Vin

Check out Sailorama on YouTube, a couple of very resourceful young sailors with little in the way of money who are slowly restoring their free boat while sailing around Mexico/Caribbean. They haven't had a working engine in quite a long time, but haven't let that stop them!

Hi all. Due to this process taking much longer than I originally expected, the budget is slowly creeping up, and I'm able to look at boats up to $30k now, which has opened things up a bit. It's been a fun few months looking at different boats and starting to get an idea of what's important to me (headroom!). living in Hamilton makes this a little bit difficult so whenever I need to travel to Auckland for work I try and line up a viewing of a likely looking boat (makes the trip a bit more fun too). I got on-board a Lotus 9.2 last week, which on paper sounded perfect. Very beamy

I've just seen that come up and have enquired about a viewing. Looks like it could be a good option.

So that John Spencer 39 still hasn't sold. I've asked about it earlier in the thread, but thought I'd mention it again in case anybody had any additional input. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/boats-marine/yachts/keeler/listing/3456493799?bof=oKXpt8xv It's looking quite attractive for the price due to the large water tanks, water heater, etc. There's a lot already there that I wouldn't need to do myself to get her comfortable as a liveaboard. Just under 12m as well. In the ad it mentions a full rebuild in mid 2000s. Is anybody familiar with the yacht and knows what was d

Hmm I'm immediately sceptical of a 26 ft having enough space for two people long-term, but I'll add it to the list. A small boat would be cheaper to keep!

I'd recommend having a read through the thread I recently made, I'm in a very similar position to you and there's a wealth of advice in there. Was it the Chico 30 Auriga you almost bought? I was also watching that auction with great intetest.

This is approx what I had down in my budgeting spreadsheet for ongoing annual maintenance costs, good to know I'm not too far off the mark. For me, with the experience I have, and the budget constraints, cruising means sticking between Bay of Plenty and Bay of Islands (at least for the first year), with a considerable amount of time spent messing about in the Waitemata harbour and Hauraki gulf/GBI while finding my feet (I've been away from sailing for a fair few years now and feeling a bit rusty). If we end up falling in love with the cruising/liveaboard life and it works with the

Naw, I set my limit at 8, hoping for a bargain haha. Too much risk buying sight unseen at any price over that (for me at least!) Probably still a bargain for the new owner though.

$13100 final price.

This is quite an interesting discussion point I think. In my experience with house/motorcycle restorations, there are miles between 'good enough' and 'perfect'. I realise it's a bit different with a sailing vessel, as things break more often, and when they do, it can pose a significant safety issue (shrouds/stays snapping, seakcocks failing, etc). Using Auriga as an example here, if the hull and the standing rigging are sound, and all that is wrong is a bit of rot in the plywood decks around fittings, it may be possible to get her 'good enough' for a few thousand dollars if you

Yep I've got that one on my watchlist and a reminder in my calendar one hour before auction ends. Might end up being a bit of a bargain!

Yep I've got that one on my watchlist and a reminder in my calendar one hour before auction ends. Might end up being a bit of a bargain!

😬 I think maybe jerry cans will do just fine.

I reckon a small 12v water maker would be the go on a small liveabord with a decent solar array. Might not be able to provide an adequate supply indefinitely, but would certainly extend your cruising range.

Is insurance required for using Marina services (for example: fuel dock). What about swing moorings? I imagine it'd just be 3rd party required in case I accidentally ding someone's gin palace?

Another thing to consider I'll ring around when I have something under serious consideration. Jesus, 1200 - 2k for a survey?! I knew we'd had a bad year for inflation but that is crazy! Makes buying something that's had a recent survey a bit more appealing.

This is like a mini apartment. I showed my wife and she loved it. Looks well kept for a steel hull. Where's all the rust!?

Hah! Now I am back to looking at H28s and Cav 32s. But in all seriousness, I think it might be time to go and have a chat to the bank to see about upping the $ range to open up some more options.

That's interesting info. The price on that Spencer does look a little too good to be true for the amount of boat, which makes me wonder why it's so cheap. I've read manty horror stories of glass over ply construction, but have also read that when constructed with care and maintained to prevent water ingress they're as strong as anything else. The size and layout look ideal for liveabord coastal cruising, not too big to manage with just the two of us, and not too small to feel cramped all the time. Whenever I see an ad for a cheap H28 that has 'issues' this is what goes through my min

This is what I am trying to figure out at the moment (hence asking wiser more experienced folks such as yourself). My definition of a liveabord is full-time cruising spending 90% of time at anchor in beautiful bays while working remotely from a laptop 4 days a week (4g reception around coastal NZ seems good enough to allow this). Of course we'd need to have a good solar power solution for 2 x laptops + fridge, and enough water storage to support a few weeks away from a marina. Which in turn means that I need to look at slightly larger boats with slightly larger tanks and more space for

Yeah I'm seeing that the examples around 20k are generally going to need a bit of TLC. I'm reasonably handy, can do a bit of fiber-glassing and painting if need be, but I don't have much experience with diesel engines (yet) so having a reliable engine with a good service history is pretty important. Battery bank isn't too much of an issue as I'd likely be upgrading it anyway with a solar fitout to support working remotely, but I imagine water capacity would be the thing that would become the most frustrating while cruising. I wouldn't want to have to store a bunch of 20L bottles everyw

Hi Kevin, An Easterly 30 is a boat I hadn't considered yet but looks like it might be a good option. Nice wide beam, but the cabin is a little lower than the H28. I think that the extra width would be more beneficial for two people working on laptops on the cabin. The balsa core might be good on a liveboard for a little extra insulation. I'd be keen to come and take a look and would be interested in seeing more details on the boat (engine condition/hours, equipment on board etc), and an approximate price you'd be looking at. I'm based in Hamilton but come up to Auckland for work

Hi all, My wife and I are tentatively looking at committing to a year of liveaboard cruising sometime in the near future. We both love adventuring, and the lack of international travel options over the past two years has hit us pretty hard. We're thinking that life aboard might be a good way to scratch that itch without leaving New Zealand. I've grown up sailing Waitemata/Hauraki gulf region with trips to Great Barrier etc, but have been away from the sailing community for around five years now. My wife likes sailing, but is fairly new to it all, and while we have lived in VERY s

Brilliant! Glad it worked out for them.

I used to read on a tablet, but it really messed with my vision. I got horrible eye strain looking at the bright screen for that long. I bought a kindle paperwhite (backlit one) and it's been fantastic. Much easier on the eyes than a traditional LCD screen, and battery life is an order of magnitude better than what you'd get on any tablet.