Want To Buy: Looking for 40-50ft Aft Cabin

[CapsizedVeteran]

This is my first post on Cruisers Forum but I'm a longtime lurker. My wife and I have decided it's time to leave our land lives and head for the sea!

We are currently in the market for a 40-50ft monohull with an aft cabin. We're looking for something old, slow, heavy, and quite frankly, not super expensive. Our budget for the boat is only about $40,000, we know this is on the very low side so it will certainly be something in need of some love and care.

I've read through Coconuts333s thread where he is looking for something similar and have seen all the comments saying his budget isn't nearly enough so I wanted to kind of head that off a little by just talking about our situation. We're both in our 30s so we're still young enough to do the extensive work that the older and cheaper boats require. While our purchase budget isn't huge we do have permanent monthly income that would allow us to continue to afford the maintenance on the boat even after years of ownership. My background is being a Machinist Mate in the Navy before getting hurt and being medically retired, after Uncle Sam gave me the boot I went into automotive repair and am currently an ASE Certified Master Automobile Technician. My wife doesn't have the same technical background but was somehow blessed with the ability to excel in virtually any repair that requires fine detail and finesse, I'm extremely jealous of her skills. I only say all of that so that it's clear we the resources and abilities to fix and keep an old boat on the water. I know there is a lot of nice older boats out there that the owners don't want to see go to someone who will just abandon her in the yards after the work gets too hard or their limited resources run out.

We just got back from a trip to Florida to check out a Morgan 452 which we absolutely loved the space and layout of. For several different reasons we decided to pass on that particular one but any boat somewhat similar to that would be fantastic. If you have an old boat you love that needs a bit of care and want her adventures to continue, then we are your people!

[jackcal39]

I have a 1979 Cal 39 with an aft cabin. Great boat with lots of upgrades. If you are interested give me a ring at 781-901-1160

Boat is located Buzzards Bay, MA

Jack

[CapsizedVeteran]

Great boat! Unfortunately, it's just a tiny bit too small for us. Thank you so much for replying though!

Originally Posted by jackcal39

I have a 1979 Cal 39 with an aft cabin. Great boat with lots of upgrades. If you are interested give me a ring at 781-901-1160

Boat is located Buzzards Bay, MA

Jack

[Jolly Roger]

I guess it depends on what you want to do with it, especially when you first buy a large sailboat for about forty grand. If you are happy to just work on it, and repair all the things which will undoubtedly need repairing, that’s okay.
I actually did this with a 45-foot ketch, which I bought twelve years ago, but I have complicated reasons. Firstly I wanted to convert it to a schooner, which I did. Then I needed all sails to be roller furling and controlled from the cockpit, which I did. I then rebuilt the aft cabin and en-suite bathroom and a thousand other things. Twelve years later I have the boat I want, but it has cost a bit more than the original cheap price.
The trouble is, you might find yourselves spending as much in a year as it would have cost for a better boat in the first place, even if you get a loan for it.
They are out there, but beware the old joke. The laughter you hear as you drive away in your “new” boat is the seller waving you goodbye from the dock.

[nolakennedys]

I just listed ours for sale. It needs work still but is on the hard in a live aboard marina in St. Mary's Georgia. Check out the ad. it's 41' Morgan aft cabin (king sized cabin) and you can see what all we have done since we owned it for the past 1.5 years or so. It's in your budget. DM me for more or email. nolakennedys at yahoo.com