Depressed by boat search any Ideas?

[Insails]

Three months into my search and with every trip to a new marina I get depressed..8 out of 10 boats at every marina seem neglected. I find a boat of interest in the paper,yacht world,or magazine where they all praise their boat and show pretty outdated pictures ,then when you travel 100s of miles to view them they are ROT in the water..Why do the brokers and owners want TOP dollar for ROT? They know they neglected the boat yet they want full market value ,it don't make sense. I have yet to see one boat that I would even want to hire a surveyor for...Thats sad..

[nelsonsmoody]

what type of boat and size?

[avazquez]

I am going through the same experience here. I am looking for a sailboat in Puerto Rico. All you can find here are beat up Benetaus, Hunters etc. Most ex-charters from the 80's. Or sailboats that have been neglected for years.
Blisters all over the place..............................

Keep searching at least you have more choices in the states.

[Insails]

25-30ft. range. I want something small enough to singlehand incase my wife don't enjoy sailing..I am open as to make..

[dakuehn]

Insails, I totally agree with your observations. I am finally buying my boat this weekend, but that's because I am close friends with the current owner, have done some work on the boat and know its current issues. Here in the DFW area, it seems every good used boat for sale goes quickly based on word of mouth around the local marinia and what ends up in the paper or on the web are "rot".

[camaraderie]

Insails...well...why don't we all try to help? Give us more data on what type of boat you are looking for and your budget and we can all report back on anything we see locally that might be worthwhile.

[jswwrites]

Also location...within how many miles of where?

[Surfesq]

I have a theory about used boats. I tend to shop for used sailboats in New England. My reasoning is that the season is shorter and therefore the use on the boat tends to be lighter. That is typically evidenced by the number of engine hours. But you have to shop...there is no way around it.

[Dewey Benson]

It would be nice if every boat we looked at were perfect. Perfect condition, perfect price, perfect location.

I spent 2 1/2 years looking for my current vessel, made offers on vessels as far away as Nova Scotia (I'm in San Diego), and wound up with a serindipitous situation that I found very good for wifey and myself.

Patience Grasshopper, one foot in front of the other.

Dewey

[btrayfors]

Surfesq,

Good theory; probably right.

But, I think that MOST boats in the U.S. are way underused. If you live in or visit virtually any marina you'll find amost all the boats at the dock, even on beautiful weekends. Very, very few boats really go out much.

The only ones which might as a class be "used up", IMHO, are the smaller racing boats and, especially, charter boats which in some locations (like the Caribbean) get a combination of relatively high usage rates, relatively boisterous sailing conditions, and non-owners who often lack knowledge or experience.

Bill