Advice on purchasing bluewater - see criterion

[Riggerman]

I have a 1986 Irwin 43 MKII, you can look up the specs on a search.
The boat is turn key, I am in Guatemala and just came back from a 4 months sail before this virus. Now when I say turn key, I mean it can sail tomorrow if I wanted to. If you want a boat that will not require any work for the next 2 years, well this is not the one.
It is 100% self contained. water maker, 560 amp solar, 400 amp wind generator. gas generator, auto pilot, Chart plotter, etc. Contact Me if interested. Also has near $6,000.00 in extra, 4 full set of dive gear, 12 ft dinghy. What it would need New set of sail, I can get near new sails for about $3,000.00 (150% furling genoa, and a main) But the one on right nowt, would be okay for for a season
. The rest is purely cosmetic, varnish paint etc... Just had a, $8.000.00 bottom job, remove blisters, re-encapsulate the 9000 lbs keel. new barrier coating and 4 coat on anti-fouling. I can sell it for the $50,000.00 you have in mind, but that would be a solid price. Any haggling on the price, I would sell all the extras separably. If interested contact Me via e-mail mrjfortin@yahoo.com By the way it has a 4'9" keel, been in 35 foot seas and 85 knots wind, so yes it is solid.

It is Canadian registered S/V Ete Infini

[jalmberg]

On that budget, you need to lower your sights by a lot. Check out The Sailing Frenchman on YouTube for a practical approach to this problem.

[Wolfhound]

Consider an Allied Seabreeze 35 yawl. Repower with a Beta 35, if needed. Essentially these boats are fiberglass Finisterres. The early "bronze" Seabreezes are generally better, with many monel fittings. In good seagoing condition, these boats are able to take far more than you can.

Comfortable in a seaway, too.

Alan

See -- https://www.59-north.com/arcturus#

[DeValency]

The op specs are reasonable. He didn’t mention LOA, I would suggest at least 40’ and preferably 42-46 for a comfortable offshore cruising - but that’s my taste and my comment here is related to 40’+ boats;

Even in the present and coming red ocean of price drops, it will be very difficult to find a good and sound basic boat and run the necessary refit for a safe and comfortable offshore cruising with a budget of $50K. Yes, if you search and travel far enough - all the way down to Grenada, Mexico etc you may catch some amazing bargains of sellers in serious distress but even such cases will require at least additional ~20K in refit. - if you want to do the things right and minimize risks.

Would say that you may end up with a bottom line that is closer to $100K - again, based on your and my preferences on LOA criteria.

The great news for buyers is that this is and going to be the best time for purchasing probably for the last 80 years...

[ELC]

A different take. If you have the 50,000 in liquid capital be patient and consider hunting around various cruising hubs. Every so often a good boat will come up on a quick distress sale. They will want no financing, cash up front but at a fraction of the boats value. Hire a competent surveyor to do an out of water survey. Never, ever skip the survey. Make sure the surveyor is looking at it as a blue water boat.

Don't look for the biggest boat you can buy but the smallest you can stand. With your budget that will be critical. Also on your budget you can probably forget insurance. Don't worry, you'll be far from alone. You can buy shirt term policies for things like the Canal transit otherwise it will be insanely expensive for your budget.

[RickG]

35', seaberths in the salon, quarter berth, v-berth - that will work best in your budget. The Pearson 365, Tartan 37, and Whitby 42 are in this price range and all have circumnavigated. Good solar, batteries, and watermaker are key if you want to stay away from marinas and visit out of the way spots. Keeping the budget down, a rowing dinghy makes a difference; if it can take a small outboard you can find 2-stroke 3.5hp engines used.

Don't wait for the perfect boat. Something that is mechanically sound and perhaps needing cosmetic work. We have been crusing for 3 years now and continue to do fixes and improvements as we go. I did not know a thing when we bought our current cruiser and now can do electrical, plumbing, carpentry, brightwork, outboard repairs, minor diesel maintenance... learn by doing, not spending.

Cheers, RickG

[Happ]

In the post you didn’t mention what mechanical skills or tools you have. you might want to go on you tube and watch Sailing Uma. These are 2 kids just graduated from Architecture School and bought a Pearson 36 for $3,000 us. On a shoe string budget they got the boat sailing and took off. They did all the work themselves. They are very resourceful!

5 years later they are in Europe. They have sailed through the Caribbean to Columbia. Then north to Canada and across the Atlantic. I think watching their channel about 220 videos will help you out a lot. Especially the first videos.

Good Luck.

