Honey Ryder - Our Quicksilver 540 boat
So, after hearing about our boat driving practical and exams, I’ll tell you how we eventually managed to buy a boat. It was much more difficult than we thought it would be. In anticipation of passing our exam first time, which we didn’t, we had already started saving to buy a boat. As it took us a little longer, we had a great head start on our “boat fund”. However, after visiting 20+ ports (there’s a lot of coastline in Murcia), 15 boat shops and several websites, 12 months later we were without a boat. So I did what I always do when faced with frustration – I sulked.
After sulking for a month, we started again, back to the first boat shop. And there she was, a boat we’d seen a year ago, but couldn’t afford at the time. She was just waiting for us.Now, I know we’re a bit picky so we had a very sensible and firm list of requirements:
- between 5m and 6 m in length – not too small, but not so big that we have to have regular MOTs
- with a small cabin – so we can “camp” in it at weekends
- easy to get on and off – we are planning on using the boat for diving, diving gear is clumsy to lump around
- 90cv engine minimum – want to get back to shore quickly if there’s an emergency
- less than 5 years old
- spec’ed for zone 5 in category C, which means we can go out to 5 nautical miles – more than enough for diving range (we’re qualified to zone 4 – 12 nautical miles)
We found our Quicksilver 540 at a boat shop in Cabo de Palos, Murcia. She is 3 years old, has been out of the water waiting for us for 18 months, has had one careful owner and Olaf at the boat shop would get her spec’ed to zone 4 and back in the water all within the negotiated price.
Useful Websites:
Some Boat Shops in Murcia:
Jaloque in Cabo de Palos
J Olivares in Tomas Maestre
Marina Centre in Cabo de Palos
Navisurest in San Pedro del Pinatar
I have to say we’re glad that we’ve bought from a boat shop for our first boat, as the paperwork is, as usual in Spain, prolific to say the least. There’s the change of ownership, the change of name (I know it’s supposed to be bad luck, but my name’s not Sheila – Sheila’s Pride II was just too silly for us – sorry Sheila), the tax forms, the proof of residency, and loads more… We’re happy to let Olaf at Jaloque do all that.
If you’re buying a new boat you will have to pay tax. There’s a great article here about the costs of buying a new boat in Spain.
Then we needed a port to amarre our boat. Back to the websites, this time searching for a mooring. The websites mentioned above are great for boats and moorings – you can search down to size, location, type etc. We wanted to moor in Cartagena, but everyone just laughed at us. You need a bigger boat to play with yachtees down there. Our baby boat would have to get parked somewhere else. We found a mooring in San Pedro del Pinatar, just 30 minutes drive from home, in a nice port.
So, now we’re just waiting to take delivery of her at the weekend. We’ve booked Santi from Colomer to give us a day’s refresher practical course before we go out alone. We’ve been practicing our knots and have taken “bookings” from friends and family for their excursions.We’re ready to play!
Till next time, places to go and fishes to meet
Debs
