Our first decision was fairly easy we knew we wanted a mono hull, next was the size that would be manageable for two people cruising. Initially we were looking for algrip decking and trying to avoid teak decks. It was also important that, as much as possible, we were looking for boats that had equipment redundancy.

The reality of shopping for a used live-aboard cruising boat set in very quickly. Firstly, prepare to spend hours online searching and looking at boats from all over the world. We finally narrowed our search to the east coast of the US and the Mediterranean. We tried to narrow down our search by design to four boat builders which did work for our purposes. Even though we had our list and completed our research the old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” does not apply to boat shopping.

It was our experience that you must embrace the adventure of the search. You may end up looking at a lot of “toads” before you find your “princess”–the right boat at the right price. This means arranging multiple trips and multiple viewings in our case all along the east coast of the US and in Europe and, ultimately, Turkey. We usually arranged three or four viewings when we were in an area. Often that meant extra flights or jumping in a car to head to the next marina.

The search also provides a look at areas and marinas that you will hopefully be visiting by sailboat in the future. It’s always good to get the lay of the land. Talk to the marina staff and other sailors at the marina, you can’t beat local knowledge. Even with language barriers we always left an area with some good information for our next visit.

Each step over the two-year process was getting us closer to our goal and we were learning from other more experienced sailors and boat owners that time and being motivated buyers would put us in a good position when we decided to make an offer on a boat. So be patient you are in the driver’s seat.

We will share our adventures as we embark on our cruising life. The important take-aways from our introduction are very simple

• Embrace the search process
• Take your time
• Do your research
• Speak with other boaters if you have any questions
• You will learn something new with every boat and boat yard you visit
• Be patient, you are in the driver seat