Hello from Singapore

[Brawr]

Hi all,
I've been browsing this forum for a few months now (what a cracking place!), and thought I probably ought to say hi.
My wife and I live in Singapore, and are saving up for a sailboat. Our plan is to pick one up in a couple of years time, live aboard it in Singapore (and have local trips in the area) while working for a while longer, then use it to venture further afield once we have some spare money stashed away. We enjoy travelling a lot, have lived in several different countries, and are getting fed up of having to get rid of everything or ship our stuff to the new countries we move to. This seemed like a good alternative!
Neither of us have sailed since we were kids, and even then it was only in little Lasers, so we have booked ourselves on to some local sailing courses to brush up in the meantime.
We have been browsing all of the usual sales sites, and it looks like it would be feasible to pick up a non-basket case Bluewater capable boat in the 40-50' range for our projected purchase budget of circa usd$50k. We are gravitating towards 70's/80's, centre cockpit, GRP, deep keel Bluewater boats rather than newer production Beneteaus, Jeanneaus etc. We are both pretty handy and would be happy refitting/wiring/upholstering/plumbing/engine tinkering anything that needs work. Does this budget seem realistic to the learned squires here?
Will continue to read and learn from the wealth of information on this forum, and may ask some more technical questions closer to the time.
Thank you for the help so far!

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Brawr.

[Sparx]

Brawr, Welcome to the forum.

By buying an older boat it will likely need a lot of refit to leave the region. Plan on another $100k to make the boat ocean capable. So at this point you are in for $150k and have two years minimum before you can leave, with a boat that will never be worth more than $50k.

As a former resident, I believe you will find the process of a major refit slow and very expensive in Singapore. The chances of this proposal becoming a nightmare are high.

A better plan is to sail on every boat you can. Try crewing at the local yacht club. Try a few charters in the Australian Whitsundays or Phuket. Meanwhile grow your boat bank account.

Then when you are ready to actually go cruising pare your possessions down to a duffle of clothes and tools to maintain the boat, and go boat shopping. If you are still up for a refit you will have much more satisfaction by relocating to a place with the yachting infrastructure to support a refit. Eastern Australia or the US East Coast come to mind. No doubt there are places in Europe as well.

If you are lucky you might be able to spend a little more for a boat that is already ocean ready. Then you start cruising locally while doing relatively minor upgrades.

[Brawr]

Thanks for the welcome guys, and especially to you Sparx for the advice. It's good to hear some suggestions from someone that has spent time here. Most guides I had read/videos I have watched recommended saving 25% of the purchase budget for immediate maintenance, but I suppose perhaps that doesn't hold true on older boats.
We have signed up for lessons at the local sailing club, and would like to start volunteer crewing when we pass our first course, so will do as you suggest and see how we like different boats. We found out yesterday that my wife's boss has a 50' Beneteau and knows lots of people in the local scene, so will try and do some networking through her too.
Cheers!