Want To Buy: Need Boat Buying Advice

[Sailfortwo]

Hello!! My husband and I are moving back to Hawaii next spring for him to start his aviation career flying for Mokulele. Meanwhile I am planning on perusing my dream of a liveaboard sail boat.

We've been traveling on the mainland via an Airstream so we aren't too concerned about the tight living space.
Qualities I'm looking for:
-GOOD FOR BEGINNERS. We both grew up in Arizona (not a whole lot of sailing opportunities) We're handy/hardworking but not naive enough to ignore the fact that we don't know what we are doing yet. Safety is important.
-Coastal Sailing only.
-fridge/icebox
-stove
-great ventilation
-good natural lighting preferred
-shower preferred

Suggestions please??

[StuM]

Suggest you go to the links at the top of the page, click on Search and enter 'Liveaboard Hawaii" into the Google Custom Search box.

I get the impression from various threads here that it's not that good a location for liveaboard.

[14murs14]

Originally Posted by Sailfortwo

Hello!! My husband and I are moving back to Hawaii next spring for him to start his aviation career flying for Mokulele. Meanwhile I am planning on perusing my dream of a liveaboard sail boat.

We've been traveling on the mainland via an Airstream so we aren't too concerned about the tight living space.
Qualities I'm looking for:
-GOOD FOR BEGINNERS. We both grew up in Arizona (not a whole lot of sailing opportunities) We're handy/hardworking but not naive enough to ignore the fact that we don't know what we are doing yet. Safety is important.
-Coastal Sailing only.
-fridge/icebox
-stove
-great ventilation
-good natural lighting preferred
-shower preferred

Suggestions please??

There was an older, very reasonably priced cat for sale on Craiglist in HI, it's not there any more but you might be able to research if it's still available.

Having lived for several years in HI I'd suggest that you may want to flip your approach. It's far away from anything, so it's cost prohibitive to bring anything big like a boat in, especially if you're not comfortable sailing it from the mainland yourself. This means you get what you get from the inventory available in HI. I'm going to guess this is fairly small, small enough that you could visit all the boats available in your price range in a 3 day trip. Which is exactly what I'd recommend. Also, as an aside, I'd highly recommend you live on any island except Oahu!

[skipmac]

Hi Sailfortwo and welcome to the forum.

First I think 14murs14 offered excellent advise. I have never lived in Hawaii but after visiting a couple of the islands and reading lots of discussions about sailing and living in Hawaii on this forum it seems that boat space is very, very limited. If you look at maps or charts of Hawaii you can see that the islands generally have straight coastlines with few natural bays and harbors. This results in space for very few marinas with very limited dock space.

Not to say that there are no options but the options are very limited. If you know which island you will live on I suggest you look online at the resources available. A couple of other forums are good resources for marinas and anchorages across the US including Hawaii. Look at www.activecaptain.com and Waterway Guide | cruising guide, fuel pricing, navigation alerts and news for boaters and yacht enthusiasts to start your research. Also, as suggested, a search on this forum will turn up several previous discussions on boating in Hawaii.

Then to your other question, boat recommendations. First step is to establish a budget, then a size range. Boats that fit your criteria could be as much as $300-$400,000 for a new, larger top of the line to $10-20-$30,000 for an older, smaller fixer-upper.

In general, to have room for the things you list on a boat you need to be at least 30' in a monohull. To find a boat with a separate shower stall (one thing I love about my boat) I think you will need to be closer to 40'. Fridge is something you can add or upgrade if you find an otherwise perfect boat as are many other features. Look for the basic boat that works for you and if it's a good deal, you can add the extras.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by StuM

I get the impression from various threads here that it's not that good a location for liveaboard.

Actually Hawaii is a great location for liveaboards, just really difficult to find a place to put the boat while you liveaboard.

[seasick]

Not to be a dream buster but I recommend you forget about it. Having lived aboard in Hawaii for ten years, I feel somewhat qualified to say, you will find it extremely difficult at best and nearly impossible at worst. 90-day max stays at marinas which are all controlled by the DLNR dept. of land and natural resources. Yacht clubs ok for two weeks reciprocity, anchorages are mostly exposed and or inhospitable.

I encourage you to go to plan 'B.' Constant vigilance negates leaving your boat unattended for even short periods on the hook.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Actually Hawaii is a great location for liveaboards, just really difficult to find a place to put the boat while you liveaboard.

Guess I didn't express myself very well. That's the impression I got and what I meant.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by StuM

Guess I didn't express myself very well. That's the impression I got and what I meant.

Oh you expressed yourself perfectly. I understood and was just trying for a bit of humor so perhaps I didn't express myself very well.



Or maybe just wasn't that funny or maybe American humor doesn't always translate into Strine.

[14murs14]

Originally Posted by seasick

Not to be a dream buster but I recommend you forget about it. Having lived aboard in Hawaii for ten years, I feel somewhat qualified to say, you will find it extremely difficult at best and nearly impossible at worst. 90-day max stays at marinas which are all controlled by the DLNR dept. of land and natural resources. Yacht clubs ok for two weeks reciprocity, anchorages are mostly exposed and or inhospitable.

I encourage you to go to plan 'B.' Constant vigilance negates leaving your boat unattended for even short periods on the hook.

You can always drop the hook amongst all the floating (and half-floating) meth labs off Ke'ehi Harbor. I can guarantee that no-one is enforcing any stay limits there. It used to infuriate me that HPD basically refused to enforce any laws out there, always wondered who was getting paid off.

[alansmith]

The afore mentioned cat above was called Green Flash. It was sold and now in Seattle area. The gentleman who owned it harbored her on the island of Molokai. Excuse spelling. The other thing about Hawaii are reefs and fierce wind and waves in the channels betwixt islands.

You might want to consider a boat kept on a trailer like a Farrier or Corsair. They are excellent sailors.

[ccannan]

HI is a great place to buy a used boat. Many people sail to HI, and then decide sailing isn't for them, and are willing to sell their boats at a discount, rather than sailing back to the mainland.

[cpt_757]

Maui?


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