Yacht Search

Published on 08/03/2020

Searching for a cruising yacht can be a lot of fun, but the first thing you need to do is service your car as you will be covering a lot of miles, as you go from one marina to another.

So you are searching for a yacht so start by setting your budget. Once you have a budget for your boat, set aside at least 20-30% of your budget for upgrades, leaving you between 70-80% of your budget for your boat. Then write down your criteria. Ours was a 2,4,6 configuration which is two, to live, four to stay and six at a pinch, we also wanted lots of storage as we would be living on board. A boat that either one of us could single helm and lastly a bed that we could get out of on either side. We also wanted a boat that did not come with too many projects. We knew that there would be jobs to do but we didn’t want to stay too long in the yard. The other thing you are looking for is the love factor. It is the hardest quality to define, but at the end of the day, you really need to love your boat.

Start your search on-line, there are loads of great web sites our there and it is a great topic of conversation. If you are in the process of selling your yacht then do clean your boat before hand and take great pictures. There was a lot of yachts that I didn't even look at in real life because the boat looked untidy or the pictures were rubbish. Make sure that you select a lot of different yacht designs, you might want a centre cockpit like we did, but there are a lot of advantages to having an aft cockpit.

As well as your criteria, you should have a more detailed list of things to look at which we have detailed in in our blog Yacht buying check list. These allow you to access your yacht from an objective point of view and allow you to see how many days you will be working on the boat. You will also have a list of big ticket items that you can use in your negotiation process.

Starting the search

In starting the search we look at a Moody 35 up in Preston. The owners had, had a survey done on the yacht and all the faults like old standing rigging had been addressed which was useful. However we thought it was a little small for our needs.

Lyver boats

In Lyver Boats we looked at two boats in Liverpool Marina. The first, a 33 Beneteau Oceanis, had a huge amount of sleeping accommodation for a yacht of its size, but very little storage with just one hanging locker.

The second a 36ft Westerly Conway, which is a ketch rigged boat had plenty of storage, but was too much of a project boat for us.

Light at the end of the tunnel

In Light at the end of the tunnel we looked at a three cabin Bavaria 36 in Port Dinorwic. We actually made an offer on this boat, but a deal was not reached as the seller refused to have a survey

Burns and Boats

In burns and boats we were actually outside Robbie Burns house on his birthday. While we were in Scotland for the weekend we looked at a Bavaria 38, which was within our base budget, but it would need new sails and all new running rigging. Inside was fantastic though as they had just used it as a pad away from home.

Castle Largs

At Largs we looked at a Beanatau 36 centre cockpit which was a great layout, with a fantastic galley, but we simply did not love it so we went to look at an Etap, which has additional buoyancy built in, but that comes at the cost of storage. We then went up the road to Greenock to look at a Moody 37 centre cockpit. We both really loved the Moody, but there was a lot of projects that needed doing on that particular yacht.

Loony Troons

This time we were back in Troon, to see a two cabin Bavaria 36, we really liked the boat so we made an offer, however our offer was £500 short of what they wanted so we walked away

A boat is in our future

We were on our way to see another two cabin Bavaria 36, but this time on the Hamble, when we had a call from the yacht broker in Troon to say our offer had been accepted. So what we decided to do was look at the one on the Hamble and decide which boat was for us. In the end it came down to heating or radar, so we went for heating, so we told Scotland to proceed.