First Time Buyer

[Jemill]

Hi All,
I've been looking and shopping and deliberating for a while now and I'm ready to buy my first "big" boat. I'm up-sizing from a Rhodes 22 and narrowed my selection down to two used boats.

1. 1990 Hunter 37.5
2. 2001 Bavaria 34 (35.5 LOA)

The offer price is the same.

We like the layout of the Hunter better and overall I'm ready to offer on it, but I'm concerned about the age of the hull and the engine (owner hasn't told hours and no meter). Should I be concerned if the survey doesn't turn anything up? What about resale in 5 or so years? Is there anything else I'm not thinking of?

Thanks for any and all opinions!

[redbopeep]

Welcome aboard. Please peruse the forums and enjoy what you find. Contribute where you can and ask questions in threads that you find interesting.

You will find numerous threads devoted to the topics of "which boat" for cruising, here. I suggest that you read them and frame questions you may have in terms of cruising and the features of cruising boats that you may have interest in rather that asking questions about a couple specific boats. If you begin to know what you're looking for in a cruising boat by feature, material selection, condition, then you will be in better shape to consider the boats available to you.

What are your interests in cruising? Do you plan to do coastal trips or bluewater anytime soon? This will lead your direction of boat to choose. Will you cruise alone or with crew? How many crew?

There are many cruising boats available for you to look at in the mid-Atlantic region. What made you decide on these particular vessels? Have you sailed either? Did you like the performance of one over the other? Are you limited to boats that you can find near you or can you travel to purchase a boat?

The surveyor that you hire to survey your boat(s) of choice should be able advise you on the very broad questions that you're asking here. Further, you can always contact a few different yacht brokers (besides the one that is offering these boats to you) to ask about resale of specific boats.

Information is available about any production boat via the owners forums for that boat. Try http://bavariayachtowners.org/ and http://www.legendowners.com/web/loa08/home.html

The most value of the cruising community, to your quest, is in discussing cruising-related features that you may be interested in or techniques for dealing with specific design features of your boat.

If you don't have engine hours/log book for a boat as new as these, I'd personally suggest looking elsewhere. You are considering straightforward production boats. Of these sorts of boats, there are many, many fine vessels on the market today--many with thoughtful owners who can provide good logs of their use. It is still a buyers market this year.

We look forward to learning more about your cruising plans so we can help you more with your search for a cruising boat.

Fair winds,

[MoffeeCoff]

Hello Everyone!
I am Moffee Coff, a great lover of coffee and a coffee machine rental service provider in Melbourne and Sydney (Australia). I am new here. I hope I will get to learn lots of new things here and also will get opportunities to share my ideas and thought here. Thanks!

[Istioploos]

Originally Posted by MoffeeCoff

Hello Everyone!
I am Moffee Coff, a great lover of coffee and a coffee machine rental service provider in Melbourne and Sydney (Australia). I am new here. I hope I will get to learn lots of new things here and also will get opportunities to share my ideas and thought here. Thanks!

Welcome to Cruiser Log. Coffee, my boat runs on it. Do you know of 12v coffee grinder?

Happy Sails