My wife and I spent 2 years looking for our boat. We started out wanting either a Pacific Seacraft, Hans Christian, Cabo Rico, or Island Packet sailboat after going to numerous boat shows and doing a lot of on
line research. We looked at a few used Island Packet sailboats (350, 370, 380) but they were priced too high. We couldn't find any Hans Christian sailboats in our price range either, on the West Coast, and no used Pacific Seacraft sailboats could be found at the time on the West Coast either. So we went to the Pacific Seacraft dealer in Dana Point California to see if we could swing a new Dana 24. After putting down all our "got to have" items, the cost for a new Dana 24 was out of our reach. We did have a chance to spend time on a PS 24, 31, and 37 and really liked the traditional look and ruggedness, so we decided to focus on that brand.
Luckily we met a great broker at the PS dealer in Dana Point who agreed to help us find a PS sailboat. Soon after, a 20' Flicka came on the market in San Diego, and we went to see it. It needed a few cosmetic items, but was in good shape. The owner wanted $19K for it, so we offered $15K to start the negotiation process. He was selling it due to a divorce and needed the $19K and would go no lower. The wife didn't want to pay $19K so the deal fell through. Kept on looking.
We then found 2 Miriah 31s for sale of the 1979 vintage. The first one was in rough shape and the wife didn't want to spend time fixing it up. She also said it smelled really bad and that turned her off to it. The 2nd one was in great shape but was over priced, and the broker even told us the guy really didn't want to sell it based on his asking price.
We found another 20' Flicka for $25K that was in very good shape, and put an offer on it. We were all set to do a sea trial and survey when I found an Orion 27 listed by the dealer in Dana Point. The listing had only been on
line for 1 hour and I called about it. Our broker arranged a visit that day and needless to say, we cancelled the sea trial on the Flicka and put an offer on the Orion 27 which was accepted that evening.
The following week we did a sea trial and survey on the Orion 27 and liked what we saw. We finalized the deal then spent 40 days waiting for the bank paperwork to go through. The owner almost backed out due to the delay, but we were able to get the bank to issue a letter stating that they had messed up the paperwork processing and we would be done in 4 days time. That saved the deal. In September of 2006 we took ownership of LittleWing and have been happy ever since.
Of course, one week after we had LittleWing, a mint condition Hans Christian 33 came on the market, within our budget range, but we don't talk about that anymore.