35 footer for a newbie?

[LathanDevers]

Hi guys,

Please be gentle with me if this sounds crazy...

I've never owned or even driven a boat before but having just retired I've got this urge out of nowhere to buy a big motorboat. I'm thinking of something big enough to accommodate some friends or family from time to time both around the UK and the Med.

Am I mad to be looking at something like a 35+ footer for my first boat and should start much smaller or is this size perfectly doable with some common sense and a bit of tuition? (BTW I'm in my early 40s if that makes any difference.)

Thanks!

 

[LathanDevers]

Having looked into it more over the weekend something like the Sealine F42/5 would be ideal aspirationally, the question is whether it would be practical?

 

[CX54WEK]

Maybe you should go and hire/charter a boat first. Being on the water isnt everybodies cup of tea. Some dont take to it.

A Sealine F42/5 isnt going to be the easiest boat for a beginner to learn the ropes on.

 

[Imperial One]

The general advice to a newcomer to the sport is to buy the biggest, sound, quality boat you can for your budget. Your first boat will soon be outgrown and you will want to go larger - it's amazing how many new friends you accquire when you have a boat

The bigger the boat the easier they tend to handle. Go for shaft drive to help handling and above all else GET SOME TUITION. It is worth every penny and will enhance your enjoyment and use of the boat no end.

The beauty of a boat in the med over a holiday home is that when they build a Hotel or cement works at the bottom of the garden you cannot easily sell the villa but you can untie the boat and go somewhere else instead!

Mike

 

[Nick_H]

I don't think there's any great safety/handling/practicality issue having a 42 footer as your first boat, so long as you get some training, but financially it's a big investment if you then find that boating is not for you. May be worth chartering first, or kill two birds with one stone and find a school with a similar boat and do some training with them. That way you can see if you like it, and learn how to handle it at the same time.

 

[LathanDevers]

Thanks all. Over 150 Thread Views and no-one has suggested a visit from the men in white coats which together with the constructive comments suggests this could be do-able.

The suggestion of finding a school with a similar boat is a great idea and now that I've discovered the Sealine Sea School uses the F42/5 that looks very promising.

Thanks again.

 

[rafiki_]

From my experience, get a bit of practice on somebody else's first, like a hire boat on the Thames or Norfolk Broads. You can readily hire a 40 footer, but not like the Sealine you mention. You will need to charter in the med, but will need to have qualifications like the ICC, and probably hire a skipper too.

Go on give it a go! It is a great experience!!

 

[BUDMAN]

If you love boats just buy one you will soon learn, All i would say is just take your time when mooring do everything slowly.
I bought a 37 footer as my first big boat and had no problems we soon out grew it but i sold it easliy within 2 months just go for it you only live once. But make sure you do have some training it really does help.

 

[Ripster]

Arguably yours is a sensible approach. We have been through three boats in 4 years - each getting bigger as we fell more and more under the nautical spell. Our current 33ftr is great - big enough for the moment for us. Hindsight has taught us that we should have bought it first off and if we had not lost the money on the first two, we could have had a bigger one!!

As everyone says though.... GET SOME TRAINING ... and also moor/berth very slowly with lots of fenders!

 

[jfm]

Hi guys,

Please be gentle with me if this sounds crazy...

I've never owned or even driven a boat before but having just retired I've got this urge out of nowhere to buy a big motorboat. I'm thinking of something big enough to accommodate some friends or family from time to time both around the UK and the Med.

Am I mad to be looking at something like a 35+ footer for my first boat and should start much smaller or is this size perfectly doable with some common sense and a bit of tuition? (BTW I'm in my early 40s if that makes any difference.)

Thanks!

So long as you're confident you'll enjoy boating, and get the driving tuition, a 42er will be fine. My first boat (apart from dinghies) was a phantom 42 and I took a weeks tuition ("Dayskipper Practical", which is an excellent course) on a 42er. And obviously, you go very careful to begin with - eg do not go out on a windy day in a busy marina. Best of luck to you and let us know how it goes

 

[oldgit]

Hi guys,

Please be gentle with me if this sounds crazy...

Before you run out desperate to spend your bag of money........
An uncannily accurate rule of thumb is that any given boat will cost about 10% of its purchase price to run per annum.Thats just the ordinary running costs ie fuel,insurance,berthing,annual lift out and service.

Buying a boat is the easy bit.Good luck.

 

[LathanDevers]

I can easily see the almost addictive attraction of continually going bigger and better, in the space of two days I've already gone from 35' to 42' and I've not even bought my first boat yet.

