Finally Bought my Sailboat

After many years of searching and waiting for the right moment, I finally achieved my dream of buying a sailboat. The journey to this point has been filled with anticipation and planning, and I am thrilled to share my experience.

Ever since I was a young kid, I've dreamed about a life of off-grid adventures and exploring the world! For the past 10 years, I've been eagerly searching for the perfect boat to make this dream a reality!

I spent so many hours researching the perfect boat that I might as well have gotten a degree in Nautical Nonsense. I looked long and hard—like, "Where's Waldo?" level hard!

While doing my research, I figured out exactly what I needed. I was looking for a reliable ocean cruiser. It had to be a sloop, meaning just one mast. I wanted it to have either a long keel or a rudder attached to a skeg. Plenty of fuel and water capacity was important too. It needed to be made of fiberglass, and I didn't want a teak deck. I'd choose a lead keel over an iron one any day, and a hard dodger was on my wishlist too.

Of course, the timing was never right until now. Yet here we are, and I'm the proud owner of a money pit: a CT 44 Cutter, also known as a Tanton 44 Cutter.

After almost buying a Cheoy Lee 44 in Sint Maarten, which fell through because the motor was toast, I had decided to broaden my search beyond Robert Perry designed boats and found just what I was looking for in Long Beach California.

This boat had everything I was looking for, plus it came with a lead keel and a hard dodger. I wasn't sure if the owner would lower the price enough, but I decided to give it a shot, expecting the broker to laugh at my offer. Surprisingly, he didn't, and after some negotiating, we got pretty close to what I wanted.

As soon as I could take off from work, I booked a flight. Just a quick note on that: Southwest? Yeah, not doing that again!

I arrived in Long Beach on July 16th and checked out the boat and met the owner and the broker on the 17th. There was a good vibe, something I didn't feel with the Cheoy Lee in St. Maarten. But I didn’t want to get too excited yet. I've been burnt before.

I had already found a surveyor, Michael Dickinson, through the Society of Accredited Marine Surveyors. The broker had freaked me out with a price of $30/foot, but he must have been wrong because it was actually just $20/foot. That was about the same as what they were going to charge me in Sint Maarten. [Luckily, they discovered the engine was shot before the surveyor even got to the boat in that case.]

So, I needed to cover the cost for a haul out and the survey, which came to about $1,700 total. After I checked out the boat, we set up the haul out, and Mr. Dickinson agreed to do the survey the following Thursday.

For a second, I thought the seller was having doubts. He didn't seem thrilled about the price we agreed on, and honestly, I can't blame him. He put a lot into the boat: it has a boom furler, radar, a water maker, a new Beta engine with just about 300 hours on it, chart plotters, a windvane, and davits.

I told him how thankful I was for the opportunity and how impressed I was with the boat. I promised it would have a great life with me and be well taken care of.

After what felt like the longest week ever, I finally chatted with Dickinson. He was pretty impressed with the price and mentioned a few things that needed fixing:

The rudder was coming apart and taking in water, plus a bunch of through hulls were jammed. We also discussed the thousands of blisters on the hull above the waterline. They had sent me a picture in the morning, and I was pretty bummed out. But Dickinson thought they were just something to watch out for; they're mostly cosmetic and shouldn't cause any real problems. So yes I bought a boat with blisters.

In all Dickens felt that she could set sail, but that the rudder would need to be addressed. I received the survey as a PDF that same day via email and I began to read it over. I would also want to replace the holding tank as soon as possible and I would want to see the status of the cutless bearing.

I signed the papers the next day, Friday. I was moving forward with the buy. I figured the rudder would cost me $5000, and that was the biggest expense. I paid for the boat on Monday. This was it—I was really feeling good about it.

I researched a place in CA that specializes in rudders and I was right about the cost. Now I just had to navigate the situation. Haul out and transport the rudder over an hour.

After talking to Tim, the broker, he informed me that I since I had my survey done there, I could get another haul out for free! at Marina Shipyard and the rudder could get fixed there. That is a $770 saving i wasn't expecting. At the shipyard I talked to some fun guys, Nick, Gio, and Tony and got some work orders in: unstick the through hull fittings, check the cutless bearing, fix the rudder; they were also in line with what I was expecting to pay. Haul out on the 8th of August. Let the dollars flow. That was boat ownership.

I also connected with Captain Maureen, another contact Tim gave me who could for a small fee of $125/hour, sail with me to familiarize myself with the vessel. She also could sail the boat over to Marina Shipyard for me, as I was doing all this remotely.

So that is where she is now, still under her old name Summer Solstice.

Tony called me after she was hauled out and let me know that the cutless bearing was fine. that he was going to drill some holes in the rudder and let it dry over the weekend, and that they were going to do a mechanical inspection to check out everything that could make the boat sink. For Free!!! Again? I'm nervous, when will the dollars flow?