New Boat or Secondhand

[tangomoon]

Yes, somewhere warm, before introducing her to the dark side of the sail and not a chance in hell of lying on the deck sunbathing. Let her find out quietly that the guy who was smiling at her so benevolently in the Med has now turned into Bligh of the Bounty and she has entered the crew list with no prospect of becoming an officer.

 

[William_H]

Catch 22 is that you need experience before you buy a boat. No not 10s of K miles of sailing but real experience of your life and that of your family as to whether you will use and enjoy a boat. The greatest boating tragedy is the boat that was somebodies dream sitting unused for months or years on end. And I would say it happens that more people are likely to buy a boat and not use it /enjoy it than those that do.
This points to buying a smaller /cheaper second hand boat so that not so much is lost if it is all a bad idea. But then the small boat may put him and or her off in rough weather and the second hand boat may put them off because of problems.
So the chartering idea has a lot to be said for it. Especially as air fare costs are not so great compared to buying/chartering costs that you can't afford to travel to far places like southern hemisphere for UK winter sun.
For my opinion on second hand versus new it would be second hand and old every time. F/G boats are not like cars they last seemingly for ever and you can afford a lot of new fit out for the price difference. good luck to your friend olewill