Boat buying gone mad

Concerto said:
If you are looking for a Westerly Fulmar, I am a WOA BoatLine member for the Fulmar as I own one which I have been renovating. You may find this PowerPoint presentaion interesting. https://wiki.westerly-owners.co.uk/images/3/3f/Concerto.pdf So you can PM any questions you might have.

Details on all Westerly boats are available here. Westerly Classes - Westerly-Wiki

Once you have decided on which manufacturer is your prefered choice, I would strongly recommend joining the class association as you will then get access to information only available to members.
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Thanks for those links concerto, appreciated.

What a great restoration on that fulmar, looks like a lot of work went into that. I'm hoping my next boat won't require any immediate work so I can just sail and improve it over time.
 
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Brentwales said:
Thanks for those links concerto, appreciated.

What a great restoration on that fulmar, looks like a lot of work went into that. I'm hoping my next boat won't require any immediate work so I can just sail and improve it over time.
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After the initial hull work, I sailed her for a year before doing any more major work. There were a number of things I knew needed changing and just made the time to do the work, usually after work so I could sail at the weekend.

Just refinished the majority of the woodwork in the forward cabin with the original lacquer and all the floorboards with an industrial hard wearing floor finish - all taken back to bare wood. Progressively I will complete the rest of the woodwork. Also just fitted a new cooker. Still plenty to do, but Concerto gets better all the time. Concerto was going to be the WOA boat at the Southampton Boat Show, but as this has been cancelled she will be there next year. I recon she will be finally finished then.
 
Brentwales said:
Thanks for the tips, I've narrowed down my choice to Moody, Contessa, Sadler or Westerly Fulmar/Storm. There were quite a few Moody's for sale over the latest few weeks in the 29-34 range, but pretty much all gone. I do quite like the aesthetics of the Sigma, but they mostly seem to have been raced hard and look a bit worse for wear
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Couple of friends looking for bilge keeled yachts in your budget are also finding the same thing, all snapped up pretty quickly. There is a Sigma 36 on Facebook Market place for about £22k if you don't mind a deep keel.

Or this: Moody S31 For Sale, 9.45m, 1995

Finally, how about this? bit of work needed but could be a bargain: Moody 31 MkII For Sale, 9.37m, 1986
 
Brentwales said:
Thanks for the tips, I've narrowed down my choice to Moody, Contessa, Sadler or Westerly Fulmar/Storm. There were quite a few Moody's for sale over the latest few weeks in the 29-34 range, but pretty much all gone. I do quite like the aesthetics of the Sigma, but they mostly seem to have been raced hard and look a bit worse for wear
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Rather than looking at just a couple of brands, cast as wide a net as possible.
Make a list of parameters and search according to those.
What size boat are you looking for?
What is your budget?
Etc ...

Some pleasant surprises may come up. Boats you might otherwise have missed.
When I was looking to buy recently, I ended up with a shortlist of about 10 boats from 7 different builders.

And yes, the market is certainly not slow.
All the boats I had on my shortlist have now sold.
 
Luminescent said:
You may wish to consider lesser known brands as well.
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I recently bought an American 24ft Trailer Sailer. A Hunter Legend 240. of about year 2000. And I am delighted with it. I had never heard of the make. before. Went to Derwent Water Marina and they must have had 10 on the site including one they had for sale. And they are quite cheap, certainly the one I have bought cost less than a similar age Drascombe Lugger. The trailer which came with it is brilliant, very heavy construction and has the advantage of a UK axle and UK brakes. There was one going cheaply on eBay a few weeks ago which fetched about £5000 including trailer.
PS. If you were looking at Moody's I once bought a Brand New Moody 30 (1978) I wish I still had it now.
 
Pete7 said:
Couple of friends looking for bilge keeled yachts in your budget are also finding the same thing, all snapped up pretty quickly. There is a Sigma 36 on Facebook Market place for about £22k if you don't mind a deep keel.

Or this: Moody S31 For Sale, 9.45m, 1995

Finally, how about this? bit of work needed but could be a bargain: Moody 31 MkII For Sale, 9.37m, 1986
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That Moody 31 Mkii I've been looking at, not too worried about the bow roller damage but the keel bolts and water ingress around the first bolt would need some attention
 
As already stated focussing on particular makes/models unnecessarily restricts your choice and may result in you ending up with less boat for your money than you could have got. Each boat should be treated on its merits and how well it suits your budget/proposed sailing area and plans/skillset as far as maintenance and refurbishment, etc...
 
