[sailaway21]

In my experience, buying new is never a "deal". Women, cars, and boats seem to have about a two year honeymoon period where maintenance costs can be considered negligible. If not, you bought a lemon, in all three cases.

If all you are getting is a two year respite from the tedium of maintenance does not the question become one of how much maintenance? The older, better quality, boat may require more work but, when the work is properly done, may yield a far better boat than the newer, more initially expensive boat. This logic can be carried to extremes, I am not advocating the buying of a barely floating hulk. But, as previously mentioned, the older boat may often come equipped to a much higher level than the newer and certainly any fixable design deficiencies will have been addressed, some more successfully than others.

I'd wager that less than 5% of the posters on sailnet own a boat they purchased new. And you'll probably drop that number some if you eliminate the hobie cat or sunfish they keep for the grandkids.

Given the magnitude of the purchase of a good size boat I am an advocate of buying the older boat with the proven track record. "No surprises" is my goal. If she's got issues with keel boats, it's nice to know going in versus being the first on your dock to discover that the factory changed the design. Also, the best warranty is the one you never need to use. I also think that the boat owner who does not do a good portion of his/her own maintenance is not very well representative of the sailnet membership. It's the reason many members are here.

I do agree with the idea of buying the smaller boat first, although it does not make sense strictly from an economic standpoint. If you buy right and maintain, you'll sell about what you paid for it. You can receive value from the experience on the smaller boat, but it is tough to actually cost it out in dollars.

Sailormann's chevy/bmw illustration resonates with me. But then I'm from the fix it up, wear it out, and fix it up again school. If I had any sense, I'd sell it before I wore it out. Sense? Did I just bring up sense? Cents, maybe on a good day. But sense has probably flown out the window by the time the boat has been purchased.