Would you buy a new boat?

[newboater]

What do you advise? I quite like the new Beneteau 323, for use as somewhere comfortable to stay on the South coast and for the odd trip accross the channel plus coastal cruising, would you buy a new boat or can you suggest better alternative craft? A genuine question and thank you for any help.

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[William_H]

Of course the market in UK is different to here in oz however I would never dream of buying a new boat when you look at the price of new versus second hand. Old fibreglass yachts never die they just loose that fibreglass ester smell. Thats the down side of a new boat apart from the price. Around 30 years ago we had 4 and more boat builders pushing out production F/G boats. They have all dissapeared now because the boats are still nearly as good as new (hull anyway and there is no market for new boats which would cost about 4 to 5 times as much. So I suggest buy S/H and spend what is necessary on refurbishing ie new paint engine sails and rigging and you will have a good boat without the dissapointment that probably will come when buying a new boat of expecting it to be perfect. (don't worry about osmosis too much)
just one opinion of course if you must have new then go for it. will

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[Guest]

Too many if\'s / but\'s ....

It's all a matter of taste .... and preference.

With new - You can have the satisfcation of knowing you are first on the boat and fit to what you want ...... costs a lot of course - as boats never are supplied with all the bits and bobs that you feel you need. But you get to choose all the gear basically that YOU decide is best.

With second-hand - You have to abide by what previous owner(s) decided was relevant etc. and if you want different - you have to remove and change. BUT an advantage is you may get a much better equipped and above all else SORTED boat ... by that I mean a few more sails, tweaked settings etc., instruments si=uch as GPS, Auto-helm etc. etc.

Price wise there may not be a great difference between a 2 yr old boat and a new one .... BUT the equipment level will be vastly different in most cases. The used boat will also be immediately available - instead of possible order book of the new.

Final word of advise - Make sure you know actual build date of the new boat if you go for one ..... there are boat builders around supplying boats that are not recent build - but have been standing unsold and only have Hull ID Number issued when order is placed ....... this is a practice I find unacceptable and true data about a boat is my requirement.

For me - I don't have the luxury of finances to afford a new boat that I would want .... so I spend on second-hand ...... I'm happy and enjoy sailing - not counting the cost of the boat .....

My real final advise - check out both new and second-hand .... you mentuion Ben 323 ...... check out Jenneau, Bavaria and others - my plump is for the Jenn ..... a second-hand boat of anywhere 2 - 5 yrs (in fact older boats are fine .... 10 yrs can be just as good) may just fit the bill in more ways than one ....


<hr width=100% size=1>Cheers Nigel ..... <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.geocities.com/solentlifeuk/>http://www.geocities.com/solentlifeuk/</A>

 

[Sea Devil]

All a matter of taste but new boats need at least £5-7,000 in extra equipment on top of the basic boat and you have no way of knowing what is essential, good quality or just fun to have... I have delivered new boats and found that the teething problems were quite a worry and even more so if you do not know what to look for.

The advantage of a second hand boat - used by someone who has been places in it is that it comes fully equiped. You are buying the experience of the previous owner. The price you pay should cover everything. If you do not like the GPS or the Radar or the selfsteering gear or the fenders then you can either replace them, later or .... not. The learning curve should not be nearly so steep.



<hr width=100% size=1>If you have time please visit my web site -
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.michaelbriant.com/sailing>http://www.michaelbriant.com/sailing</A>

 

[capt_courageous]

These days where you can moor the boat and how much that will cost can be more important than any short term costs. You could pay £4000 to £5000 a year for a south coast marina.

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[alan]

I bought a new Ben 311 five years ago, and would go along with the comments above. After the initial cost I have spent a lot (!!) adding extras (possibly not essential) such as auto-pilot, plotter, navtex, gas detector, smart alternator regulator, third battery, spray hood and more; and also 'essentials' such as a decent set of sails plus genaker, genoa light, spi pole.

However, after saying that the Bens (and other production boats) come pretty well equipped if you take the optional nav packs e.t.c. which you can get "free" with boat show special offers.

But I have to say that if I was going to consider another boat then I would probably look at second hand 'cause as already stated you won't save much on new price for a boat less than six years old .... but you will get "all" the extras already fitted (obviously depends on the previous owner's taste).

