Do I go bigger yet?

Personally
I jumped from a 39 Bayliner to a 70 monk what a difference.
you now have what is more of a floating home very livable and still one person workable.
Did a jump next to a Westport Mc queen 92
Now you have everything but it is now not a one man boat you need at least 2 people on board to function safely.Also remember the bigger you get the resale value drops because there are less people looking to buy bigger ones.
I don't know there are pro's and con's write it down on a piece of paper of course dream but really think it over.
Moorage rates, usually docked at the farthest point on dock, not always room on the dock for you,
Personally with all this said I love my 92 What ever makes you smile

First, it's 3 feet-itise. So don't go for a 40.

Think I told you the story of my lawyer with his "5 year plan" when they bought the 42 when they were also looking at the 50. (The next 3 years brought a 49, the 50 and finally a 68, plus a lot of broker's fees). So yes you blew it.

Now for your current situation. Selling the 38 now would be a mistake.
A) You're talking about a sale at the end of season. Yes I know it's only June, but you're most likely looking at a Labor Day sale when buyers know that you're looking at a winter storage bill coming). You could put it on the market hoping for a fast sale, but it's not likely without losing a bunch of money.

B) The 53 Hatt, similar to the one we discussed, will drain a bit of cash after purchase. Be prepared. It's also a bit of work to deckhand with the high decks. It'd be good to have more experiece. The 55 SR is easier to deckhand, but you'll pay more for lesser quality although more modern.

C) If you try to move to either of those boats, the odds are that your insurance company will require you to use a captain for the first year. That could be a sizable expense, and could limit your use. You'll also have trouble finding a decent captain at this time of year. When I was working independent my summers were completely booked up in January/February.

My recommendation would be to put your boat on the market, but with the expectation that it may take awhile to get your price. Make the new boat your plan for next summer. Use this year to gain experience (not just driving and docking, but owning and maintaining), and start the shopping process. You should plan to shop the entire eastern U.S. (Texas to Florida to Maine to Chicago). Shopping right could easily save you around $100K on these boats, and get you the right boat. Remember that every $4 you save equals a gallon of diesel.

I went from a 330 Sundancer to our current 550 Sedan Bridge and I've never been sorry. Two-footitis gets very expensive so why not make the jump to the bigger boat. If you handle the 38 well (I'm not saying expertly!!) I think you'll find a 550 just about as easy. Yes, it is longer and yes, you have to go a bit slower, but I find the 550 not much more to handle than the 330 was. Except in a windy situation, then it can be a handful.

We love our 550, don't plan on going bigger, but in several years we definitely will be downsizing to something that's easily towable or maybe even switching over to a motor home and doing some on-land cruising!

Motorcycle season and boat season are indeed the same, with the same selling/buying situation. You're wrong about "a market that has never been more a "buyer's choice" than it is right now" though. '09 / '10 / '11 were the bottom of the market. It's still a buyer's market, but it's improving. With that in mind, now is the time to start doing your homework. Just don't put money down until this one is sold. Being a two boat owner in this market is an experience your bank account can do without. Also, never get impatient when buying a boat or any luxury item. When the money is in your pocket the seller needs yours more than you need his.

Thanks for the compliment. You're a bit far for me, but if you'd like me to take a look at something when it makes your short list, before putting money down, I'll be glad to help.

Hi,

Come on Ralph, where have you been hiding.

There are already Land Yacht Forums.

Seabreeze Forums!

Well, sounds more than a bit biased in a way that might have some logic in his mind but I wouldn't summarily dismiss boats based on them being in Florida. In fact, I'd say overall the boats in South Florida may be better maintained. Still it's individual boat by boat. Two side by side anywhere might have entirely different histories and conditions. Frankly, I'd find another broker and if there were boats in Florida that interested me, I'd follow up.

Actually I agree with the broker. Not that I'd cross a boat off my list just because it's a Florida boat, but I'd be a lot more suspect of it. Florida is a very corrosive environment for boats. The heat and humidity along with the high salt content of the water take their toll. Because of the warm water temps, creatures that grow below the waterline never stop growing. (I once had a boat there that I ran every day. Despite that, when hauled after 13 months, she basically had one barnacle that went from the bow to the stern) Against my advise my boss left his old boat in So. Florida for a winter season when he put it up for sale (it was a "northern boat"). The bottom growth was insane, we had through-hulls for the AC rotted out, and the headliners were separating. The sea strainers had an incredible amount of growth in them, because the broker never bothered to keep the boat maintained while in his care.

Northern boats are often set up differently. Rarely have I found a boat whose air conditioning was adequate for the So. Florida heat. So Florida boats are generally set up for outdoor/ open-air living. Northern boats tend to go for things like lower helm stations and full canvas enclosures that help to extend the season. Northern boats also tend to get more mechanical attention since they need to be winterized and then commissioned for Spring. Florida boats often don't see maintenance until something breaks, and then only that gets attention.

P.S. Florida boats don't get used much more than northern boats (which is all the worse there because of the environment). Like up north the dream falls prey to jobs, kids activities, shopping and the million other things that keep people away from their boats. Whether northern or southern boat, I like to see 100 to 200 hours per year put on a boat. That keeps it lubricated and generally maintained.

