Boat List

Narrowing down the boat list is going to be tough for me. I have not spent a lot of time sailing on yachts of the type I am looking at and therefor have to rely, at least initially, on my ability to cull through the opinionated ramblings of many owners and non-owners.

My starting point in this endeavor is the following list:

• CSY 44
  
• Perterson 44 Center Cockpit
  
• Ta Chiao CT 44
  
• Liberty 458 CC cutter
  
• Stevens 49
  
• Transpacific 49 (Transpac Marine mk I) 
  
• Cape Dory
  
• Bristol
  
• Endeavor
  
• Morgan Out Island 41
  
• Morgan Classic (newer out island)
  
• Island Trader
  
• Southern Cross 36
  
• Sparkman & Stevens 47    
  

Several of these boats are not really serious contenders, mainly due to keel design...I do not want a full keel.

The Kelly Peterson 44 is the stand out leader right now.

Most center cockpit boats are awkward to look at in my opinion, but this one keeps a low enough profile to be elegant to my eye. For me center cockpit boats are all about the large owners cabin in the stern. I like the ability to have a more secluded space for one of us to go to have some alone time. 

I met a couple that sailed one of these while in the Bay area and saw them again down in San Diego and La Paz.  They spoke highly of the sailing ability of their vessel. This is important to me because I like to sail...not motor around. I also like the added safety of being able to sail well to windward when needed. 

The boats seem to be a good value overall with boats usually listing for 80-120K. 

It is pretty common for people to have problems with the tanks of KP44's so that is one area I am watching closely because it will be a lot of work to get to a few of the tanks for replacement. 

I know that it is self punishment that even a Catholic would shudder at, but my current thought is to buy a boat that needs some pretty good work and spend about a year tearing her down and building her back up. I really want to know the systems inside and out and I found that the time I spent learning a complicated boat done by another person was pretty substantial as well. Besides, I have very specific ideas of the type and quality of systems I want on a boat and I can't imagine finding one setup that already. 

If I do decide to go the 'restoration' route, I plan on taking a 10 month boat building course given at The Landing School. That way I at least have the solid background of skills to deal with even the most involved projects. But that is a whole other post for another day.