So after many moons trying to get over our last rather traumatic excursion into the realm of boat ownership....we decided to try again.

Over the last few months we have been searching for a boat that we felt comfortable with. Yes, we did look at the local stuff, but as always we did not find anything that made us go "yes please".
On the other hand, the ZAR was going into free fall, so buying overseas was becoming increasingly more....difficult.

We did find a very nice boat in the UK that we were seriously looking at. The big issue was the cost of bring into SA. It just did not make sense to pay almost 40 odd % to revenue and delivery etc. The alternative obviously was to keep it offshore....but this did not make sense as we would only get to use it maybe 15 to 20 days a year ! After a not so short while of 'to-ing and fro-ing' on the issue, we made a call not to go with her, simply because it did not make sense ! Very nice boat tho, a walk on and bugger off ready !

In the meantime we had met a broker in Cape Town who, if I must be honest, is a gem. His whole attitude was to try and help. Yes he did take us to some....not so interesting...boats, but thats what he had on the books that kind of met our requirements.

And then about a month ago, he asks if we would be interested in a Dudley Dix Hout Bay 50....not that he has one on the books, but that he knows of one who MAY be interested in selling....no promises !

To say we jumped on it is an understatement !

When we first started looking at what type / kind of boats we would be interested in - maybe 6 or 7 years back - the Dix HB50 was the one boat we went "WOW, that is really nice !"
It just 'ticked' many of the boxes !

Within a week, I had found another HB50 for sale in SA !
A week after finding this, we went to view it !
What a disappointment. The original owner started as a Cargo version, then bastardised it into a charter. The design was that we would have to strip the inside out completely, and start over.

While we were looking at this boat and mulling it over, the broker came back to confirm that his contact was prepared to consider selling !

Early August, I went to view in St Francis.
She was in the water, slightly neglected due to the owner being offshore for much of the time, but a sound boat, my first impression.

Cut a long story, came home, discussed with the Boss, and following day made an offer.

In the meantime, the broker had also managed to source an old client who wanted to sell their mooring in Hout Bay. A few concerns, but at the price, and for a double mooring, for that size boat, we just could not walk away.

So, boat and mooring, offered, accepted, payments transferred and received, all by mid Aug.

So, we start again......

For some pics of 2 of the other boats we looked at, as well as the Dix HB50, see the side link 'Favourites - Starting again'