It's an individual thing on Florida boats. Nycap talks about bottom growth but many of us have our boat bottoms cleaned every three or four weeks depending on time of year. Talk about usage, well Florida has more retirees and retirees have the opportunity to use more and to pay more attention to their boats. Also, working persons typically live closer to their boats and that makes usage easier. A very large percentage of Fort Lauderdale boats are kept at homes and use is just a matter of walking into your back yard.

In South Florida, there are neglected poorly maintained boats. But there are also many well maintained, clean, good solid boats too. To dismiss boats from one area or another simply because some boats from that area may be problems, soon leads you to have no available boats to consider. There isn't an area of the country I couldn't find some negatives about some boats.

It really comes to the individual boat and to not consider any area of the country narrows your available boats considerably.

Unless things have changed since the '90s when I cruised the waters around Ft. Lauderdale 7 days a week I have to disagree with your view of usage, except when you're talking about small boats. It's just a fact that the bigger the boat, the less it cruises in whatever area they're located. Also, once the decision to sell is made, maintenance almost always slips. At least up north it's almost mandatory to have a mechanic go through all systems twice a year.

However I do agree that it's location is not a reason to cross a boat off the list. It just means to look closer. There are good and bad boats everywhere. When we shopped for Valhalla our main focus was northern boats, but we did check out some in Florida. In the end though, of the four boats on our short list, three ended up being northern boats. A lot also has to do with style too. We were looking for a motor yacht with a lower helm. If we'd been looking for a SF I'd probably start my search in Florida.

Valhalla was in a yard during the winter after purchase for a refit to suit our cruising desires (cut back the bridge to accommodate a dinghy & davit, install a bow thruster, fill and certify the fire extinguishers, add electronics, etc.) Then she went into a yard after our first run because our shore power system was wired wrong, and we also needed a flopper-stopper over a bilge pump outflow, however she ended up store for 3 months because I was injured in a motorcycle crash. At that point we decided to give her a proper shake-down cruise while gaining experience with the boat, and have anything we found fixed down in Hatteras country. We still had the shore power situation to get figured out, and along the cruise we found a shaft out of align (that would be the results of a poorly done job after a bottom strike by one of the two previous owners), and our aft water tank was leaking due to a design flaw in the piping. We brought her to Beaufort where she sat for 3 weeks without work even starting. We pulled the job and moved her to Bennett Bros, in Wilmington where we found the best Hatteras people there are for this boat. One helped build her. We left her there for about 2 months in the dead of winter having that work and a few other things done. This is a 30 year old lady, so she needed some updating and repairs (don't all 30 year old ladies?), but she's a great boat. So what was the point you were trying to make?

What are you trying to do, resurrect the Civil War? There are good and bad boats in every section of the country. There are well maintained and poorly maintained boats in every section of the country. Different sections lean towards different styles of boats. Would you go to Ft. Lauderdale for a bass boat? Would you go to the Erie Canal looking for hundred footers? Boats up north don't suffer from the environment like boats in Florida. They don't deal with the heat, the warm waters, the humidity or the salt content. That stuff is corrosive. And no they don't deal with winter, because they're winterized and stored under shrink wrap. Yes it's best for a boat to be run often and Florida gives you that option, only people don't take advantage of that much more than northern boaters use their boats during the summer. I keep preaching that I'd like to see 100 to 200 hours a year on boats, but I don't see that here or even that much with Florida boats. Most boats are dock queens, everywhere. Most boats also aren't maintained as well as they should be, everywhere. Also, you will generally find more boats suitable for northern cruising in the north. Things like lower helm stations and full isinglass enclosures, because it extends our season. Down there you want to be out in the fresh air and sunshine. We're more likely to be out in the rain and wind.

This is not a p-----g contest. I have an opinion based on my experience and climate conditions. That broker has a similar opinion based on his experience. You have yours based on yours. Good. The OP has a variety of opinions to take from. No need for us to start ordering blue and grey. This freakin' full moon and Friday the 13th is making for some strange stuff.

BTW, if you don't think we have 50'and 60' yachts up here you really need to look around more on your next visit.

I don't have any experience with FL or SE boats in general, but when I was looking for my 550 I looked exclusively in the NE. (I found that west coast 550's were priced a lot higher than NE and Great Lakes boats.)

I found mine on YachtWorld, located in the Detroit area. A check of the history of the boat disclosed it was a custom order for a buyer on Lake Michigan. He owned it for several years then sold it to a buyer in the Detroit area. That buyer apparently worked for one of the car companies because when the economy went south he gave it to the bank.

To make a long story short, I flew to MI twice to look at the boat. The first trip involved two surveys (engine/transmissions and a complete hull/equipment survey) and sea trial. The second involved another sea trial and my wife's first look at the boat.

We ended up buying it and having it shipped from Detroit to Portland, OR for recommissioning and to have some equipment installed. The trucker then took my trade back to Detroit.

The boat had been stored indoors its whole life, had been well maintained and looked like new. I checked the maintenance records through the local CAT dealer, checked the boat maintenance records and all records showed maintenance done on a regular basis.

The boat has never seen salt water and is not corroded. The bottom paint was worn when I bought it but there was no growth anywhere.

The reason I picked the Great Lakes is they have a short season (Memorial Day to Labor Day) so the boats tend not to get a lot of hours, and they're generally stored indoors when they're hauled out.