Upgrade or sell

[steffen]

A glorious weekend (28C and wind SE 2-4) on the IJselmeer fired a discussion between the wife and myself.
Input:
i have a 23 yr old Phantom 32ft GRP;
up to now cost me about 36K euros;
home build by someone in Andijk in the original mould;
very nice and comfortable, cosy boat;
radar, Yeoman, gps, vhf/dsc, all on board and working;
no severe osmosis as far as i can detect;
age of standing rigging not known;

Options:
Keep it and upgrade/refurbish completely for months at sea (Azores, Madeira, Canaries in about 3 yrs time) at the expense of approx. 15K euros
or
Buy a younger boat (still a used one) with similar goodies for a lot more money because then you (hope to) know the properties of the boat.

Any opinions on the dilemma??

BTW, also used the aforementioned weekend to get approval of the "board" for a new genua.

Happy sailing, Steffen

 

[Twister_Ken]

English Colloquialism

We have an expression in English which seems apt:

"Better the devil you know..."

...than the devil you don't know.

So you know your boat, its faults and its virtues. If you change it for another you have no real idea of what evil secrets the new boat may hide.

Only if there is something 'unupgradeable' which is wrong with your present boat, like size, or rig dimensions, or keel type should you consider selling and buying.

(that's just my opinion!)

 

[Chris_Stannard]

There is another old English saying, " a boat gets a foot shorter for every week you spend in her!". Your boat may be fine for a week or two but if you are going to spend months in her will that still be true.

My own opinion would be that you should discuss what both of you must have in a boat, and how big it needs to be. For long term sailing sleeping in comfort in harbour is important as that is still where you will spend most of your time.

If you think about it you have three years in which to get organised, that could be one year to sell your current boat if that is what you decide to do and two years to get to know the new one and to change, upgrade or repair anything that needs doing.

Best of luck

Chris Stannard