Greetings new sailor -- I am also into small boats I have a 23 O'Day which I love. I ended up outfitting it with all the gizmos little by little, so I agree with kai's point. Incidentally, I like the Seafarer -- there's a 24 model in out marina which looks delapidated but itching to get redone and go out on the ocean. Is yours a McCurdy Rhodes design?
VHF is a must, and if you have to buy one I would still go with a handheld first (you can also upgrade later with a fixed). GPS is a good investment, but only if you need it. Where I live there's tide, river
current, narrow channels, shallow
water, huge barges, and
fog. Hence I needed the GPS right away, and I opted for the cheapest which had the chart overlayed etc. (Garmin 76s). For a boat that small, another great investment (about $120) is the boomkicker -- look it up. I used to swear every time the boom fell on board because I forgot the topping
lift. Trust me -- you will love it!! Later, if you get into it, you can get a cheap
autopilot (TP10 is just fine) -- I found that sailing for 6 hours without touching anything is just amazing -- You may need other things first (spinnaker etc? perhaps lines led aft?
reefs in mainsails?
roller furler?
4 stroke motor?) It all depends on what type of sailing you do, and in what types of winds and seas.
Good luck!