Hi new to the forum and need some advice

[JORDANBASSET]

Hi Philip, am in Shropshire at the moment. As you can see from my original post I had pretty well settled on a Benetau Oceanis, I have been on quite a few mono hulls for a week here and there and like the feel of the Oceanis range.

I had really not given a lot of thought to a Cat and looking at the space you get for your money it does look reasonable value for money. I love the look of the Island packet 35 cat and I am sure there are plenty others that would be good to consider. Need to talk it over with Cathy but if I can get some good advice about the pros and cons of cats in general and specific models I can perhaps draw up a short list of those I would like to see.

Draw back may be when eventually get it to the med the higher cost of berthing over winter?

[Rhosyn Mor]

Neil,
come to Annapolis, there are hundreds of EU built boats here for sale- although I have not looked at the price range. There are also a good collection of Brits here doing exactly what you want to do. There are some very good brokers up here ( a couple of whom are Brit )who are used to dealing with RCD issues. You will find it much harder to import a non EU built boat into the EU. I am not too sure about the Oceanis range, but the US market has mostly US built Bene's- they have a factory here- and you would have to check to see if they are RCD compliant.
hope this helps
R.

[JORDANBASSET]

Hi have seen several boats based in Annapolis, one in particular was a well priced 390 with Annapolis Yacht Sales. Don't know if you are aware of the company? May be tempted to check it out, if it was still availlable in another 6 months definitely be worth a closer look

[Rhosyn Mor]

Neil,
AYS is a good company ( I have no financial interest in them BTW) and have some good brokers. With the US boat market the way it is now it could well be here for 6 months!

[mangomuffins]

Hi mate,
check this out

Sailboats - 1986 34' ft CATALAC CATAMARAN - Cruising Catamaran - Panama City, FL, 32401 - UsedBoats.com

Inexpensive, rugged...perfect for the carib.
and...
she is English built!!

I'm in Florida... give me a shout if you make it down this way.

mm

[ssullivan]

Neil,

What about a Beneteau that was bought as a cruiser by other Europeans, then sailed across the pond, but left at the very leeward end of the Caribbean because the couple didn't like sailing as much as they thought they would?

(run on sentence... sorry)

There are a lot of cruising boats in the Caribbean for good prices because a lot of people get down there (especially from Europe) and decide to fly home rather than face a windward path back up and another possible trans atlantic.

Many are not Beneteaus, but I think if you concentrate your search a bit for Beneteaus, you might find a few left behind by other Europeans. The bonus is that they are 1) cheap because they people are desperate, 2) already wired properly for 240VAC 50Hz, 3) Cheaper than boats in the USA because people from the USA don't want to delivery them back up to the States either.

[JORDANBASSET]

Thanks mangomuffins, agree she looks a good boat, just need to decide if I want to go down the cat route, will do more research on it and if Cathy fancies them go and check out a few. Am sailing in Greece for two weeks in June so may get a chance there
Thanks Sullivan, that would be ideal, have tried on Yacht world but don't appear to be any like that at the moment, but may come up in the next 6 months. Do not know if there is another site that would be more useful? - Neil

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by JORDANBASSET

Thanks mangomuffins, agree she looks a good boat, just need to decide if I want to go down the cat route, will do more research on it and if Cathy fancies them go and check out a few. Am sailing in Greece for two weeks in June so may get a chance there
Thanks Sullivan, that would be ideal, have tried on Yacht world but don't appear to be any like that at the moment, but may come up in the next 6 months. Do not know if there is another site that would be more useful? - Neil

Sorry, Neil. I don't know of a better site for the Caribbean exclusively. Maybe you can just start calling brokers over there and tell them exactly what you told the board. They often know of boats people are selling that are not quite on the market officially. You know... that's how things go in the islands. People know people.

Also, I have the Catalac 10M and am posting from it right now. If you do think about them and have questions... feel free to ask.