Did/Do you regret buying your boat?

[Talulah]

Last October a friend of mine bought a 1940's converted fishing boat of about 46' length.
He moved the boat from Falmouth to Malden but the realisation of owning an old wooden type boat has now caught up with him. His heart is no longer in it.
The boat was on the slip waiting to have 2 hull planks replaced at a cost of about £1000 each. The previous owner would have done it himself.
He doesn't have the skills and would have to pay the boat yard to do it.
On Saturday I visited the boat for the first time. It was worse than I imagined. Everyone including myself had advised him not to buy it in the first place but sometimes you just have to learn these things for yourself.
Fortunately he may have a buyer. His loss will be fairly limited but what a shame.
Six months from dream to reality.

Another couple I know bought a very much smaller sail boat. 23' if I remember correctly.
They fell for the salesman pitch. Paid way over the odds. Fought every time they went on board and in the end they had to sell the boat on ebay for whatever they could get.
Paid £8k, sold on ebay for under £3k a year later but only by selling and putting it down to experience could they move on.

So anyone one here have similar stories?

 

[sailorman]

Last October a friend of mine bought a 1940's converted fishing boat of about 46' length.
He moved the boat from Falmouth to Malden but the realisation of owning an old wooden type boat has now caught up with him. His heart is no longer in it.
The boat was on the slip waiting to have 2 hull planks replaced at a cost of about £1000 each. The previous owner would have done it himself.
He doesn't have the skills and would have to pay the boat yard to do it.
On Saturday I visited the boat for the first time. It was worse than I imagined. Everyone including myself had advised him not to buy it in the first place but sometimes you just have to learn these things for yourself.
Fortunately he may have a buyer. His loss will be fairly limited but what a shame.
Six months from dream to reality.

Another couple I know bought a very much smaller sail boat. 23' if I remember correctly.
They fell for the salesman pitch. Paid way over the odds. Fought every time they went on board and in the end they had to sell the boat on ebay for whatever they could get.
Paid £8k, sold on ebay for under £3k a year later but only by selling and putting it down to experience could they move on.

So anyone one here have similar stories?

No best thing i have ever done
the last 2 boats 12 & 15 yrs to date, both fine sailing boats & opened our horizons & will extend that this year as we have more time

 

[Koeketiene]

Did/Do you regret buying your boat?

When we were going through the refit: many, many, many times.
The sacrifices, financial & otherwise, we had to make ...
Now, it's just a distant, bad memory.

One thing is certain, I'm never going through something like that again.
We're keeping the present boat till I drop or become too old and decrepit to enjoy her (whichever comes first).

 

[Sans Bateau]

No particular experience myself, but I do think it is not uncommon. There was a boat near us in the marina, a boat that had been bought new at SIBS after the owner and family had enjoyed a flotilla holiday (somewhere warm). After a couple of outings the owners wife would not even come near the marina.

I guess warm Turkish waters had something to do with creating the dream, but a wet Solent weekend with a breeze destroyed it.

 

[PaulGooch]

First boat was a Princess 32, decided after a few months it wasn't quite what we wanted. Had a good year of use with it, nearly lived on it Sold that and bought our current boat, which we've had for 3 1/2 years and loved every minute of it. Now decided we'd like a change and will be selling the mobo for something with sails.

So, no real regrets so far and can't wait to get the next one.

 

[xyachtdave]

...or become to old and decrepit to enjoy her (whichever comes first).

Then it's time to get yourself a gentlemen's motor cruiser and head for the French canals.

Glass of beer in one hand and a throttle in the other!

Grand Banks or whatever they are...not cheap but there's room at the back for a table and chairs, a BBQ and davits for your mobility scooters. Life's not over yet!

 

[Talulah]

Then it's time to get yourself a gentlemen's motor cruiser and head for the French canals.

Glass of beer in one hand and a throttle in the other!

Grand Banks or whatever they are...not cheap but there's room at the back for a table and chairs, a BBQ and davits for your mobility scooters. Life's not over yet!

One of the regulars on Talulah has done just that. Next month he takes ownership of his river barge in the South of France. Six months in France, six months in UK.
The only downside is that his wifes health is now very much up and down.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

My Rival is OK but she is an old lady and needs some stuff to keep her going. I could have bought a very good condition Bavaria for the purchase price of my Rival and what I have spent to date. I don't regret buying her as she is the type of hull and layout that I wanted.

I do think I would have sailed more on a Bavaria type yacht if I had bought one back then. Although I am a wee bit old time in my tastes, not so much that a JenBenBav wouldn't have done the trick.

However, light is at the end of the tunnel on the Rival, just a pin hole amount, but its there never the less.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

Six months from dream to reality.

Another couple I know bought a very much smaller sail boat. 23' if I remember correctly.
They fell for the salesman pitch. Paid way over the odds. Fought every time they went on board and in the end they had to sell the boat on ebay for whatever they could get.
Paid £8k, sold on ebay for under £3k a year later but only by selling and putting it down to experience could they move on.

So anyone one here have similar stories?

Never done it myself but I have seen exactly the situations you have described. Often it seems to be the romance of boat owning overcoming common sense - posters on this forum asking for a 23 foot liveaboard ocean cruiser for 10k for example. Sometimes, its a matter of trying to duck out of the real world of hard work and money shortages into a dream world of south sea cruising and living off the land.

But where would we be without the impractical dreamers?

 

[Pinnacle]

Do you regret buying your boat?

No.

 

[armchairsailor]

Yup, waste of time - only sailed it once in 3 years and then found the centreboard casing was cracked and poured water in. Never mind, sold it for a 50% profit. That £50 was easily eaten up though...

