# Best country to purchase a boat



## Bradfordpm (Nov 18, 2011)

Hello,

With all the cruising folks out there I thought I might try to stir some knowledge out. 

If you were in the market for a deal/fixer upper of a boat and could be in any country/region in the world to search for that boat. Where would it be?

I can speculate as good as the rest of you based on markets and the value of currency. What about cold hard facts. Seen anything interesting lately out there?

Many thanks!
Bradford


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## Sumner10 (Dec 10, 2008)

Bradfordpm said:


> ....If you were in the market for a deal/fixer upper of a boat and could be in any country/region in the world to search for that boat. Where would it be?...


If it is a fixer upper the best deal would be one near your house where you could do the work.

I have never before had to pay for someone to work on about anything we owned until we bought the Endeavour and have it stored 2200 miles from our house.

I paid one guy $85 and hour to remove the thru-hulls and the total was suppose to be about $400 for 8 of them. We also had the hull media blasted by someone else in prep for blister repair and he was suppose to open 10-15 larger blisters for them to drain and dry out. Well over $1000 later I had to have him quit after he had about 6 of the thru-hulls out and had taken a grinder to the blisters he was suppose to of 'just opened' and had ground thru the hull, a thick hull and had made a lot more work for the blister repair people.

Then he had pulled out one of the two thru hulls for a cockpit scupper and left the hose to it inside the hull in the engine compartment which then flooded the bilge when it rained. The blister repair people emptied the bilge for us about 3 times to the tune of another $500 by bailing it out which took them forever and never found the hose. When we got to the boat 10 months later I figured out the hose in about 10 minutes and hooked up a hose and siphoned (the boat was on stands) the water in the bilge out in about 10 minutes.

Sorry for the rant, but get a boat where you can do the work on it and not depend on others or at least have it where you can keep an eye on the work being done. The only one in our case that came in close to the bid price and he was lower actually was the guy who media blasted the bottom paint off.

Your results might vary ,

Sum

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Our 37 Endeavour --- Our 26 MacGregor --- Trips With Both


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## Bradfordpm (Nov 18, 2011)

Thanks for the rant Sum! Yes that is a very insightful point, certainly hard to fix a fixer upper when your not there. 

Luckly not everyone is tied down to a house, or dog or a girl for that matter. 

Your point also carries over when considering purchasing a boat in a foreign location. The appropriate services to facilitate that fixing uppping need to be within a resonable distance and level of standard. Middle of nowhere southern Chile could be a challenge to get a boat floating again. 

All peripherals aside, seen anything interesting out there lately?


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## miatapaul (Dec 15, 2006)

If you look at yachtworld, granted they likely don't have much of the 3rd world in the listings, but generally the US seems to have the cheapest boats by far. Lots of people coming from Australia, Canada, the islands and Mexico to pick up bargains here. It used to be said to go to any good cruising spot and you could find boats that were abandoned when the spouse did not like cruising or other things pulled people away from the cruse. Seems now with the economic downturn the US seems to be the spot to get lost dreams cheaply. 

I have seen boats in the islands asking twice or more than you can get them here. And they are often in much worse shape because of absent owners. Unless you want to start your adventure somewhere else, I say start here, fix it here where the parts are cheaper, and more available. Then take off, especially if you want a fixer upper as parts will kill you in any other country. 

The down turn in the economy has really changed the shape of the market.


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## TQA (Apr 4, 2009)

Florida estate sales

Rio Dulce, Panama, Colon, Gibralter, Canaries abandoned dreams BUT watch out for LOTS of deferred maintenance.


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## JBIZZ (Apr 3, 2009)

I've seen some nice looking boats of all shapes/sizes down hear in Fort Lauderdale which haven't moved from their docks in more than 20 years. I'm sure one could acquire these boats for little/no money or even be payed to take them. Of course the cost/time of fixing these boats is a concern. It might be easier/cheaper to look for a ready to sail one on craigslist in multiple areas. One could also google derelict boats & see what they can find. 

I've wondered how much one could buy a new Junk for in Asia.


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## SimonV (Jul 6, 2006)

Bradfordpm said:


> Hello,
> 
> With all the cruising folks out there I thought I might try to stir some knowledge out.
> 
> ...


Somewhere very close to where you live.


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## delite (Nov 2, 2009)

There are so many people in way over their heads in the US the prices are hard to beat and are dragging down the resale market world wide. Look at the states that lost most of their home value like Florida. If you cant find a deal there you wont find one anywhere.


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## Marcel D (Apr 15, 2012)

The last 2) boats I purchased were from the USA. I live in Canada and I bought a Captiva 240 on a trailer for 3200.00US and moved her back to ALberta my self. Great boat and a great deal I did some work on the boat, sailed her for 5 years and sold her for 14500.00. The next boat I purchased was a Beneteau First 285 1992 for 24000.00US which we trucked from Maryland to Seattle. We had CSR Marine Commission her and we sailed her for 6 years and sold her for what we paid minus the trasport cost. So my guess is that there deals out their, you just have to spend some time and effort to find them.


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## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

I would say that if it is an old boat (more than 20 years old) I would say USA. If it is a newer boat with less than 10 years I would say some European countries with some economic problems like Italy and Spain. There the selling price will be probably very different from the asking price.

Regards

Paulo


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## dlandersson (Sep 21, 2010)

US - or any distressed seller location. Prices in the US are hard to beat. I'm keeping an eye out for a early model Seaward 32RK personally.


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