The Process of Buying A Sailboat

After our boat survey on February 20th and 21st, we had much to discuss, think about, cogitate, and ruminate. You get the idea. We continue The Process of Buying A Sailboat.

As a proud card-carrying Virgo, I love all things list.

• Pro-Con list? Count me in?
• Brainstorming List? I am there.
• No matter the list;
• Bucket List
• To-Do List
• Best-of-List
• Inventory List
• Check List
• Timeline

I am all in.

Various styles of paper were compiled; pens were gathered, labels stood at the ready—and we began.

The Sceptre 41 Sailboat

In a word, we both love the Sceptre boats. They have incredible craftsmanship and style, and we agree that they are among the finest specimens for our purposes.

Only 53 of these boats were ever built. Designed by the maritime architect Hein Driehuyzen in the early eighties and built by the Canadian yard Sceptre Yachts Ltd., they have a fierce and loyal fan base. Once people have them, they don’t want to part with them until they are too old to pull the strings.

About six months into our boat search, our broker, Mike Mullenberg of Pacific Cruising Yachts, had a light-bulb moment: “You guys need a Sceptre.” And the search was on in earnest.

The Cavalier Sailboat

During our search, we found a few amazing contenders, including a Cavalier boat designed by New Zealander Robert Salthouse. We would have pulled the trigger on it if only my 6’2” Sweet Kiwi Man had fit in the berth (bed).

Look at the beautiful ceiling crafted from native Kauri wood from New Zealand. This boat still tugs at our hearts. 

The Vagabond Sailboat

A regal, stately Vagabond, designed by William Garden, that we loved but decided would be more of a condo on the water than a great blue water cruiser. (A blue water cruiser is a  sailboat designed to tackle long open sea cruising and ocean crossings easily and comfortably.)

The Amel

We looked at an Amel Sharki, (a boat I still love); designed by Frenchman, Henri Amel, with an understated eloquence and style; a benchmark for being efficiently engineered, detailed and smartly designed as an open ocean sailing vessel. Amel himself has a great personal story, including the fact that he was blind for the majority of his career.

As we continued to search and research sailboats, we created our ‘list’ of boat necessities and wishes. A Sceptre checked the boxes: size, comfort, seaworthiness, age, sloop rigged, fiberglass construction, etc… Our broker set up an alert on his phone to be notified if and when a Sceptre came on the market.

We were in New Zealand when we received the text from Mike; there was a 1988 Sceptre for sale in Seattle, Washington. We acted on it immediately, asking Mike to , and we did a video walk-through; bycheck it out a.s.a.p. He went, and we did a video walk-through; by the end of the day, an offer had been made. There was a little back and forth, but we landed on a price, sent the good faith funds, and the boat was under contract, pending a sea trial and survey. We flew back to the USA on the cold, rainy Seattle water on February 20th.

That survey was a very in-depth and intense experience. We then went to the table, where papers and pens of various colors were stacked in front of us.

The Cons were covered in the survey, as that is what a survey is meant to do: Tell you all the cons–and there was a long list of them. It would take an investment to return her to her seaworthy glory–which she clearly could be.

But there were a lot of Pros:

• She had great bones and a solid foundation.
• She was Pilothouse in style, which allows you to stay out of the weather and steer from inside the boat. Designed for the Pacific Northwest and the cold, rainy days that come with it, she provides a level of comfort that many do not.
• Her layout is amazing. Two big berths that Sweet Kiwi can easily fit in with great headroom.
• A separate shower and toilet: many boats have a wet toilet, which is a bathroom with a sink, shower, tub, and toilet all in one area.
• She will hold resale value once updated, repaired, cared for, and maintained.
• She has easy access to all mechanical items; which is not that common in boats. You often have to cut floors or remove cabinets to access tanks/engines.
• Sloop rigged—which is a simple rigging with one mast.
• She is fiberglass construction, making her weight lighter than a steel boat with less maintenance than a wooden one.
• With her construction and design, she is known to be easy to handle.

For us, time was a consideration. We will be working in Alaska for the summer of 2023 and cannot resume our boat search for another year, and there is no guarantee about what will be on the market in a year.

We jotted down notes, let a pendulum swing over the list, researched the cost of necessary repairs and labor, and came up with a new offer we were comfortable with, one we could live with. We hugged each other, sent it along, and released it to the Universe for the highest good of all. The offer was fair and workable from our angle, but we are talking about the coveted Unicorn of boats–a Sceptre; and for that reason, we did not think the owner would accept the new offer and that she would not be ours.

We were sitting in our new Micro Winnie camper trailer, and the snow fell outside when we received the call from Mike on Tuesday morning, February 28th, 2023. Our offer had been accepted, and we were to be the proud owners of a Sceptre 41 sailboat.