anyone want to help me buy in florida ?

[Arjen]

Hello, i pretty unexperienced in regards to sailboats. I had a 470 (a 16ft open boat) when i was a kid. I am now 32 and i want to buy a 30-35 ft with a budget of 10.000 $. I am from holland and at the moment in guatemala. I will fly to ford launderdale the 29th of january. I know i can hire surveyors, but before that i would have to make my own selection and i dont really have the experience for that.

Is there anyone in that area willing to help me buy a boat ?
It would also be very welcome if someone would like to teach me a bit how to handle it.

And in case noone wants to help me in person, maybe i can get some advise on this forum, what to look for, what brokers to go to and where not ? or whatever advise you may have for me

longer background story:
Since i lack experience, the primary goal of this boat is to get experience for a few months and then decide how much i like it. My idea is to island hop the caribean to venezuela and then follow the coast back to rio dulce. Then reevaluate. Maybe leave the boat there and fly to holland to come back next year, maybe sell the boat if i dont really like it enough to bother myself with the upkeep of a boat, or maybe buy a better one if i did like it and my experience makes me want something else. So that makes reselability an important aspect for the boat i want to buy now. Furthermore, i dont want it to need any big investments, so i want the main expensive things that i cant fix myself to be in good condition. (sail, riggings, engine) Above water paint i dont really care about, i can do that. Some damage to the furniture and stuff like that is not much of an issue either for me. And while an autopilot seems really really nice to me, i guess im gonna need some experience to know what kind of autopilot is really usefull and what are their limitations anyway so although it may be an important aspect if i can get the right information on this topic, it is not the most important, espescially as long as i dont have the right information. Other electronics i dont care much about, it is my field of studie, so i figure i should be able to install some stuff i buy from ebay whenever i want to. Finally, the minimum size of the boat is decided by my length. I am 1,90m tall (6ft4) and i want to be able to stand right up in my boat. It would also be nice if the bed is at least as big as i am. And it would be nice if the boat could sleep 5 people so that i can invite some other tourists over while island hopping. Am i being realistic ? (espescially with regart to my budget and what i want from the boat, if my sailing plans are realistic with my lack of experience is another subject of course...)

thank you

[youmeandthed]

I had a Catalina 30, you can pick them up cheap, and they have a lot of livable space. I'm 6'2" and I could stand up in it without hitting my head, 6'4" might be pushing it.

Look on craigslist, and look for something small and sturdy, you will definitely have to compromise on a few things.

Warning: as an investment don't buy a boat. You will buy it for X dollars, spend X dollars maintaining/refitting and sell it for X dollars. So in Boat finance you get

X + X = X

but hey go for it, you don't know how it's going to end before you start.

[jameswilson29]

Originally Posted by Arjen

Hello, i pretty unexperienced in regards to sailboats...[A]nd it would be nice if the boat could sleep 5 people so that i can invite some other tourists over while island hopping...

That sounds like a good plan!

[Minnewaska]

Do you plan to sail the boat down the Caribbean chain alone? That would not be very realistic given the experience level you've described. For starters, you will need heavy weather, navigation and landfall experience beyond getting familiar with making the boat go.

[denverd0n]

$10,000 is not going to buy you much. In a boat big enough for you to stand up in, and sleep 5, that's going to buy you a project--a boat that needs at least that much again in repairs and refitting before it is ready for the kind of journey you are talking about. Not to mention the fact that, without a lot more training and/or experience, you yourself are not ready for the kind of journey you are talking about.

I honestly don't wish to burst your bubble, but I really don't think you are being very realistic here. Perhaps you should start with a smaller "pocket cruiser" and get some sailing experience, so that you have a better idea of what you are getting into and what you need. That way when you sink your savings into a boat for a longer journey you will not be literally "sinking" your savings!

[JimsCAL]

You might be able to find a 30 footer that isn't a complete disaster for your budget, but it won't be suitable for what you want to do. And a larger boat is going to need so much work (and money) that it won't make sense. Sorry, either raise your budget or revise your plans.

[WDS123]

At your budget -

I'd buy a small cruiser 25ftr or so - with the idea you will own it for 2-3 years and then sell it for roughly what you paid for it. (re)Learn to sail, learn to repair, You will then have enough experience to buy the bigger keelboat you can use to realize your dreams. You will have saved beacoup dollars in upkeep, insurance, and slip fees over those 2-3 years of learning.

We just got a story from someone relatively new to sailing - he lived for 3 months on his Santana 525 in the Gulf of Mexico. This is a 25ftr built in the mid 1970's. He bought the Santana 525 for $1,500 with trailer in Tulsa from a buddy of his.

He said 3 months of living on the boat "was the best time of his life"

[Arjen]

Thanks for the replies, even though they are somewhat discouraging

but it won't be suitable for what you want to do.

What would you consider the requirements for this ? None of the distances between the islands are very big, and i assume they are quite busy with other boats. That makes me think i wont need safety equipment for satelity emergency calls and all kinds of spare parts (with the skills to use them) that i would need when crossing an ocean. Dept sounders and stuff i was told wont really help you anyway with the steep coral reefs, so that seems like unneeded equipment (id think i need a someone on the bow to look out for reefs) So what more do i need than a functioning boat and maybe gps ?

And what budget would you then think about for what i want? Last year i saw in rio dulce a very good 30ft boat go for 19.000 and another for 20.000 That was a bit over my budget, and they told me to go to florida because they are supposedly cheaper there. (and much, much more available for sale) My budget is a bit flexible, and its not all of my savings, so actually, this was already my thought of buying a small one for limited money before i might buy a 40 foot later if i like it so much that i want to go around the world

[DRFerron]

Originally Posted by Arjen

Thanks for the replies, even though they are somewhat discouraging


What would you consider the requirements for this ? None of the distances between the islands are very big, and i assume they are quite busy with other boats. That makes me think i wont need safety equipment for satelity emergency calls and all kinds of spare parts (with the skills to use them) that i would need when crossing an ocean. Dept sounders and stuff i was told wont really help you anyway with the steep coral reefs, so that seems like unneeded equipment (id think i need a someone on the bow to look out for reefs) So what more do i need than a functioning boat and maybe gps ?

So at this point, your plan is to be totally reliant on other boaters for your safety and dependent on Lady Luck shining down on you to guide you to your destination? I humbly suggest that you get some sail training, check out the Recommended Reading thread in the forum for some books written by cruisers, and start your adventure by revising your plan a bit so that you aren't a hazard to others, much less yourself and potentially the environment when you run aground without a depth sounder.

[Arjen]

So you would use a satelite phone to call the coastguard when your crossing 30km of water that is full of sailboats because you should not rely on others for your safety ?

Believe me, im not a total idiot. Please dont react like i am.