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The Search for a Floating Lake Home: Buying a Sailboat, Day 1

By on January 26, 2015

Do you ever wonder how to buy a sailboat?  Yeah, we do to.

We’ve been doing all of the searching on the interwebs for the last 6 months. You know how it goes.

The football game is on, but you’re paying more attention to the pictures and specifications of the boats on Yachtworld, Sailboatlistings, or BoatTrader. You wonder how all of the hours of the day keep slipping away. You wonder why the dog is staring at you with those sad puppy eyes while using his nose to nudge his food bowl ever so closer to the dog food container.

Then, you wake up with drool on your laptop, a sailboat listing pulled up on the screen, and the dog clawing at the pantry with the dog food.

Yup, first it’s time to feed the dog (don’t worry, he never goes without 2 meals a day!), then we need to start the process of buying a sailboat.

Recommendations From Our Fellow Sailboat Racing Crew

Luckily, we’ve somehow managed to meet and become friends with the people that have been racing their sailboats on Lake Lanier for the last 25 years. They know everybody, and everybody knows them. In fact, we crew on their boat. They are a wealth of knowledge, and they are the boating community that we needed to get involved with.

Only three of us were able to race on Saturday, the 3rd day of the year. It was a nasty, cold, misty day, and I was hung over. Umphrey’s McGee didn’t only play at the Tabernacle for New Years Eve, but they decided to play five straight shows and I went to every one of them. I didn’t really want to be running the foredeck that day, but I ended up having a great time.

Paul and David were able to sail that day too. Paul has been on the boat for every race, but this was the first time that I had met David. He had a thick British accent – he still has it actually – and a head full of silver hair. He certainly knows how to sail, and has years of experience on me.

Sailing Racing Foredeck

I had sole possession of foredeck duties that day. I was hoisting sails, setting the spinnaker pole, and stuffing and rigging sails to make sure that nothing twisted on the way up. It’s usually a two person job, but I was loving the experience of having to figure everything out on the fly.

Once everything was set for a leg on the foredeck, I also had the chance to hop back into the cockpit and help tack the jib and trim the sheets. I enjoyed having a lot to do, but I totally understand why we usually want at least 5 people on board for a race.

We didn’t do very well. We definitely would’ve completed tasks much quicker if we had more crew.

We were headed back into the dock when David looked at me and said, “You know, if you’re looking to buy a boat, there’s a great Hunter 30 for sale just like this one a few slips down from my boat at Sunrise Cove Marina. It’s in great condition and you can probably get for around $12,000 to $14,000.” And so the hunt for a sailboat began.

At first, I was a little confused by David’s statement. See, with all of that hunting on Yachtworld, I couldn’t recall a Hunter 30 for sale on Lake Lanier. It all came back to me when I got home and pulled out the laptop. I found the 1978 Cherubini with completely refurbished interior and immediately sent the broker an email.

Our First Visit To The Docks

We took the fist step in the sailboat purchasing process exactly one week after that race when we met with Arnold, the broker, at the marina and looked at Therapy – a 1978 Hunter 30 Cherubini. The crazy thing is that what was most impressive about our visit was Arnold, not Therapy.

Leading up to  our meeting I had done a quick google search about the things that we should ask our sailboat broker, what the broker needs to know about us, and what we need to know about him/her. Arnold took control of the conversation and answered almost every single one of our questions before we even asked them.

He wasn’t trying to push the sale of a sailboat on us either – or at least it didn’t seem like he was. He told us about the sailing clubs where we could pay a monthly fee to have day sail access to the club’s fleet of boats, but we want to be able to stay on our boat on the weekends. We want to cruise the lake for a few years, and in order to due that, we need to buy a boat that we can sleep on.

Arnold asked us about our sailing experience and how we wanted to use a sailboat. He asked us if there were any names/makes/models of boats that we were interested in and what our desired characteristics in a sailboat are.

What are our desired characteristics you ask? Floating, or – if not currently on the water – able to float without sinking is highly desired. We basically want something that floats, the engine starts and gets us out of the slip, and we could sail that day if we wanted to. We don’t mind if there are a few gauges, lines, wires, or port seals to replace (and I’m told that there will always be minor fixes that we have to, or want to do to any boat that we end up with), but we don’t want to spend 6 months with the boat on the hard doing a complete refit before we’re able to use it. We want what Arnold calls a “sail away” boat.

I had also found this nifty article online from Port Credit Marine Surveys (PCMS).  I don’t have every single item in the “Tool Kit” that PCMS lists, but there are some fantastic pictures in this article showing what to look for. If you find an issue that seems small, hunt down the bigger issue that is causing it.

Arnold gave some great advice as well. He made us realize that we’ll be on the outside of the boat the majority of the time. Therefore, if we don’t like the outside of the boat, then we won’t like the boat. He then went on to point out a few things in the cockpit that weren’t quite up to par.

Hunter 30 Cockpit Wheel Table

Going down the companionway steps Arnold told us that the first thing that he does when he enters the cabin of a boat that he’s looking at is take a good deep breath. If it smells moldy or mildewed, it’s time to go back up the companionway stairs to get some fresh air and ask yourself if you really want to put the necessary work into that boat.

Next, do your best to check the chainplate attachments. Are they rusted, worn, bent out of shape? Or are they in great condition with all of the right nuts, bolts, and washers?

After that just check all of the nooks and crannies. Make sure there is enough room for the number of people that you think you may want to have on board. Check the engine compartment and take a look at the engine. If you don’t know a lot about engines, there may not be much you can do or say other than, “Yup, looks good to me.” But if there’s an obvious puddle of oil below the engine, then there may be a large problem.

Hunter 30 Interior Quarter Berth

When we were done opening drawers and looking under cushions, we sat down in the saloon and had  a conversation about our next steps in this wonderful process of searching for a sailboat. Arnold told us all about the survey process and how we would “sea trial” the boat when we sailed her to the marina where she would be hauled out. We talked about the costs of finding a boat off of the lake and transporting, rigging, etc. The best tips that he gave us were…take our time, and look at as many boats as possible to figure out what we do, and don’t like.

The issue with looking at a lot of boats was that Sunrise Sail Brokerage, who Arnold worked for, didn’t have any other boats for sale in our price range. To that, Arnold suggested that we visit Snug Harbor Boats. Arnold used to work for Snug Harbor, but here he was suggesting that we call up another brokerage and let them take us around to see other sailboats!

Our first day of sailboat searching was done. We took a few longing glimpses back to Therapy as we walked back up the dock to our car. We thanked Arnold and said goodbye.

As soon as we got in the car Megan had her iPhone out and was looking up Snug Harbor’s “Boats for Sale” page. I was driving, so I had to wait until we got back home. Yup it was another round of searching the interwebs for sailboats that afternoon.

By Monday afternoon we had an appointment with Snug Harbor Brokerage to look at 4 more sailboats on the following Sunday.

Teddy

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About Teddy

I am a 37 year old that just wants to find a way to make a remote income, gather some Sail Loot and cruise the world! I have been sailing for a couple of years now, but mostly on 10 day trips as vacationing crew. I just recently took sailing to the next level by completing my Basic Keelboat, Basic Cruising, and Bareboat Cruising Certifications! I am also Vice President of a Medical Consulting Company, have a Mechanical Engineering degree from Georgia Tech, and have taken several Coding, Computing, and Online Business courses. It's time to share what I have learned!