As an alternate view buying an established make might mean a more knowledgable owners assoc for repair advice and a wider resale market. In summary new entrants might not be so afraid of a well loved Moody etc to a lesser brand in uk market. It’s the same for mobo hence why you see dozens of Sealine clones in uk but few azimut types. By all means view a few lesser known breeds but be aware sources of info might be more limited than say experts on westerly centaurs in the WOA.
 
ashtead said:
As an alternate view buying an established make might mean a more knowledgable owners assoc for repair advice and a wider resale market. In summary new entrants might not be so afraid of a well loved Moody etc to a lesser brand in uk market. It’s the same for mobo hence why you see dozens of Sealine clones in uk but few azimut types. By all means view a few lesser known breeds but be aware sources of info might be more limited than say experts on westerly centaurs in the WOA.
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1. When looking to buy your first boat, things like an owners association (repair advice) is indeed an important consideration.
When looking to buy earlier in the year, I was considering a Nicholson 31 and a Contessa 32 and I was truly amazed by the amount of information regarding these boats to be found on the web.
However, if you have previous boat-owning experience this may not be as essential.
2. Given the models (Westerly Fulmar/Storm) OP is looking at I don't think resale value is a prime consideration as the boats will in all likelyhood be 30+ years old.
I recently acquired a 43 year old boat and I do know when the point comes that I have to let her go (hopefully in the very distant future) that I will not see back most of the money I spent on her - unless I market her as a 'classic'. :cool:
 
Koeketiene said:
1. When looking to buy your first boat, things like an owners association (repair advice) is indeed an important consideration.
When looking to buy earlier in the year, I was considering a Nicholson 31 and a Contessa 32 and I was truly amazed by the amount of information regarding these boats to be found on the web.
However, if you have previous boat-owning experience this may not be as essential.
2. Given the models (Westerly Fulmar/Storm) OP is looking at I don't think resale value is a prime consideration as the boats will in all likelyhood be 30+ years old.
I recently acquired a 43 year old boat and I do know when the point comes that I have to let her go (hopefully in the very distant future) that I will not see back most of the money I spent on her - unless I market her as a 'classic'. :cool:
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If you get the value of the boat you're lucky, if you get anywhere near how much you spent on her I'd be very very very impressed. For most buying and selling boats is not a profit market.
 
Koeketiene said:
Rather than looking at just a couple of brands, cast as wide a net as possible.
Make a list of parameters and search according to those.
What size boat are you looking for?
What is your budget?
Etc ...

Some pleasant surprises may come up. Boats you might otherwise have missed.
When I was looking to buy recently, I ended up with a shortlist of about 10 boats from 7 different builders.

And yes, the market is certainly not slow.
All the boats I had on my shortlist have now sold.
Click to expand...
I disagree with your approach. I found when searching for my first biggish boat that the choice was overwhelming and so settled on a Mirage 28 after being invited on one. This narrowed the choice down substantially and we just chose the best one which had a new Yanmar engine, refitted galley, new cooker, eberspacher heater, hot and cold water, and so on. I haggled the price down after a survey and it served us well for several years then sold at a profit.
There's no hard and fast guide to pricing, most owners overvalue and some refuse to drop so consequently it stays for sale for some time. Compare with others for sale add and subtract a bit for things like engine age and condition and standing rigging and make an offer after that negotiate.
 
My top choices are mainly based on aesthetics of the boat, the difficulty is then finding one in my price range that doesn't need lots of work and can be sailed straight away. The well looked after ones are being snapped up so quickly at the moment. I'm not in any rush and want this next boat to be my long term vessel that I can upgrade over time and be capable of some blue water voyages.
 
Brentwales said:
Thanks for the tips, I've narrowed down my choice to Moody, Contessa, Sadler or Westerly Fulmar/Storm. There were quite a few Moody's for sale over the latest few weeks in the 29-34 range, but pretty much all gone. I do quite like the aesthetics of the Sigma, but they mostly seem to have been raced hard and look a bit worse for wear
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New Listing: Moody 31 For Sale - 22,995
 
ghostlymoron said:
I disagree with your approach. I found when searching for my first biggish boat that the choice was overwhelming and so settled on a Mirage 28 after being invited on one. This narrowed the choice down substantially and we just chose the best one which had a new Yanmar engine, refitted galley, new cooker, eberspacher heater, hot and cold water, and so on. I haggled the price down after a survey and it served us well for several years then sold at a profit.
There's no hard and fast guide to pricing, most owners overvalue and some refuse to drop so consequently it stays for sale for some time. Compare with others for sale add and subtract a bit for things like engine age and condition and standing rigging and make an offer after that negotiate.
Click to expand...

If this worked for you - who I am to disagree?
There are more ways than one to skin a cat.

The best thing about these forums is that we can all share/learn from eachothers experience.
 
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