Online Book: How To Buy a Cruising Boat

A fundamental fact is that, even if you are rich, you can’t have it all in an offshore voyaging boat and that goes double for the rest of us with more modest means. So the most important step in selecting a boat that will be successful for you is to identify the things that you really need. In this chapter I give you an easy to use and apply test to do just that.

Buying a poorly designed boat is one of the most costly and heart breaking mistakes anyone can make. But maybe if we understand how bad designs come to be, we can avoid that.

One of the most important decisions we need to make when buying an offshore voyaging sailboat is how much sail area, in relation to displacement, boat type, and draft, is right for our style of cruising.

One of the saddest things that can happen to a cruiser is buying a fundamentally bad boat, and there are plenty of those out there to tempt the uninformed. Here’s how to make sure that the boat you buy is well designed.

Sadly most boats, both power and sail, have interior arrangements that are designed to look good at a boat show, not work well offshore or when living aboard for extended periods while voyaging. Here we give you and explain, based on some 20 years of living aboard and voyaging, a guideline for eight things to look for as you shop for a boat.

In this chapter I have a good old rant about one of the most common and unpleasant faults of many modern designs that claim to be offshore capable. Reading this chapter could save you from buying a boat you will come to hate.

Continuing the theme of making the right decisions when selecting a voyaging boat, this chapter tackles the thorny question of engine space, cockpit space, and a covered area to operate the boat from. Can you have it all? Read on to find out.

These days there seems to be an endless fascination with yacht (both motor and sail) cockpit amenities, but we must never lose sight of a cockpit’s primary function: to be the command and control centre of a vehicle that operates in a potentially hostile environment.

It seems like a logical way to own a good offshore sailboat. Buy an older and a bit rundown but fundamentally decent boat and refit it. But does it really work? To explore that important question, I have a true story to tell you.

If you own and sail boats offshore for long enough, the likelihood is that sooner or later you will be faced with a difficult repair or refit decision. John explores a solution that all others being considered should always be measured against.

Andy writes about what it takes to refit a 45 year old 35’ Allied Seabreeze Yawl to the point where it is safe and fun to sail her across the Atlantic. This is the first of three refits Andy will analyze.

Andy continues this series by writing about his second refit, that of his father’s 1986 Wauquiez Hood 38, a good boat that the refit made ocean-ready.

Andy continues the series with the third refit he has done on an old boat—a 1972 Sparkman & Stephens Swan 48—an ongoing project.

Now we get to the payoff. In this fourth and final post Andy summarizes what he has learned from the three refits he’s done, and provides some solid hard-earned tips for anyone considering refitting an old boat.