Quote:
Originally Posted by wooden boat  I realized for the first time today that all your posts are continuations of your original inquiry months ago. I did a quick search without good results looking for what your budget is. |
Budget is not something I am going to get into an explicit discussion about, other than to say I am in the process of selling a boat in Australia and also still own Real Estate over there, as well the AUD/USD exchange rate has become much more favourable to me over the last few months, with every dollar I bring over now getting me around 92c vs as low as 65c a few months back. This means my budget has increased somewhat since I first started my searches.
In any case I have multiple lines of research going on which line up with my current thoughts on what type of boat I may end up with. To summarize;
1. Glacier Bay 2685 - Twin 150hp Outboards, trailer kept
2. Henriques 28 Pilot House - Single 315hp diesel inboard, shaft drive, dry storage kept
2. Kevlacat 3400 - Twin 315hp diesel inboards, shaft drive, dry storage kept
3. Riviera 36 - Twin 350hp diesel inboards, shaft drive, marina kept
The price range on the above is somewhere from around 75k to 190k, however if I pass on option #1 I also don't need to buy a $40k truck to tow it.
As for custom builders, I would anticipate their costs to be somewhat higher than $200k, thus have not done any research along those lines.
The bottom line is that I need a boat capable of seagoing passage up to 100Nm from the coast with a range of somewhere around 350Nm.
I want to cruise at 25 knots and have a galley, dinette and fixed head/shower. I also must have lower and upper helm stations if the vessel if flybridge equipped and an enclosed glass screen on any lower or single helm station rather than removable isinglass clears. Clears are however OK on a flybridge.
My preference is for two staterooms and one head, although I could live with one stateroom and a convertible dinette or some sort of seating that folds up to become two single berths in the salon.
As for engine power, my preference is for Cummins, although would also look at Yanmar and Volvo, but probably not Cat or Detroit, although I would not rule them out completely. Any other diesel engine manufcaturer is probably out due to my servicing situation in Australia.
Lastly I want a vessel as new as possible and definitely no older than 1980, but preferably newer than 1990. Primary use will be fishing, with 25% trolling and 75% at anchor or drifting. Secondary use will be for cruising with family. The breakdown of fishing vs cruising is probably 75% vs 25% respectively.
Oh and I nearly forgot, the vessel has to be able to be shipped to Australia sometime in the future for a reasonable cost. e.g. the GB2685 will cost around $13k and the Henriques 28 about $16k to ship from San Francisco to Brisbane.
Other vessels I have looked at and maintain an interest in are Blackfin 32/33, Bertram 33/35 and Riviera 33/34 but have put these on the secondary list for various reasons, which you might be able to deduce given my summary above.
Anyway I hope this is a good summary and if anybody else that reads this has some suggestions based off what I have written, or wants to enter into discussion about my criteria, please feel free to do so. This has been a big learning experience for me being new to the US boating scene, but of course the research is part of the fun!
Mid 30's Convertible with Lower Helm Station? 
