Ok, "junk" might be subjective
The boats I'm looking at look like they have sat around unused for several years before the owner decided (or was forced) to put it up for sale. From Craigslist to brokerage boats. Oldest was a 1968 hatteras, newest was a 1992 Catalina 36. I had high hopes for the Catalina being newer and respectably high asking price might reflect it's condition. No. . .noticed the head door had some funny gaps, bulkhead trim widened out to a 1/4" gap, screws pulled off axis. . .clever inspection mirror and cell phone pictures revealed a rotten mast step. Also found freeze damage in the floor frames, wet and splitting rudder, binnacle someone removed all the screws out of. If you sighted along the hull on the starboard side, there was a slight wave just aft of midships, and evidence the hull had been poorly painted then cut and buffed. Lots of PO diy fixes, frozen thru hulls, rotten hoses, etc.
How do you not take good care of what you think is a $54,000 boat
Typically I'm finding thru hulls that are scary, dry rotting hoses, rust ball engines covered in filth with multi-colored cooling apparatuses and cracking hoses, batteries covered in acid, frayed/green/black cables, leaking everything, bilges covered in or filled with boat juices, leaking widows and staining/rot, rusty tanks (or leaking), soft decks, corroding shafts, old cushions, old everything. . .
Most of the above I've already dealt with via repairing or replacing (even rebuilt my engine, black on red. Very snazzy
) on my sailboat on a smaller scale. Contemplating the effort to do it again on a trawler sized scale is a turn off (ie. kicking myself in the crotch again).
Maybe I'm too anal-retentive. I've never been on a "turn-key" boat to compare. Even fellow members here who have toured me their boats have shown me basically the above. They love them, they use them, and I respect them for that (hell, my boat is no where near perfect), but can I buy into one like that? Possibly the right boat, possibly. . .but. . .
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You don't say what size boat you are looking at or the price you can afford, but it sounds like maybe the size you want verses the price you are willing to pay are a little out of sync.
What you described is exactly what I think the root cause is when paople have a difficult time buying a boat.
I know it comes as a shock to people that what they think is a lot of money is not enough to buy a good condition boat in the size they want.
Not to be "that guy" but I believe what you want vs what you want to spend is off.
Yes! I am shocked, still. . .my Sailboat is my first foray into "Real Boats". Before that it was bayliners and wellcrafts on trailers. For all the boats I've looked at; I can find whats wrong or going to be wrong, how to fix it, how much to fix it, how long to fix it, how to take care of it. . .but I can't really tell you why a crappy 35 yr old Monk 36 will sell for 3 times as much and twice as fast as a crappy 35 yr old Ablin 36 for similar deficiencies. It's all plastic and wood to me, built before I was born, in another country (possibly by the same craftsmen)
So please expand on the above quotes, those got me thinking that I'm totally missing something here.
Why aren't you using the sailboat? I think that is a question that may give you a clue. If a boat is going to be underused then why purchase one. Why are you even thinking of buying a boat?
Well, really for the last year I've been hell-bent on finding another boat so I've short shortsightedly spent my nice/free weekends traveling
And then there is the fact I live on my smallish project sailboat. So I have to pack up my life and whatever unfinished project is stewing to go out. Like this saturday. It is looking kind of nice. I'm starting tonight to start the process of picking up/stowing/packing away so Saturday morning I can check the weather then go.
Heeling can make a mess if you have a lot of loose stuff and no where to put it! I'm hoping a trawler will provide more room to live, but also provide space to put things away behind doors and of course not lean so much
Yes it is! The fanciest electrical gadget I've added to my boat so far is a light for my ancient Windex so I can see it at night if need be :lol: I could also go for a water heater but don't the room currently. . .
So there! How is that for a wall of text?