One reason I prefer cheap as they come boats part 1...

Dr House said something that anyone interested in buying a boat should adopt as their mantra...



Everybody lies!

Folks selling you a boat tend to lie.

Folks who have something to gain in your buying a boat tend to lie.

Even folks who are honest as the day is long tend to play fast and loose with matters of truth when involved in the sale of maritime craft.

With me so far?

Another point on the whole lying thing is that the more money involved in a boat the more lies in the mix so consider yourself warned.

I actually mention all of this because the other day someone asked my opinion on a given boat for sale and I pointed out that the boat seemed in way too good condition for the asking price and that he should look a little closer because there's always something wrong with a boat for sale... Always!

He responded by saying not to worry as he was having it surveyed...

Which is where I pointed out my theory that folks who have something to gain in your buying a boat tend to lie and unless you do some due diligence you may just find yourself screwed. Plus the fact that, over the years, I've crossed paths with a large number of marine surveyors and only one of them was actually honest. Which is not to say your surveyor is a bad guy but there may be any number of reasons that giving you a good survey on a bad boat is in his/her best interest and not yours.

For instance, one surveyor I know also happens to be married to a broker from a family of brokers and just about every survey he does tends to be brokered by a relation of some sort.Which, when you consider just how incestuous the marine trades are, is not very surprising at all.

Same goes for that mechanic or electrical guy you might have look at the subject of your desire who may (or may not) have connections of one sort or another that shout conflict of interest...

Just something to keep in mind...

$0.20 a pound...

So this morning I noticed a Morgan 27 for sale for $1400 or best offer and a couple of things came to mind...

First, that it was whole lot of boat for very little money and, secondly that it worked out to twenty cents a pound.

Let me repeat that...

$0.20 a pound!

Truth be told, there are very few 27-foot boats of the classic plastic variety that I'd rather find myself living aboard. Especially if you factor the $1400 price tag.

Being a small and simple boat anything that needs fixing or needful improvements/upgrades are going to fairly easy, affordable, and is not going to take lots of time. What's not to like?

Little boats, little problems!

As far as interiors go the Morgan, being quite beamy, has better than average livability and stowage. Which is kind of surprising as it was designed and marketed as more of a racer...

Bottom line is it's a great example of a volkscruiser.

A tour of a very nice cruising boat...

James Baldwin  (of Atom voyages fame) takes a tour of Dawn Treader an Allied Seawind 30 and finds a lot of good ideas...

and in the...

"Don't knock it, it works" department.