Hey guys! Thanks for keeping the thread alive. Somehow, I managed to not subscribe to the thread and missed all these replies! So, what's been happening...
I really liked the S2 a lot, but the owner and I couldn't reach an agreement on price (especially since I'd have to get a trailer), so I moved on. The S2 was a great boat for its age, and I'm sure I'd have had a lot of fun with her. She was a little short in headroom, but otherwise would have been a good choice. Anyway, when that fell through, I moved on to other boats (Soling, I think maybe your #3 was the right answer!). Three weekends or so ago I took a ride out to Long Island because some guy had a Clipper Marine 26 that he was selling, and someone else was giving away an Irwin 25. I figured I'd check them out. I wasn't fond of the CM. The cabin was going to need a lot of work before I could have my boys in there, and the rest of the boat was just in fair shape. No soft spots that I found, and not major fiberglass problems that I could see, but still, just didn't get a good vibe.
I followed up on the Irwin expecting a real junker. To my utter amazement, the boat was actually one of the nicer I've seen. Hull was DRY (and this was after heavy rains, and the boat was in water, no power hooked up), cabin was in good shape, no soft spots seen in the hull, centerboard/keel raised and lowered smoothly without a lot of rattle, and over all she felt much more solid than most of the others I've seen. The problems with her were: mainsail was torn, she needed an engine, and she didn't come with a trailer. So, I spent the better part of the past two weeks trying to find at least an engine and a trailer so I could get her home. Sailing/motoring her home was't really an option, because I'm inexperienced, it would be a 3 day adventure, and I don't know enough about the boat to make that trip, so trailering was really the only option. The boat is listed at 5500 lbs, so I was looking for trailers that could handle at least 6000 lbs, and that made things difficult. I actually found one this past weekend out on Long Island, about 20 minutes from the boat, and was all set to head out there this weekend. Then the Irwin owner E-mailed me and said he had someone else was interested in the boat. I told him that realistically, the logistics of getting the boat from LI to the Delaware River or Ocean City, NJ were proving to be difficult, and that if he the other guy wanted the boat, I had no problems with him giving the boat to the other guy. It was a tough decision, but ultimately (again, going with the "fate saving my butt" comment above) probably the right one. So, I'm on the hunt again.
The more my wife and I discussed the Irwin, the more we realized that one of the two extremes was probably best - either a little 12-16' that we could keep at Peace Valley (local lake) and then pack up and take with us when we felt like sailing elsewhere, or a 24-26 that is "trailerable", but would be spending most of its time in or immediately next to the water so we weren't rigging/derigging her all the time. I've had a hard time finding the smaller boats, or at least at a price I can rationalize, so I'm tending to focus more on the mid-size boats. This Saturday, I'll be visiting an early 70's Ericson 25 swing keel, a 1983 or 84 Catalina 25, and a 24' Seafarer. Of the three, only the Seafarer comes with a trailer.
If these wind up not meeting our needs, I'll probably keep looking for another week or two, and then hold off until Spring. Maybe try to save a few bucks over the winter, too, so I'll have more to spend. Of course, owners may not be as willing to part with their boats at "discount" prices in the spring, but in the end, that seems to make the most sense.
