There are times and places where unique opportunities arise to
buy your boat cheap.
You want a world sailing yacht but you don’t have an extra half
million to spend? That is why this book was written. For the last twenty
years my wife and I have repaired, worked and delivered boats around
the Pacific. We have lived in 16 countries, on our 42ft sailboat that
we bought for ten thousand dollars. We don’t pay rent, or house
payments, or interest on a bank loan...
This book is based on the idea that every boat owner goes through a
series of cycles. We have all heard people say "I would have given
the boat away that day". This book shows you how to identify the
series of events that lead to those special deals...
* Recognizing the unique opportunity- why they are selling, just returned
from a circumnavigation, owner passed on
* Accessing the inside knowledge of the cruising world
* Choosing your boat
* Advantages and disadvantages of hull material IG, fiberglass, wood,
steel, aluminum, fero-cement
* Pro's and con's of traditional and modern rigs, multihull
* Tried and true boats to watch for in the used market
* Is it a worthwhile deal?
* Identifying maintenance costs and issues
* Outfitting your new boat on the cheap
* Financing, marketing, broker or not and the fine art of "lowballing"
* A sample plan of how to buy your dream boat for 50 g’s - from
locating to closing the deal to getting under sail
Excerpts from "How to Buy a Boat Cheap"
Looking for Jed
Ah, the big question, how do I leave now? It seems everyone sitting
around the marina wants to go cruising, but they all have a few more
projects to complete. I hear it every day If I buy a boat how do I know
how to fit it out? When can I leave?
To give you the answer I’m going to tell you about my friend
Jed. Jed wrote me every time we cruised our boat to a new country. I
would get these long emails about how he was just about done with his
boat. He always had just a couple more projects and he would catch up
with me somewhere. Jed spent thousands in upgrades. He bought a $5,000
dollar fridge and put it next to the six thousand dollar water maker.
Every time I looked at his boat I would say “Jed, this boat is
ready. It’s you that is not ready. You have to just set a date
and leave. The rest will take care of itself”. Finally Jed decided
the time was right. He bought a new set of sails, an expensive max prop,
and filled the diesel tanks. With that Jed left San Francisco for his
big adventure.
Off Point Conception he got beet up and scared, then he found himself
becalmed and board on the Baja. Finally he arrived in Mexico. He put
the boat in a slip and went back north to “visit his grand children”.
Jed stopped sending emails and soon a year passed, then two, then five.
His new sails sat comfortably under the new sail covers and his new
Pro Furl system waited for Jed to return. Finally Jed decided the whole
idea had been just a dream and it was time to sell the boat. Jed listed
the boat with a broker, but nobody traveled to Mexico to look at a boat.
Weeks passed, then months, and finally Jed sold his boat for eighteen
thousand dollars. He spent more money on his new sails!
Steve bough Jed’s boat and simply became Jed, in boat usage anyway.
Jed spend years, almost a decade fixing up his boat and then sold it
on the cheap. Steve spent six months looking for a cruising boat and
set sail with Jed’s broken dream three weeks after the purchase
was complete. Last I heard Steve took the boat to New Zealand , then
on to Europe, and back to the US east coast where he sold it for near
eighty thousand.
That is the secret. Find a boat that someone has already set up to
cruise and then decided the lifestyle was not for them. It takes time
to collect all the special gear. Storm sails, para-anchors, light weather
gear, sun awnings, and everything else needed to be comfortable on the
water. If cost were no option it would still take a couple years to
put a boat together, so buy one someone else has already done all the
outfitting for you.
Thing is the boats hanging around the marinas mostly don’t have
all the special gear needed to cruise. Often a boat sitting in the third
world has everything you need to step on and sail away.
Here is a simple method of locating boats for sale before the word
has gotten out. This system works excellent if you’re already
out on the sailing circuit or crewing on boats. Use a plastic almost
indestructible business card and have printed on it: “I am interested
in buying your boat. Please call me at XXX-XXXX, or email me at needing-a-boat@boatbum.com”.
Punch a hole in one end of the card. Walk the marinas, boat yards, and
storage areas looking for boats that meet your boat need. Each time
you find a boat you like wire tie on boat card. Keep a running notebook
with a little information about each boat and maybe a digital photo
so when you do get the call you can refer back and jog your memory about
what you saw.
If the boat looks exactly like what you are looking for you can always
ask around and see if you can find the owner. The idea here is to locate
a special opportunity. When the owner or crew returns to the boat he
will find the boat card and may act on it.
This is not a business, you only need one opportunity you can afford.
You never know who it is that will return to the boat or what state
the crew will be in. The owner may have passed on and the next of kin
may be arriving to “dispose of the vessel” not concerned
with it’s value. Sometimes a boat becomes more of a hassle than
it is worth to the current owner. Robust boat projects seem too big
to face on returning to a hot climate and the owner may just want an
easy way out. The idea here is to find a way to get yourself in the
loop when people start to feel stuck and be available for a win/win
solution.