The Day Skipper Theory and Practical are what I'm thinking of so it's good to hear recommendations for those.

Thanks for the heads up on costs, I've seen quite a few second-hand ones that seem reasonably priced so I'm not planning on going over-budget just yet. I do like my gadgets though so maybe I should make an effort not to look at all the new electronic toys I could get as add-ons.

 

[benjenbav]

Yup, you're quite mad, just like the rest of us. Don't expect it to be a great financial investment (think: "money pit"). But, if you enjoy it, there's nothing quite like it.

It's a great idea to get training on the sort of boat you're interested in, of course.

 

[hlb]

Unfortunatly you do need a few toys. Manual navigation is fine for raggies at 5 knots. Not so good at 20 knots.

Much depends on what you want to do. I started around 20 ft. Had to rent a caravan or Cottage as well. Soon moved up to 33ft. Great, did thousands of miles in it. But now got a P 35. Does every thing it says on the tin. Far bigger and more capable than a modern 35 foot'er which includes the swim platform in length. Had her for about 12 years, cant find anything better. WE were looking at a Fairline across the way. Newer and more modern yes. But it would be back to expencive replacing stuff which mostly we have new. A good 35ft'er is good for England and the channel, most any places. But it wont take you to the Med easily. For that you need some thing different.

 

[hlb]

An old raggie has just come into the dock, from Portugal, Set off in April.

Thats what you want.

 

[gjgm]

Just one point is that you might want to check family think this is fun before spending £000s. Its a big boat if swimbo and the kids are not on board !
You say UK and Med.. you might want to decide which bcz you arent going to be driving it back and forwards And depending where you will keep it might well influence quite which boat is more suitable.

 

[Canopy Locked]

Arguably yours is a sensible approach. We have been through three boats in 4 years - each getting bigger as we fell more and more under the nautical spell. Our current 33ftr is great - big enough for the moment for us. Hindsight has taught us that we should have bought it first off and if we had not lost the money on the first two, we could have had a bigger one!!

As everyone says though.... GET SOME TRAINING ... and also moor/berth very slowly with lots of fenders!

Could not agree more - wish I had bought my current boat 4 yrs ago - would have saved a fortune on selling / transport cost - The only problem is that most peoples 1st boat meets their percived requirements after a while, they find that their original ideas were not quite right and they look for something that does their job a bit better... as suggested - hire / charter a number of different boat to find what suits you sir!

 

[DavidJ]

Not crazy at all.
I got to 37ft in two jumps, a 19footer and a 23 footer (all Sealines by the way). The 37 footer is so easy to handle compared to the smaller single engine boats especially with a bow thruster. There are purists on this forum who would never use a bow thruster but it will get you out of many sticky (and potentially expensive!) moments. You will tend to use it less as you get a few years experience under your belt.
Suggest going on the Sealine Sea School course, you will get your ICC (International Certificate of Competance) which you will need for the Med as well as some excellent training.

You need to decide flybridge or sports. Good arguements both ways, our reasons for the sports S37 for the med was more social space, the driver can help with warps, less windage, less rolling ( I suffer from poor sealegs). Covers are a pain but really 5 mins in the morning and 5 mins at night to put up/take down is not so much a burden.

Sealines tend to be beamier than most which gives lots of living space at the expence of only a couple of knots at top speed. Have a look at their very popular S34.

Hope this helps

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Your post raises a few questions. First, do you have a budget because, stating the bleedin' obvious, that will largely determine the size of boat you buy? Second, you say you want to accomodate family and friends. How many because a 35 footer is likely only to have 2 sleeping cabins and that means accomodating only 2 extra people in addition to yourself (+ partner?). You can sleep additional people in the saloon of many boats on the convertible sofa but not for long periods. Then you say you want to go round the UK and the Med. Is this a firm ambition or just an aspiration because to do extended offshore cruising you'll need a good seaboat. Lastly, you say you have retired in your '40's. I don't like to ask but it is important. Was there a physical reason for that because to get around some types of mobos you need to be reasonably agile?
If you can give us a bit more info, we can point you at particular types of boats to start looking at

 

[strakeryrius]

Definitely not crazy going for a larger boat as a first purchase - as long as you are sure that its the right boat for you and what you want to do on her, it will save you a lot of money in trading up in future years. If you think that the family may be reluctant to crew for you and that you may end up boating solo often then consider a sports cruiser as has been suggested - they are much easier to berth solo than a flybridge model until you are very experienced.

A guy at our marina has just bought a Manhattan 50 as his first boat - no previous experience - but its the right boat for him and he has plans similar to yours - UK for a few years then eventually out to the Med.