If I had that sort of money ear marked Id buy a Hans Christian but thats me just love the old design
www.google.com.au/search?q=Hans+Christian+yacht&client=ubuntu&hs=iY5&sa=X&channel=fs&biw=2560&bih=913&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=c0XMVM-CFoaC8QXr9IC4CQ&ved=0CBwQsAQ

dont rule out a Seawind 1000 ,a good one can be had for less
than $200000 ,they are worth a look

To have a budget like that while boats are so cheap. I'd look at an S&S39 and spend the change making it the ideal short handed boat. A Hans Christian would also be up there. You might even get a Hallberg Rassey or Island Packet with some real hard bargaining. Bluewater 400, Peterson 42. The list is endless.

Please consider your knowledge of managing, sailing, maintaining the yacht.
Read, read, ask questions, read more and when your eyes are tired, ask more questions. First broaden your horizon unless you are a knowledgeable one already.
You heard of the "BOAT" question? What it stands for?
Well in our case (yeah, most of us on this forum, anyway) it is Bring Out Another Thousand. In yours, the last letter means Tenthousand!
Management: where to keep it? Marina? Check costs! It is a lot. Insurance you must have. Cost? etc.etc.
Sailing: You better have Cat 3 level of equipment on board for that kind of trip, might come with the yacht, but it usually does not and needs constant updating.
Sails of course, in abundance for all eventualities, anchoring up there needs serious thought. Coral, rocks, sand, mud! etc.

southace said..
http://yachthub.com/list/yachts-for-sale/used/sail-monohulls/adams-40/163103

Use the remaining funds and go cruising now not later!

I see your Adams and raise you this Kalik. I have mentioned this one previously and if I had unlimited funds and thought I could handle it. Golf diesel and cutter rigged. Hallberg Rassey and Hans Christian's are getting to be good value these days. Pretty hard to spend 200 grand in the large yacht sector now.

yachthub.com/list/yachts-for-sale/used/sail-monohulls/kalik-44/137331

Thanks people, some excellent advice I think!

I suppose I should tell you a bit about myself and experience in yachting - which is limited.

As a youngster I sailed Mirrors, Flying Ants and 470's for a while. When I was serving in the Royal Australian Navy, I was lucky enough to sail on Gordon Ingates' "Gretel 2" for a day on Sydney Harbour against Ragamuffin and Siska. They passed us like we were standing still!! What a great experience that was and I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity.

On two separate occasions in the last 2 years, I've spent a total of 3 weeks on-board (and skippering) a Catalina 350 around the Whitsundays bareboating. After a day exploring around the islands, mooring / anchoring at the end of the day with a nice coldie in my mit, I thought to myself, why haven't I pursued my interest in yachting?

Which brings me to where I am now. I'm in my early 50's, been a shift worker for most of my working life, the house is up for sale, and best of all, my wife is almost as keen as me to head off in this new adventure / lifestyle! I know of people who have worked their butt off, postponing what they feel passionate about until they feel they have enough money to live to 120, only to finally quit work at 65 and pop their clogs 2 years later - no thanks. My Dad died before he got to do that deep sea fishing trip off Exmouth he so dreamed about, painful life lesson learnt there by me.

Morningbird, I've only really just started looking at yachts, are they cheap at the moment? I guess people want to get most of their money back and hold on waiting for a price they won't get? I understand that when the time come to sell, no-one recovers the cost of having owned a yacht.

Ramona, what did you mean by saying that I should buy a throw away boat for that sort of trip? Are you suggesting buy a cheap boat, do the trip and sell it after without spending any money on it? That Peter Cole salvaged boat looks like it has already been thrown away!!! Also you mentioned that, "most people on this forum would have trouble spending that sort of money". Do you mean that most people wouldn't blow that sort of money on a yacht? The $200k was the absolute top dollar I would pay. Sorry, I'm just trying to understand what it's all about!