 

[RupertW]

It might not count but when I was 18 my father went looking for boats with me and we looked at a load of them, mostly 22-25 foot fibreglass boats before deciding together on a Maurice Griffiths triple keeler with a bowsprit.

Now I know it sailed like a brick, had more rotten beams, spreaders and other woodwork than a woodpile, and that it wasnt normal to have a sailing season that couldn't start until end-July and ended 6 weeks later when too many bits broke.

But I don't regret all the Uni holidays I spent repairing the deck, caulking, rebuilding furniture, varnishing and painting, then coaxing a Stuart Turner to life and planning 12 hour overnight trips from Chichester to Bembridge before I worked out what tides did. Getting to France in the boat 3 years later was magic even though we bounced in over sandbanks using a boathook to check depth.

Even my current UK boat which hasnt sold for two years now isn't a regret because although it's deeply unfashionable its the most responsive and fun sailing boat I'll probably ever own,

 

[TiggerToo]

But where would we be without the impractical dreamers?

and where we be without our dreams?

Probably not anywhere we'd recognise as humanity

 

[Laurin]

Sometimes question the sanity of having a boat with a 1 year old and a 3 year old but couldn't really imagine life without her. However getting to know the boat is a somewhat longer exercise with 2 little ones on board so am reserving judgement on if we made a mistake (90% sure she's a keeper)

However

A friend of mine spent 15 years building a van der staat 36, 7 years in he put her in the water so he could sail a little while he finished the interior. Realised it was his Dad's dream and not his, in fact he hated sailing her so much that 8 years later when he finished her he lent her to me for a season (I'd only been sailing a year and a half) to put some miles on her so he could sell her as nobody was interested in a home built boat that had never been sailed.

Always said that it cost him an arm and a leg, a career and 2 relationships.

 

[pyrojames]

When we were going through the refit: many, many, many times.
The sacrifices, financial & otherwise, we had to make ...
Now, it's just a distant, bad memory.

One thing is certain, I'm never going through something like that again.
We're keeping the present boat till I drop or become too old and decrepit to enjoy her (whichever comes first).

+1!

 

[onesea]

I like boats that require work, but my first priority is can I sail it and do it?

Has interior got suitable no's of working bunks? a working toilet?

From there I start creating on relatively blank canvas. Rarely will she be out of action always sailable. Bigger projects late spring after a few early season sails.

It never ends, the next little project. If ever a boat starts deteriating in my care I will sell..

I do think the biggest mistake is buying a boat or making it a project bigger than you... The moment an old boat cannot be sailed it looses value fast.

You only need to look on ebay for project boat...

 

[Joker]

We're keeping the present boat till I drop or become too old and decrepit to enjoy her (whichever comes first).

+2

 

[sailorman]

Sometimes question the sanity of having a boat with a 1 year old and a 3 year old but couldn't really imagine life without her. However getting to know the boat is a somewhat longer exercise with 2 little ones on board so am reserving judgement on if we made a mistake (90% sure she's a keeper)

However

A friend of mine spent 15 years building a van der staat 36, 7 years in he put her in the water so he could sail a little while he finished the interior. Realised it was his Dad's dream and not his, in fact he hated sailing her so much that 8 years later when he finished her he lent her to me for a season (I'd only been sailing a year and a half) to put some miles on her so he could sell her as nobody was interested in a home built boat that had never been sailed.

Always said that it cost him an arm and a leg, a career and 2 relationships.

That just about sums up many home builds.
the enjoyment is building not actually sailing
some build boats others go sailing

 

[PhillM]

I bourght an old wooden boat without knowing what I was REALLY getting into. She was sail-able but needed a lot of tlc.

25 foot, 1961, fine sea boat but lots to do (and get done).

I paid £2, 750 (on ebay) and have spent over £12K on her so far. There is still more to do (I dont think it will ever end) but the bills shold start to come down next year, unless of course I need to change the engine or rig that is.

All in I expect that I will have spent about £20K on the project, over four years. The point is that I DIDNT expect to spend anywhere near that at the start. If I knew then .....

But then I couldn't have afforded much of a boat. And if I could have afforded £20K at the start, I would not have been able to justify it to the family / bank manager etc as I was the only interested sailor.

As for remorse .... well nearly every penny I have made in the last 12 months has gone on the boat. Its a good job it was a good year at work!

If I had not been able to make the money, I could easily have ended up like the OP's mate. Having acraft in need of work, no time and no money is a nightmare I somtimes have - so I fully understand.

I doubt that the boat will be worth what I have spent on her BUT, I now own a great looker, much better than I could have afforded if I had spent out in one lump sum. So, to me, she's worth it.

I plan to own this boat for ten years, so over the years its not a bad return.

I can also say that I fully understand EVERY part of my boat (except the internals of the engine) because at some point over the last 2 years i have handled it, adjusted it, and for a every part of the hull rubed it, sanded it and painted it.

To answer the question directly, I have no regrets, but I can see how one could easily have been in the same position.

 

[rwoofer]

A friend of mine spent 15 years building a van der staat 36, 7 years in he put her in the water so he could sail a little while he finished the interior. Realised it was his Dad's dream and not his, in fact he hated sailing her so much that 8 years later when he finished her he lent her to me for a season (I'd only been sailing a year and a half) to put some miles on her so he could sell her as nobody was interested in a home built boat that had never been sailed.

Always said that it cost him an arm and a leg, a career and 2 relationships.

When I worked at Ford in the early/mid 90s I knew someone who was building a steel Van de Stadt 36. Wonder if it was the same person. The end result did look good.