Which sub 37 ft yacht to cross the North Atlantic in?

thecommander

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60k to play with.
Sub 37 ft.
Long keel and a skeg hung rudder are a must.
No med boats.
Tiller steered.
No cruiser-racers.

What would you choose?
Asking for a friend. :encouragement:

P.S. A 1996 era Rustler 36 is high on the list!
 

Tranona

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Long list of boats that meet that requirement. Challenge will be to find one that is in a fit state to cross the Atlantic within that budget - unless that is just the purchase price with a further budget to prepare for the trip.

Tell your friend that it is not much use asking here as he will either just get a list or the poster's own favourite. Only sensible thing to do is to draw up a short list from what is actually for sale and inspect the boats personally. Be prepared to look at a lot of boats before finding THE one.
 

thecommander

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It's not for the Golden Globe, but he wants a boat that meets the basic requirements of that race.

"A boat designed prior to 1988 that have a full-length keel with rudder attached to their trailing edge."

After reading about recent spade rudder losses on the Atlantic, he's worried about it.
Not to mention fin keel failures.
He'll be taking the Northern route, so no champagne sailing!
 
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A couple from our club did it in a centre cockpit Moody 385 and didn't enjoy it a bit, so anything that doesn't resemble that would be good.
Let me guess, lots of rolling downwind perched atop of a relatively high elevation Moody centre cockpit?
 

thecommander

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Skeg and long keel aside, which sub 37 ft boat would you cross the North Atlantic in?
Give him some non long keel options.
You do seem to get alot more boat for your money by going down this route.
 

richardsn9

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If he is searching around at the moment, there's a tidy looking Saltram 36 on brokerage at Buckler's Hard which would tick your boxes? (No connection to the owner or broker)
 

Goldie

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Long keel and a skeg hung rudder are a must.

Can we just clarify that please? To me, a 'long keel' has a rudder hung on the trailing edge of the keel. A skeg hung rudder is mounted on a skeg (aft of a fin keel). Are you looking for a long keel by my definition, or is a (long) fin and skeg in the running?

As an aside, the Biscay 36 mentioned elsewhere (fantastic boat - had one for 21 years) is out, they're wheel steered.
 
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Skeg and long keel aside, which sub 37 ft boat would you cross the North Atlantic in?
Give him some non long keel options.
You do seem to get alot more boat for your money by going down this route.

See my post, all encapsulated keels, deep forefoot, long fin and keg, more 3/4" keel than long keel per se.
 

johnalison

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Let me guess, lots of rolling downwind perched atop of a relatively high elevation Moody centre cockpit?
As well as the centre cockpit, it is a relatively high volume hull that just bounced around. The OP is clearly aiming to avoid such a boat.
 

Saguday

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Island Packet 35 or 37, although wheel steered it's direct not cable, plenty of them have cross d the Atlantic.

Contessa I thought was the go-to boat for this sort of thing, or a Victoria 30-something.

Dunno, never done it, but if I did I'd want something pretty chunky and sturdy too.
 

thecommander

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We're liking the Oyster Heritage 37.
Further research required on how the steering works.
Long keel is ok.
Provided the rudder is protected that's ok.

No respect to AWBs, but the horror stories aren't pleasant.
 
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BobnLesley

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...Challenge will be to find one that is in a fit state to cross the Atlantic within that budget...

Sorry, but I disagree strongly, there are loads of boats out there that'll fill the OP's remit and including suitable upgrades/re-fitting will remain well under 60k.

The Nics, Rivals, Rustlers and others already mentioned; we're using a 35' Trident Challenger (stern cockpit version of the Warrior 35) which other than being wheel steered ticks all the OP's boxes, that said, we have seen a tiller steered Trident, and I wouldn't anticipate it being that difficult or costly to change one from wheel to tiller steering as there's easy and logically placed acess to the rudder-head through the emergency tiller point in the cockpit sole .
 

capnsensible

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I reckon people get too picky over stuff that is simply unimportant. It's only three weeks.

Have been across and back twice in my 1977 moody 33 with no drama. Enjoyed it more than some other yachts I ve been paid to take across or back.

If you put too many limits on it, chances are you will never go???
 
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