Southace, thanks for the link, I have been keeping an eye on the Adams for a while now. My wife and I are fairly tall and as I mentioned in the first post, we prefer an aft cabin (such as this Adams has in the link) to a v-berth. A couple of things I would like to do to it if I bought it (here comes the money!!). Is it possible to fit larger water tanks or a water maker to boats like this? If so, who do you employ to do it - I'm assuming it would be a challenging task. I would like a self furling headsail also. What might it cost to do these things?

Perhaps some of you can suggest a book that that might help me out with some of these silly questions!! I have The Sailing Bible, but it's not really geared towards buying a yacht and pitfalls to look out for.

I'm guessing steel boats are stronger than GRP but heavier and therefore slower?? But handle better in rough seas?? Are steel boats higher maintenance, I'm referring to hull maintenance I guess.

Cheers!!

This is the Adams I was actualy looking for but found the 40 in WA , this 42 is steel and has been on the market for nearly 12 months I would say they would take 100k for her. http://yachthub.com/list/yachts-for-sale/used/sail-monohulls/adams-42-yacht/138440

I dont believe there there is such a thing as a cheap boat.....your already talking water makers.....etc all the additions add up to be a expensive boat in the long run.

Adding water makers is one expense but this will require extra power so your next expense will be extra solar,wind,gensets.

Basicly if you can find a good sound hull, main engine and rig for around the 80 to 100 k any extras are a bonus the rest you will need to add your self at extra costs.

Davits, BBQ , covers , binimi covers , electronics , tender & outboard ,washing machine, aircon, solar panels , windgens , battery chargers , inverters, upgrading anchors , replacing sails, sheet ropes, morning lines, extra tankage, antifouling and maintance, repairs, flat screen TVs, insurance, rego, did I miss anything? That's a easy 60 k !

NowandZen said..
Nice boat Southace, it's on my "Faves list".
I like the look of it and I think it's the sort of thing I am after, just need to sell the house first so I'm not wasting peoples' time.
The workbench in the stern looks pretty good too!

With regards to all the extras you listed, I guess you spend up to $200k on a yacht with everything already on it or $100k and add the extras to it. If I plan to cruise up north, I'm expecting to have to survive on what water the boat can carry, so given that water may not be readily available for some time, the larger capacity the better!
Even if it's stored in a dozen jerry cans.

Most newish 42 foot production boats around the $170 to 200k Mark will still need stuff added like davits and solar..etc sometimes you can get lucky with previous owners adding the works and then selling Up .

Older cheap boats with the works usually means the works are old and out dated or will possibly fail in the future.

My Adams 42 holds 800ltrs of fresh water and can last approx 3 weeks before refilling showering every day and doing 4 or 5 loads of washing in the machine.

My old boat held 250 litres and lasted me about 1 week just showering or about 5 days with two people onboard.

Cruising and yacht owning in general is one of those areas where it's not a good idea to invest all your money. By throw away yacht I mean if it all turns to crap you can just walk away from the boat. Think of it like your buying shares, be prepared to lose the lot. You may have full insurance and the company may pay up but don't count on it. You are the insurance.

I never like to see people sell up houses and buy yachts and think that the wife will get used to it. The whole Eastern seaboard, particularly Northern Queensland is full of lonely old men trying to sell their dreams after the wife decided to go home.

There are several ex navy people on this forum, as long as you were not a paybob or stores basher you should be fine. Just take your time. If you buy the wrong yacht on the expensive side you may have it for a long time!

Ramona said..
There are several ex navy people on this forum, as long as you were not a paybob or stores basher you should be fine. Just take your time. If you buy the wrong yacht on the expensive side you may have it for a long time!

You forgot to mention birdies, bubbleis and bandies.

