The seed was planted 15 years ago when we had the opportunity to tour the New York Harbor on a 52 Chris Craft. The boat was operated by a husband-wife team who had recently retired from “regular” life and began offering 4 hour cruises, with him as the captain and her as the chef. Although running a cruise business was not very appealing, the idea of touring the country by water seemed like a fantastic adventure.
We started toying with the idea about 5 years ago and started thinking seriously about it last year, after a family tragedy (ironically a fatal boating accident) inspired us to rethink priorities.
Initially, we planned on buying a yacht in the 50 foot range, perhaps new, or very lightly used. We went to a few boat shows in Miami and Annaplois and fell in love with a Aquila 44 Catamaran but it seemed more suited for Florida or the Islands. We live near Philadelphia and planned on spending the first year or two cruising the Delaware, Chesapeake and North Eastern Shores. Limited dockage for Catamarans and zero experience on a large boat made us leary of the idea.
We spent months scouring the boat ads on Yacht World and Boat Trader. Although the extra cabins and living space made 50-55 boats the most appealing, eventually common sense prevailed, and we decided to scale back to a mono-haul in the 40 foot range. As long as we had two cabins and a decent size salon, we figured we could cut our teeth on a smaller boat for a few years. If we enjoyed the experience as much as we hoped, and managed not to sink, we could trade up later. And as a bonus, if we stayed in that range, we could do a cash purchase and avoid the banks the first time around.
We found 5 boats that met our criteria, all within an hour of our home, and went out to visit them. A couple Silvertons, a Mainship and two Carvers, eventually deciding on a 1995 Carver 355.
We made an offer through a broker who had shown us a couple of the boats and with whom we felt comfortable, John from Sea Port Yacht Sales at the Jersey Shore. (By the way, John and the owner, Ted, were very helpful and professional, and we recommend them if you are in the area). They were asking $65k, we offered $57k and settled at $60k, providing everything went well with the survey.
Our surveyor, John Spencer, was very thorough and we learned a lot by spending the day with him, going through the boat. He did miss a couple of things, which I’ll discus later, but overall, we were very pleased with his service.
Only a few minor items were discovered during the survey (broken trim tab, a few bad anodes, bad bilge pump switch) which the owner agreed to fix. The boat appraised for $69k, so I suppose we got a decent deal on it. Regardless, we loved the boat and were very excited that the survey went well.
Unfortunately, it was December and all of the navigation markers were removed from the bay and we had to put off the sea-trial until April 3rd. Everything went smooth at the sea-trial, so we went to settlement that day.