New in this and looking for a motor yacht...

Start by doubling your budget or go pre-owned, then study, charter, go out with friends, learn. Find a good captain who can help narrow your search then teach you what you'll need to know. Expect to use him for a year or two. 4 staterooms (sleep 8 or 9) on a 20M, unlikely. Hopefully you're a couple of years away from purchasing.

my 1st suggestion is to define where and how you are going to use the boat. are you going to use it in istanbul area or in the south part of turkey most of the time? secondly will it be a family boat or more a boat to entertain people? thirdly, why do you want to have a new boat, if it is your 1st boat it is prudent to go second hand, where you may loose less money when you have a better understanding of your needs and you want to sell and upgrade or downgrade in size and/or facilities.

the other factors like speed, range, material for the hull and brands to look for will be other issues you would need to elaborate. i do not think the idea of a captain will work very positively in your case in turkey, because most probably you will not end up with a well educated captain who can guide you through the steps of the purchase.

if you can define some of the above, may be we can assist you further to narrow your search.

First boat

Jumping in on someones elses question
I am studying for my yatch masters certificate I am interested in a Sea Ray 38 - 46 ft (pre owned) for cruising around the islands in Thailand, I live in Koh Chang and I am thinking of buying the boat in the US piggy backing it to Thailand would there be a problem with the electrics? Would this boat suit these waters?
Rgds
Tim

Hi,

Do you have 50 or 60 Hz power in Thailand?

A boat out of the US will more than likely be setup for 60 Hz power, converting to 50 can be time consuming and expensive.

Admin,
Have seen this thread start up several times. Is there any way the words new to boating, etc. can be directed to existing threads. Most of the answers these people seek are already posted. In fact there seems to be a lot of people who think 60 foot is a good length at which to jump into boating
.
Nilo,
"i do not think the idea of a captain will work very positively in your case in turkey, because most probably you will not end up with a well educated captain who can guide you through the steps of the purchase." ???
As an independent captain I've helped several people buy their boats. Not negotiate the price or do the paperwork, but help determine their personalities, needs, desires and budget; then narrow down the choices and check that an individual boat met their criteria. Beyond what the surveyor does check the fit & finish, determine how she'll actually handle in real world situations (account for or avoid running light at full throttle in calm waters with the wind on our back ). In other words, I show the buyer why they should not buy the boat. Then, with myself and the surveyor taking the bloom off the rose, the buyer can make an informed decision instead of spending a million or two on impulse.

Notlaw,
Here's a person looking to get into boating at a reasonable size . My guess is that he'll be a boater for a long time. That 38 is a good handling boat. If you go larger I suggest you look for one with a bow thruster (not absolutely needed, but real convenient). Although electric is not my forte, I believe the Hz thing may be correctable with a dockside adapter for about $500. K1W1, check me on that please. Once cruising you're on your gen.

NYCAP, you are right, "new to yachting" is often posted, but not exactly the same question all the time. If we know where on YF:s to point for the answer, we do.

On yacht captains in Turkey, I would listen to Nilo as a local and experienced yacht owner. If you would like to go there, is another thing.

What K1W1 says about voltage and Hz is a common problem in Europe where US yachts in the smaller sizes are expensive to convert, often including replacement of appliances. Having a converter for shore power is not a good permanent solution.

buying a boat in turkey

i do not want to rule out the quality of captains in turkey. i was generalizing basing on the fact that this 1st time buyer most probably at the given size will not have access to a captain with an educated back ground on several boats and designs.

There are a lot of "paper captains" everywhere, but it's a place to start. It sounds as if the worst captain could still be of some help if just to lead him to a surveyor who could lead him to....I think if he can afford a 60' yacht he's probably interviewed a few people over the years. He just needs some help navigating the new waters.

I am sorry not being explicit in the definition of captains capacity. These captains are not paper captains. Just to the contrary, they are brought up either as fisherman deckhands or in traditional Turkish wooden boats and most probably their skills as seaman are better than most, definitely mine and most probably yours. However, their intellectual capacity in terms of technical knowledge of different designs and different brands of boats are quite limited. Mostly limited to the previous boats they may have used. That is why I think it will not be a good idea to go with their advice, because this may be strongly biased not due to their personal shortcomings, but due to the conditions they have been brought up, keeping in mind that most will not have a linguistic skill other than Turkish. Probably many may be at best elementary school graduates as well. So, not much interest to read and to educate themselves in this respect.

In short what I am trying to say is to strengthen what AMG has stated; every enquiry may have its particular points which we may comment on, and luckily there are different solutions to different situations. My comments to this Turkish gentleman were in line with these particular details that I thought he would face in Turkey.

I would be glad to assist him as good as my limited knowledge will enable me to do; so that he may lead to a happy solution and process in his search for a boat which he will use in Turkish waters.

Hope, you will also agree with the above.

I will write to your pm, so that we do not take space here with your specifics.

Many thanks for your info I have spoken to a couple of friends back in Thailand (as I am currently at work in Algeria) and they tell me it is 220v 50hz but there are many USA yatchs in the marina so when I get back I will do the leg work and find out the best way around it if it is a problem
Many thanks
Notlaw

"I believe the Hz thing may be correctable with a dockside adapter for about $500."

Yeah, $500 worth of plugs connected to a $25000 converter.

"Although electric is not my forte, I believe the Hz thing may be correctable with a dockside adapter for about $500. K1W1, check me on that please."
Thanks for checking me on that Marmot.

Hi,

I tend to agree with Marmot.

Even if he takes the boat there and it works for a while anything that has to be replaced will need to come from the US such as any appliances etc in order to work there. Any 50 to 60 and 60 to 50 Hz fluctuations are also certain death to anything that uses the frequency as a timer/clock this can be ovens, microwaves, coffee machines etc. Fluros are also another one I have seen eaten up by this.

The cheapest converter for dockside use would be a small rotary one but none would be better than one at all.

The cost is another issue, in the days of Helionetics Units ( the earliest frequency solid state converters for yachts commercially available) they cost $1 a vA, ( 75 kVa = USD $75,000)the prices haven't really gone down any so $500 ain't going to power much.