need advice on two boats

[topfish]

I will get the survey to you later. hoping this evening! here is the listing! View Inventory – Little Yacht Sales

[TrentePieds]

Top:

I hope the survey checks out! If so, you'll have yourself a wonderful little boat. She'll sail rather better than TrentePieds, and that is in part because Shaw, the designer, didn't try to squeeze more onto a 25-foot waterline (same as TP) than it can reasonably carry.

I think you said you've had boats before, so you will be aware that a tiller has distinct advantages over a wheel in such a small boat. The engine does indeed look to be a Kubota. I can't tell the HP, tho' I will say that a 20 would be enuff though, of course, a 27 would better.

I look forward to seeing the survey :-)

Regards

TP

[topfish]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Top:

I hope the survey checks out! If so, you'll have yourself a wonderful little boat. She'll sail rather better than TrentePieds, and that is in part because Shaw, the designer, didn't try to squeeze more onto a 25-foot waterline (same as TP) than it can reasonably carry.

I think you said you've had boats before, so you will be aware that a tiller has distinct advantages over a wheel in such a small boat. The engine does indeed look to be a Kubota. I can't tell the HP, tho' I will say that a 20 would be enuff though, of course, a 27 would better.

I look forward to seeing the survey :-)

Regards

TP

Thank you. The boat surveyed at 25K while he is letting it go for 19K after putting 60K INTO IT. Guess he failed to talk with wife lol.. Yes the engine is a Kubota and yes only 20 HP. agree 27 would be better. The engine replacement was around 15K so I will just live with it. Yes every boat I owned except a 05 33 hunter had a tiller. A 14' blue jay, 19' lightning, 22' ensign.. I sailed many other boats with the naval sailing association and Olympic Circle sailing club out of Berkley. I love a tiller. Thanks

[laika]

Opinions abound on composting heads, but I think you'll find nearly everyone who went down that road is happy. Lots of threads here on that subject. I for one think their great. Especially on a smaller boat, where you can rip out all the smelly old hose runs and the holding tank. Perhaps the biggest downside is having to regularly confront a bucket of poop that in fact merely looks and smells like dirt. The pee will start to smell if the pee container is not cleaned regularly. It's definitely not of the flush and forget ilk, though come to find not many marine heads are.

Congrats on the find and hope it works out for you!

[topfish]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Top, your proposed usage does not require boats of this type and price. As TP has said, there are a plethora of suitable craft of similar size and more than adequate seaworthyness for less than half of the prices for these PSC boats. This is a hell of a lot of extra money for what amounts to a style choice... but it is your money and not our place to tell you how to spend it!

People do live aboard boats the size of the Dana, but in an area with as much rain as the PNW, I think one might well find that being cooped up in such a small space for longish times would be onerous. IME, enjoying living on a small boat means lots of cockpit time and less below decks time. A full cockpit enclosure can help with this, but is quite expensive and has severe aesthetic and performance costs as well.

I can offer one specific alternative vessel that would fulfill your needs: the Sparkman and Stevens designed Yankee 30. I know from long personal experience that these boats will outsail either of the PSC designs, have adequate live aboard potential, are easy to single hand and capable of crossing oceans... I've done all of the above with one! And they are often available for <20 K$ with retrofitted diesels. I'm sure that there are many other similar boats on the market. If you have limited funds (as most of us do) the PSC boats have drawbacks!

Good luck with your decision and with the separation of wants, needs and dreams in your mind.

Jim

Live aboard probably has different meanings to people. My apologies. What I mean is a summer retreat from living in a desert. Would I actually cruise long distances and live aboard for a lengthy duration? Thinking my neurologist would advise against such a decision! We all or most of have limited resources as even Bill Gates wealth is tied to his stocks. This does not mean I am not able to purchase a sound blue water boat for local cruising. Having a desire to head south! Think I was misunderstood which is OK..

[topfish]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

@ #10

Where does the HC41 suddenly come into it? You were talking about a 24 v. a 31. I see no reason that you can't daysail a well-found 31 out of Port Gardner as easily as you can a 24. But quite right, a 41 is getting beyond the "day-sailer" rubric.

If you are serious about living aboard, then absolutely go for the 31 - but not this particular one, given the totally unrealistic listing price. TP is 30-foot, and adequate for man and maid for some weeks, even some months, at a time. But permanently? not for me. Just too damn tight, and no workshop. That way lies dep[ression and insanity! I single-hand her all the time because MyBeloved came to seafaring only at retirement age and has no interest in qualifying to skipper. She loves being in the boat, and on the water, but I single-hand the boat. There is nothing to single-handing a 30-footer, it doesn't even require physical strength. You might like to know that while I'm healthy, I am pushing 80 and I expect to single-hand for a few years yet.

If you can afford the Dana without flogging the house, then you can afford a good 30-footer without flogging the house. To deliberately walk away from an APPRECIATING asset in exchange for ownership of a DEPRECIATING asset is NOT sound financial strategy in this world, as it is unfolding. Keep the house, buy for what you have in the savings account, find a GOOD property manager and rent out the house, and add the rental income to your cruising budget. Then if you find that your health no longer permits cruising or living aboard, or that living aboard just isn't all it's cracked up to be, you just swallow the anchor and go back to the house, no lasting harm done by your escapade.

TP

Very correct. The problem is live a boards have different meanings. I would be foolish to sell an appreciating asset for a boat. Living aboard for me means having a nice salty boat to sail around the sound. Heading south would probably be dictated by my neurologist! I have considered a boat in San Diego as there is much sentimental value sailing those waters. I get your post and no worries nor any disagreement with me! Thanks!

