Want To Buy: Girlfriend and I are looking for a home. 32' - 40'

[hamburking]

I have to disagree with some of the posters here...$20k is plenty...if you know what you are looking at.

My first suggestion: Pearson 35. There's one on ebay right now in your price range:

Pearson 35 Cruising Sloop Sailboat Yacht Bill Shaw | eBay

It gorgeous, roomy, shallow draft, solid hull, and even a yanmar diesel and chart plotter...move in ready!

Aside from that, and despite what you said, I would also suggest the Hunter 34. Very good standard equipment like yanmar, origo, bow roller, etc. And a big aft cabin. They sell around your price range.

And finally, The canadian dollar is in a slump. You get 20% more bang for your US buck! Great lakes boats, especially on lake erie, are very very cheap right now. No salt means good shape. Worth a look. Try Kijiji Ontario.

And remember, have fun looking. You can look at lots of boats, any boat you like, but once you buy, thats it...like getting married...only one boat for you.

[haw1961]

Craigslist annapolis

[jheldatksuedu]

It's not 35 ft but it's also not $20k either. I have a 23 ft Grampian that is in very good condition, got everything you need to be a liveaboard, it's not luxury but it would get you on the water and away from the apartment while you learn and look for something bigger. It's now $900 without the motor or trailer, I could even deliver it for a price, it's in south Florida. A few years back boats like this would go to the Bahamas every day, but now everybody wants something bigger. Smaller means less to go wrong, easier to find a place to anchor, it simplicity to the max. See it at my website

For Sale 3

The motor and trailer are available, I just priced it this way to get it to sell, nobody is even looking at it. Something to consider.

[jwcolby54]

I would like to inject here that:

1) The OP said 20K budget
2) Responders are telling him to look all over the place (not just next door)
3) Travel costs money. The budget is 20K.
4) It's just a fact that not everyone has a budget to look at 47 different boats in 13 different states,. get them all appraised, pay for 46 appraisals, then travel to 9 different states to look at 9 different boats, before selecting and paying for the boat. All on a 20K budget.

I hear that is how it is done when you are looking to spend a quarter of a million on your boat, but things are different down here at the bottom.

[jwcolby54]

Originally Posted by hamburking

I have to disagree with some of the posters here...$20k is plenty...if you know what you are looking at.

Aside from that, and despite what you said, I would also suggest the Hunter 34. Very good standard equipment like yanmar, origo, bow roller, etc. And a big aft cabin. They sell around your price range.

And I recommend the older hunter 33s. They are good solid boats and there are LOTS of them available in the OP price range.

This is just on YachtWorld. Others out there.

Hunter 33 Boats For Sale

[a64pilot]

That Pearson you linked to on fleabay, is just too good to be true, think those pictures could really be recent? That is a Garmin 740S with Radar, what I had on my last boat and I believe it to be a first class piece of equipment.


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[jheldatksuedu]

Originally Posted by jwcolby54

I would like to inject here that:

1) The OP said 20K budget
2) Responders are telling him to look all over the place (not just next door)
3) Travel costs money. The budget is 20K.
4) It's just a fact that not everyone has a budget to look at 47 different boats in 13 different states,. get them all appraised, pay for 46 appraisals, then travel to 9 different states to look at 9 different boats, before selecting and paying for the boat. All on a 20K budget.

I hear that is how it is done when you are looking to spend a quarter of a million on your boat, but things are different down here at the bottom.

To save $5k or maybe even 10, I think he should look and consider anything on the east coast or the gulf, email is cheap, pictures tell a lot, after all it is a sailboat and it can easily move. The moving is an adventure, and that's the main reason we buy a sailboat.

[jwcolby54]

Originally Posted by jheldatksuedu

To save $5k or maybe even 10, I think he should look and consider anything on the east coast or the gulf, email is cheap, pictures tell a lot, after all it is a sailboat and it can easily move. The moving is an adventure, and that's the main reason we buy a sailboat.

I can't tell you how many posts on this very forum I have read which said "the pictures lied."

So to expect anyone on a 20K (total) budget to travel from MD to the gulf coast only to have the pictures lie is not useful. You could quickly eat up the entire budget looking at boats that don't fit.

I understand that a sailboat can move, and that is cool, but it is a long haul, lots of gas, meals, hotels (and time) to get down there only to find "it ain't exactly so".

