consentration of boats for sale in Florida

[pmills42255]

IN my endevours to find a solid 38- 44'' sloop rig I have a week to search in Florida. What area(s) would give me the highest consentration of choices. Does anyone dare guess where the best deals are?
My life depends on things other then the stock market, so I am forging ahead,
Paul

[Jeff_H]

Usually the largest concentration of cruising boats in Florda are found in the Ft Lauderdale/ Miami area. Tampa/Bradenton/Sarasota area also has a large concentration of boats as well. Boats in this area are generally smaller, older, shallower and a little less expensive but also more often in less perfect condition.

Jeff

[Manateee Gene]

I do not know if this fits your bill or not,
but my next door neighbor has a 1977 O''Day
center-cockpit sloop with all the current goodies, including an excellent setup on his electric anchor winch. He wants to go small power. contact me by e-mail and I''ll give you his number. He has lots of pic''s to e-mail. Gene

[DonFoley]

This is going to be a huge generalization, but I''ve done the entire state of Florida while boats shopping before. This is something I found. For some reason the midwest (ohio in particular) moves to the west coast when they retire, from Fort Meyers up to the Tampa. They go and buy a sailboat, something they''ve dreamed about all their lives. Their wives hate the thing. They sail it a few times and then their heart gives out. Then it sits at the dock and rots.

OK, this may seem hugely unfair to some, but as a Floridia (UF Class of ''84) I''ve seen it dozens of times as I wandered the state looking for ''the boat.'' Yes, there are some great deals on these boats, but to bring one back to life will cost a bundle, unless you''re lucky and find one that''s just been sitting there a year or two. Generally what I''ve seen is boats bought by someone when they are 65, sail it for a year or two and then just let it sit there until they''re 70, and at that point they''ve either given up the dream of sailing off into the sunset, or kicked off and you end up dealing with the wife who just wants to get rid of the thing.

I don''t mean to be sexist in this statement, of the cruisers I know and run into the women love sailing as much (if not more) than the men. But these folks aren''t ''cruisers,'' they''re retirees who live on canals with docks, so they don''t pay slip fees and thus don''t think twice about their boats sitting there growing green for a few years.

I''ve found that Miami/Lauderdale is a great place for well-kept retiree cast-offs.

Jacksonville also has a decent market, not as big as South Florida, but I''ve seen boats priced a bit lower in this area.

Random Thoughts...

[Jeff_H]

Don:
As a fellow Gator (U of Fla, Department of Architecture,1973 & 1978), and long time (former)Fla Resident, I have to agree that the boats on the west coast of Florida are generally in worse condition than the boats that I have looked at on the east coast. On the other hand, I also found on the west coast was that these ''beaters'' often only had aesthetic issues and were often pretty easy to bring back and were priced pretty competitively. The other thing that I have found on the both coasts were retirees like my Dad who spend a far greater time messing around with his boat (refinishing this or that or adding something that makes sense to him) than I would ever have time for.

Jeff

[hamiam]

I looked at boats in florida via the internet. Given that they are used 12 months a year and that there is a substaintial cost in getting the boat to the Northeast where I live, there were no real deals. Given the weakness in the Canadian Dollar you might want to try up there.

[DonFoley]

Go Gators!

Jeff, there are undoubtably those sailors who take great care of their boats, the only problem was that they tended to take care of them, and never sold the puppies. I kept hoping to stubble across one and never found it. The boats in my price range at the time had me looking for that ''great deal'' but the amount of mold I found on some of those boats was incredible. My previous experience with a moldy boat was that no matter how hard I tried, I could never 100% get rid of that smell. Also some of the diesel engines hadn''t been run for over a year...and we all know how much diesels like that.

In short, like Hamiam, I never found that boat. But in all honesty, I did enjoy going out on the weekends and hunting them down.

On the Canadian boat comment, I know nothing about this...but is there some kind of import duty or tax which one would have to factor in?

[DuaneIsing]

Great, we have Don and Jeff in the same "room" now, so I''ll ask:

For me, who expects to be a Punta Gorda (south of Tampa) resident in 2 years, do you recommend I start my search on the west coast of Florida for a coastal cruiser that will do well in the thin waters found there?

[Manateee Gene]

Hey Don: I posted about a very well conditioned O''Day. It came down the St Law. SeaWay abd did the coast, outside until it reached, Jeff''s haunts and then down the ICW to the lake and across. She''s been hauled in the last 60 days and she shows no sign of any problems. She is a very good buy at the owners asking price. O''Days of the 77-79 era
were over built to start with! Gene

[pmills42255]

Thanks everyone for the input.
I wonder if a well taken care of boat isn''t going to command a higher price irespective of its value considering age of rigging, electornics, sails, etc.. I think I will shop on the West coast for a neglected but solid boat. Regardless, I will shop both areas.
The input about Canadian boats is good. I live three hours from the border and have talked to a few brokers. I sense they are dealing in US boat prices, and the dollar is not an advantage. I have not seen any "great" deals.
Paul