T&T: 1984 boats

[Faure, Marin]

>Buy the highest quality, best condition boat you can afford....You'll
find yourself buying new or near new boats that are smaller than you
might otherwise buy.

This is good advice but it leaves out a very important aspect.
Regardless of the quality and the price, you have to buy a boat that
will do what you want to do.  If you want to live aboard, for example,
buying a 24-foot SeaSport in excellent condition for an amount of money
you can afford is a meaningless purchase because the boat will be
incapable of doing what you want to do with it.  So it's a three-way
balance--- your budget, the condition of the boat, and what you want to
do with the boat.

To my way of thinking, the first thing a prospective boat buyer needs to
do is figure out exactly what he or she wants to do with the boat.  Live
aboard, long-range passagemaking, coastal cruising, marina-hopping, a
work-on-it hobby?  All of these and more are legitimate reasons for
buying a boat.

Once you know what you want to do with a boat, then start figuring out
what kind of boat will accomplish this.  Trawler, fast sportfisherman,
sailboat, express cruiser, etc.?

Once you've arrived at the type of boat that will work best for you,
then you can start narrowing it down to specific brands and models.
Grand Banks, Willard, Krogen, Nordhavn, Meridian, CHB, etc?

Once you've arrived at the make and model (maybe more than one) that
will suit your purposes, THEN you can start looking for something in the
best condition that meets your budget.  Maybe you'll find one, maybe
you'll have to make some compromises in what you want the boat to do in
order to better match your budget and still get a boat in good
condition.

The wording I like to use for the "what boat to buy" soundbite is "buy
the smallest boat you can afford that will do what you need it to do."


______________________________
C. Marin Faure
GB36-403 "La Perouse"
Bellingham, Washington