Cheap boats. The end is nigh, The Cheap Boat Thread

[NotBirdseye]

I think we've found a spammer.... I wonder if the seller also charges postage and packaging? ?

 

[dgadee]

I think we've found a spammer.... I wonder if the seller also charges postage and packaging? ?

No, that's extra. $800 + £2.95 p&p.

 

[doug748]

Useful Rustler 31 here, with some nice stuff included, for under 10 grand:

Sailing yacht, Rustler 31 - long keeled classic sailing cruiser | eBay

.

 

[Dipper]

I tried to sell Diadem, my Seawolf 26 over a few months last year. It has a good engine, recent work to the mast and the hull is in fine fettle. I had it up for 2k, to try and weed out anyone who didn't know what they were looking at. The interior needs a complete rebuild but would have taken offers near the 1k mark and made that very clear to anyone who came to look at her. I didn't get any serious offers so after 2+ years of sitting in the boat yard, I have now decided to keep her and get her running again. I work abroad for 6 months of the year so it has been hard to find the time alongside renovating a farm.

The problem then is when boats like this come up.... I would love an old rustler next to do some serious cruising, I have the expertise to get a boat like this sorted but feel a certain loyalty to my Seawolf 26 after owning her for over 10 years.

Rustler 31 Yacht for Sale – Miscellaneous – Helston, Cornwall | Facebook Marketplace

I've only just seen this. I'm glad you didn't sell it especially for that price. Some years ago a friend of mine was selling a 30ft cruising yacht for IIRC £12000. Nobody came to look at it. He bumped the price up to £15000 and within days someone had bought it for the asking price. By pitching the price too low, you can cut off a lot of potential buyers who are looking between a minimum and maximum price.

 

[zoidberg]

The end is nigh, Cheap Boat Thread...

I'm not convinced. It's my view that the would-be sailing community has been subjected to 'Techniques of Persuasion' for many years into a manipulated range of expectations.... that sailboats must be 35' LOA or more to be any blurry good; that smaller is seriously unsafe; and that one MUST have a few thousand pounds of electronic gear aboard if one is not inviting disaster...

Those who manage, year in and year out, to sail here and there around the coasts of Europe and beyond quite successfully - and some repeatedly across oceans , in boats significantly smaller than that are sidelined as 'eccentrics' and 'stunt-makers'.

The quaint notion that a 26-30 foot boat could be properly seaworthy and provide many years of pleasurable sailing - as was the norm just a few short decades ago - has been all but erased from the scene.
I can understand the commercial argument, but I don't accept it.

Cheap boats have always provided 'steps on the ladder' - and they don't need to be big 'uns.

Provided one is willing to learn, and to do ( have done ) the work, cheap but robust boats are certainly still an important part of sailing. And I put my money where my mouth is.

 

[Kukri]

Useful Rustler 31 here, with some nice stuff included, for under 10 grand:

Sailing yacht, Rustler 31 - long keeled classic sailing cruiser | eBay

.

I would have snapped that up. I really like the Rustler 31 and she looks like a good one.

 

[webcraft]

They make great cheap racing boats and can be moored in shallower locations but I have never seen anyone actually go inside the cabin of one (even the one I used to crew on). Sails, though, are where your money would go on that, I suspect.

I met a six-foot guy who did an Atlantic circuit on one.

- W

 

[dgadee]

I met a six-foot guy who did an Atlantic circuit on one.

- W

Did he write the badly written book mentioned above? Or is this something 6 footers are prone (sic) to doing?

 

[Carib]

I would have snapped that up. I really like the Rustler 31 and she looks like a good one.

Me too (I have one..!) This is Dan Stroud's boat - just back from a singlehanded circumnavigation including Patagonia (link)

 

[zoidberg]

Dan Stroud makes some important points....

"I'm not a special case, I just try not to let these bastard neuroses get in the way of following my heart. Because that's all they are, these fears, not lions and tigers, just bunny rabbits in disguise. Keep one eye open to that and keep moving forward, anything is possible."

"Perhaps this is all about letting go of dreams, ideas, visions, fabricating false identities, learning to be here now. Learning how to connect with myself and the people that I meet along the way. Reframing some habitual negative perspectives in my ongoing journey. Learning to love, to be loved, to be in love, and trying to manage all the gooey sticky meh that arises along the way. The journey continues!"

"I'm still learning to sail the boat. I know the seas well now and at any given point I can look around and know what's going on around me."

"Go and do it. Make sure you have a seaworthy boat. Learn as you go."

