32ft cruiser/racer, what would you buy to sail single handed?

[kassita]

There was talk of good autopilots earlier. The brand used by serious ocean racers (including Classe Mini) is NKE - a gyro stabilised system where a lot of work has gone into the programming to allow it to keep high performance boats on their toes. It also uses a hydraulic ram to steer which is very powerful and can react very fast when needed. It's not cheap though - the whole package including the instruments could run over £10k. The advantage is that it could turn many boats into a great single hander. If you know you can absolutely rely on the auto-pilot then you can concentrate on setting the right amount of sail and getting your nav and weather planning sorted.

I agree that a reliable pilot is super important for solo racing, especially for long distances and downwind. B&G is the other brand frequently used. It's what most of the IMOCA60s have, and what I have.

I heard Nikki Curwen give a talk at RORC last week about her MiniTransat experience. She had a lot of trouble with both of her NKE pilots and then both of her tiller pilots (not so surprising giving the conditions). She has recently become a 'Brand Ambassador' for B&G, which is...interesting.

But before anyone accuses me of trying to sell B&G gear, I should say that I've heard just as many stories of problems with B&G pilots. Oh, and Raymarine ones as well. I've concluded that solo racers are very good and discovering the weaknesses of autopilots.

 

[Javelin]

I kind of went the opposite route.
Buy an ex racer and cruiserise it.
Humphries 3/4 tonner, cheap as chips, fast, stiff and strong.
So my guess is 1/2 tonner would be even cheaper.
Then ditch the silly little 8hp engine by the mast and chuck in a 30hp Yanmar.
Add a 100 lt fuel tank instead of the 10lt one.
Swap the frac rig with runners for a Masthead Rig.
Fit out below to your own taste as there will be loads of space.
In my case you end up with a fast, comfortable boat for less than 25K.

 

[bbg]

I agree that a reliable pilot is super important for solo racing, especially for long distances and downwind. B&G is the other brand frequently used. It's what most of the IMOCA60s have, and what I have.

I heard Nikki Curwen give a talk at RORC last week about her MiniTransat experience. She had a lot of trouble with both of her NKE pilots and then both of her tiller pilots (not so surprising giving the conditions). She has recently become a 'Brand Ambassador' for B&G, which is...interesting.

But before anyone accuses me of trying to sell B&G gear, I should say that I've heard just as many stories of problems with B&G pilots. Oh, and Raymarine ones as well. I've concluded that solo racers are very good and discovering the weaknesses of autopilots.

My experience of NKE was nothing but good. OK, one exception - see below. It is VERY power hungry, but if you are ready for that it is great. I had one day with perfect surfing conditions. Put the pilot on to make dinner and within 2 minutes we had a new max speed. So I steered for a few minutes until we got a new max speed then started on dinner again. New max speed by NKE. This happened two more times until we went over 17 knots and I gave up and just ate my yummy freeze-dried meal while Britney Steers.

It is amazing how "tweakable" the controls are.

Only negative for me was about 3 days out of Brazil when one of the control heads failed due to water ingress. If I had known the system better I would have just switched control to the other control head, but I just shut the system down and switched to a Raymarine SPX5. The difference in power consumption was an eye-opener.

If I were to do it again, I would use NKE electronics (and leave the hydraulic ram attached but not in use) and use them to drive an SPX5 or similar.

 

[bignick]

Two more for your shortlist:
Elan 31 ("Kudos" was featured in PBO last year) - rates better than its successor the 310.
Dehler 33 - a friend has a 29 and that is a fantastic boat. Great rating and well behaved. The 33 looks even better.

 

[Georgio]

Two more for your shortlist:
Elan 31 ("Kudos" was featured in PBO last year) - rates better than its successor the 310.
Dehler 33 - a friend has a 29 and that is a fantastic boat. Great rating and well behaved. The 33 looks even better.

Looks like there are two versions of the 33, a more cruise oriented one and the 33 Competition that has a taller rig. Shame that there does not appear to be many around because they do look good on paper as a performance cruiser although the interior is, er, a bit 80's which is a shame for a 90's boat and really puts me off.