salad
Active member
Theres been a hot debate at home tonight and we are firmly aground.
We essentially have two options.
A) We buy a 28-30ft boat right now on a limited budget to get sailing almost immediately and start to learn, with a view to upgrading in the shorter term OR
B) Wait (1-2 years) and buy what we ultimately think we want, in the knowledge we may change eventually anyway.
From advice we've been offered here, we believe eventually we're going to want a boat thats between 36 and 40ft, depending on vintage and internal space. I get the impression that a budget of £100k (to readers of my older posts, we've upped budget) would buy a relatively modern yacht of that size in a normal market. We're talking your "standard" AWB here, not HR, Najad etc. Probably 2010 through 2014 or so. I'm finding I quite like Hanse.
The careful purchase of a yacht like that might take a year or more in this inflated market and we are eager to get out and learn, so we came up with the idea of buying something much smaller at a pricepoint of say, £20-25k as a means of getting practical experience. Obviously there are drawbacks, not least of which we already know we would need to sell before we even get aboard, but more importantly, we'd almost certainly have to invest up front to bring any boat in that price range up to serviceable spec i.e not standing rigging from 1997 or sails from 1992. Plus we'd lose on brokerage on both ends. If that sounds snobbish I apologise, I'm just going on what I've read on here over many (many) hours. My wife says I'm obsessed. She's not wrong.
I'd like to ask the fleet a question.
If you were forced, right now, to buy a boat that is currently on the market and ideally under £25k, £30k tops, which specific one would you buy and why? I will not buy the boat that is suggested, if indeed any are suggested at all, as I don't expect anyone to do my legwork for me. The purpose of this post is more to see if I've dismissed any boats that I should have considered from whats currently available. I believe I've looked at almost every single boat on the market up to around the £30k mark, from 28ft to a wildcard, much older 35. On a £100k boat, I'd get a survey, but at £1k a time, when you're looking at £25k boats, it's quite the percentage.
I've seen what I think are some questionable propositions, but also a couple where I'd consider myself on the fence. I might reluctantly swallow £10k brokerage and upgrade costs to be able to get out sailing in spring, because I reason that the experience of doing so, will make us more likely to make a more informed investment on the larger boat, which could save money long term. It's quite a tough choice to make.
Is anyone willing to look at the current listings and let me know what they think of the boats currently on offer? Criteria for a smaller boat is that it has at least to accommodate 2 adults and 2 kids for an extended weekend. We've tent camped before, so don't need a ton of space, just enough to swing a cat or two.
It's quite a big ask and if nobody has time or inclination, no worries.
Thanks
We essentially have two options.
A) We buy a 28-30ft boat right now on a limited budget to get sailing almost immediately and start to learn, with a view to upgrading in the shorter term OR
B) Wait (1-2 years) and buy what we ultimately think we want, in the knowledge we may change eventually anyway.
From advice we've been offered here, we believe eventually we're going to want a boat thats between 36 and 40ft, depending on vintage and internal space. I get the impression that a budget of £100k (to readers of my older posts, we've upped budget) would buy a relatively modern yacht of that size in a normal market. We're talking your "standard" AWB here, not HR, Najad etc. Probably 2010 through 2014 or so. I'm finding I quite like Hanse.
The careful purchase of a yacht like that might take a year or more in this inflated market and we are eager to get out and learn, so we came up with the idea of buying something much smaller at a pricepoint of say, £20-25k as a means of getting practical experience. Obviously there are drawbacks, not least of which we already know we would need to sell before we even get aboard, but more importantly, we'd almost certainly have to invest up front to bring any boat in that price range up to serviceable spec i.e not standing rigging from 1997 or sails from 1992. Plus we'd lose on brokerage on both ends. If that sounds snobbish I apologise, I'm just going on what I've read on here over many (many) hours. My wife says I'm obsessed. She's not wrong.
I'd like to ask the fleet a question.
If you were forced, right now, to buy a boat that is currently on the market and ideally under £25k, £30k tops, which specific one would you buy and why? I will not buy the boat that is suggested, if indeed any are suggested at all, as I don't expect anyone to do my legwork for me. The purpose of this post is more to see if I've dismissed any boats that I should have considered from whats currently available. I believe I've looked at almost every single boat on the market up to around the £30k mark, from 28ft to a wildcard, much older 35. On a £100k boat, I'd get a survey, but at £1k a time, when you're looking at £25k boats, it's quite the percentage.
I've seen what I think are some questionable propositions, but also a couple where I'd consider myself on the fence. I might reluctantly swallow £10k brokerage and upgrade costs to be able to get out sailing in spring, because I reason that the experience of doing so, will make us more likely to make a more informed investment on the larger boat, which could save money long term. It's quite a tough choice to make.
Is anyone willing to look at the current listings and let me know what they think of the boats currently on offer? Criteria for a smaller boat is that it has at least to accommodate 2 adults and 2 kids for an extended weekend. We've tent camped before, so don't need a ton of space, just enough to swing a cat or two.
It's quite a big ask and if nobody has time or inclination, no worries.
Thanks
