Taking the plunge: moving from charterer to boat owner

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Dan Johnston

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Hi Folks

After several years of chartering my Father and I are finally taking the plunge and are planning to buy our first boat, hurrah! Our requirements are as follows and we would really appreciate your thoughts and comments.

We're looking for a used yacht total budget once it has been kitted out/refitted is £100-200k. With good resale should our plans not work out or our first boat doesn't fit the bill.

We're planning to first circumnavigate the British Isles before moving onto the Med and then ultimately crossing the pond. Some of this will be done single handed so the boat needs to be suited for short handed sailing.

We're a fan of full keels and end boom sheeting. We have so far looked at Rustler 36, Bowman 40, Halbery Rassey.

In anticipation

Dan
 
There are dozens more to consider (although your full keel preference will be limiting, and you may want to reconsider how important this is). Just about any modern 40 footer can be single handed, at least at sea - its berthing that is the tricky bit. Any one of them will do the job you want, but perhaps in different ways.

You will get recommendations for a wide range of boats which is unlikely to help you make your decision. Best to look at lots of boats to narrow down the key features that you think you like and draw up a short list. Sometimes useful then to ask for peoples' experiences on specific boats. If you are buying secondhand you are limited by what is available on the market at the time and you may well find condition and equipment (for the price) more important than the specific model.

Enjoy the search!
 
Dan Johnston said:
Hi Folks

After several years of chartering my Father and I are finally taking the plunge and are planning to buy our first boat, hurrah! Our requirements are as follows and we would really appreciate your thoughts and comments.

We're looking for a used yacht total budget once it has been kitted out/refitted is £100-200k. With good resale should our plans not work out or our first boat doesn't fit the bill.

We're planning to first circumnavigate the British Isles before moving onto the Med and then ultimately crossing the pond. Some of this will be done single handed so the boat needs to be suited for short handed sailing.

We're a fan of full keels and end boom sheeting. We have so far looked at Rustler 36, Bowman 40, Halbery Rassey.

In anticipation

Dan
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Dan,

I wish you well in your travels, but circumnavigating Britain can be a tough choice !

In your shoes I might rather fancy a boat with shallow enough draft ( both water and air ) to go through the French canals, I worked on a barge there once and found it a lovely place to be, compared to the Bay Of Biscay ! :eek:
 
Dan Johnston said:
Hi Folks

After several years of chartering my Father and I are finally taking the plunge and are planning to buy our first boat, hurrah! Our requirements are as follows and we would really appreciate your thoughts and comments.

We're looking for a used yacht total budget once it has been kitted out/refitted is £100-200k. With good resale should our plans not work out or our first boat doesn't fit the bill.

We're planning to first circumnavigate the British Isles before moving onto the Med and then ultimately crossing the pond. Some of this will be done single handed so the boat needs to be suited for short handed sailing.

We're a fan of full keels and end boom sheeting. We have so far looked at Rustler 36, Bowman 40, Halbery Rassey.

In anticipation

Dan
Click to expand...

As a former Rustler 36 owner could I ask which ones you have looked at and what your thoughts were?
 
That's a great criteria to have, and as others have said there are quite a lot to chose from. I have a regular turnover of exactly that spec, so click my signature below.

The Bowman 40 is a good choice and I have one coming soon.

Resale values are relatively good for most boats in this sector, as they last well and you can't really buy similar quality from new for the same price nowadays.

Even a tired one, as long as the hull and structure is good, can be bought back up to scratch with new rigs, engines and sails etc and will be an excellent value boat. And at the risk if getting flammed, probably a better boat than an equivalently priced more modern yacht (for some :))
 
Don't buy something you could charter. Get something a bit different. Something special. Something that you are proud to own (and work on!).
 
Consider buying something smaller (9-10m?) and much cheaper, possibly something that can take the ground, and definitely something known and popular that you can sell again, albeit at a bit of a loss.

For what you want to do first (ie round Britain, sometimes single handed) a smaller boat gives you far more flexibility of where you can stop. Aside from drying harbours, you might be surprised how often you see "berthing for craft up to 10m" or similar. Crucially, visitors' rates for a 9m boat are *much* more palatable than for a 12m boat. Besides, if this is your first boat, you don't want to have to discover the joys of scraping off 20 years of dodgy foreign antifoul on a 12m boat. You will also feel more comfortable practising your DIY skills on a £40k boat than a £140k boat.

Most importantly though...I'm sure we all know how many people buy boats for a big trip, but then family, health, career or whatever intervene. You don't say your timescales but with the round-britain first, maybe you're thinking of med in spring 2014? A lot can happen in 18 months. If your plans are delayed, a 12m boat will burn through your savings much quicker than a 9m boat and, short or single handed, the smaller boat will be an all round better option if you're restricted to weekend UK sailing for longer than you bargained for (e.g. family member gets ill, you have to go back to work...).

