Hi scooobert,
Are you sure a sailboat is not a better choice? I do a lot of craigslist surfing and it seems to me a nice sailboat can be had for far less than a diesel yacht. With a sailboat, an engine failure is far less catastrophic, as in, you can still go somewhere.
Here's a few of many examples:
Reduced! 50' ketch. Glass. Ctr. Cockpit Project
1976 49' Schooner Sailboat
36' Sailboat Hillyard Cutter 1950
Kettenburg K40 Sailboat
These are in Seattle, but on the east coast check the Baltimore CG.
Price on boats like these is always very negotiable. Good luck with your dream!
All you will get in a 40 - 50' trawler for 20k is a $150k project.
If you paid someone to do it all for you on a 40-50'er it would be quite a bit north of 150K. That would be the DIY price.
Scoobert,
Let us know if any other specific questions. We all have opinions and pretty much none of us will hesitate to share them with you. None of us know you, your circumstances, or your abilities. Not knowing that, your proposed $20k budget, proposed cruising grounds, and plans seem to be a difficult path to align. But- that is what dreams are made of. Best advice I could give you is put your wife and soon to be born child first...put their care and their protection and their health and safety and well being first and work hard and make your dreams come true. I'm not a full time liveaboard but we average around 120 nights aboard a year. Our kids are now 10.5 and 9 and have been boating since they were born. Boating with young children is an entirely different circumstance than boating as a retiree or a middle aged man. Their mobility is not as good, ladders dangerous, etc. etc. The boat that fit us when our kids are now 10ish is not the same boat that fit them when they were 2.
Don't let a dream supersede the need to provide and protect your family (I am not saying you are doing that!) and if you stay true to that then the rest will work itself out.
You seem to keep miss the points!
Why don’t you actually go down to a marina full clothed for winter weather, jump in, and see how hard/difficulty it is to get out of the water.
that must be one nice nav system. they have an awesome package now for $2000.
i think you overpaid for the cooler/exhaust too?
they list 3 different part numbers. all about $700.
Perkins Heat Exchanger
sorry to hear that, glad you have new fire extinguishers!Your question about GPH burn rate: at 7 kts and 1900 rpm I burn
sorry to hear that, glad you have new fire extinguishers!
I edited it after fat fingering.
indeed.Good luck you are going to need it.