We are the proud new owners of a Cavalier 32, born and bred in New Zealand, and already circumnavigated with previous owners Bob and Trish, who are the coolest couple in the world. We cracked the champagne with them to celebrate the purchase, Trish shed tears. It was happy yet emotional times. They’d had Confederate for 20 years and she had been their home for 3 years while they sailed around the world, through the Suez Canal, the Med, through the Caribbean, the panama canal, through Asia, Indonesia and the Pacific. Incredible stuff. Here are some pictures of us pulling her out of the water to inspect Confederates bottom!
A few tips we’ve learned on buying a boat -
* If you want an ocean going boat then a lot of the expense can be in the equipment – things like windvane steering, SSB radio, chart plotter, water maker (we still dont have one of these) all add up. Confederate had a lot of this equipment, but not all. Factor this into what you are buying.
* Buy a boat that has already been a liveaboard – Bob and Trish had put a lot of effort in ironing out the little details that make a boat easier to live on – we are eternally grateful to them for their hard work that we can enjoy. We were also looking at buying a Chico 30′ which would have needed a whole lot of work to be liveable, but who wants to sit in a marina doing work when you can be out sailing!
* We checked out what blue water boats had to say about Cav 32s before we bought Confederate – http://bluewaterboats.org/cavalier-32/ - this is a great place to check seaworthiness.
* Take the boat out for a trial and see what speeds the boat can do at different wind angles. Ask the boat owner how many nautical miles the boat averages over 24 hours. Confederate is relatively short compared to some of the boats out on the water now, so we average 120-140nm days. She can point really well upwind.
* If the boat is fibreglass check for osmosis.
* We got a boat inspector to take a look around and give us a second opinion. You can normally organise this through a boat broker.
We are by no means experts on boat buying but we are very happy with our purchase, a Cavalier 32 in our opinion is a great boat to get into sailing, and a good choice for a cost effective but very seaworthy boat.
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