# Hi from South Florida



## JimInPB (Oct 5, 2020)

I've been sailing all my life, mostly on the east coast of the US. 

I've had a variety of boats over the years. At the moment, I have my sailboat fleet down to a single Hunter 26.5, which is a fun little day sailor & OK for weekends, but I am now in the market for something more suitable for crossing the gulf-stream and spending a couple of weeks rather than a couple of days aboard. 

I'm sort of leaning towards looking for an old Out Island 33 in good condition, but I'm very much still open to other ideas. So far, I've looked at a couple dozen different boats & put in two offers. No deal has come together for me yet.

Regards,
Jim


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## Skipper Jer (Aug 26, 2008)

BUDGET????


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## JimInPB (Oct 5, 2020)

Thanks for asking.

My budget is $20k-$25k ball park for a boat that is in pretty good shape.
I can do electrical work, some glass work, metal work, engine work, etc, so a few imperfections are not a deal breaker. Ideally, I want a centerboard boat with 4' draft or less when the board is up.

If the boat is more of a project & the price is lower, that is also an option, but I don't want to spend 2 years on the hard before I splash her, so a total wreck is not a good fit for me, even if it's free. Also, I think that I have had enough of wooden boats for one lifetime.


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## emcentar (Apr 28, 2009)

I'm not an expert by any means, but that budget seems pretty tight for what you are looking for. Most of the boats I see that meet your criteria would need some $ upgrades or appear to have been seriously neglected. What did you find that you made an offer on?


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## JimInPB (Oct 5, 2020)

emcentar said:


> I'm not an expert by any means, but that budget seems pretty tight for what you are looking for. Most of the boats I see that meet your criteria would need some $ upgrades or appear to have been seriously neglected. What did you find that you made an offer on?


I am shopping for value. I expect to shop for a while before finding a deal that is good enough for me. I do have cash in pocket though.

I put in an offer that was less than 10% below asking price on an Out Island 33. I thought that I had an agreement with the broker (verbal) but then things changed when I spoke with the owner, so the deal fell through.

I put in an offer on a Bermuda 40 that needed work. The seller held firm at $3k more than my offer. I may go back & offer more. I may not. It needs some right-now work & it is sitting in an expensive slip.

I was going to put in an offer on another OI33, but the boat seems to have paperwork issues. Therefore, it is on hold until that situation gets figured out. The seller & I seemed to be fairly close in price, so if the paperwork gets good, that one would become a likely sale.

I'm not looking for something with multi-function display screens & a lot of extras. I'm looking for a basic boat that is in solid shape, so I can take it to the Islands for a week or two at a time, as my schedule permits. I'm looking for 50 gallon diesel capacity, 75+ gallon water capacity, a motor that runs or is close to running, sails that are usable, but not necessarily crisp. I'm looking for a Bimini & maybe a dodger. I'm looking for standing rigging that is solid. I'm looking to put in basic navigation lights, a cheap little chart plotter ($400 these days). 200W of solar, 200AH of house bank & a VHF with DSC. I'm not looking for a luxury yacht. West End is only 60 miles from my home port. I'm not looking to do an ocean crossing. I already have most all of the other goodies that I would need to put on board.

I think that I'll find what I am looking for eventually. A lot of things are on the market right now.


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## RegisteredUser (Aug 16, 2010)

I'd double both solar and batt capacity


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## emcentar (Apr 28, 2009)

No autopilot?


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## PhilCarlson (Dec 14, 2013)

Several boats in your price range coming up on Florida craigslist. They'll all need work. Just have to pick through the pile to find the peanuts.

This one looks promising:








TURNKEY CAL 34 - boats - by owner - marine sale


The CAL 34 was built as a weekender/club racer. She is quick and responsive on the tiller. Hull is...



jacksonville.craigslist.org


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## JimInPB (Oct 5, 2020)

RegisteredUser said:


> I'd double both solar and batt capacity


Yea, eventually, but for now, that is enough for me to get by with. I don't use that much power when I am on the hook. If I was a live aboard, I'd probably at least triple it. I'm just doing short term semi-local cruising with the basics for now. I'm looking for bare bones at this time.


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## JimInPB (Oct 5, 2020)

emcentar said:


> No autopilot?


Yea, eventually, but for a 60-mile leg, I can do it the old fashion way for now.


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## JimInPB (Oct 5, 2020)

PhilCarlson said:


> Several boats in your price range coming up on Florida craigslist. They'll all need work. Just have to pick through the pile to find the peanuts.
> 
> This one looks promising:
> 
> ...


Jax is a little far north for me, but thanks for the heads up. There is another OI33 in the panhandle that looks promising too, but the 9-10 hour drive each way has me on pause for that one as well. I did a 510 mile round trip about a week ago to go look at a Heritage 38 that looked great in the photos but turned out to be total trash when I got there. My enthusiasm for for boats that are more than 100 miles away has been tarnished.

