The $5K Follies

[bljones]

Pop quiz, hotshots. Here's the dealio:
You have, or had, $5000 to spend on a boat. Said boat must be at least 22' in length and able to accomodate at least 2 for at least a weekend. What did, or would, you buy, and why?

[cb32863]

I have seen O'Day 23's for $4500. I am sure you can get Catalinas & Hunters for that too in a similar size...... All would be decent "little" boats I think. Lots of them out there so a lot of support. Not sure if any one is better than any other.

[JKCatalina310]

I would look for an O'Day 272 in need of some work. A friend at my marina found one last year for $4,600 with ok sails, a newer (2001) 9.9 hp outboard with electric start and hydraulic lift, and in need of a lot of TLC. After some cleaning up, the boat sailed great.

Still needs some work, like the electric start and hydraulic lift don't work most of the time.

[SailingWebGuy]

Got a Catalina 30 for less than that...but it's costing me 3 times that amount to fix it.

[CanadianDave]

last summer we were looking at 4 boats in that price range,

1976 23' Paceship PY 23 Keel 5600.00 obo

1973 25' Hughes Northstar 500 5000.00 obo

1980 22' Tanzer 4500.00 firm

1977 (?) Mirage 24 5000.00

19?? 23 ft paceship bluejacket 2000.00

we ended up holding off buying due to my wife not being sure she would like to sail and me not feeling 100 % comfortable buying ( spending savings ) a luxury item when business was down and money could easily become tight.

now that my wife has had several lessons and we've rented a friends boat while he was overseas, we started looking again but my wife recently changed jobs so...... things are on hold while I see if her new job pans out.


come hell or high water I'm getting on the water this summer even if its going to be in a dingy sailer

[FishSticks]

Originally Posted by SailingWebGuy

but it's costing me 3 times that amount to fix it.

That's not too bad... a FIB* factor of 3... could have been much worse. It's advisable to take into account the boat's TIT** also.

*Fix It to Buy it cost ratio

**Time it Takes to fix it. Wooden boats, the type with which I'm most familiar, tend to have the largest TITS, but this is not always the case. It is quite difficult to get an accurate TIT measurement, even with a careful examination. Initial estimates usually have a tendency to be undersized.

[Rangernewell]

Mirage 24 ..I think this is a great all around sailboat. Perfect for overnighters and weekends. Only issue I have is when the weather turns bad and your in the cabin........ theres only 5' headroom. The Admiral has no problem with that issue though .....

[kawest]

last summer we were looking at 4 boats in that price range,

If these were Nova Scotia boats some of them still appear to be for sale on Yachtworld. They may be available for a better price.

[SlowButSteady]

Santana 22,
Cal 25 (Mk1),
Islander 24/Columbia Challenger

[Bilgewater]

While not exactly 22' I would take a Halman 21 and for 5,000 a person can usually find a well maintained one. I like the lines of this boat, it's skookum, trailerable, can take a bit of weather and it's just my kind of small boat. Something I could really feel good about. And it's Canadian built to boot.