What boat for £10k

[fredrussell]

Just looking at that Sigma 36 for 10K, looks like an absolute bargain!
Anyone want to buy a Hunter Horizon 27?

Agreed. It’s wonderful how boats that were once out of reach to me are now, due to the much discussed ‘death’ of sailing, very much in reach. There was a Sadler Starlight 39 on ApolloDuck recently for £30k! Swoon.
A Sigma 36 for £10k? Amazing.

It’s just occurred to me that if the OP had been on here only a month or two earlier he could have had that osmosified Sadler 32 that was being given away. What a shame.

 

[mjcp]

THat is a lot of boat. New mast and engine. There must be something going on there to be so cheap.

Not necessarily, I know of a 36 that was bought for similar money last year having sat unsolder for higher money for months on end. Needed a small (couple of days in the yard) bit of work doing in the fore peak stop some rain ingress / remediate. Other than that, the survey was clean. As the broker in the listing says - bargain.

Lots of reasons why a boat appears "cheap" - in this case, probably because the owner is too old / infirm or dead, so a "quick sail" (boom, tsch) is needed.

As others have said, if I wasn't already sorted ...

For the OP, to give running cost some numbers for a 33 foot version:

Standing rigging (2025) £1500
Antifoul £300 / yr.
Insurance (inc. race) £550 (W Scotland)



M

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Remember the old joke about dogs having owners and cats having staff? Well, the marine corollary is, plastic boats have owners, wooden boats have staff.

The OP has a young family. Is it realistic to expect him to spend the time needed to keep a wooden boat up to scratch? A wooden boat is for a single person who enjoys fettling as much as sailing, or a couple where one can do the repairs and the other enjoys varnishing (or is glad to see the back of their partner most weekends)*. Of course plastic boats need maintenance, but it's an order of magnitude less than for a wooden boat.

If I had a strict budget of £10K to buy a boat, I'd reckon on £8K for a GRP boat with no obvious problems, leaving a £2K contingency for all the issues that were missed or, if you're lucky, for upgrades to make her the way you want her.


* Yes, I know I'm being a bit silly, but the point about the amount of work is still valid

And if it were a wooden boat, you’d need to pay a nominal quid for it, and an option to hand it back in 5 years. I am able to fund my 20 footer by crewing for a guy who rebuilds them.

 

[14K478]

This post has been heavily edited. The original version was not polite.

I had a wooden boat before I had a family, while I had a young family, and afterwards and no it really didn’t cut into my time with our children.



Come to think of it, so did my father…

The two boys in the picture are now 30 and 24 and they are just as keen on messing about in boats as I am.

Meanwhile the boat in the pictures has her fourth owner in 89 years, she has raised three families, she now lives on the Beaulieu River and she looks like this:



I look forward to being invited to her hundredth birthday party on the 8th of August 2037.

 

[Rhylsailer99]

Bilge keel boats are also a lot cheaper for a mooring. Something to consider.

 

[Egret]

Not sure whether the idea of a wooden boat being low maintenance is realistic, once you get to the stage of needing work on rotten bits of planking, re-caulking, re-nailing, refixing and replacing planks that have twisted and detached at the sternpost - If wooden boats lasted there would still be a lot of Kestrels, Finesses and Dauntlesses on the moorings on the Deben and at Walton.

 

[sigma38dave]

This post has been heavily edited. The original version was not polite…

Where’s the fun in that 14K478, let the wooden boat sceptics have it!

Lovely boat by the way.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

It’s a fab boat, we know it from the Beaulieu river, we visit fairly frequently. You’d want to own that between restorations, not pay for one. A refasten and new decks on an XOD is a months highly skilled work for 2 and about 5k worth of materials. Assuming no other horrors are discovered. They are 20ft long. This needs doing maybe once in 30 years if well looked after, and properly done the previous time. It might be 10 if she’s not treated with care and respect. You will probably end up replacing a rib or 2. Sometimes that is pre emptive, you need to examine them carefully while you have access. Dealing with a broken one otherwise is going to be huge grief for such a small bit of wood. Removal of the cover boards, and a complete repaint at least. It happens in racing incidents, or a bit of a heavy berthing. Wooden boats are fantastic and beautiful. Expert use reduces the risk of GBH (Godawful boat harm) but risks remain. A grounding, a collision at just the wrong angle, and a staggering bill could be heading your way. I admire people who take those risks so the rest of us can gaze in admiration.

 

[justanothersailboat]

I used to believe the "wooden boats too much maintenance for me" idea, but to be honest, now I don't. A friend has one and the routine maintenance is not bad (I've been helping, and I help with another one too sometimes). Providing it is ALWAYS kept in really good order. I think there is a higher risk of discovering that you need some relatively involved work doing... but then, GRP boats can have their nasty surprises too.

I wouldn't take on a wooden boat fixer-upper with a family and a job, but there are some kinds of GRP boat fixer-upper I wouldn't take on in that circumstance either.