutter will cost you US$20K. As long as you have budgeted for it, you'll be okay. So to buy a $45K boat (I expect that that is the listing price) you'd want need to have $80K or $90K available, i.e. $40K in cash to buy the boat, and a "reserve fund" of $40K or $50K to cover anything that may go sideways. The reserve fund need not be actual cash but should certainly be in reasonably liquid funds, perhaps in the form of a "pre-approved" Line of Credit hypothecated by real estate.
You would obviously have a
survey done by a competent
marine surveyor before you shell out you
money, but provided the
engine and the sails are okay, all other deficiencies can be dealt with piecemeal as
money becomes available. A caveat, though: Standing and running
rigging CAN be replaced piecemeal, even by yourself, but mind that you don't leave it too late! The standing
rigging is carefully engineered to balance one force against another, and if one piece fails there may be a consequent catastrophic failure of the entire rig. That can be EXTREMELY dangerous. The
salvage value of a boat like this with the rigging having failed is essentially zero!
I have said those things, things we all have to face, or have had to face, not to dissuade you, but rather to give you "hooks" to hang further discussion on, since you are a
novice :-)
TP
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