I had a few niggling problems on my boat such as minor water leaks from the bathing platform shower head (which took me a while to discover because the water was accumulating under the inverter!!), a leaky boiler which Beneteau replaced with a different model without any quibble, and new shrouds/stays on a series of boats including my boat because of a manufacturing defect.

The bottom line (for me) is that I'm happy with my boat and for the use which you intend to put it should suit you also; but if I looked at it on purely economic grounds then picking up a recent second hand model would have been better on my pocket!!

Alan.
Nettuno.
Italy.

<hr width=100% size=1>Alan Cloke

 

[chrisb]

very much depends on the deals arround at the time.my first boat was used and despite good survey i ended up spending a lot of money on repairs. my next and my present boat i bought new. the latter came with a very full inventory and i am very pleased with her. would i buy new if i bought again probably. one word of warning. used boats tend to have used sails and whatever the vendor says expect to replace your sail wardrobe a telltale sign is -two mainsand duplcated headsils. surveyors seldom guaranty the engine be warned.many insurance companies will expect you to replace the standing rigging at say 10 years. best of luck chris

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[Anwen]

Yes, we bought a new Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 32 this year, and we are very happy with it. As others have said, there are always teething problems with a new boat, which you need a good dealer to work with you to sort out. I'm happy to say that our dealer has been good in this respect.

I think some of the estimates of what is needed to get the boat up and running are a bit high - many of the production boats these days come fairly complete with VHF, tridata, wind instrument and plotter, so the extras you need to buy are optional to some extent. We bought a liferaft and a few other bits, but pretty much everything we needed to get going was supplied.

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[nealeb]

Or you may want to buy a new boat because you want something different to the average white boat. My new "old gaffer" is built like the proverbial brick outhouse, with lots of wood trim and varnish. I watched a salesman moving about on a Legend at a boat show a little while back. And watched the locker lids and cockpit sole flex as he did so. Nothing bends on my boat except ropes and sails - and even they don't give in easily! 8.5 tons of boat including 5 tons of lead on a 28' LOD, all hand-built. Extras? "I don't want to be bothered with buying electrics and stuff like that. You get yourself a good deal at a boat show, bring it all down to us and the sparks will fit it for you". "There's a set of harnesses because of all the RCD rules. Oh, you've got those already? How about we fit a prop rope cutter instead, then?"

And if you think they don't sail, take a look at Classic Boat from a couple of months back with Aeolus on the cover and reviewed inside. Not my boat but built in the yard at the same time. And all for about the price of a typical 32' that has half the material in it and no soul. IMHO!

Not to everyone's taste, of course, or maybe not even many people's, but it is still possible to find real boats at sensible prices from real builders in real yards.

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[jonjo]

Re: Design?

Shame such an interesting design is not mentioned in your profile.

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[jfm]

Stiff boats/flexi bits

Sounds a fab boat and I mean no criticism of it nealeB but it is a fallacy to think that something that is stiff and doesn't flex is good and strong. Stiffness and strength are quite different things and designing in some flexibility is often reduces mechanical failure. That's why the floor of the aeroplane bends when you walk on it, and the wingtips of the plane flap up and down during taxi, and if you sat at the back of concorde looking down the aisle you could see the whole fuselage visibly bend over bumps. Likewise, the cockpit sole of a Wally 88 bends a bit if you walk on it.

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[nealeb]

Re: Stiff boats/flexi bits

Absolutely agree - as my old foreman used to say as I carried a gas bottle up a 30' pole ladder, "While it's bending it's not breaking!" Never filled me with confidence, though. I have seen the structural calculations for a recent house extension that is based on maximum deflection for expected loading - again, bending is expected and allowed.

I am quite sure that boats like the Legend are very carefully designed and built, and are adequate for all expected loads. But GRP is not the best material in the world for long-term resistance to crazing and the like, and how something like this would stand up to 10 years of use I do not know. In fact, my boat hull is the only GRP component and everything else is wood, albeit epoxy/glass sheathed in the case of the deck. It all probably takes lower rigging loads than something like the Legend as well, as gaffers tend to be a bit slacker in the rigging than a lot of modern boats.

Whatever floats your boat, I guess. The average modern boat will reach home faster than mine in the conditions in which most of us sail, but I have a more comfortable platform from which to watch them pass by!

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