Dear Sir, Madam Thank you for sending me your Offshore Cruising Encyclopedia. Have read it with great enthusiasm. One nice touch is that rarely money matters have been mentioned in the book for equipment’s, costs, boats etc…one great detail. However perhaps you could let me have some idea of cost for actually purchasing a used boat and kitting it short handed circumnavigation. Indeed looking for properly designed and equipped offshore boats like yours if extremely difficult. So could you please let me have some idea. Or perhaps brokers phone numbers (anywhere in the world), I would like to get an aluminum fast cruiser, category zero, from 45 to 60ft, in good condition. Maybe it may not be enough but my present cash budget is GB£ 130000. Thank you for you assistance Once again, congratulation to Linda and Steve Dashew for their great work on the book. Best regards Laurent
Hi Laurent: I don’t have any direct suggestions for brokers. However, you have plenty of budget to find a used boat and get her cruising. The main thing is to decide what you want in the way of gear. Our preference has always been to keep the boat as simple as possible, and spend the budget on waterline, good structure, heavy ground tackle, and a good kit for storm conditions. Beyond this, everything else is superfluous to the main job of going cruising. Your best buy, for the money in aluminum, will be a late 70s, to mid 80s racing boat, without a lot of accommodations. You will probably find it takes a lot of looking and that the brokerage community is difficult to deal with. But if you take the time, eventually you will turn up something that is just right. Good luck with your hunt. Steve Dashew
Posted by Steve Dashew (November 30, 1999)
