sailboat for sale
Considering my lazy one-line ad I really did not expect any responses. At the time I placed that ad I was also not ready to buy a boat. However, I thought it can’t be to early to see what’s available. I received some very interesting offers. One guy had a nice 26 foot motor boat for sale. It was in good condition and only $1500. But I really wanted a sail boat. I could settle for a sailboat without sails, but I can’t add a keel to a motor boat. So, nice boat to go fishing, but not what I want right now.
I got several nice big sailboat offers in the 30+ feet range. However, they were all over $30,000, not what I consider cheap. I am sure some of those sailboats were worth much more than they were offered for, but if you don’t have the money, you can’t spend it.
I also got several offers for free boats (hulls only). However, most of them were out of the water, wooden boats that needed almost everything: motor, sails, electronics, hardware and so on. I wanna go cheap, but for me the boat had to be in the water or at least be good enough to be put in the water right away. I did not want to buy a leaking boat and try to fix the leak. And some of the bare hull boats that I could have gotten for free were too much of a project for me.
One of the offers was for a very nice 50 foot wooden motor boat. Several cabins and all sorts of nifties. But again, I would prefer a sailboat. Besides, I didn’t have the $12000 they were asking for. Nice boat though!
Then finally a sailboat with mast and sails for only $2500. The only problem was the size. It was very small, only one cabin. I really need more than that. I thought it might be a good idea to start small and get a bigger boat later. And thinking realistically, I might be able to come up with $2500. There’s no way I could afford any of the other nice sail boats I had been offered. The boat was quite a long drive away. So I asked a few more questions and the seller sent several other pictures of the boat. I am glad this was an honest seller. He did not hide anything. In fact, he pointed out all the problems. It was leaking a little bit. How much is a little bit? It had several things wrong with the mast, and the cabin was full of mold. As nice as that little sail boat might have been I did not even take the trip to go look at it.
So for now, with all the offers, even free offers, I am still a guy without a boat. But I’ve learned a lot! And that in itself is valuable. So go and keep an eye on the used boat market.
Photo credit: Thanks to roganjosh on morguefile.com
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