How much could be the fair price of this Albin Vega?

[lovelytsquared]

Sorry I think I crossed posted but here, Hi Sailors, I've recently found a Albin Vega in a location that looks really ideal for me, and a seller that seems to be really nice and patient. I'll need to go to check out the boat in person but before that we both want to be sure I want to buy it before flying over to check it out. I want to make an offer but I've never bought a boat before so I'm here asking for some basic ballpark price just so that I don't make an offer too low, also to make sure I'm not paying too much either.
Here's some basic info:
the boat needs a repaint,
no inboard engine but an outboard 10HP 2-stroke Johnson sailmaster,
sails are not new, there's repairs but usable,
dinghy broke, but has a 2.5hp motor,
With solar panels and electronics, set up for living aboard, as the previous owner did, and crossed the Atlantics.
There's also a link to the boat I can send in PM. The asking price is $9500USD, does that sound fair? Thanks for the help!!

[wolverine]

It's hard to say without inspecting it.  2 weeks ago I flew to Tampa to look at a boat.  The boat appeared to be in good condition in the pictures with a brand new 18hp Westerbeke and transmission.  Inspecting it I found rust stains from the chainplates, a delaminating bow pulpit, stained interior cushions, too many small holes where items had been and now aren't, large pieces of teak cracked or missing, and the list goes on.  The broker said if I offered $15,500 he was sure they would except it.  I couldn't offer more than 10k and feel good about it.  Plus I it would take me 2 weeks to complete the work it needed to sail it home to NC.

Good luck and I hope it works out for you.

[CapnK]

Hi Lovelyt -

As an aside, I took care of the double post no worries. :)

AFA the Vega - in general they are good boats. IMO, this one sounds like it may be overpriced a bit. Where are you, and where is the boat? What is your objective with the boat? PM me the link, if you would.

As an aside - If either you or wolverine are interested in a '70 Alberg 30, or a '77 Islander 36, let me know. Both are going up for sale very soon; I'll put the notice here first before CL, FB, and elsewhere. Located Georgetown, South Carolina.

[lovelytsquared]

Hi Capnk
For sure I'm interested. I pmed you the link of Vega

[Bubba the Pirate]

Dang, I'm all in, and happy, with my Bayfield but otherwise I'd love another swing at that Alberg. She was a beauty and well found when I saw her 4 or 5 years ago.

[wolverine]

Thanks for the offer Captk, but I'm trying not to go longer than 28'.  Our dock is 20' long and the water is only 4' deep.  Also, we need to clear a 45' bridge to get on the Neuse River.  Honestly, I'm only looking for a boat for the wife.  She wants standing headroom and a proper head. 🙄

[CapnK]

A few things I saw looking at the site:

The asking price of 9500 there is in Euros, not USD. Today that is about $11,200USD. Perhaps he dropped price already a bit for you?

What jumps out most, and first: She is squatting something terrible, has far far too much weight in her stern. In fact, the cockpit scupper looks to be just barely out of the water in the recent pictures. This is from all the gear he has put on the aft end. Notice that without all that, in the earlier pictures, she is not near that unbalanced.
In addition, with the giant solar panel on a stainless arch with davits and a wind generator taking up all that space, there is no good way to put a wind vane for steering on her, so that in turn makes you reliant on electrical autopilots, I don't know if you could get her to self steer with sheet-to-tiller, she is so unbalanced. In order to run the electric pilot, you need solar, and big heavy batteries, and... all that keeps adding up, in a bad way.

The motor is a good motor, as long as it is in good shape mechanically. I'd want to give it a compression test to find that out. Pound for pound, those have the best weight to HP ratio of any 2 stroke, are easy to work on with widely available parts, and are engineered well.
Depending on what year that one is, it might be able to be 'upgraded' easily to output 15hp - but that's a whole different discussion. :)
Motor: not a negative, maybe a positive. Maybe not needed at all though, for Option 2 below..

The site mentions a 'spare' outboard. I'm not sure if that is an extra motor like that on the stern, or if he is referring to the dinghy motor. If there is a spare motor, that, the batteries, and the bikes also mentioned could perhaps be moved up to the vberth to maybe help with the stern squat.

His chart plotter looks to be homebrewed, a laptop screen mounted behind clear plexiglass in a large hole cut into the aft end of the cabin top. That could be a plus or a minus, depending on how well you are at working on/with computers.

A fridge is mentioned - those can be horrible power draws. If it is one of the power hungry types, switching it to an Engel would make you less reliant on needing so much solar, wind, and battery capacity. I am not surprised he says the 230A/h battery performs well, what with 440 watts of solar *and* additionally a wind generator backing it up. :D Heck, he should be able to sell power to other boaters! :D
Maybe his homebrew chart plotter is running off the inverter...? That would be a big draw.

There appears to be insulators on the back stay, as if the boat was equipped with an SSB radio, but there is no mention of that. If that is indeed what we are seeing, that brings into question the age of the standing rigging.

In the 1st video while under sail, you can see that although the jib/genoa is at full hoist, it is scalloped along the luff. That tells us that the sail is too big for the rig, not sized properly for the boat.

There's more, but overall my impression is that this is a boat put together by someone who did not have a lot of personal experience, and has instead been 'winging it', going off what they've seen on YT videos or read in the magazines. The route from Europe to the Carib is not one generally fraught with storms and danger and the things which test a boat, and so what I would consider a questionable boat - like this one - on about any other crossing, can make the trip which this one has done.

"Option 1" - I'd rather buy a much simpler (and cheaper), less geared-up boat in the area and do it right, that to buy this one and have to un-do then re-do it to make it something I would consider capable of taking down across the equator, or up the East Coast towards Europe, etc...

"Option 2" - OTOH, if the only intention is to 'bum around' the E Caribbean, the Windward/Leewards for a year or two, then that much work won't be needed, just know she's a slow boat and likely quirky in her setup.

I'm hesitant to attach a dollar amount estimate of her 'worth', because beyond the basic boat I do not know what the costs would be for obtaining all of the stuff she has on her which is of value, especially when down in the islands,
if for you Option 2 is the goal.
If that is the case, then some extra value for the boat already being 'on location' could be added.
If going for #1, however, I would bargain hard, because of the labor involved getting her 'right', and that likely doing said work and buying what is needed while in the islands might/will be expensive.