If all does go according to plan, when your longer distance trips are imminent, with the budget you have you can simply buy your bigger boat and leave the other boat with a broker to sell. You can have budgeted a capital loss for a quick sale, but may well have saved several thousand in costs over a year. Moreover you only really know what you really want in a boat after you've owned one, no matter how many of other people's you may have sailed.
 
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Dan Johnston said:
Hi Folks

After several years of chartering my Father and I are finally taking the plunge and are planning to buy our first boat, hurrah! Our requirements are as follows and we would really appreciate your thoughts and comments.

We're looking for a used yacht total budget once it has been kitted out/refitted is £100-200k. With good resale should our plans not work out or our first boat doesn't fit the bill.

We're planning to first circumnavigate the British Isles before moving onto the Med and then ultimately crossing the pond. Some of this will be done single handed so the boat needs to be suited for short handed sailing.

We're a fan of full keels and end boom sheeting. We have so far looked at Rustler 36, Bowman 40, Halbery Rassey.

In anticipation

Dan
Click to expand...

Super quality boat and very easy to single hand:

http://www.annoncesbateau.com/voilier/annonces-modele-amel-santorin+ketch.html
 
dylanwinter said:
but only by £20,000

Dylan
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Well what about this respected offshore cruiser. A 44ftr and just had a £50,000 re-fit for long distance including a new Nanni engine, sails and standing rigging............and the owner now has a medical issue and can't go :eek:

At £109,000 that would be well within budget and with no re-fitting to do.

A well known forumites boat too. :cool:
 
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John of broker fame,
As a matter of interest which boats in your opinion hold their value? i.e What would you buy knowing it's a good boat and your likely to get a good % of your cash back?

And i dont mean what you have listed at the moment! :)
 
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flawed_logic said:
John of broker fame,
As a matter of interest which boats in your opinion hold their value? i.e What would you buy knowing it's a good boat and your likely to get a good % of your cash back?

And i dont mean what you have listed at the moment! :)
Click to expand...

I tend to only list those types for that precise reason :)

But the Swedish yachts, Rassy, Najad Malo etc and Moodys, Oysters and Bowmans etc reach a level where they stay pretty constant over fairly long periods of time because nothing new competes with them at that price point.

I have had owners who paid £350,00 odd for a Rassy who have then gone off on a cruise and pretty much recouped all their money a few years later when they sold. Only loss would have been equipment added.

Same with Moodys, Oysters etc too.

In the good times it's possible to occasionally make a small profit if you buy, say in the Med for euros, then cruise back and sell in sterling.

....but we are not in the good times at the moment so don't hold me to it!

Well built, low volume (non-mass production) boats also hold up relatively well in recession because they do not flood the second hand market in large numbers at any one time.
 
I would look no further than your original list: "Rustler 36, Bowman 40, Halberg Rassey."

You could buy a gert barge of a vessel, with serious windage, and room for ten. However you only need snug space for two and singlehanding a 40 odd footer soon starts to require special berthing, the help of others and VHF conversations. I guess you would want to be self reliant.

Among your shortlist there are a full range of options from cheaper boats right up to the budget max. Some of the 30 odd foot Rassys sail very well, even in quiet conditions
The Rustlers are very well put together and inspire confidence. The Bowman is a cracker if you are a aficionado of the type.
 
It is all too easy to get hung up on the type of boat for the proposed use. It does not take a genius to look around at what other folks use and see a huge variety. This reflects the fact that there is a huge variety of boats around, most of them built in relatively small numbers, so not everybody can have the same "perfect" boat.

The success of cruising is as much down to the skipper and crew as the boat they have, although there are clearly some types that meet many peoples' needs very closely than others. Each individual has his own ideas of what is important to him/her, so just buy a boat you like and don't worry about whether other people think it is the right one.
 
doug748 said:
I would look no further than your original list: "Rustler 36, Bowman 40, Halberg Rassey."

You could buy a gert barge of a vessel, with serious windage, and room for ten. However you only need snug space for two and singlehanding a 40 odd footer soon starts to require special berthing, the help of others and VHF conversations. I guess you would want to be self reliant.

Among your shortlist there are a full range of options from cheaper boats right up to the budget max. Some of the 30 odd foot Rassys sail very well, even in quiet conditions
The Rustlers are very well put together and inspire confidence. The Bowman is a cracker if you are a aficionado of the type.
Click to expand...

The Malo 39 may fit your bill - boat and price.
 
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