[topfish]

Originally Posted by Scout 30

Don't underestimate the Dana 24.

I love your videos and am very impressed your wife did not kill you on your passage lol.. Just teasing- or am I? I believe you sold your boat? It is a very nice boat. I was about to buy Wizard Tides in Anacortes when I started to a new buy. The owner of the molds no longer sells/ build them. He started at 155 but real price is now 259K for the Dana. I hope we can meet up in the PNW sometime and you can help my arthritic hands do some lashing! I am very impressed with what you and your wife did. Just realize I am seeking a larger boat. PSC 31 which not many made has made me look else where. I will always love the DANA as it served me well in the SF Bay. I know a Marine who sailed one to HI which was before you tube and all that stuff. PSC lost so much money building such a great boat which is sad. Thank You as you are such an inspiration. Hope to see you at PNW events. Much love Michael!

[TrentePieds]

Top:

Good to have such a sensible man among us :-)! As you will see if you hang around for a while, we get a few who can not be so characterized, and some of us think it is better to err on the side of a noob's safety - both physically and otherwise :-)

MyBeloved and I broke the piggybank one day and decided to split the contents twixt freehold real estate and a boat. I'm glad we did. I think I mentioned my need for work on my eyes, and that the job will be a little more complicated than usual. If things go as well as I hope, we'll be off in the boat for the summer. For now the condo would then remain unoccupied, but if I spy something attractive on the northern part of "The Island", we put the condo to Rental and use the income to buy a property "up there" with the long term intention of giving the granddaughter a nice little graduation present in due course :-)!

No difficulty with any of that. The only intrinsic problem is that without a decent workshop I'd go spare. So where do you fit one of those in a 30-footer :-)?

TP

[topfish]

I thought I post this survey here as well. Please read my other thread as it will explain my heartbreak!

https://mail2.spectrum.net/index.php...?folder=INBOX/

So much for working with brokers out of state! Stay local and all the WA State brokers say YES!

Michael!

[malbert73]

I’d probably also not share awesome deals on CF until you have sealed the deal. You may have tipped someone off to get an offer in ahead of you. That was a sweet deal, though I agree that spending 40% of purchase price on shipping is slightly absurd.

[topfish]

Originally Posted by malbert73

I’d probably also not share awesome deals on CF until you have sealed the deal. You may have tipped someone off to get an offer in ahead of you. That was a sweet deal, though I agree that spending 40% of purchase price on shipping is slightly absurd.

Yeah my thought as well. I told the broker this as well. He lost my business thinking he could care less. I am really pissed. He knew I wanted this boat and offered to send a recent survey (sorry the boat show got in his way) I am pissed as I waited only to find I was out a boat. Makes me think about future business. I am a self made business man myself so I will deal with this clown later! Karma has a way of biting you! Best to be honest upfront! ya think? Guess brokers do not! Not ones I will deal with in the future! Michael Carey!

[topfish]

Originally Posted by topfish

Yeah my thought as well. I told the broker this as well. He lost my business thinking he could care less. I am really pissed. He knew I wanted this boat and offered to send a recent survey (sorry the boat show got in his way) I am pissed as I waited only to find I was out a boat. Makes me think about future business. I am a self made business man myself so I will deal with this clown later! Karma has a way of biting you! Best to be honest upfront! ya think? Guess brokers do not! Not ones I will deal with in the future! Michael Carey!

I learned a lot about brokers. They can not be trusted.. Treat them like used car salesmen. So quick to sell me another boat while I wanted what I Wanted. Its not just a Texas thing rather pretty much universal. So glad I did not pay for my surveyor and self for a flight to Texas. Airfare and lodging would have cost a bunch as if this piece of crap broker could care less? Yeah I am pissed off as you can tell and they want to sell me another boat? No way!

Recall I bought day sailors and never had a survey. I just went for a sail and loved the boat I was buying. Bought it with a grin. the one boat I bought was at a boat show. The dealer sold it for 15K less then my purchase. That was during a recession and did not include all the upgrades which would be many! Seven years and a 15K loss with much enjoyment can not be ignored. Yeah I put a lot in to this boat which is why it sold so quickly! I had a decent broker which can not be said for my dealings with Kema Texas. Facts are stubborn. Yeah I got screwed by a money hungry broker who could care less about people. A valuable lesson we should all learn.

I have problems with this broker and maybe I should avoid trashing the entire dealer/sales/ department! I will acknowledge the owner and office manager was quick to call me. The Broker leaves room for desire! Another used car salesmen! How sad! Michael Carey!

[JPA Cate]

Hello topfish,

We have a member here, called Teknishun, who has bought himself a 2nd hand Hunter 27, and is living aboard it full time, cruising it as the mood moves him.

jon61ct has a thread going about trailerable oceanworthy boats, and Steadman Ulich has a thread going for boats under $30,000. You might be interested to have a look. Use the CF Custom Google Search under the regular search function.

It sounds as if you have some condition that requires monitoring by a neurologist. If it is Baja you want to do, in season (the winter through the spring), there are many anchorages close together, and you can certainly do them in even a 24 ft. trailer/sailer. And, if you think about it, if you would be a summer sailor in the PNW, you can probably make do with a similar boat. You're sorta home free if you know how to drive a trailer well! Good luck with it.

Here's a link to another thread you might like: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ice-38211.html

Ann