In the relatively short time that we’ve been looking for a boat, I’ve quickly discovered two things—first, many people don’t seem to be as OCD about their boat maintenance as we are and secondly, that even during a recession finding the right boat isn’t easy.

You might reasonably assume it’s a buyer’s market out there, flooded with all kinds of magnificent sailboats available for a song. You’d be wrong.

The powerboat market is a whole different animal, but brokers are telling me sailboat business has been humming since the sun came out. Well-maintained sailboats at good prices are hard to come by, particularly if—like most people, including us—you have a budget and a specific set of criteria in mind.

Our criteria: an offshore boat capable of circumnavigating and handling heavy weather, 38′ to 42′, in great condition and in the $150,000 range.

Our almost-daily searches of Yachtworld and other online boat listing sites turn up plenty of boats, almost all of which are ruled out over one deal-breaker or another. The boat’s not in North America, and flying to Tortola or France for the weekend isn’t on. The price is too high. The boat’s too small. The price is right but it’s a major project. There’s water or other damage visible in the photos. The boat has teak decks (potential leaking issues). The layout is bizarre. It’s a great boat but not for offshore cruising. The boat consultant said those boats have issues with ____ (fuel tank leaks, delamination, chainplate problems, blistering, poor handling, on and on). The boat is just … fugly.

All of this searching has been a crash course in aspects of boats I’d never bothered thinking much about. If you asked me six months ago what a chainplate failure is, I might have thought you were talking about a prison break. Okay, not really, but I now know more than I ever wanted to about the downsides of centerboards, the pros and cons of center cockpits and the various horrifying things that can happen to tanks—melting, dissolving, turning to jelly, depending what they’re made of and how they’ve been cared for. For someone with neurotic tendencies, that level of knowledge can be dangerous.

Maybe we’re being overly picky, but we want a boat we love and will keep for a long time. At the moment, the following are on the short list: Wauquiezs, Island Packets and Valiants, all well-regarded, sturdy offshore sailboats. There was a beautiful-looking Wauquiez for sale in Point Roberts, but by the time we were able to drive up to look at it a couple of weeks later, the boat was gone. Boat shopping is starting to feel like a Barney’s warehouse sale.

One explanation for all the boat-buying activity is that the recession has prompted a collective stock-taking, a reevaluation of priorities. It’s easier to abandon career-climbing when unemployment knocks you off the ladder. The miseries people around the nation are experiencing— foreclosures, bankruptcies, the sudden slide into poverty—can make the simple life look increasingly appealing.

For some, it’s even more fundamental than that: there’s no job to come home to, so maybe it’s time to act on those long-held cruising ambitions. Seems perfectly logical to me.

We’ll get there one day, but in the meantime, the quest for our sailboat continues. On the advice of the consultant, we’ve cast a net beyond our geographic area and are now looking in other parts of the country. This has definitely broadened the options. We’ve found two boats listed at very good prices.

One is owned by a bank, which took possession after its previous owners extensively outfitted it for offshore sailing and presumably ran out of money, steam or both. The other, sadly, was owned by a sailor who passed away, leaving a grieving family who just wants to get rid of the boat. The first is in Florida, the second in Michigan.

I’d like to tell you more, but I can’t. You might get there before we do.