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[quote=dartsailors]I'm newer to the board as well and got back into sailing after a 20 year lapse.  I bought a Dart 18 that was ready to go from someone well-respected in our local sailing community.  Even with a well maintained boat, I have still found myself putting money into it and the trailer.  Over 2 years (I think that's when I bought it):

replaced both trailer tires
rewired trailer
repaired main (my fault)
added a righting line
replaced jib blocks
replaced mainsheet line
replaced jib sheet line

When the wind dies down here closer to the summer, I need to take the boat apart to replaced my traveler wheels and some sail slugs that are used on my boat to tie off the tramp.  Since the boat will be apart, I plan to check the bottom to see if I need to do any fiberglass/gelcote repair.

The moral to my story is that I'm doing/have done all of this with a ready to go boat and I've got literally decades of sailing and catamaran experience at my disposal where I sail out of.  As others have put it more eloquently, if you want a long term project, that's a great boat at the price.  If you want to sail, I'd pass for something in better shape.

Dana

P.S.  If you have the means available and you have storage that you don't have to pay for, you might consider grabbing it for $500 and working on it while you sail something else.  But then you would have a catamaran fleet, which might be more than you want to get into.  Good luck![/quote]

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