Help me choose my next boat

[jimbojones]

after a couple years with only a dinghy I'm back on the hunt for our next small family cruiser.  I lost my shirt selling my previous boat and it looks like the market for small vintage cruising boats in the northeast is still terrible for sellers.  So good news for me!

For around $10k and less there are an abundance of 70s and 80s boats in the 30-35ft range with really nice examples hitting 15k.  I've narrowed my search to the following:

Tartan 30

Islander Bahama 30 or 32

Mirage 33

Morgan 30-2

C&C 33 

And I'm looking at a Morgan 30-2 with nice Beta repower and new standing rigging, a Mirage 33 with newer yanmar and an islander Bahama 30 with new standing rigging ( also checking out an islander that has blisters where it's been shrink wrapped for the past decade)

 Mirage 33 is the most expensive to the point of stretching the budget.  Morgan is available for a song, bargain priced.  The Islander s are somewhere in between.

I want something I can do Marion to Bermuda on (without the kids) somewhat comfortably. At 20 I would have sailed my Tanzer 22 to Bermuda and I am happy as a barebones camp style cruiser, but I'm old enough to want a bit more space and a berth for each kid and to be able to eat more than Cliff bars for a week. 

Of the Morgan 30-2,  Mirage 33, and Islander Bahama 30 what do you folks think are their strengths and weakness for a small family cruiser?

I need to narrow down before I start shelling out for surveys which will make or break the final choice.

Thanks

Jimbo

 

[jimbojones]

I missed out on a bargain Mirage 33, absolutely beautiful boat! I've looked at an Islander 30 which has the pox above the water line from being shrink wrapped for 12 years. I'm also tempted by an Ericson 35-3 that is a complete project.

Boat pox scare me but there is nothing below the water line. Have any of you dealt with above water line blisters?

 

[Ajax]

You mentioned the C&C 33 was on your list. Have you not found any to look at?  No Tartan 30's?

 

[Steam Flyer]

after a couple years with only a dinghy I'm back on the hunt for our next small family cruiser.  I lost my shirt selling my previous boat and it looks like the market for small vintage cruising boats in the northeast is still terrible for sellers.  So good news for me!

For around $10k and less there are an abundance of 70s and 80s boats in the 30-35ft range with really nice examples hitting 15k.  I've narrowed my search to the following:

Tartan 30

Islander Bahama 30 or 32

Mirage 33

Morgan 30-2

C&C 33 

And I'm looking at a Morgan 30-2 with nice Beta repower and new standing rigging, a Mirage 33 with newer yanmar and an islander Bahama 30 with new standing rigging ( also checking out an islander that has blisters where it's been shrink wrapped for the past decade)

 Mirage 33 is the most expensive to the point of stretching the budget.  Morgan is available for a song, bargain priced.  The Islander s are somewhere in between.

I want something I can do Marion to Bermuda on (without the kids) somewhat comfortably. At 20 I would have sailed my Tanzer 22 to Bermuda and I am happy as a barebones camp style cruiser, but I'm old enough to want a bit more space and a berth for each kid and to be able to eat more than Cliff bars for a week. 

Of the Morgan 30-2,  Mirage 33, and Islander Bahama 30 what do you folks think are their strengths and weakness for a small family cruiser?

I need to narrow down before I start shelling out for surveys which will make or break the final choice.

Thanks

Jimbo

Was it this one?

https://boston.craigslist.org/sob/boa/d/33ft-sailboat-1982/6655523468.html

Why no lookie at the Endeavor 35? It's basically a later-model Morgan, a decently-built mid-heavy cruiser, sails well for what they are, comfy. I have a number of friends who've turned in pretty credible cruises on them.

https://boston.craigslist.org/sob/boa/d/35-endeavour-sailboat/6665965023.html

Dunno your budget or your shopping area, but take a look at all the 30 to 35 ft Pearsons. My own taste is more in the sails-well range than the heavy-comfy range, like the Pearson 10M.

There's a LOTTA boats for sale out there

FB- Doug

 

[Kirwan]

As far as I know, the Islander 'Bahama' series is really just a bit of an upgrade in the interior woodwork.  I wouldn't limit myself to just those fewer models, a 'regular' Islander will be essentially the same boat. 

The Islander 32 is a Bob Perry boat - he talks about it in his book; The I-28 was so successful, they made a bigger version.  He also did an I-34.   The I-30 is older, I don't know much about them.   

 

[eastern motors]

Why no lookie at the Endeavor 35? It's basically a later-model Morgan, a decently-built mid-heavy cruiser, sails well for what they are, comfy. I have a number of friends who've turned in pretty credible cruises on them.

 https://boston.craigslist.org/sob/boa/d/35-endeavour-sailboat/6665965023.html

"35' Endeavour Sailboat, Boats mast broke and ripped a chain plate. Other than that the boats is in good shape."  $14000

I think that's going to be more than $15k.

