Best live aboard yacht.

"extremely reliable" might be the deal killer. You could look at
Hatteras or to make your money go further, Bayliner. Boats require constant maintenance in order to achieve some level of reliability over time. The boats reliability will generally have a lot to with with your ability to understand and maintain the systems.

Sounds like fun.

For only 200k the best I can come up with is a Pacemaker. They never got well know before it was to late. They are a ok boat with great layouts and plenty of room. I am no fan of the Detroit but most anything you will find in that price will have the 71s or 92s



1978 Pacemaker Motor Yacht Power Boat For Sale - www.**************

I did a search on Yachtworld for boats $200K and under for DC,MD and VA and in addition to the Pacemaker you may want to consider the following:

1969 Huckins Caribbean Power Boat For Sale - www.**************

1976 Bertram Motor Yacht Wide Body Power Boat For Sale - www.**************

1986 Kha Shing Wide Body Motor Yacht Power Boat For Sale -

There were also a number of Chris-Craft Constellations available, but these may require a bit more work than you desire.

Good luck.

Interesting the Huckins website indicates they started building 'composite vessels' in 1975....and that listing didn't give any details about what sort of 'composite' construction it was?....clean looking vessel though.

Brian,

I agree, it was rather nice looking. One other thing in its favor IMHO is that Huckins is still in business. That should help in parts availibility.

Hatteras MY or the LRCs comes to mind first...

dont forget to think slightly outside the box;
the vintage 43 Viking Aft cabin and the newer 44 Viking Aft Cabin could also make a nice liveaboard.

I would also consider some of the 70's vintage Crist Crafts. I had a dock neighbor who lived on a 53 CC MY.

Also some of the 40-50 SFs can be very nice live aboards for a couple. Some have two staterooms and two full heads, with a nice salon.

Dont forget the trawler crowd, how about a Katie Krogan 36' Manitee. Not the prettiest boat, but one of the largest living spaces of a boat under 60' that I have ever been aboard, and one of the most economical boats to run with its single 4 cyl diesel.


It really is a buyers market, shop around, make some comparisons, see what you like.

i'm obviously a little partial to older Hatt MYs but they do offer an incredible amount of space, plus some pretty seaworthy hulls and quality construction/systems often superior to other boats of that vintage. hard to beat fiberglass tanks for instance...

that said, like everything else that vintage, how much maintenance and upgrades were done over the years is as important as initial quality.

these days you can get a good 53MY for well below 200k, even a 58YF (identical to the 53 but has a cockpit). you can probably find an 80s vintage wider beam 53 or 56MY for not much over 200k.

Bed and Breakfast? depends on where you are... dont' know if there is a market for that in Norfolk. chartering can work but like every business it takes a few years to build up to the point where you can turn a profit. marketing is key, jsut having a website isnt' going to bring you business.

i agree with Pascal, Hatts are a great way to live aboard.

when Jack Hargrave designed the 50 MY back around 1966, which quickly became the 53 by 69, he simply threw away the conventional MY layout with the saloon down below forward of the helm and came up with a true flush deck where the saloon, pilothouse, aft deck and side deck are all on the same level. it was a revolutionary layout which Hatteras adopted, very succesfully, across its line, eventually dropping the 58TC a few years later.

Chris, Bertram, pacemaker and others stuck with the older design and eventually lost ground.

it's really a terrific layout, the only downside are the somewhat smallish split engine rooms, but access to the engines is still pretty good. he made up for it with a large genny room under the galley...

the fact that hatteras kept that original design alive all the way into the late 90s, in various sizes and beam, is proof of Hargrave genius....

That is something every boat owner hopes for and is impossible to predict no matter which brand or who does the pre purchase survey.
"Endless trouble" is actually endless maintenance/costs.....endless, unless you let things go, in which case it will be major issues.

Just an fyi .....Ck out the hours on the filters and the date on the pics if I were selling I wouldnt put 11-13-10 filters pics.. alot of things can change and look diff in 2 yrs...

I'm in search of similar yacht, I've found that I'm really looking towards a Marine trader, or DeFever, pilot house, or an Ocean Alexander. Albin also makes a great live aboard. I'm coming off a 50 ft sailboat, and I also captain a 50ft Viking sport fisher. both beautiful boats, but to travel I want to go faster than my sailboat, but not a gas guzzler sport fishing boat. So I've researched a lot of boats, and the pilot house Defever has really caught my eye, I like the space, and price. also easy engine rooms to work on the engines to do your own maintenance. all with in your price range.. and remember with the size your looking at, it is a buyers market....

lol... and i'm planning to sell the Hatt for a sail boat...

my next slip neighbor has a 49 Defever w/cockpit. i've helped him a few times, there is no comparison in quality and space between the DeFever and the Hatt. not sure what year, fairly recent, 10 year old maybe.

I love Hatt's, perfect size, and an amazing yacht. and definitely more room than a DeFever.. I've been drawn to the pilot house style of the 49 DeFever.. and more in my price range also.. most of the Hatt's Ive looked at are a bit out of my price range.. or they need a ton of work...