"One of the big parts I learned was that you didn't have to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds. It is possible to sail on a budget and be comfortable. Many people don't see a voyage like this as attainable if you aren't wealthy. You don't need to be wealthy. I met people doing the same thing in smaller boats than I was sailing. There were lots of guys out there like me."

 

[dgadee]

Dan Stroud makes some important points....

I see older couples in larger boats about the Med all the time and I wonder why? Big to manouvre, expensive to maintain and cavernous inside. Our 11m has enough to go wrong, without pumping it up and adding extra systems. Perfect for the two of us.

 

[Kukri]

I like big simple boats. The “simple” is the important bit.

 

[Carib]

I like big simple boats. The “simple” is the important bit.

The below is taken from an old blog entry - I think it speaks for itself!

Here's a list of maintenance jobs on a well-equipped Hallberg Rassy 42 I crewed in the South Pacific a few years ago. Her owner was experienced, from an engineering background, and - fortunately for him - enjoyed maintaining and fixing things. This isn't to say that many of these couldn't have arisen on a smaller, simpler boat, but the effect is cumulative; the less there is to go wrong the better. And this was on a newish, well-maintained boat over a mere 7 week period.

• replace failed wind generator (old one failed to shut down in strong winds)
• broken outboard shaft connection
• clean outboard carburettor
• fit new sheaves to new genoa track
• fit electrical noise suppressor to fridge (interferes with SSB reception)
• clean shower drain filter and pump
• reglue rubbing strip on dinghy
• change generator oil
• fit new wiring under floorboards
• investigate skewed weatherfax issue
• investigate broken anchor windlass (£1300 and several days waiting for spares)
• fit new anchor windlass, when spares finally arrive
• mend broken preventor block
• wind vane steering no longer in clear air due to new radar arch(!) - requires resiting
• shorten and adjust battens
• fix cord used to keep settee backs in place
• mend door catch
• mend bimini
• replace windex
• replace broken ball-race track for booming out pole
• repaid ripped mainsail
• replace badly corroded screws on Taylor stove (requires wholesale removal of cooker)
• grease heads pump
• discover new windlass daisy is the wrong size
• unblock shower drain again..

Waiting for parts kept us in Tahiti for several days when we were raring to go. Having said that, there are worse places to be stuck...

 

[Kukri]

Cruising under sail is defined as yacht maintenance in remote and expensive places.

 

[scruff]

Me too (I have one..!) This is Dan Stroud's boat - just back from a singlehanded circumnavigation including Patagonia (link)

There are some times I really think this forum is bad for my mental health.

The days are drawing in and the autumnal winds are starting to make themselves known. Just spent a typicalMonday dealing with nonsence work meetings & emails then someone goes and posts a link to a boat just back from a circumnavigation including paragonia fot £10k. Presumably add a new set of sails and some standing rigging and you'll be off for <£15k. The world's your oyster for the price of a secondhand car.

The prospect of a circumnavigation; rum punches in the carribean, snorkeling in the marquess, exploring the cocos keeling islands, Maldives, spotting orangutans in Madagascar is supposed to be unobtainable, thats why I'm still at work.

(Whats the average monthly spend for a 3-4year cruise circumnavigation?)

 

[Frogmogman]

I see older couples in larger boats about the Med all the time and I wonder why? Big to manouvre, expensive to maintain and cavernous inside. Our 11m has enough to go wrong, without pumping it up and adding extra systems. Perfect for the two of us.

Each to his own .

It all depends on what you want.

 

[sailorman]

This Verl 27 seem like another bargain at an asking of £2650.
Listing for sale: Jane: Verl class 27ft fin keel offshore yacht

The cooker looked ok

 

[dgadee]

Each to his own .

It all depends on what you want.

So true, but sometimes you don't know what you really want. Just speaking to boat beside me. 42 foot. Owner says if he had realised the cost of Greek cruising tax for that length he wouldn't have bought the boat.

 

[dgadee]

(Whats the average monthly spend for a 3-4year cruise circumnavigation?)

How long is a piece of string? I probably spend the same as at home (though have home expenses when I am away). The crew is very food fussy, so not a lot of eating out (we are both ok cooks). We both prefer to anchor, so mooring costs not huge.

 

[Frogmogman]

So true, but sometimes you don't know what you really want. Just speaking to boat beside me. 42 foot. Owner says if he had realised the cost of Greek cruising tax for that length he wouldn't have bought the boat.

Proving (yet again) the old adage, that time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted.