Advice on yacht for short handed sailing

[stu9000]

I handle my Westerly 35 on my own a fair bit. Bow thruster helps. Autohelm a necessity. In terms of weight and physically hauling lines, or leaping around the boat, I have no concerns, in spite of a sometimes iffy back. Anchor remote is a help. The ability to drop the hook while at the helm is useful when trying to find the perfect depth/shelter/distance. If electric windlass already fitted a remote switch is easy to install. The tricky moments are getting into a marina berth in a stiff cross breeze. You make a few mistakes and learn how your boat handles. She has lazy jacks wich are great for just letting the main drop and running off to do something else in a hurry. Reef lines led back to the cockpit. Im 50/50 on this. When reefing I still have to go up on deck to attach the cunningham hook. Sometimes I wish I had good ol halyard winches on the mast as the lines back to the cockpit have more friction. If I had the money and inclination, a good bow thruster and even the odd electric winch Id go up to 45 foot without feeling I had to have crew.

 

[V1701]

Sorry I haven't read the whole thread but I'd approach it the other way round - see what's available within your budget and near enough to where you want to sail from to get her home without incurring a major expense and treat each on its merits. You might miss a suitable boat because it's not on the shortlist. Good luck with the search...

 

[Concerto]

I have a Hanse 311. In hindsight I would liked to have bought 35 ft. for single handing. I sail 2000 miles P annum 90% SH & it is excellent for that.
However, my comment is really re the EV100 ( edited)tiller pilot - IT IS A DEATH TRAP- If the boat is on a broad reach with a quartering sea of 1.5 meters or more & F5 or more the boat can quickly round up. The autopilot responds too slow, so the boat can soon get off course by 70 degrees. Then it cuts out. The instument shows "autopilot failure" & bleeps weakly, leaving the tiller hard over. If I cannot get to it in time the boat then comes back on course then goes into a dangerous crash gybe.
Sometimes the thing just gets tired & packs up for 45 mins & I have to wait to re set it, hand steering in the meantime.
The real annoying thing with tiller pilots is that they cannot "think". If I am sailing in a quartering sea I just tweak the tiller as the wave comes & the boat stays beautifully on course. If I leave it a bit late (like an autopilot) It becomes really hard work to get it back. It is not a case of sail balance, but really one of sea state.
With the old Raymarine ST 2000 ( now on the 3rd one) it did at least bring the boat back on course then straighten the tiller. Although once it decided to veer 20 degrees , put be aground so I lost my rudder 600 miles from home.
I also have an aeries & although it is not much use for down wind, it does bring the boat back on course. But that course can be a bit "S" sometimes. At least it keeps trying & i can trust it to work in a consistent manner.

You continually say you have problems with your EV100, but I do think it is a combination of the set up (in another thread someone questioned arm lockup due to incorrect arm position) and the balance of the boat whilst sailing. I have an EV100 tiller fitted on my Fulmar and find it works far better than the old Autohelm 2000 that was originally fitted. This video shows (starting at 5.57) how well it is handling in a strong wind on the quarter.

On this singlehanded trip from the Medway to the Isles of Scilly and back, the EV100 was used for about 95% of the trip. It performed brilliantly and made my life a lot easier with sailing days of 14 to 16 hours. The clip shows the return from the islands straight back to Salcombe, a distance of 100 nautical miles, with an average speed of 6½ knots. You can see how well it performs in strong winds under spinnaker in another video.

I totally disagree the EV100 is a death trap as I and many other EV100 are not having the problems you are. It is sensitive and responsive along with being very reliable and trustworthy.

 

[jdc]

Could you expand on how that works please - or is it only for hanked -on stays'ls?

My boat has roller furling on both yankee and staysail, whereas many cutter rigged boats have hanked-on staysails. The (possible) advantage of a hanked-on staysail is that it can be changed for a storm jib whereas a roller-furling one can't be changed, at least not easily. But the advantage of the roller furling is two-fold: (i) I can always be bothered to set it since it's no effort, and (ii) I can use it as a storm jib anyway; I've used it in F10+ lots of times. Why would a 1/2 furled staysail not be equivalent to a storm jib? In support, I note it's what Skip Novak chose for Pelagic Australis.

 

[Tranona]

OK so the perfect time to buy will be in about 3 years when lockdown is over, people are poor and they have to sell up as a holiday to spain is cheaper than running a boat!

Don't think there is a perfect time to buy a boat - rather don't think you can predict one! Who knows what will happen in 3 years time. All you can do is decide on your budget and what you want out of the boat and seek to maximise the value out of your budget. I retrospect it may turn out to be better (or worse) than at another time. Of course at your preferred time to buy you may find you cannot get the value you want because boats are not available so you may have to wait, or change your expectations. Remember buying a boat is discretionary, not essential.

In retrospect my last boat buy was good (in retrospect) because of a combination of factors - strong(ish) price for my old boat, very favourable exchange rate and an offer to fill a production gap at the factory meant that my budget enabled me to buy a far better boat than I expected - and I only exceeded my initial budget by less than 10%.

 

[ashtead]

I think you buy a boat when your personal circumstance are right hopefully. Ideally if buying in euro when the pound is strong again ?but as we cannot really predict that one I guess we either set a budget or a particular vessel . If you set a vessel though one might never turn up - I might have wanted say an Arcona but price wise only second hand so you look around at your price point and see what new or newish - not much out there in budget say new in the Baltic makes in budget so you tend to mass market makes plus say island packets and legends . Often I think little things put you off a make -we had looked at jeanneau but were put off by some accommodation features for example. If you want say double headsails it rules quite a few out. It often just a case of what’s in market when you are searching I suspect in your locality maybe.

 

[westhinder]

The way the boat is set up is indeed much more important than the actual choice of make.
As the OP mentioned a Starlight 39 as a contender, I can confirm that it is perfectly possible to singlehand . I have had mine for 10 years now, we have cruised between Norway, Galicia and the Outer Hebrides, mostly the two of us, but I also regularly sail on my own both daytrips and when cruising.
She has a good underdeck autopilot, double line reefing on all 3 reefs, which makes reefing or unreefing a doddle and plotter, VHF and autopilot remote all under the sprayhood so the watchkeeper can sit sheltered. No bowthruster and I do not miss it. The boat is fast and well-mannered and does not round up when overpressed.
if you can find a mark II, the series built by Rival Bowman you will find the high companionway another poster mentioned as a drawback was done away with and the quality of the joinery below decks is a lot better. They are the youngest examples too. The problem may be to find one for sale. You may stand a better chance of finding a 35, some 150 of these were built, as opposed to some 50 of the 39.

 

[Daydream believer]

I totally disagree the EV100 is a death trap as I and many other EV100 are not having the problems you are. It is sensitive and responsive along with being very reliable and trustworthy.

May I ask if at any time you veered off course in a wave by 70 degrees?
Because if you did not then you would not have had the cut out problem.
I have had Maintsprite on board updating the software as well.

With all due respect, the sea state in both videos is not particularly high. Furthermore a Fulmar owner sailed my boat & felt that his Fulmar responded differently was more relaxing to helm. That would be easier on the autopilot.

 

[Concerto]

May I ask if at any time you veered off course in a wave by 70 degrees?
Because if you did not then you would not have had the cut out problem.
I have had Maintsprite on board updating the software as well.

With all due respect, the sea state in both videos is not particularly high. Furthermore a Fulmar owner sailed my boat & felt that his Fulmar responded differently was more relaxing to helm. That would be easier on the autopilot.

No, I have never had a veer of 70 degrees. As I said it might be a quirk in the way your Hanse handles that is causing the problem. Your comment about another Fulmar owner certainly confirms your Hanse does handle differently. It seems to be a lot more twitchy to the rudder and the EV100 should be self adjusting to the weather conditions and response times.

I know this sounds crazy, but do you have something iron close (within a metre) to the compass unit that might be affecting the magnetic field. For example being mounted close to a cast iron keel or close to gas bottles. This could certainly make a difference to the way the unit responds to changes of course.

 

[Daydream believer]

the EV100 should be self adjusting to the weather conditions and response times.
I know this sounds crazy, but do you have something iron close (within a metre) to the compass unit that might be affecting the magnetic field.

Perfectly valid question.
The ev 100 shows no sign of self adjusting to anything.! Something I find is just popycock (I hasten to add, not from you-- the Raymarine description !!) I have made sure that the unit is well clear of all wires etc. Maintsprite have also looked at this & agreed installation is clear of issues