Buy a boat that is ready to sail or Renovate one

[NormanMartin]

I will spin a short yarn on this subject. About 15 years ago I cooked up a plan to buy an old race boat and charter it to racing sailors for Caribbean regattas. We found an old war horse of 45 feet for $20K in the NorthEast, got new sails and did some work on her before sailing her south and working the plan. I guess we had about $50K in the boat by the first start.

Sailed her all over the Eastern Caribbean for the winter. It was an amazingly fun time. Had some good finishes and some very poor ones, too. It was a bit like camping in a leaky tent but in a great place.

At the end of the season the boat was scrapped. To expensive to continue fixing based on dollars per trophy. We did meet our business objective, earned some fun coupons, spent some fun coupons, had a heck of a good time.

It all depends on what you want to do with your money, fix, sail, fix while sailing, or let it all fall apart while sailing.

[NormanMartin]

and one more thing.... the project ended more because the ownership group started squabbling. A lot of cruises end the same way but the ownership group is Mrs. and Mr.