info on how to buy a crusin sailboat

[6string]

Jody

I am also just starting to look for that boat for us to get lost on. There is a lot of info out there to digest. A couple of books that I have picked up include:

John Kretschmer - The Used Boat Notebook
Beth Leonard - The Voyagers Handbook
Liza Copeland - Cruising for Cowards

They have some good ideas and their perspectives come from lots of time spent on boats.

This past fall we went to the Annapolis Sail show. We were looking at new boats but it helps to get some ideas as to designs and layouts. I was somewhat surprised with how inexpensive some were compared to my initial expectations. We also went to Strictly Sail in Chicago. We met John Kretschmer and attended an hour long talk he put on about the boats he likes best. Very Knowledgable.

We are going to Key West via Ft Lauderdale for Easter and will spend a little time poking our noses into some boats to see what we can get for $60,000, $100,000 and even $150,000. I will also visit a couple of boat manufacturers to see how they are built during this process. I doubt that I will be buying new but it doesn't hurt to see what goes into the manufacturing of these boats.

Lets stay in touch during this journey, it will be good to compare notes.

Jeff

"That's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and hull and a deck and sails. That's what a ship needs. But what a ship is... is freedom." -- Captain Jack Sparrow

[sailingdog]

Beth Leonard's book just came out in a new edition btw... so if yOU decide to buy it make sure you're getting the new one..

[christyleigh]

Originally Posted by donrr1

You'll know you're doing your research well when after you've decided that 16 different boats at 16 different times were the right boat for you and end up buyin none of em.

Don

Whaaat....... You mean my method of buying a boat, throwing tens of hours (later hundreds) and hundreds of dollars (later thousands) into them, keeping them for only a few years, and then buying 'bigger and better', do the time and money thing all over again, and again.... isn't the 'right' way to do it..... Gee... my method has worked well to serve my addiction for many years and many boats. You sound as sensible as my wife .... Although..... I have managed to mold her into my 'enabler' to the extent that the first real sailboat we bought only cost about a couple house mortgage payments and the current one cost twice as much as our house ..... Now if we could just hit one of those big Powerball lotteries I could get .................

[TrueBlue]

Know the feeling Stan . . . all too well. The addiction I have for boats defies logic . . . comparable to nurturing a nymphomaniacal mistress, reducing my once rational mind to one almost totally consumed by a primal and insatiable lust for all things boating related.

[donrr1]

I have no clue about boat addiction...

If you own a canoe, 25' cuddy, 29' cruiser, 41' ketch and yer now lookin at dinks, does that qualify as being addicted?

I'm outta control, someone MUST stop me.

Hello, my name is Don and it's been 3 months since I've bought a boat...

Don

[sailingdog]

Don-

Obviously, you're recovering...