Am I crazy?

[Piraten]

I've got a few thoughts as I was in the same predicament awhile ago.

Think about getting under a ten foot beam.  You can usually find someone that'll let you loan/rent a trailer.  U-haul truck for a few hours and you've hauled your own boat and brought it to your own house/friend's to do bottom maintenance and repair.  Or trailer inland to avoid hurricanes while staying at an RV park, I met someone who did it.

Look at  boats with a blown inboard.  When I was looking, these boats were consistently 4-5 thousand cheaper.  An outboard will run you under a grand and are easier to pull off and do overhauls and maintenance.  And after you take out the old gas tank (replaced with portables)  you'd be amazed at how much space is under the cockpit.

Irwin 10/4s and 28s are found for good deals.  I bought my 28 for $4000, sails are a year old and 9.9 Nissan LS is a year old.  I basically got the rest of the boat for free.  3' draft,  9'beam, 6'2" headroom, and has a head.

Irwins had issues with hull to deck leaking, but is a fairly easy to fix to re-bed it, as you said you're handy.

http://www.sailboatlistings.com/view/8796

http://www.sailboatlistings.com/view/7067

http://newhaven.en.craigslist.org/boa/1305168106.html

[Cpt2Be]

Well, Adina and I have been out a few times on a friends boat and have had an absolute blast then it was back to land and the dream.

We both learned quite a bit and between the reading and these few daysails we are more confident then ever.

Spent the past few weeks trying to narrow our options down and decided we will leave Chicago for either CA to buy that Ariel in the SF bay (the only west coast boat we have seen that intrests us & of course if she's still for sale by then) or if we are going to move to Florida and buy from the market out there sometime in March.

There have been a few boats of intrest in between but transport costs is something we can easily avoid by purchasing near where we want to be anyway.

We had a apartment giveaway over the past few weeks and we have dumped everything but our clothing and this computer.

It's going to be a long winter waiting to do this but that's ok since we know now we are really doing it. Not much else to tell ya till then unless something changes drastically in the next 7 months like winning the lottery (lol we dont even play so that would be something)

Adina and I celebrate our 16 year anniversary this Sat & Sunday and we are going out on a daysail and as many as we can before winter.

Hope you all are out there yourselves.

See ya when I have some new info

Greg

[Frank]

Congrats on 16 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Sounds like the best sure is to come 

[Lynx]

Get one of the computer sailing games, it helps.

[SV Wind Dancer]

As a '77 'Cherubini' Hunter owner, I have to recommend it as roomy, strong and a sweet sailer...but Cape Dory is a great sea boat.  You can't go wrong.

[bertsev]

I know this is old, but the forgotten gem is the Precision 28, if you can find one.  Very capable, has everything you are looking for - AND, you can trailer it wherever you are going at around 8000 lbs.  PM me if you want gory details.