A Warm Hello

[hummingway]

Six months riding herd and six months riding the brine. Sounds great!

[Sailing Cowboy]

Originally Posted by hummingway

Six months riding herd and six months riding the brine. Sounds great!

Yes it is. Both activities take you to places others only dream about. Definetly my two passions. Both have the wind in my face and both force me to work harder to pay for it all.

[Sailing Cowboy]

Thanks all for the nice welcome. Glad to be here.

[hummingway]

Are there any boats that have caught your eye so far? It certainly a good time to buy in the USA.

[Sailing Cowboy]

Originally Posted by hummingway

Are there any boats that have caught your eye so far? It certainly a good time to buy in the USA.

Ohhhhh there are many that fit the bill. My problem is I want too much from a used boat maybe. I love the Ketch design. The Morgan I/O is one of my favourites. The Pearson is also high on my list. My wife seems to be comfortable with the boating lifestyle which is good but as soon as I said sailboat……I got this look like I had two heads or something. Soooooo as most of the guys are thinking right now…..I have one chance to make a good impression or I will be a lonely sailor on the high seas. (Which is ok too and I will do that but would rather enjoy it together). So when deciding on a sailboat I have to try and get the roomiest, comfortable, nice looking interior that I can get so as to please everyone. Of course a solid stable cruiser is paramount in this one opportunity. I was originally thinking in the 40ft-45ft foot size range and a budget of $50-$60K. I was thinking 2-3 years but I can’t wait that long for a boat. So maybe my first should be 34-36ft range, which means no more Ketch and into the sloop, which is fine for now. I can always get my ketch in 3 years. But I have to pick a stable, safe cruising boat that has the biggest interior I can get. I like aft cabins. I always have and that’s why the Morgan I/O walk through is appealing to me. I can’t see my wife getting all warm and fuzzy about a v-birth up forward and neither can I. So if I am in the mid 30foot range I need to pear down the options out there. I can get a newer 34ft for the price of my 42 ketch so if I go down to mid 30’s I would expect my budget to go down as well but too what I am not sure yet. The type of cruising we will do is mostly costal cruising. I don’t my fixing up a few things but don’t want to plow a ton of cash into something either.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!
Good to have you here. I like the Allied Princess ketches and the Fuji or Mariner 32 or 36 or 40 but have decided to stay with sloop for the simplicity. My old wood Mariner 35 was a wonderful sailer that I toured the islands with and sailed back to Seattle. You can see a photo in my profile. Good luck in the boat search.
kind regards,