34ft vs 38ft

[Dirkou]

Hi

I'm about to buy a small yacht which I will use for crossing between South Spain, the Canaries, Madeira and Azores. I'm quite knew to this (having my own boat) althought I've some experience in sailing in small yachts.

My question is: is there a real difference between doing an Ocean crossing on a 34 ft boat vs 38ft? It is easy to understand that 50ft boats have more space and are more comfortable but between a 34 and a 38 is there a real difference?

I'm opting for a new Beneteau Oceanis (34 or 38).
Tks.

 

[gavin_lacey]

Boats of this size and type regularly make such passages but how suitable they are is rather moot. RCD category A Ocean says they are. If you ignore the RCD categories and look at the code of practice for small vessels (charter or school use) you will see that size matters. Unless I am mistaken neither boat would be coded for Class 0 or class 1 on stability grounds. Class 2 (60 miles from safe haven) would be available for the 38 but You would have to do the calculation for the 34.

 

[KellysEye]

Beware of the RCD categories. The large French manufacturers hijacked the scheme because they were rightly worried about losing sales. This indicates to me that there probably aren't that many yachts that actually warrant an Ocean Category. Albeit a lot of AWB's go ocean sailing.

 

[jonic]

For extended offshore and if you have a choice, I would go for 38ft.

 

[KellysEye]

>go for 38ft.

I'd go with that, especially since we are the same size albeit heavy displacement.

Somebody once said to me that you should buy a boat that is one foot longer than your age. Given the tiny boats some Scandos sail they seem to believe it.

 

[damsis44]

If you're looking at new boats, I would definitely opt for 38ft.
Reasoning?
Having owned a Sadler 34 and a new Jeanneau 35, I would happily cross the Atlantic in the Sadler, but would think twice about doing it in the Jeanneau. Not because its any less of a yacht, its not, it was a great sailing boat, but because the Jeanneau behaved more like a big dinghy, flat sections aft, easily tempted to surf, needed reefing earlier, etc....
If older yachts aren't for you, then given the choice of a new 34 or 38, I'd opt for the 38 just to have a bit more presence in the water and have the weight and stability for when the going gets rough.

 

[Norman_E]

As others say, go for the 38 rather than the 34. Don't just look at length, and say 38 is 10.5% bigger than 34, look at displacement (for seagoing ability) and internal volume (for living and stowage space) and you will see that both are probably about 25% greater in the 38.

P.S. I did not think there was a Beneteau Oceanis 38, unless you mean the now discontinued 381?

 

[nimbusgb]

As others say, go for the 38 rather than the 34. Don't just look at length, and say 38 is 10.5% bigger than 34, look at displacement (for seagoing ability) and internal volume (for living and stowage space) and you will see that both are probably about 25% greater in the 38.

P.S. I did not think there was a Beneteau Oceanis 38, unless you mean the now discontinued 381?

The Oceanis 390 was/is a near as dammit to 38' as makes no difference. 390 referred to her beam of 3.90 m

 

[Mino]

Damn. That's means when I'm 94 I'll have to upgrade to a 95 footer!
*Sigh*
Oh well. Should be okay, though, coz I'll get my eighteen year old wife and her four sisters to crew it.
Wait a minute, have I missed something here...?

Somebody once said to me that you should buy a boat that is one foot longer than your age. Given the tiny boats some Scandos sail they seem to believe it.

 

[westernman]

Damn. That's means when I'm 94 I'll have to upgrade to a 95 footer!
*Sigh*
Oh well. Should be okay, though, coz I'll get my eighteen year old wife and her four sisters to crew it.
Wait a minute, have I missed something here...?

With the eighteen year old wife and her four sisters :-

1) You won't have time to go boating

2) You won't have any money left to buy the boat.

Good luck

 

[Mino]

LMAO!

You have a point, sir.

With the eighteen year old wife and her four sisters :-

1) You won't have time to go boating

2) You won't have any money left to buy the boat.

Good luck

 

[capnsensible]

Some 13 odd years ago, we looked at Moody 36's and 39's but bought a 33. After 12 years of living on board and 4 transatlantics, we remain very happy with our choice.

Easy to reef, easy to maintain and 12 times 1 metre per year mooring fees has been well invested....in beer probably!