There is a LOT of stuff available within 100 miles of me right now. I am not having trouble finding boats to look at. I am having trouble finding time to look at boats.

A C&C 35 I raced on last year is for sale right now, but the 5' draft is just a little more than I am looking for. The same issue applies to an O'day 34 that is moored about 100 yards from my current boat. That boat is WELL within my price range & appears ready to sail right now, but it doesn't fit my draft preference. It's also not a rugged bottom design like a keel hung rudder boat would be. A Cal 29 partially sunk several weeks ago & was subsequently cut up for scrap shortly thereafter, about a half hour from my house. I thought about grabbing that one before it got cut up, as it was available almost for free and had good sails, but it was too much work for not quite enough boat. 29' is not a lot more than what I already have. Deals are out there right now. I just need to find the right one to fit my current needs.

Thank you again for the heads up. More information is always a good thing.


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## emcentar (Apr 28, 2009)

JimInPB said:


> Yea, eventually, but for now, that is enough for me to get by with. I don't use that much power when I am on the hook. If I was a live aboard, I'd probably at least triple it. I'm just doing short term semi-local cruising with the basics for now. I'm looking for bare bones at time.


Again, I'm just a curious coastal cruiser here who has never been south of Norfolk - for a shorthanded Gulf Stream crossing in a small vessel don't you need a pretty favorable weather window? I've heard of people waiting weeks to cross or come back to the States. Maybe that's just winter? Are there times of year the weather is pretty favorable for short trips back and forth?


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## PhilCarlson (Dec 14, 2013)

@JimInPB Ya. JAX is a bit of a hike for you. I called it out because it looked exceptional for the garden variety craigslistings. I'm in Tampa and have been watching the market for a few years. There's good boats out there. Unfortunately, many more not-good boats presented as good.


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## JimInPB (Oct 5, 2020)

JimInPB said:


> Yea, eventually, but for now, that is enough for me to get by with. I don't use that much power when I am on the hook.





emcentar said:


> Again, I'm just a curious coastal cruiser here who has never been south of Norfolk - for a shorthanded Gulf Stream crossing in a small vessel don't you need a pretty favorable weather window? I've heard of people waiting weeks to cross or come back to the States. Maybe that's just winter? Are there times of year the weather is pretty favorable for short trips back and forth?


Thank you for that inquiry. You bring up valid concerns.

A weather window and a buddy boat are always advisable assets for a crossing from my back yard to the local islands of the Bahamas.

That aside,
Prevailing winds are normally out of the east here, so if you don't want to take it on the nose going to the Islands, you may have a while to wait. North winds kick up the gulfstream & south winds lay it down. Depending on the size of your boat & your tolerance for high seas, this is something to consider seriously. If you can "see the elephants walking" on the horizon when you leave shore, the stream is kicked up & you are going to have a rough ride, even if it is calm near shore. The stream can get VERY rough.

Prevailing current west of the stream in my area is north 3 knots, but I have seen it range from North 6 to south 2. The stream itself goes north & moves around a lot. It is not to be underestimated. As the stream moves, the inside currents move too. There is no predicting what the inside currents (west of the stream) will be on a given day. There is no "Eldridge" that covers this area because predictions are not possible.

In a slow boat, I would likely sail south to Lauderdale or further, before heading east. Coming back, I would likely leave from somewhere south of Providence Channel. I am less concerned about going far enough south before heading west, because if I miss my intended port, I will still hit the east coast of Florida. Going East, The Bahamas are a much smaller target & if I miss them, the nest stop is likely to be England, which would be a trip that I am not going to be prepared for. I do carry hand held instruments as a back up to the spartan set that I stated in my previous description. I do believe in redundancy & I do believe in having plan B in my back pocket.

Weather here is generally heavy in the winter time & more gentle in the summer, when a tropical storm or hurricane is not in the area. This year we have seen an unusually large number of summer storms, but we still had plenty of good crossing days.

I don't recommend it, but I do know some locals that have made the trip to the islands many times on smaller boats, with less equipment on board & no buddy boat. I even know a small number of single handers who do it. It can be done, but as I already stated, I don't recommend it. A seaworthy 30' boat & the instruments I listed, would be my personal minimum for that trip, with trustworthy & competent crew.


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## JimInPB (Oct 5, 2020)

PhilCarlson said:


> @JimInPB Ya. JAX is a bit of a hike for you. I called it out because it looked exceptional for the garden variety craigslistings. I'm in Tampa and have been watching the market for a few years. There's good boats out there. Unfortunately, many more not-good boats presented as good.


I completely agree about the variety of boats that are said to be "turn key" or "in excellent condition". Some are. Some aren't.

I've been looking around your neck of the woods too. I turned my nose up at one boat in New Port Ritchie due to condition. I turned my nose up at another in Ft. Myers due to paperwork concerns. I missed out on a boat in Crystal River because someone else got to it before I did.

The search continues.


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