Signed...

bestfriend · #1 (**permalink**) 11-21-2006

being sealed, and delivered next week. Well, not delivered, we are sailing our new boat home from the yard next week. A 1990 Canadian Sailcraft 34'. Thanks to all of you here for your thoughts and ideas on buying our first boat, not including a couple of Hobies and a Penn Yan. For those of you still looking, or just starting your search, I thought I would share our experience with you, and tell you why we bought what we did.
Why did we buy a boat? First, we love to sail and we love the water. Second, We live in the East Bay of San Francisco Bay and commute to work over the dreaded Bay Bridge almost everyday. For those of you that don't know, the bridge is undergoing a horrible, traffic stopping, retrofit and new span construction. Its slated to continue for another 3-5 years (at least). From the State that knows how, this is a rebuild from the 1989 quake! So we wanted a pad in the City during the week, so we don't have to commute everyday, and I think you all know how expensive houses are here. It seemed like a logical solution, let you know in a few years...
As far as the boat goes, we needed something big enough for two adults, and a six year old on occasion. So, we started looking, and unfortunately, the first boat we looked at was a one year old Catalina 320, with all the upgrades and electronics, including the fake leather. My girlfriend fell in love with it and it took me 5 months to talk her out of it. We looked at everything. From 47' beauties to 28' hard core performers(we wanted 32'-36'). Our must have list went from about three pages to about three lines and the price dropped along with it. We started with a 150k limit and dropped down to about 70k. The one thing that did not drop from the list that restricted our search was two separate cabins. It was a must have for us. The problem was finding a boat big enough to have two separate cabins with one big enough for two adults without going over our budget. Most of the older boats around 32' have the aft quarter berth, and the bigger older boats, with separate cabins, in our price range required too much work. It seemed that 50k was the line to cross. Most of the boats below 50k(a ballpark figure) that fit our needs required too much work, or where too old to get a decent loan. When you start to get into the 60k-70k range, there are a lot of newer boats, under ten years, that have been badly treat. They need new sails, engines with no repair records, former charter boats, lots of furling mains. Just too many unknowns and lots of brokers unwilling to tell you the details because they know they are bad.
Then one day on the far reaches of yacht world, I found the CS 34'. Turns out that I had a chance to look at it months before, but turned it down because the Marina was not in my route that day. She turned out to be a beauty, and under 60k. All records, hauled and surveyed every three years, and all recommended work completed. She was babied, and it shows. We took her for a test sail and even in light wind, she took off. With a 6'3" draft and a good D/B ratio, its a great boat for the Bay. The best part; the yard manager says, "shes a beautiful boat. She looks like she sails fast, and its not a Catalina!"
Thanks again, and Happy Thanksgiving!