How do you finance that good old boat?

[Seafarer]

I'm 24, making ~30k/year and living at home (so no great expensed). I don't have much money saved up (just bought my girlfriend a car) but have found a boat that I'd like to liveaboard and eventually cruise. It's a 1976 model, and I'm having trouble finding ANYONE that would finance it. Is there anything that I can do?

[phorvati]

0-10K the bank should be able to give you a line of credit

10K+ Get you parents to take out a home equity line of credit, and you pay them.

Petar

[krissteyn]

Get a cheaper girlfriend...

[Jim Wasko]

Don't take this as rude.

24, living at your parents house making 30k, looking to buy an older boat with no notable blue book value (and probably more than 10k and bigger than 20 feet) means you have no collateral value to a bank that needs to be reassured that you can not only make the payments, yearly dock payments, yearly maintenance, find an insurance company that suits the banks needs, register the boat in such a manner that the bank can get you in any part of the world legally and then knowing that you have maintained the boat to such a level that they can resell it and get their money back is one heck of a tall order.

But like I said, I'm not trying to be rude.

Just think like the bank does.

[Seafarer]

Thank you Jim,

I appreciate honesty and accuracy most. You're correct regarding the boat- it's $45k and 40' long, much bigger than my current '74 Seafarer 24.

I'm too cheap to pay for a dock though, not with plenty of good, free anchorages in the area. The boat comes with a nice 10' row/sail dingy (who's hull is a 1/4-scale replica of the mother ship) and I've got a 14' aluminum v-hull with a 10HP outboard as well.

Suffice to say I'm looking into getting yet another job to boost my income....

[Bedouin]

Maybe you should take a reality check. Get around to saving money till you have enough to buy a yacht that is on the market at that time. I guess from your post that you haven't any savings; but if your serious about having a bigger yacht then you will have a reason to save. Your girlfriend will either understand what your doing or 'take a walk'. Really, if you were a bank would you finance YOU.

Don't loose the dream but work towards it and save the money.

Regards

Peter

[Jackiy]

Your quote

"I'm too cheap to pay for a dock though, not with plenty of good, free anchorages in the area."

Do not leave your vessel unattended in an anchorage. This can cause serious trouble for other who try to get in out of rough weather as the good anchorages are full of unattended vessels. Also I for one have already had enough of vessels dragging anchor when left unattended. If you will not be onboard fulltime and the very least don't be a cheap scate pay for a mooring bouy.

[Seafarer]

I live ~ 15-30 minutes from two of the anchorages. Each has about a dozen sailboats there, with maybe half of those being live-aboards. I could easily get out to the boat every 3-4 days. Most likely I'd be living aboard at least part time.

Anyhow- the boat I was looking at sold. I'm working my way out of debt again and trying to save up some money. I've had my eye on a Watkins 32/33 up in NC that keeps coming down in price. I've been aboard one of these and was very impressed with the layout and headroom. My brother would likely join me on some cruises and he's 6'4" tall, so it would be nice to have room for him to stand up.

[Bedouin]

Good on you Seafarer, I recon your heading in the right direction. when the time comes that you can wave some cash under the sellers nose you will see the asking price come down further. Don't let the desire to get into a bigger yacht get to big a grip on you; when you see something that interests you have a very good look over it - more than once.

Regards

Peter

[Jim Wasko]

my broker once said;

"if after looking at the boat and walking back down the dock to your car and don't find yourself looking back for the third time, then it probably isn't the right boat"

I think he's pretty much on the money right there.

Get yourself out of debt and wave cash because we all know the BS walks and cash Talks.

Use your credit card and don't make payments, pay it off at the end of the month helps- shows financial stability.

I'm glad your not discouraged though.

[Bedouin]

We all gave Seafarer enough room to get discouraged, Jim, but the cost of reality is sometimes not kind. Banks don't like lending on yachts because, I think, they aren't essential to the banks thinking and secondly is that we might just get a yacht anyhow and change our way of thinking about what life is all about. Life isn't about living to work to pay more debt to the bank. To break out of the 'money circle' isn't healthy to the bank but to have a yacht is to get a little independence, even it is to just enjoy a day out sailing without having to pay an arm and a leg to do it. For those that get further the benifits are enormous in so many ways.[^]

Regards

Peter

[loco]

Seafearer..

Don't buy cars for your girlfriend! Don't buy anything else on credit. Go out and look at at least 100 properties of real estate (after informing yourself first) and purchase a property that can bring you some cashflow each month from renters. Use that money to pay for the payments of the loan on the boat. The best thing is, if you are serious about it, wait a few years and set it as a reward for reaching your financial/investment goals.

[Weyalan]

Heres how I did it, from a similar starting point. I scraped together enough mony for a deposit on a proprty. I found a property (small residential house) that looked cheap in a neighbourhood where property prices were on the way upwards. I got a loan from the bank to buy the property (banks will leand you money for a house, but not, generally, for a boat).

I moved into the house and spent a while doing some basic improvements - painting (inside and outside), ripping out old carpet, sanding & varnishing floorboards, etc. Once I had it fixed up pretty good, I rented a couple of rooms, for cash, which went straight to paying off the loan.

I had that house for less than 3 years before the combination of (i) Increase in property prices in the neighbourhood, (ii) Increase in value from the improvements, and (iii) paying off the loan, had generated sufficient equity for me to sell the place, buy my current sailboat, and have some left over for fixing up the boat.

[SV THIRD DAY]

As someone who is 35yrs old with a wife and two kids.....GO and GO NOW! We are outfitting a boat to go on a 2 yr Cruise with the kids (now 8 and 9) and everything needs double the planning and sometimes $ to Cruise with kids and family. We will have a blast, I'm sure. BUT if you have the desire and oportunity to go..then do it!

I've often heard the true saying that if we wait to go on a Cruise until you can afford it...you will never go! SO go and it will work out.