[Dave9111]

I'd wait for about 6 months before buying anything, unless you find a steal before then.
A LOT of businesses are folding up now and some of their owners have boats.
I'm at a marina on the west end of Lake Erie and a lot of nice freshwater boats are going up for sale. Some are 45-55 ft. Keeping a boat of that size is a $8-10,000 yearly bill at this marina. And things just aren't selling. Houses that sold in a week last year are now sitting on the market.

The rules have changed.

[Wolfhound]

RE the Allied Seabreeze 35, please also see Arthur Beiser's The Proper Yacht, first edition, pages 24 to 28.

Older is not necessarily weaker, and a slightly smaller LOA is not necessarily less seaworthy.

These are well-built boats. Well-maintained, they are (literally) bullet-proof. And, they provide what you're looking for well within your price range.

[OneBoatman]

You might try to find a Pearson 385 or 365 these are well proven center cockpit boats that are older and apt to be close to your price. The 385 was offered as a ketch, sloop, and cutter. Sailing a ketch or sloop its much easier because you needn't go forward to tack. If you go with a cutter you might want to rig it with a detachable forestay. Whatever you choose, make sure the rigging is sound, that your heat exchanger is well kept or new, your water pump">raw water pump, and coolant pumps are working well and you carry spare impellers and algaecide for your diesel. You might want to look for an older Nonesuch 33 and forego the center cockpit for an aft cockpit boat with extra security. These boats sail better than you think and are very roomy.

[Stmurray62]

I’m a broker, I’ve got a 37 ft Tartan that may work for you.

Steve Murray, stmurray62@gmail.com, 904 557 6932

[Tbaker]

My soon to be on the market HYLAS 44 meets all your criteria except for the price. It has a watermaker, SSB, VHF with AIS, Radar on backstay swivel, Iridium base station & phone with receiver on aft rail, 2 Kyocera 120 amp solar panels mounted on SS handrails that can swivel to the sun angle, aft swimstep with gap for self steering vane rudder, EMON electronic monitor system, set up for sloop rig but used offshore with a removable staysail stay. One issue is my Hylas is located in Blaine, Washington which makes the Pacific Ocean part of your plan very doable. I know, my wife and I cruised the south Pacific for 6 years. Hylas 44 is a great offshore boat but your budget for fully equipped offshore cruising boat is not realistic. Having been offshore and equipped my boat for offshore I can tell you your expected purchase price is way low. The budget you are quoting is good for a coastal cruiser.

[JordanH]

A quick look at YachtWorld and I find things like:
https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/197...an-41-3662583/


*shrug* listed @ $40k, tartan 41, fin w/ skeg, Tartan's are reasonably well built, and good enough for a bit of an adventure.

My view is that $50k is a pretty tight budget, but you can do it if you try.

Edit: My view is that if you are planning to leave during a Pandemic, then that's not a well thought out plan. Where are you going to be, how are you going to survive when everything locks down again. What happens if you can't enter a country? etc. Costs can build quickly and $1500/mo may run short. My advice would be to hold off, wait for boat prices to drop again due to the impending recession/depression, and stretch your money farther... have you considered something old and slow and shorter like a Westsail32 or something of its ilk? You would give up 2 cabins, but gain in robust construction - there's never been a boat where you "had enough space" so perhaps follow the adage, "Go small, go now"

Heck, even these guys survived (although I don't know how)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lwbHYOFD-4

[Capdave360]

Originally Posted by Clemroc

Hello forums,

A friend and I are looking to buy a (used) bluewater sailboat. We intend to sail it through the Caribbean, and then through the Pacific Ocean.

Here are some of our criterion:
- 2 cabins + salon (so we can each have our own bedding)
- 5ft (1.5m) draft to have nice anchoring close to islands
- preference for skeghung rudder
- preference for ketch-rig, but not a dealbreak
- preference for centre cockpit, but not a dealbreaker

Budget is $50,000 USD for purchase and any repairs/extras.

Thanks in advance, looking forward to your feedback!

Clemroc

There are a LOT of boats that will meet your needs. As one poster said - go to au.yachtworld.com, advanced search, and put in maximum price, minimum size, and you'll see too many. Use a geographic restriction to whittle it down to start, go look at a few.

Meanwhile here are two ideas. These are classic-plastic boats that can go anywhere in the world, and will probably outlive us all as long as you keep bolting new components into them. They've both been for sale for a long time, especially the bigger one, and I think you could offer way below asking:

https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/197...ns-42-3175935/

https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/197...ckpit-2948687/

Good luck!!

[Jimmyhenry]

We have a Cal 46 which ticks all your boxes. Plus it has a separate engine room and workshop. And Watermaker. ( which is essential around the Pacific. )
If you want to visit Aitutaki and similar then shallow is good. Maximum fraught there is under 2m.