* biz wrote, On 3/6/2007 4:14 PM:
Charlie Morgan wrote:
On Tue, 06 Mar 2007 20:19:40 +0000, biz
wrote:
My worst scenario is getting a loan to pay for the boat, being unable
to fund the ongoing repairs and maintenance and landing up with
nowhere to live. Quite a lot riding on the risk, you might think!!

I seriously doubt you will be able to find either a loan, or insurance
for a wooden boat. Especially one that needs work. If you can't do it
"out of pocket" from existing funds, then I'd say you need a new plan
with a different boat.

I've got an unsecured loan from my bank at quite a reasonable fixed rate
6.9%. I've got about 60% of the asking price in savings actually, but I
don't want to leave myself with no ready cash. But then I'll need quite
a bit to pay for the survey and haul-out, and any hull-work that needs
doing while it's on the hard.


So you're going to buy a boat you can't insure with money you don't
have? That makes sense.

I can handle the thought of annual haul-out and re-painting,

You're assuming you can find a yard that would haul a wooden boat.
They won't at my yard, or most of the urban yard where space is cheap.
I don't even think they would haul to scrape the bottom, they
certainly wouldn't to replace planks.

but what
keeps me awake at night is possible re-planking running into thousands
that will effectively write it off, and with it my home. I'll be
saddled with still paying off the loan while having to pay rent
somewhere, plus I may have to pay thousands to dispose of the boat!

In fact I don't expect I'd get that far from the results of the survey.

With vintage glass boats being relatively cheap, why would you
consider a wooden boat? At least with a glass boat, if it passes the
basic hull survey, then it has a predictable value and you can fix up
medium size problems like a soft deck or old rigging or engine without
worrying that you're throwing good money after bad.