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After going half blind staring at my computer searching for a boat for the last 3 months, I am turning to the community and offering a 0.05% purchase price bounty for helping finding a boat!
Here is my ideal boat:
In the New England area and as far south as Annapolis on the east coast
In excellent condition
Under $50k (implies $500 bounty)
35-39 feet in length
Not center cockpit
Accommodations
Sleeps 5 in proper permanent berths and NOT settees. Can be any combination of single/double.
Sails, rigging and canvas
Sloop/Cutter, no ketch
Replaced in last 10 years - sails, standing and running rigging
cruising spinnaker of some sort with sock
bimini and dodger
Galley
Fridge
Hot and Cold
Watermaker
Electronics
SSB and VHF
Radar, GPS and AIS
Autopliot
Solar panels
Mechanical
wind vane steering
windlass
wind generator
ST winches
Large water and fuel tanks
Does that mean the boat can't be more than $49,500?
That's a pretty tall order with some fairly specific 'extras' that will be either difficult to find, or, if present, old, outdated and perhaps marginally functional. Water makers and SSB are significant cost items..
I really think you're best off to shop somewhere where someone's dreams have been dashed and they are desperate to sell a (hopefully well-equipped) boat in some remote locale.
I wish you luck but I think your budget's a bit skinny....
I assume quarter and pilot berths are key here . I just want three permanent berths for the kids that can be left up, and be curtained off with a reading light and fan
Nice concept, but ARE there any boats in that size that sleep 5 without using the main cabin settees?
Two in the v-berth, two in an "owners cabin" maybe, that makes four. And I don't recall seeing anything in that size range which has more than the one owner's cabin, or has that plus a quarterberth. I'm sure there must be something, but if no one is sleeping in the main salon....I think that radically cuts down the market.
With a shopping list like that, you would do better buying a new boat although your budget will not support that. Used boats mean compromise.
A lot of the items on your list you could add(electronics, windvane, canvas, WM, etc). I would recommend this anyway if they are older components.
Concentrate on the 5 permanent berths in an <40 ft AC boat for less than $50k. This implies a 3 cabin boat as you will find virtually no AC boats that have 3 berths in one cabin. Not many boats will fit that bill.
Excellent condition at that price will also be a deal breaker.
Pilot berths are still a rarity, most boats have put in bookshelves instead and the placement of chain plates or limited depth still make them hard to find. Haven't seen one in a dogs age, and that was on a 45'er.
Have you found any boats that met your basic accommodation criteria but failed on price or gear?
If so what are they?
It would help us know what you like.
Some Beneteau 35's & 36's (probably 38's & 40's) have a vee birth and twin aft cabins. But you'll have to almost double your budget for one in excellent shape.
Anyone know this boat? Palmer Johnson New York 40. Meets alot of my needs. The converted P&S lockers are pilot berths and could be converted back I think.
Interesting.. I'm sure you could reinstate those pilot berths.. That's a VERY tall companionway ladder and the access to it on deck is rather exposed- I'd be a bit concerned about that for the young 'uns. It will interesting in and out in a seaway.
Plenty of gear.. This is a big, brawny boat and I'm not certain that it will fall into the "family cruiser" category. It's very similar to our previous boat (Choate 40).. We sailed it mostly with a pretty big crew. Lots of muscle required but this one is better equipped...
I think this would be a grounder, if not for the sleeps 5, no settee, requirement. Although, it makes me recall sleeping on the Bavaria 37 last month. Very tight, although, I'm a big guy.
I would ask who the 5 will be. Kids? Small adults? Could the 5 requirement be a fallacy? Just because you have the berths, does not mean that anyone will be willing to sleep in them. We have one pilot berth like that and most larger adults will not share our v-berth comfortably.
This is something I have experience with. You need to size your boat for a 16, 14 and 12 year old, which will be upon you in the blink of an eye. After 16, you'll start having a tough time getting them all to come at once anyway.
The point is, you are undoubtedly stuck with someone on a settee, even if you have quarter berths that claim to sleep two. Is a 14 and 12 year old going to share a cramped berth? Not in my experience.
You would really expand your horizon to accept the settee situation.
The PJ40 is a semi flush deck, like the Albin Nimbus. I'd be concerned about letting the kids up and down the hatch in bad weather, more so than using a conventional companionway directly into a cockpit.
And no matter how you slice it the kids will be stowed in those tiny berths.
Then there's the gally picture, the sinks appear to be about 6" from front to back, maybe that's the photo angle, maybe they really are just big enough for a single stack of dinner plates.
Three kids, maybe two heads should be on the list?
An "extension berth" like the P36 means you pull out the settee base to make up a wider berth. If you don't want to use settee berths, the thought of using one and having to pull it out and extend it might not be much more attractive. And of course, an upper pilot that can only be accessed over the settee (extension berth) has some drawbacks too.
The P36 diagram from your URL shows one pilot berth, starboard side above the extension berth. Portside it shows shelves.
I haven't been on a P36 in a very long time but I don't remember it as being a very wide boat, it impressed me more as a good sea boat, i.e. where you can't be thrown across any wide open spaces. Which is not to say there may not be different interiors. With three kids going into their teens and five souls onboard, what I remember would be a "snug" boat.
This is a typical want list my clients give me and then call me an A-hole broker when I cant deliver, It must be Thursday
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