cost of a sailboat refit

[barnakiel]

I think the dept & breadth of the refit changes with boat and with the target adventure.

We got an 'old' (20 y.o.) boat and spending a marginal amount on preps we went rtw and we made it. Yes, we upgraded things along the way but most importantly, we had next to nil technical failures: the 20 y.o. engine worked fine, the X y.o. rigging held (mostly) fine - till we replaced some of it half way down the track.

But we did have a sound and well maintained boat at the start. Well designed and build hull, strong rigging set-up, old, but quality, engine.

On the other hand, I do know people who got a much younger design, spent loads (yes, LOADS) of cash on prep and went from the Med to Cabo Verde only, before calling it quits (on financial/maintenance grounds apparently).

So it is clear that a refit is a most broad term. And also it is clear that the starting position (type of boat, her condition and quality of her original components) counts as much as her new owners' invention, imagination and their bank account balance.

All other things aside, I must say that getting the boat ready for an adventure is at least as much fun as being out there, sailing and exploring.

b.

[JRM]

Originally Posted by bfloyd4445

woa...that's not good. Sorry to hear things went so sour. Expensive six years. Seems to me that your boat must have been worth much more than 70k

When the admiral and I were "negotiating" out boat purchase details, one of the criteria we used to decide what we could "afford" was to depreciate the value to zero in five years. Or, to only pay what we could "afford" to throw away in five years time, refit costs included).

It worked for us and our situation, and it takes a lot of the pressure off. The concept brings both limitations and freedoms.

As for our refit, I did tons of research, made budgets, spreadsheets, and generally figured as realistically as I knew. Then I doubled it, and padded that a bit. So far, I'm only a little beyond the doubled and padded amount :-).

JRM

[Cheechako]

It has been suggested many times to the "un baptised" to consider a new or nearly new boat even twice what they think their budget is and go sailing rather than do a big boat project. It's hard to follow this suggestion though.
Maybe it comes down to buying a boat with all the basic important stuff recently replaced or a newer boat. (engine, sails, tank, rigging, keel bolts/or encapsulated) Then just add the "nice to haves" as you can afford it.

[bfloyd4445]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

I think the dept & breadth of the refit changes with boat and with the target adventure.

We got an 'old' (20 y.o.) boat and spending a marginal amount on preps we went rtw and we made it. Yes, we upgraded things along the way but most importantly, we had next to nil technical failures: the 20 y.o. engine worked fine, the X y.o. rigging held (mostly) fine - till we replaced some of it half way down the track.

But we did have a sound and well maintained boat at the start. Well designed and build hull, strong rigging set-up, old, but quality, engine.

On the other hand, I do know people who got a much younger design, spent loads (yes, LOADS) of cash on prep and went from the Med to Cabo Verde only, before calling it quits (on financial/maintenance grounds apparently).

So it is clear that a refit is a most broad term. And also it is clear that the starting position (type of boat, her condition and quality of her original components) counts as much as her new owners' invention, imagination and their bank account balance.

All other things aside, I must say that getting the boat ready for an adventure is at least as much fun as being out there, sailing and exploring.

b.

I certainly agree with what you say. thanks