 

[Steam Flyer]

"35' Endeavour Sailboat, Boats mast broke and ripped a chain plate. Other than that the boats is in good shape."  $14000

I think that's going to be more than $15k.

That's a big oops

Endeavor 35s are still pretty good boats for the money. I'd recommend one with an unbroken mast (WTF? Hitting a bridge?)

FB- Doug

 

[jimbojones]

Was it this one?

https://boston.craigslist.org/sob/boa/d/33ft-sailboat-1982/6655523468.html

Why no lookie at the Endeavor 35? It's basically a later-model Morgan, a decently-built mid-heavy cruiser, sails well for what they are, comfy. I have a number of friends who've turned in pretty credible cruises on them.

https://boston.craigslist.org/sob/boa/d/35-endeavour-sailboat/6665965023.html

Dunno your budget or your shopping area, but take a look at all the 30 to 35 ft Pearsons. My own taste is more in the sails-well range than the heavy-comfy range, like the Pearson 10M.

There's a LOTTA boats for sale out there

FB- Doug

Yeah that is the Mirage I was looking at. Owner loved the boat and it showed, it had every nicety you can image but needed the engine to be wired and plumbed . Everything I am looking at is sub 10k, so all project boat of one sort or another but I want to pay cash and I am too old/been boatless for too long, to wait until I can afford a non-project boat

 

[Ishmael]

Yeah that is the Mirage I was looking at. Owner loved the boat and it showed, it had every nicety you can image but needed the engine to be wired and plumbed . Everything I am looking at is sub 10k, so all project boat of one sort or another but I want to pay cash and I am too old/been boatless for too long, to wait until I can afford a non-project boat

You could get a cheap boat and go sink it doing something really stupid, then start up a Gofundme and hope some rich doctor gives you the boat he no longer needs. You just have to get that social media working for you. It also helps if you have a vacuous girlfriend who isn't totally ugly, and a dog that is.

 

[Kellettburger]

If you’re in the market for something with a “broken mast” have a look at this old girl. Sails and epirb in “not used” condition.

 

[Ishmael]

Smells like old tuna. Pass.

 

[jimbojones]

I ended up getting the Mirage 33, it is the opposite situation I was in when I sold my last boat. I had just sunk big money into my boat and needed to sell for personal reasons and had to let it go for cheap. Now I am buying a boat that the owner put a lot of work into and is letting go for cheap.  The only project on this boat is that I need to complete the install of a new diesel. The owner got half way through the install before having to sell so I have to connect the wiring harness and plumb the fuel system.  But it is the first boat I will have owned that is younger than me and the only one I have ever bought that did not need substantial restoration.   The owner loved it and it shows, I didn't think he would accept what I had to spend but . I am also happy to have a Perry boat and after taking the winter to get the diesel set up I'm looking forward to working my way south next Spring with my family.

 

[Bull City]

Congrats, Jimbo. Don't forget the pics!

 

[TwoLegged]

Nice looking boat.  But masthead rig  ... and wheel steering  

 

 

[slap]

Nice looking boat.  But masthead rig  ... and wheel steering  

 

Finding cruiser or racer/cruiser boats 30 feet long and over with tiller steering in the US is tough, especially if you are looking at newer boats.

 

[jimbojones]

Nice looking boat.  But masthead rig  ... and wheel steering  

 

Wheel steering is my wife's preference and with young kids who always seem to be in the way of a tiller I think it will work better for us anyway.  

I should add that anyone in the Northeast looking for a project should consider the $3k Ericson 35-3 on craigslist in Beverly MA.  The boat will need some soft spots addressed on the deck and the interior is a mess but the engine looked taken care of and if you are ok with recoring parts of deck it is one of the better project boat options I looked at. It was definitely a better starting point than some of the wrecks folks are rebuilding on some popular vlogs. The owners raced it and just did not care about the interior at all so it was thoroughly abused inside and the core was wet where a life raft bracket used to be as well as at a bunch of the stanchion bases. If I were a 20-something with lots of time and enthusiasm I'd be all over it.

Before the Mirage 33 worked out I was about a week away from jumping on that Ericson. My only mild concern with the Mirage is the deck stepped mast and the goal is to at least get to the Bahamas via the coastal route or ICW in 2020, if not doing Marion-Bermuda in 2021.  I saw an old post from Gatekeeper where he suggests Bob felt the boat was capable of a Bermuda run.

 

[jimbojones]

My Mirage 33 is finally in its winter home and I am replacing some through hulls and plumbing the fuel and cooling systems. The plan is to do some limited overnight offshore trips next year to make sure the boat is sorted and then do a run to Bermuda and St Martin in spring 2020 and leaving the boat in a yard someplace for Hurricane season .

Unfortunately when my boat was getting hauled there was some small damage from the mast resting on the bow and stern pulpits. One of the fittings for the bow pulpit failed along what I assume was an existing crack. This looks to me like a custom fitting but perhaps one of you fine anarchists has seen one like this? 

thanks in advance!