Our search lasted approximately 8 months and consisted of countless hours spent viewing listings on yachtworld.com aka boat porn. Countless hours spent on sailboatdata.com comparing and contrasting performance and design. Last but not least, countless hours emailing brokers to make arrangements for viewings. So what can we quantify from our search? We traveled to 2 countries, 3 states and 11 cities looking for our girl. USA, Mexico, California, Washington, Texas, Long Beach, Marina Del Rey, Newport Beach, Emeryville, Alameda, San Rafael, San Diego, Seattle, Kemah, Coronado & La Paz.
In order for all of our searching to be productive, we had to figure out what we wanted. Here’s a broad list that helped keep us on track to find our girl.
- A reliable, well-built cruising boat within our budget.
- A boat that had recently been overhauled (current rigging, electronics, decks, etc)
- A boat size ranging between 40-45 feet
- Cutter or Ketch rigged
- A long fin keel and skeg hung rudder
- Ample fuel and water tankage
In the midst of our search, Brad made and maintained many wonderful contacts in the broker field. We were able to go on numerous boat showings, sometimes even multiple showings for the same boat. Sometimes our viewings would clear the mind, and others would leave us a little more confused. We quickly realized there was no such thing as a “perfect” boat in our price range and used that realization to start a list of items we were willing to bend on. Did we really need a center cockpit with a large aft stateroom or would a Pullman be just as comfortable? Did we really need a swim step for ourselves and the pups or could we make do without? Was a separate stall shower really necessary? And what about the cockpit, did it really need to be large enough to fit 6 people comfortably? Not to mention other things like the condition of the engine, rigging, sails, hull type, storage, boat length, and the condition of the decks.
Here are some of the boats we were able to look at in person: Norseman 447 (aft and center cockpit versions), Norseman 400 (2 and 3 cabin layouts), Nordic 40, Tayana 47, 52 & 55, Island Packet 350, 380, 40 &420, Valiant 39 & 42, Pearson 424, Kaufman 47, Passport 40 & 41, Caliber 40, Mason 44, Swan 43MS & 47, and finally the Kelly Peterson 46. We found ourselves in lust with the Norseman 447’s but realized the boats on the market were not for us. After some soul searching we decided not to make any offers on these lustful vessels.
Here are videos of some of the boats we viewed. Most are interior tours, so guess who the cameraperson is:
Kelly Peterson 46 and haul-out, Norseman 447 (center cockpit exterior, center cockpit interior, aft cockpit), Passport 40, Tayana 47, Kaufman 47, Norseman 400(2 cabin, 3 cabin), Pearson 424, Valiant 42, Mason 44
Once we stepped on the KP46 we were bombarded with things we loved about it. Who doesn’t love a large cockpit and wide deck space? Who doesn’t love a workshop on board or pristine interior? Must I mention the king size bed in the aft cabin, the queen sized v-berth and 2 heads?! She also checked all of Brad’s boxes: Seaworthy, cutter rigged, lots of tankage, watermaker and a good bluewater hull design. Needless to say we fell in love with this boat.
Love is great and all, but we needed to figure out what we were getting ourselves into. Here’s what we knew, we knew the rigging needed to be replaced, electronics needed to be replaced, the engine was questionable, and the price was near the top of our budget. We gathered our thoughts, made an offer and waited for a response.
A couple of offers were exchanged and we settled on a price. We were finally making some progress in our boat shopping experience but could not let ourselves get too excited. We continued on to the next step in the process- the survey and sea trial. There were some big ticket items brought up in the survey, some of which we knew about, others we weren’t aware of. Based on our discoveries during the survey we decided to take our chances and asked for a price reduction. Let’s hope our offer is accepted!
Here’s what we learned during the search process. You must be patient! You must keep looking. You must do plenty of research. You must stick to your budget. You must allow yourself to look past imperfections to see the bigger picture and know that it will all work out for the best. Get excited about what you’re doing- give yourself a pat on the back for following your dreams! We thoroughly enjoyed our search and hope that you will have the same experience!