MacGregorSailors.com

i tripped across this great site about a guy who bought a 2,500 boat and now has over 20K into it, so much for the idea of old used boats! his advice"buy new, finace if you have too!!"

B - Break
O - Out
A - Another
T - Thousand

we've been exploring different options, and that site sure puts the cheap 20 year old boat option into a more realistic light

..restoring a BOAT is great fun...but the costs these days seems "outrageous"...That why I said "enough", let me enjoy some SAILING instead of "LABORING on the needs of a NEEDY HULL". We've had great fun on our former Boat, Mac 26S, and now the MAC 26-X. Playing around with "FUN UPGRADES" is enough $$$$$$$$

I watch an ole Sailing Buddy of mine WORK day after day, with untold sums of "CASH", fixing up a TRAWLER. BUT, its what one ENJOYS...and he and his WIFE are having GREAT FUN. Considering they used to own a 44' sailing vessel, I'm not clear as to why the TRAWLER...HA..."WHO WILL EVER UNDERSTAND Ole Salties"

Happy Sailing

has anyone on this board ever taken an older mac and documented the cost of upgrade/restore like this guy did?

bob lee wrote:www.chipford.com

That is an amazing site . . . It blew me away, all the stuff he has done and then added , but the cost to repair his KEEL ! It cost him over $2000.00 the most expensive thing I saw to date . . . and he still has a very old boat . . .possibley a very nice older boat. . but still old . .
But Hey Often Old is cool. . 50's and 60's Wooden Runabouts are very cool and the price they fetch shows just how cool they are. .

Well, an old Thunderbird, sure brings back an old memory!
It must have been 1975 or 1976, somewhere back then that I painted my freinds parents house for $100.00, but the job was much more than I bargained for. So to get equal return in enjoyment for the hard earned $100. I took a months worth of sailing lessons on a 26 foot Thunderbird through the YMCA. It was a fiberglass model as I do not recall much in the way of wood, but I do recall the lack of a finished cabin with only a table for the charts. It was a bareboat training vessel to be sure, but it did the job of planting the seeds of sailing addiction. I promised myself while out there learning to sail that someday I would own a sailboat of that size. Well it took almost thirty years but I finally did realize my dream except it is a Mac instead of a T-bird. Still I have never forgotten the boat that inspired me, an old Thunderbird, what a classic!

his advice"buy new, finace if you have too!!"

THis is insane advice financially. 10 years from now, as the wealthiest generation ever divests itself of its toys since they dont have time to use them anymore, this advice will be even worse.


Research, survey, dont try to buy a used boat in a month and you will come out way ahead.

just my 0.016 Euros

catigale;

i agree, although we're thinking we'll look at used boats that are maybe just a few years old, not the 25 year old ones needing an entire rebuild / refit. that way we can keep the cost down and may not get sucked into a "money pit" its an interesting trade-off, guess it just depends on the specific boat at the right time

.. Its nice wandering through "Upscale" marinas in my AREA...looking as some of the RESTORED ANTIQUEs.... Im glad some folks are keeping the OLD STUFF AROUND and well maintained. Some of it is in better maintenance than the conditions of NEWER VESSELS that FOLKs let WASTE AWAY....so sad....so wasteful too....

Up at WIlson on Lake Ontario there was a Cat 36 year 2000 asking 75 - probably would sell for <60k end of season.

A new Cat 36 is 160k plus stuff you want on board like electronics etc.

On fresh water, that is a basically a new boat. With a decent survey to avoid the obvious disasters, its hard to argue 'buy new' and get 100k + of value, horror stories not withstanding.

In the case of this Cat, I actually could talk to 5 people who knew the owner and how he used it, so you really could get a good feel for what you were buying.