What resources do you use to find boats for sale?

[Sailormann]

I think that the best boats are to be found on club and marina bulletin boards. People will frequently put a note up for a couple of weeks before they spend the money on ads or brokers. You need to be quick though, as the good ones go fast. Other boaters in the facility will often buy boats that they know to be well-maintained. Never hurts to put up "Boat Wanted" notes in the clubs either. Some people may sort of be thinking about selling and just need the push...

[deniseO30]

One resource your all over looking! "knowledge" Know about the boat your going to look at.. Do your homework and gain some knowledge about sailboats.

[IrishMistRacing]

I agree with SailorMan. Although I surf YachtWorld, I have always found my next boat close to home, from the local classified or a club posting. They were always in better condition, less expensive and if you have questions in the future about something, maybe the old owner has the answer.

CraigsList is also a great resource in my area (LI Sound)

[Bardo]

Useboats.com

[Moonfish]

Well, you say you're on the west coast, so I'll asume that's California. Up here in the Pacific NW (Oregon, Washington, BC) a couple of good resources to find boats for sale by owner are NW Yachting and 48 Degrees North. Both are free regional magazines with classified and brokerage boat sections. However, 48 North is strictly a sailing magazine, so they have a lot more sailboats for sale. That and they have a good selection of classifieds boats for sale on their web site:

http://www.48north.com/

NW Yachting has a classified section in the magazine, but their web site only has brokerage boats for sale which you can find on Yachtworld anyway.

Another regional magazine up here is Nor'Westing. They are mostly Canadian and have some classified boat ads on their web site:

http://www.buysell.com/classifieds/c...tercrafts.html

Good luck!

[rugila]

I’m looking for a good boat about 38ft at a good price.

Being somewhat numerically inclined, I downloaded info on all yachts 37’-40’ 1980-2002 for sale from the yachtworld.com site and ran a statistical analysis. Took into account length, location advertised, make/design and year. Didn’t include general condition, equipment, charter or private, tax variations in different parts of the world etc.

Just about anywhere in the world would be Ok, although southern Argentina is a novel notion I hadn’t thought of.

Predictably enough, the cheapest boats seem the ex-charter ones, Beneteau, Bavaria, Jeanneau etc., and the charter locations, Eastern Med, Caribbean, the cheapest places.
Down Under, where I am now has unfortunately about the most expensive asking prices, with northern Europe and Canada (why is this?) not too far behind. South and east USA seems on average pretty good (why is this?)

Deviations (averaging to zero) from a base price of $148,000US are (according to this analysis):
Bavaria -$66,000
Dufour -$46,000
Hunter -$45,000
Jeanneau -$43,000
Gib'Sea -$40,000
Beneteau -$38,000
Catalina -$38,000
C&C -$28,000
Morgan -$19,000
Endeavour -$18,000
Dehler -$7,000
Grand Soleil $5,000
Tayana $7,000
Moody $15,000
Tartan $22,000
Caliber $24,000
Sabre $32,000
Hans Christian $45,000
Island Packet $45,000
Pacific Seacraft $73,000
Najad $122,000

With due allowance for length,
37' -$18,000
38' -$9,000
39' $10,000
40' $17,000
and likewise for location and year of launching (details not listed here).

[sailingdog]

Rugila-

You'd be much better off starting your own thread, rather than hijacking this one.

[Jeff_H]

I have found boats in all of the ways mentioned above, but, with one notable exception, I have had the best success getting boats at a low price in those deals where a broker has been involved. It is a mistake to say that a broker only shows you the boats that he has listed. In this day of multiple listing services, brokers will show you anything that remotely resembles what you are looking for. The more boats that they show you the more likely it is that they will get a commission.

Jeff

[arbarnhart]

I am in an awesome CraigsList area, but I actually found my boat through the TrailorSailor classifieds. SailingTexas is pretty good also (despite the name, it is national). I have to chime in a "me too" about hopping in the car. I bought my boat in a coastal town while I was down at the coast for a weekend (had aranged in advance to see it) and driving over from the motel I passed several other boats for sale.

[LyleRussell]

www.yachtworld.com and Soundings magazine for 30' + boats.