I do think that the south coast, VA, NC, SC, GA etc can be good shopping grounds. Lots of old boats out there.

[hamburking]

Originally Posted by jwcolby54

I can't tell you how many posts on this very forum I have read which said "the pictures lied."

So true. I dragged a friend, with money in his pocket, ready to buy a boat about an hour from here. We had a stack of emails, pictures, I had spoken with the owner on the phone, seemed like a done deal. Then we saw the boat...what a wreck. Turned out he used the pictures from when he bought it almost ten years prior...and he did not take good care of the boat at all! Needless to say, we were polite, but walked away (quickly). We wasted our time and gas. If it had been a more major trip, it could have been much worse. Shame on those who use old pictures, or any kind of deception...they are just wasting their time and ours.

Having said that, I have bought boats "sight unseen" on the internet 4 times. In all fairness, those boats were cheeeeaaaap! Also bought "sight unseen, but with a full inspection (by me) before payment" twice more. There are many really nice people out there who just need to sell their boat...right now. My current boat was in Toronto, at the IYC. The owner had taken possession of his new Catalina 36. He had a slip at his club...and the club was full. He had to remove the boat by July 1st, OR ELSE. I offered him HALF his asking price, and he jumped at it. At that point, he just needed someone who wanted his boat, and could take it away. My wife drove me there (about 3 hours plus a ferry) with all my gear, and I sailed it back with my son. It has far exceeded my expectations. I just wish every sailboat purchase story could have a happy ending like mine.

[jwcolby54]

Right down your alley?

1982 C&C Landfall 37 Ft Sailboat

[Capt Doug]

yada yada yada
here is a link to check 1974 Seafarer Aft Cockpit sailboat for sale in Florida
also check out the seafarer group on FB

[Scout 30]

Here's a few in your area. The Cabo Rico Tiburon 36 is a Crealock design. He designed the Pacific Seacraft line. That's the boat I'd want to look at although at $18,000 it's listed too cheap for a boat of that quality. Might be a crazy good deal or might have issues. Only way to know is to check it out. Much better boat than the other 2. This is a serious a serious cruiser.


** REDUCED by $5k !! -O DAY 37 -CENTER COCKPIT / NEW SAILS / SOLID **


1977 TIBURON 36 KETCH


Peterson 34 Sailboat

[jheldatksuedu]

Marine surveys sometimes lie too. I have known a few buyers that have bought boats and the survey that they paid for didn't find major problems that it turns out were common faults with that make and model. Basically PEOPLE lie. More so when money, reduced work or personal gain is involved, that's the world we live in and we all have to deal with it. Buyer beware is the only way. I have bought all my boats on ebay, the price is cheap, all you have to go on is pictures, the boats I bought all needed work, some more than others, but overall I am happy with the results. The first one had the biggest (and only real) lie and appeared to be the one needing the least work. It had been grounded with a major crack in the forward keel area, poorly repaired, basically covered up, I didn't discover the lie till I grounded the boat, and tried to sink it a year later. My other 3 boats needed major work, no lies, but the reduced price more than made up the difference, that's if you do your own work and enjoy it. On eBay it is no big deal to back out of a sale on buying a boat (or anything for that matter) that has been lied about. That cuts down the lying somewhat. I never have paid for a survey, for boats less than $10k it is wasted money in my opinion, do your homework and do you own survey, and really learn what the boat is about.

Not all people lie, but it's almost impossible to know beforehand, we need a Wonder woman golden lasso, or the ability to use a gun or a knife when we discover a liar. That's what they do in eastern countries, they start with just a finger. It's the kill a horse thief idea, they don't steal a 2nd horse that way.

[jwcolby54]

And in the end a low cost boat has needed work built in to the price. That is a given. However if there are a half dozen boats of the same model (the old hunter 33 comes to mind) all around the same price, then it is reasonable to expect the condition to mostly match others of the same price. To get there and see a boat that does not match the pictures (taken years ago as in a previous post) is going to tear a hole in the budget if I am flying to a far coast to see it.

I always wondered about ebay simply because I couldn't see it before purchase.

[a64pilot]

When they exist, Hunters for example, usergroups are an excellent source of information, even more so than surveyors, even ones that supposedly specialize in that brand