Buying a Sailboat

[roderickwaller]

I have limited experience of sailing (a year on a heron and then a year on a 23 Hood...sailed on Lake Macquirie and a short cruise on east coast of Australia. I'd like to buy a sailboat for coastal cruising and trips to Vanuatu. I feel overwhelmed by the variety of boats for sale and would appreciate any advice members may have. (I am 65 yrs old; good health, and solo).

[JazzyO]

Without trying to sound disrespectful, I think your question is way too generic. I would suggest buying a book on purchasing a sailboat (there are many), get to know the various types of boat, check the internetfora (like this one) to find out more ones you like, and then ask more focused questions. Anyone here could otherwise spend hours on typing perhaps leading you onto the garden path. Buying a boat involves serious commitment and money, it is not to be taken lightly (in my humble opinion).

Onno

[Hoohaa]

Hi Rod
Maybe you could give us more detail.
Rough budget will help. New or old?
I can give you a few models available around our neck of the woods but need more info.
For example A Swanson 36 is a great boat, seaworthy, not to big and there are usually A few for sale around here, or maybe you are looking for something newer?

Jeff

[roderickwaller]

Thanks for your reply Jeff.
I'm looking for a used yacht around $30000. The swanston sounds ok; I'll do some research. Thanks again.

[Hoohaa]

You could also try
Cavalier 32
Joe Adams des boats. Allot where steal. If you can find a good one, it might be cheap, as steal is not as popular as it used to be.
Also Ferro cement boats. Nobody wants them so thay are cheap and every now and then you will pick up a really good one. But you would have too know the history and learn allot about them to satisfy yourself that its a good one. There are allot of bad ones out there.
A couple of other things about second hand boats. I may get shot down for this but I think its true. In todays market you should aim to get the boat for about 30% below the advertised price. IMO.
With that in mind you should be looking around the 40 to 50k advertised price. I think this is your market.
The boat you buy needs to be recently refitted. New Rig, reco engine, sea cocks, nav gear, oven, hatches, modern anchor with good chain and winch. I could go on.
This is all hard one experiance on my part.
These boats are out there but you will need to look at allot of boats so that when the right boat comes along you will recognise it and then you will need to buy it for a song.
But don't worry. Its good fun looking at boats.

Best of luck.

[roderickwaller]

Thankyou for your post good information
many thanks

[Hoohaa]

SPARKMAN & STEPHENS 34 "S&S" is another very good boat. Jessica Watson's yacht.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by roderickwaller

I have limited experience of sailing (a year on a heron and then a year on a 23 Hood...sailed on Lake Macquirie and a short cruise on east coast of Australia. I'd like to buy a sailboat for coastal cruising and trips to Vanuatu. I feel overwhelmed by the variety of boats for sale and would appreciate any advice members may have. (I am 65 yrs old; good health, and solo).

Even with a lifetime of living around boats, I was quite daunted by the job of finding what we needed. And when we thought we had found what we were after (a centre cockpit Adams 40) we got a horrible surprise when we finally got on board one as we found we could not get around the boat very well at all. (Don't get me wrong, I still think they are a fabulous boat, just not for us.)

So we ended up putting a few variables into one of the big online boat sale sites, such as length, price range, construction, and then clicked next, next, next, next through the pictures... for about four hours. That gave us a short list of boats that met our now identified need of clear decks and decent freeboard, and THEN I started asking around about those boats in particular, and got some great feedback, some really useful advice from CF too.

Tedious, but as far as I can tell, we got the right boat for us.

For what it is worth, our Swanson spent the first 20 years of its life ploughing a furrow between Brisbane and Vanuatu, and I am just a little envious of anyone else who can aspire to do so. I am stuck behind the desk for a few more years yet.

Matt

[GILow]

Originally Posted by roderickwaller

Thanks for your reply Jeff.
I'm looking for a used yacht around $30000. The swanston sounds ok; I'll do some research. Thanks again.

You probably mean Swanson. Just checking, as search engines will not make the match.

[Teknav]

Hi! You are going to be sailing SOLO at age 65...you'll need a sailboat that you can easily sail and provision. You'll need one that has a stern's platform that can be lowered/raised and make provisioning an easy task. Look-up Beneteau Oceanis in the 30-foot range; don't go to the 40-foot plus range when solo. Even though you're in good health, internal comfort should be a major factor in choosing your boat. Beneteau Oceanis are rugged, easy to sail solo and tested over the years for their reliability in sailing the seven seas. Good luck! (Disclaimer: Not affiliated with Beneteau Oceanis is any capacity.)

Mauritz
Elegance and simplicity through engineering.

[robert sailor]

Forget about the 30% below asking as a benchmark. Yes for sure boats do get sold for 30% below asking or even more but the important thing for you to do is research the hell out of prices. Some boats on the other hand get sold for very close to asking price but 2 things have happened, first the seller priced the boat right and secondly the buyer knew what the price should be. There are no bench mark discounts in buying anything.

[bruceinOz]

Just wondering if you found a yacht in the end?
I've got a Cavalier 32 in the marina in Newcastle. Great sized boat, very easy to sail alone, I seem to only singlehand. Good luck with the search

[roderickwaller]

Originally Posted by bruceinOz

Just wondering if you found a yacht in the end?
I've got a Cavalier 32 in the marina in Newcastle. Great sized boat, very easy to sail alone, I seem to only singlehand. Good luck with the search

no i havent found a boat but i am interested in yours

[roderickwaller]

Originally Posted by roderickwaller

no i havent found a boat but i am interested in yours

can you give me some details of the boat.

[CaptainBW]

I can't help but give the advice I give everyone who is new to looking for a cruising sailboat. Buy a copy of The Voyagers Handbook by Beth Leonard. I searched for many years both before and after I bought the book, and I wished I had purchased it at the beginning of my search. The book takes you through the key criteria and decisions that you need to make before, during and after your search.

Good luck! Enjoy the process...it is exciting!