Choosing a boat: Budget, Age & Options

How much will a boat cost? That is like asking, "How long is a piece of string". When choosing a boat, we had decided to go look at monohulls. Therefore we show some monohull examples below to seek to illustrate this. The key is that anyone wanting to undertake a Round the world (RTW) adventure knows what their budget is and allows enough for upgrades and repairs which will be necessary for the trip.
It took us three years to find and purchase a boat. Our initial budget was unrealistic and the boats we were looking at would not have been up to the task. Nor did we have the time to invest to allow a 'budget solution'. We needed three years to come to terms with the real cost and find ways to be able to finance it.

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So how did we choose Skyfall?

1. We wanted a 'top end' brand. Gunfleet had heritage associated with Oyster and built boats 'properly'

2. We wanted a boat that was both comfortable and sailed well. Skyfall is a Tony Castro design (he has designed 4 IOR world championship winners as well as an Admirals cup winner) and the previous owner had finished 2nd in class in the Cowes Round the Island race. As an example we averaged 7.9 knots over 5.5 days sailing from Antigua to Bermuda. Not bad for a 43ft live-aboard cruiser with fridge, freezer and microwave.
3. We had no previous experience of yacht ownership. Although not equipped for a RTW passage, Skyfall had belonged to a highly experienced owner. The boat was 'sorted' and everything worked.

4. Our budget did not stretch to a new top end boat. Skyfall, 4 years old, with plenty of options and kit (e.g. asymmetric and code 0, many tools, lifejackets) cost about the same as a new production boat of the same length. We thought that was a good deal 

5. The Gunfleet 43 has a lot of volume and some of this was used for big tanks. Skyfall can hold nearly 500l water and 500l diesel. This is 2-3X what is typical for a production boat of the same size. We have already completed two transatlantic crossings and, despite not having a watermaker, we completed both voyages with more than 50% water and 85% diesel left in the tanks

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Double click on the pictures for more information