Wannabe,
I would highly recomend against designing any part of your first boat. While I can completely understand wanting to have that type of control over a boat, remember that any boat was designed by experts, and while it may not be perfect, there is usually a reason things were done the way they were. Until you become more experienced you are very likely to spec something that while possible has major drawbacks. Leading to a much more expensive redo than had you just bought something else.
That being said, first figure out what your real budget will be to spent on a vessel after all necessary maintenance work is done. Decide ahead of time and stick to this budget. And be forwarned on any older vessel get an inspection before buying it and ensure that you can get insurance on it. Then tripple the original estimate for repairs found during the inspection. This will be your baseline repair cost to get the boat back into the water. Finally realize that any boat will cost about 10-15% of it's purchase price in annual repairs.
As for picking the right boat... and keeping in mind what I said above, spend some time walking the docks near you and note down the make and model of the boats you like. Then do the research to find out if they are in your price range. There are litterly hundreds of designers that have made boats in this size range, and the trick is to find the designer that wanted what you did at a price you can afford.
The last thing I would recomend is not to get hung up on the leingth of the boat. For some reason boat prices go up much higher with leingth than they do with width, so a boat that is 2' longer may cost thousands more than a similar ship that is a foot wider but shorter.
Good Luck and enjoy your new hobby.
10-27-2008, 08:41 PM
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