We love planning & research
When we moved to NW Indiana, we planned to eventually get a sailboat. As you know, Kyle grew up sailing with his dad on the Great Lakes and other lakes in Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes. But my goal was to spend several years exploring the new region on land first, and Kyle even agreed. Kyle LOVES doing research on anything and everything that he can think or dream up – useful or not, interesting or not. And boats definitely fall into one of those categories. So we had years of research built up on what purchasing a boat looks like for us. Buying a boat – especially a used boat – tends to become a discussion on compromises, price, age, size (length and depth), type (power or sail), did we say budget yet?!
Backstory about our buying decisions: we once spent over 4 hours researching and figuring out what was the best small crock pot to purchase from Amazon, which was only about $15 at the time (paid link). We waited at least a week to actually buy it debating whether it was a good use of money. Now, it did turn out to be a great pick and we still use it, but our friends laugh at our decision-making discussions. You can just imagine the amount of time we spent talking about a boat purchase!
All it takes is a spark!
In August 2021, we took a vacation with Kyle’s parents to the Upper Peninsula – to see Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake Superior in Munising, MI. It was beautiful and we highly recommend visiting at least once! On the 7-hour drive, a casual conversation sparked up, “You know, we’ll pass several marinas with boats that I’ve been keeping my eye on lately,” said Kyle innocently. “Oh really? Well while we’re driving all this way, maybe we can stop and see one.” I said, thinking that this would be the start of my research. Well, that was the green light Kyle was waiting for!
Things to look for
Within 3 days, we had a date and time to stop by a sailboat for sale in Cheboygan, Michigan on our way home from the UP. The boat was one of several that Kyle had targeted as the best set of compromises to fit us:
- Size: It is 40 feet, which is large (I thought a little too large) but we’ll quickly learn that the Great Lakes are HUGE! Plus, most boat owners get 2-foot-itis, which means every few years, they want to upgrade to just a little bit bigger (just 2 feet more!). We figured that we’ll save ourselves a few years and just go big to begin with. The boat drafts 5’ 2” which is deep but about the right depth to make it into most of the Great Lakes harbors without getting stuck. Of course, Kyle researched all possible marinas and harbors on the Great Lakes and what their depth profiles look like!
- Type: It’s a sailboat, which we prefer the option to sail as much as possible but we can still motor cruise if weather or crew are more comfortable. And with the current price of gas/diesel, it was an important factor to budget into our decision.
- Age: It is 25 years old, which is old enough to be in our budget range but not so old that all we do is work on boat projects and never use the boat as a boat. Don’t get me wrong – there are still lots of projects on the boat, and the more time we spend on it, the more we find!
- Price: While it was in our price range, it was near the top and we weren’t ready to fork it over just yet…
And the discussion begins
We spent about 2 hours going through the boat with the owners and then hit the road home. You can guess what we talked about the whole way! The next week, we upped our game. Kyle had a 4 hour discussion with the broker to walk through everything the boat needed. We made an appointment to walk-through another sailboat with similar specs, but this time only an hour from home. And we booked a sailing excursion – just to make sure we didn’t get sick being on a boat in the Great Lakes! Of course, the sailing excursion was perfect – we highly recommend sailing with Captain Stephen if you are in the Chicagoland region.
We started the process to buy the 2nd boat we looked at – similar specs but newer and closer to home. Plus it was a white sailboat. I had a hard time getting over the fact that the Caliber 40 LRC has a yellow- or cream-colored hull. It just didn’t go with what I believed a sailboat should look like. But we couldn’t agree on price, and moved on.
we bought a boat
It was getting late in the season, and unlikely that we would find anything in the near-term … but that was when the original boat seller’s broker reached back out to us and eventually negotiated a contract that worked for both parties. Kyle’s dad recently retired as a marine surveyor for the last 15 years, but he was willing to participate in our sea-trial prior to finalizing the purchase. We also had an official boat survey completed, and no outstanding unknown issues were found. Our boat buying process was positive. We enjoyed working with the seller’s broker as well as the previous owners. Thankfully, we still correspond with them as they have been very helpful figuring out various configurations as we begin our new journey!
Purchasing the sailboat was a process. The paperwork associated with transferring ownership and title on a US Coast Guard documented boat takes a few extra steps than local state titling. Insurance is a critical component to have in place and to offer some protection from tragic events. There were also other details on winter storage, outstanding work orders with the local marina, shrink wrapping for the winter, oil change on the engine, winterizing the water and electrical systems. We hope to share about these important items in the future. Finally, everything was completed and we officially closed and became sailboat owners!
Only Two Best Days in boat ownership?
As the old saying goes, the two best days in a boat owner’s life are the day they buy a boat and the day they sell it. Our life experiences have led us to believe that joy is a process rather than an outcome. It takes time. It takes hard work, struggle, and failure to learn and grow through those experiences. We enjoy processes and projects, and we’re learning to be joyful through them. We are grateful for this opportunity to share our journey with you. Thank you for your support and encouragement. We hope our story can inspire you on your own adventure as well!
– Kyle & Kara at Zeke Life
Live like Zeke
You’re such a good boy!
Have you gone sailing much lately? Very fun reading your post on deciding to buy a boat!
Thanks Marla! We [finally] took Zeke E Boy out on our 1st solo trip last Thursday, June 16th!!! It was a beautiful day on Lake Michigan. We’re still a bit behind on blog posts, but I’m a little better posting on social media.