BlueJasper
Active member
Not today but it was 3 weeks ago!!
After being boatless for 10 years I decided a Beneteau Swift Trawler 35 was the boat for me. Wife was onboard and when visiting friends at Chichester Marina in 2019 happened to see a new 35 for sale. We both had a look and decided we would have one in a few years’ time.
This summer I decided that I would start looking seriously at the market and logged every 34 and 35 coming up for sale in the UK. Initially 34’s sold within a few weeks and 35’s almost instantly and all at crazy prices in my opinion.
I looked at a 2016 ‘34 in July that wasn’t in particularly great nick on at a price which would have been more than when it was new. I walked away and said we would wait until the market calmed down
A couple of weeks later we were parked at our local marina and on a visitor’s berth was a nice looking 35. I said to the missus I’m going to see if he wants to sell it. No one was on board, so I went home, wrote a note and put it on the boat.
The next morning, I had a text inviting me to pop down for a chat where I met a lovely couple who did not have age on their side. We agreed to stay in touch if and when he decided to sell. The following month I had an email to move things along, so we agreed a very sensible price with a sale to be completed in the winter.
Well that all happened very quickly in October and I picked her up earlier this month and yep, she was the very boat we saw in 2019 in Chichester!
I know they are not the best built boats in the world, but I had a few chats with Bouba, read as many reviews as possible, looked at several at boat shows and found this model fitted the bill for my future boating requirements.
Getting closer to retirement it had to have a flybridge (!), 1 reliable engine (Cummins QSB6.7), shaft drive, modern nav gear and be dog friendly. Cruising at 8 knots might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but with hopefully more time on my side, enjoying the journey and appreciating what is around me will make a change from flying around at 20 knots. And a tank of fuel will go a hell of a long way.
As an aside, since September all the boats I was monitoring are still for sale and 2 have dropped by £30k. This might be due to the season finishing or a sign of things to come.
Anyway, this one now resides on the Isle of Wight and roll-on next summer!
I tried to upload a pic, but it keeps failing.
After being boatless for 10 years I decided a Beneteau Swift Trawler 35 was the boat for me. Wife was onboard and when visiting friends at Chichester Marina in 2019 happened to see a new 35 for sale. We both had a look and decided we would have one in a few years’ time.
This summer I decided that I would start looking seriously at the market and logged every 34 and 35 coming up for sale in the UK. Initially 34’s sold within a few weeks and 35’s almost instantly and all at crazy prices in my opinion.
I looked at a 2016 ‘34 in July that wasn’t in particularly great nick on at a price which would have been more than when it was new. I walked away and said we would wait until the market calmed down
A couple of weeks later we were parked at our local marina and on a visitor’s berth was a nice looking 35. I said to the missus I’m going to see if he wants to sell it. No one was on board, so I went home, wrote a note and put it on the boat.
The next morning, I had a text inviting me to pop down for a chat where I met a lovely couple who did not have age on their side. We agreed to stay in touch if and when he decided to sell. The following month I had an email to move things along, so we agreed a very sensible price with a sale to be completed in the winter.
Well that all happened very quickly in October and I picked her up earlier this month and yep, she was the very boat we saw in 2019 in Chichester!
I know they are not the best built boats in the world, but I had a few chats with Bouba, read as many reviews as possible, looked at several at boat shows and found this model fitted the bill for my future boating requirements.
Getting closer to retirement it had to have a flybridge (!), 1 reliable engine (Cummins QSB6.7), shaft drive, modern nav gear and be dog friendly. Cruising at 8 knots might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but with hopefully more time on my side, enjoying the journey and appreciating what is around me will make a change from flying around at 20 knots. And a tank of fuel will go a hell of a long way.
As an aside, since September all the boats I was monitoring are still for sale and 2 have dropped by £30k. This might be due to the season finishing or a sign of things to come.
Anyway, this one now resides on the Isle of Wight and roll-on next summer!
I tried to upload a pic, but it keeps failing.
