"Thomas, Spring Point Light" wrote in message
news:JADBk.416$nl3.110@trnddc05...
After three season of single handed sailing, I was approached by a young
guy as my boat
was taken out for winter storage. He loved her, and he bought her.

Owning a good size cruising sailboat is lots of work. I started working,
repairing,
adding, maintaining, my boat in April .. she went in the water in June.
And I worked on
her each and every day.

At this time, I doubt I will purchase another cruising sailboat. I don't
have crew.
And the cost of owning her is very expensive.

Another thought; sailboats don't sell. Years ago, I owned a couple of
cruising boats,
and when my for sale sign went up, the buyers came and bought. Not
anymore.

There just does not seem to be much of a market for boats, even sailboats.

It is frustrating to offer a boat for sale, and have no one even
interested.

The "give me your boat for free" crowd shows up. They tell you what a
junk your
boat is, point out every nic, chip, defect, that might exist .. then tell
you about the
same boat on ebay for $10 dollars. If they make an offer it is very low,
and if one
accepts the offer, they run away. They don't want to own a boat, just
drive people nuts.

In the Northeast, the marinas don't help out the boat owner at all. They
just sit back and
figure that the new owner will be a big sucker. The problem is; in the
boatyard I stored
my boat, there are numerous "walk aways". These are pretty nice
sailboats, the owners
tried to sell them, couldn't, and then the marina fees started adding up.
Last spring, the
marina had an auction. No luck. No one showed up for the boats. The
marinas wanted
the back storage money, in many cases well over $3,000 dollars.

I fear that the boating market is doomed. The days of the working guy
with a nice little
cruising sailboat are almost over.

Another problem, the towns, state. They have their hands out for mooring
permit fees, but
they don't provide any service at all. Hundreds of dollars, Portsmouth NH
does not even
have a municipal dock. The harbor masters are corrupt, the whole system
is corrupt.

As there are less and less motor boats, due to high fuel costs, and fewer
sailboats, the towns
have ruined it for themselves. Too late now.

I guess I will move on to some other activity. Don't know what yet.



How about a daysailer? One you could keep on a trailer in your driveway and
rig/launch/handle by yourself?
A bit more work each time you take it out... but you should save 90% of the
maintenance costs. (assuming boat is fairly new)
I see Hunter has a 17' and a 21' model.