The $25,000 Cruising Solution

How much/little do you need to spend to get a good 38-ft cruising boat?

In the case of Ben and Molly Doolittle of Sacramento, seen here with their sons Mickey and JP at the Red Chair street taco stand in La Cruz, it was just $25,000. That’s what they spent to purchase the S&S designed Catalina 38 Jace, which they sailed in the most recent Ha-Ha. And the boat was loaded.

"She came with decent-to-good sails, and a diesel and transmission with just 500 hours," says Ben. "In addition, she had great electronics, a refrigerator/freezer, an electric windlass, solar panels, a watermaker, a radar, nearly new canvas — and the interior was in beautiful shape with brand new cushions. All that for less than the price of most moderately priced cars. She was so complete that all we had to buy was an EPIRB and PFDs."

"What’s more," adds Molly, "the old owners really wanted us to buy her because she’d finally be going on the trip they’d prepared her for. We’ve been in touch ever since."

The Ha-Ha was Ben’s second, as he did the second one in ’95 with his dad aboard his Ericson 29 Pipe Dream. But he has more ambitious cruising plans for his family. After a couple of more months in Mexico, they’ll do the Cruisers’ Rally to El Salvador, then up to Key West and the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. A year from now they plan to be cruising the Eastern Caribbean on their fully loaded $25,000 boat.

If someone just wanted to cruise Mexico, Ben figures they could do it for less. Much less. "If somebody had a budget of $10,000, they’d have enough money to buy a very decent 30-ft boat and cruise Mexico for six months. And have a very decent boat left when they were done."