Boats from the north are no problem..
but trucking can get very expensive. If you're looking at the boats listed there should be plenty of those boats available down south. While the Ericson is arguably the best built of the boats you mentioned they too have some issues on certain models. Ericson used headliners on many models and they can become very moldy and smelly and are not an easy or cheap fix. The interior fit and finish on the Ericson's is also of top quality. The Catalina 30 has loads of room and there are plenty to choose from. They are still in business and are easy to get parts for too. The main thing to watch for on any boat is a wet deck. Wet decks are caused by lack of maintenance in terms of re-bedding deck hardware on a regular interval. Another issue on many boats is the keel smile or crack. Builders including Catalina, Hunter, Endeavor, Pearson and lots of others used marine plywood to build up the laminate structure of the keel stub. While this works fine for a few years, as the boat get older, water inevitably gets into the laminate, causes damage and allows keel flexing which leads to the "smile". This type of laminate schedule works well until an owner touches the bottom, the keel to hull joint is compromised, and water leaks into the plywood around the keel bolts. Once this keel stub is wet it begins to rot and, while very unlikely, it could lead to failure of the keel stub or in a worst case the total loss of the keel. Catalina stopped using plywood in the keel stubs in mid 1987 and the keel stubs are solid glass form mid 87 on. I don't know when other builders stopped or if they ever did because many of them are out of business now. Don't let this stop you from buying a boat unless the keel stub shows high moisture content upon a survey. If there is a brownish colored water leaking out of the "keel smile" walk away as this brownish "leak" is the result of severely rotted plywood! All the boats you mentioned would be a good start but please buy a good one. Project boats don't save money. Yes you can incrementally throw money at it paycheck to paycheck but in the long run a poorly maintained boat will cost loads more than a well maintained specimen. The upfront cost difference of perhaps 20% between a project and a sail away boat is well worth it! The Catalina 30 is perhaps the best boat to be a potential buyer of. Because there were so many made and there are so many individual levels of personal maintenance the buyer wins. An owner of a Catalina 30 who is anal retentive about maintenance and up keep still has to compete with the other 150 used Catalina 30's listed for sale. As a result you can find a very nicely maintained Catalina 30 for relatively short money. Above all else a good survey is usually FREE! I have never had a survey where the surveyor did not find something that could reduce the cost of the boat by at least the survey price but usually more. You can save money by starting with soundings and deck moisture first. Many surveyors will allow you to stop a survey of they find serious "walk away" moisture and will only charge you a portion. Be careful many surveyors save moisture readings for last so they get paid a full survey fee. Ask for the moisture readings and soundings first! In short buy maintenance & upkeep & NOT on price only!!! It would really help us, to help you, if we knew a rough budget? Ie: We can afford to pay X for the boat and will have X left over to sink into repairs and upgrades... I like to think of boats in terms of a cost/quality equation with three levels. These levels are my own feelings so don't start tearing me apart for my personal rational as the rule or "boat buying Bill of Rights"! This is a rough guide only and again my own personal view. By the way I categorize my own boat as Level 1 as I can have just as much fun for less money on a Catalina. Now if I was crossing oceans I be buying, at a minimum, a level 2 boat but thats not how I'm sailing right now so level 1 it is! Level 1 boats: High fun to cost ratio (lots of bang for the buck fine for coastal cruising and carib type sailing) Catalina Hunter Beneteau (First series border on level 2) Jenneau O'Day Endevour Irwin Pearson (some Pearson's can actually fall into level 2) & others Level 2 Boats: Medium fun to cost ratio (many of these can, with care, be used for ocean sailing) Tartan C&C (some of these could be level 1's most level 2's) Sabre Ericson (some of the Ericson's could actually be level 1) Hinterholler (Nonsuch & Niagra) Pacific Seacraft Cape Dory Bristol J Boats CS Yachts (Some for these can be level 1) Island Packet & Others Level 3 Boats: Ridiculous fun to $$ ratio Hinckley Morris Swan Halberg Rassey Shannon & Others
, but got his money back and she's going to someone that has the time and love to put into her. She is a great project boat and she taught me a few things and I enjoyed crawling around in her hull. Good news is that he is looking for another one to buy very soon and I have a few questions to keep me around a little bit 