Andrew Simpson got a good book for novices I could recommend. "Second hand boats" at 'books-for-sale.com'
It is an E-book, you can download it for a few bucks. That would be your first expense and the best dollars spent, ever.
Electronic books as the Dashew's "Mariners weather handbook" and "Surviving the storm" as well as "Thoughts, tips, technics, tactics for single handed sailing" by Andrew Evans are on board regular readings of mine.
Also, there is a plethora of books at Whitworths including the Alan Lucas pilot books but the real good stuff is at "Boat books" in Crows Nest.

Yara said..
I agree with the comment to hold on to your real estate and buy a cheaper boat.

Being in WA the choice is limited. There was a bargain Walker H28 up at Dampier, and that is a good cruising boat. You could probably get it for $10k and it would cost you probably another $8k to get it to Perth.
Start small, cruise local, and then splash out if you are still keen on the long haul.

Why would it cost $8K to get it back.... SAIL IT !!!!

Hi NowanZen,
On yacht hub there is an absolute bargain in my IMHO, Bavaria 47 stern cabin 189k NEGOTIABLE So you would imagine if you started at150k you might finish up with a beautiful boat with change leftover for perhaps a watermaker and whatever else. Some people here think that 47ft is too big. I found a bargain similar to this 4 years ago and I'm absolutely loving it. Mine is a Beneteau 46 which I could never ever imagined I could afford,but through google where you'll find every forum to help you solve most problems you can save lots of dollars.I sail mostly singlehanded along the East Coast mainly because my wife and two daughters don't like offshore sailing but are very happy to join me when the yacht arrives at the designated destination. Sailing has been made so easy these days that a well set up 45 to 50ft yacht can easily be managed by a couple. I regularly deliver 40/50ft yachts up and down this coast 2 handed without issues and have been caught out in some serious situations weather wise, but have arrived unscathed more often than not, what I'm trying to say is don't buy some grotty 30/40 ft thing if you can afford something more comfortable, ask Jode5.

MorningBird said..
Oi, Cisco. There are at least two birdies on this forum. You just insulted the other one.

Agree your 10% rule, but up to a limit of about $100-150K. I reckon most of us could get a boat that would take us around the world for that money.

Well I have to admit you are one birdie I have met that has some sense about himself and the other one seems to be well proved too.

But yes, $100k to buy and $50k for preparation should get one a world cruiser.

I was really tempted to buy "Sunburst" out of Adelaide a couple of years ago. A Peterson 40, alloy hull for $25,000. Even if one spent another $50,000 on it she would have been a fantastic buy and a fantastic yacht to take anywhere in the world. Tough as nails.

Are there any 35 year old Benetaues or Jenneaus still floating around???

Hi NowandZen,

As Cisco mentioned, we (syndicate of 4) bought a Delphia 40 In Airlie Beach and brought it over the top to Perth. RiffRaff on this forum is doing the same in a Delphia 40 as well.

I think the very first thing to consider for WA (Perth) is a home for your boat. Unless you can lower the mast, you're looking at a marina berth, which will cost a bit and have been difficult to get over recent years. With the declining economy, it might get a bit easier though. A lot of marina pens go from 12m LOA size to next 15m and the price jumps accordingly (like several thousand dollars per year), just something to consider in the equation.

Get out and see a few of the boats advertised for an initial look, look at various sizes, prices, ages etc. You'll start to know what is of interest and narrow the range of variables very quickly. Generally there's not the range nor competitive prices in WA compared to East, but enough to get you started, and you never know what you'll find. Also check out the boats are around the marinas. Bavaria appear to be popular here, there's quite a few in our marina. I don't know exactly why?

Browse Yachthub etc a couple of times every week and checkout what's for sale, watch the prices, what sells quickly, what reduces over time etc.

Our boat is at Hillarys, send me a PM if you'd like to take a look/sail. Our club is quite social and crew spots are easy to get, come along on weekend race days and at the briefing you'll get a ride. I'm sure just about all clubs are the same and it's a good way to check out lots of boats and speak with owners as well as get some experience.