We have been boat shopping since about 6 months after we bought our last boat.  We’ve gone through a lot of different phases while trying to decide what our “forever boat” would look like.  We knew we wanted more space, we wanted a boat that would hold its value, and appreciate as we added more gear, and we wanted something a little more friendly to open seas than our current boat. 

For about 3 years I was convinced that this boat was going to be a catamaran.  It had more space, they’re in high demand and therefore hold their value, and they are relatively flat when sailing.  Once we started to do some serious shopping we realized that in our price range of 50k-80k the actual square footage we were going to get would be a downsize over our regular boat.  I wasn’t swayed though and we went aboard many the odd shaped catamaran.  In the summer of 2013 we chartered a 40 ft Lagoon in the SVIs.  Being aboard that boat for a week changed my mind completely.  While it was very spacious and comfortable at anchor, while sailing the see saw motion of the boat was jarring and uncomfortable.  So I decided that for the price difference, it was not worth the cost. 

So we focused in on monohulls.  We started to hone in on what we wanted.  1. Two cabins 2. Separate shower stall 3. boat that would hold value 4. A heavy duty boat with lots of displacement. 5. Aft Cockpit.  We wanted to stay somewhere below 42 ft to keep the boat pretty manageable between the two of us, and keep maintenance costs down.  

As we started to look we found that there are a lot of blue water boats in the 42ft length that have everything we want, but in the 80-120k price range.  As we dug deeper we started to find a few boats under 40ft that had two cabins that might be an option.  The IP38 has an aft cabin that is big enough for two people.  They are normally a little higher in price but every once in awhile one will come down.  The Krogen 38 has two lovely cabins and a separate shower stall.  The Amel Sharki has two cabins and even though its a center cockpit, it convinced me with its overall beautiful appearance.  

We started to ask around about some of these models in owners groups on facebook, and that eventually led to us meeting some owners in real life and being able to do walk throughs and even go sailing on some of the of the same model boats.  This really helped us to understand potential issues with certain models and gave us a good idea of what to look for when shopping.  

This early research stage is really essential to the whole boat buying process.  Once you see a boat in person its easy to develop an emotional attachment and be blinded to potential costly issues. 

We’re really excited to say that we closed today on a 38ft Kadey Krogen.  It was not an easy road though.  So much to tell you all about the buying/offer process very soon.