How to Buy a Schooner

Schooners are doubled masted sailboats that many people associate with ocean adventure myth and lore. The classic lines and shapes of schooners make them irresistible to many sailors. Schooners, however, are generally complex, aging boats that demand tremendous skill to maintain and sail. Follow these steps to buy a schooner.

Instructions

1. Know what you're getting into. It may seem like just one extra mast, but the truth is that the significantly more complex rigging, the wooden hulls and the intricate sail configurations make schooners very complicated and expensive boats to own. The large size of the boats also ramps up costs with higher maintenance and marina fees.

2. Make a plan. Unless you have endless amounts of money to throw at the boat, you need to make a business plan to buy and fund the boat. Your plan should take into account the cost of searching for a serviceable boat, repairing any damage or problems, keeping the boat in the water and, finally, sailing the boat.

3. Consider making the boat into a floating museum. One excellent way to buy and operate a schooner is to make the boat into a non-profit cause. By basing a non-profit organization around a historical schooner (even if the history is local) you can raise money, save on taxes and get a community rallied around the boat's purchase and well being.

4. Buy opportunistically. Although schooners are rarely sailed today (compared with simpler vessels) and even more rarely built, there are quite a few schooners on the market. You can find listings in most sailboat seller's magazines and agencies. The trick, however, is to bide your time and wait to come across the boat that is just right for you since any small mismatch in your needs and a potential boat can magnify into major problems when dealing with a boat as large and complicated as a schooner.