Kent & Gloria. All of the advice you were given seemed to be right on point, especially Bob Austin's. The 50 is a very large boat, and it will need to have a lot of systems replaced, and you will indeed spend a lot of money doing so. I would budget $75,000 to $100,000 in additional cost. Veiner's Law #5 (probably stated previously by someone older and wiser). "Marine Traders are cheap to buy, but dear to maintain. Nevertheless, knowing this in advance, I chose to buy a 1979 Marine Trader classic DC 44' last fall and have spent all of the time and money since then bringing it up to an acceptable standard for coastal cruising. The choice was mine, because I could either wait for the stock market and my investments to return to 1999 levels (humph slight chance) in order to buy a new boat, like a Krogan 39 at about a half million, or get started with cruising now on a limited budget. Suggest that whatever you do, have a good survey, and then price out the cost of making repairs for those items. In spite of very careful cost estimating, I still erred on the low side. Veiner's Law #2 is, "It is going to take twice as long for the job and cost twice as much." That came from nearly 50 years of sailboat experience, and it has to be modified for a trawler to maybe, "Twice as long and three times as much." Replacing the fuel tanks alone, which will have to be done on that vintage boat, is at least a $15,000 job if you plan to have a yard do it for you, as will the cost of painting the topsides run around $15,000. Perhaps you should also focus more on your intended use, and do some more research, for example, read Voyaging Under Power. I have no illusions about our boat, Micha, it is indeed a semi-displacement boat, and I consider it a coastal cruiser. If you plan to spend a great deal of time making 1.000 mile voyages from south Florida to the Virgin Islands, you may be better off selecting a different vessel. While I'm not familiar with the specs on the MT 50, Floyd Ayers, the designer, had a tendency to just upscale his designs for creating a larger boat. These boats lack the requisite D/L ratios, Above Water/Below Water Ratio (A/B), and ballast to be true ocean-going vessels. Can they make such a trip? Sure. They have pretty good Speed/Length ratios, and they carry enough fuel, BUT, I wouldn't want to get caught out several hundred miles at sea in a gale. There are others who would disagree and tell you that we all take chances when making ocean passages. True, but why push your luck. In summary, do your homework, budget the cost of repairs, add another chunk of money for unforseen contingencies, and make sure this is the right boat for how you plan to use it. And remember, it is very easy to get the wrong boat "at the right price." Martin I. Veiner & Margaret Rogers Shearon Technology Perspectives Consulting 1825 Bridgemont Trail, Tallahassee, FL 32312-3623 Tel: 850-907-9969; Cel: 850-559-1766 Email: veiner@juno.com ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today!

Having bought a sail boat or two (and having invested in the stock market), I know exactly what you mean. In the past, I assumed I would need an additional 30%. Looks like trawlers are no better (or worse?). Kent ----- Original Message ----- From: "Martin I Veiner" <veiner@juno.com> To: <trawler-world-list@lists.samurai.com> Cc: <veiner@juno.com> Sent: Friday, July 11, 2003 5:57 AM Subject: TWL: Re: Recommendation on Marine Trader > All of the advice you were given seemed to be right on point, especially > Bob Austin's. The 50 is a very large boat, and it will need to have a lot > of systems replaced, and you will indeed spend a lot of money doing so. I > would budget $75,000 to $100,000 in additional cost. <<snip>> >The choice was mine, because I could either wait for the stock market and >my investments to return to 1999 levels (humph slight chance) in order to >buy a new boat, like a Krogan 39 at about a half million, or get started >with cruising now on a limited budget.