Best (cheap) boat for single handed Atlantic circuit?

gertha said:
I remember Earls Court
I remember looking at 22 foot boats.
Can not remember taking any interest in the toilets.
I do remember the pool and some of the girls modelling and dancing.

We had a Silhouette, it was hardly capable of crossing the Deben., It did have a trailor so probably could have managed the North Sea on Townsend Toresen.

Simon
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Lack of imagination, believe they went across the big pond.
 
Stemar said:
My first requirement for a blue water boat would be to have all lines led aft so I can handle the sails from the cockpit. It's bad enough putting in the last reef in the Solent, I'd hate to have to do it in a tropical squall!
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Agree and done. Found that one out the hard way, single handed, with F5 rising to F7 about 12 miles south of Portland Bill at 2 a.m. one morning. Next winter I sorted that out. I also sorted out the jackstays so they are on the centre line and it is almost impossible for me to fall off. Note “almost”, I would not want to be overconfident about that so work on the basis it could happen. Best of course to be cautious.
 
PhillM said:
Not yet figured the best way to rig for the trade winds.... I had considered twin poled out headsails. But that requires foredeck work, which in my little boat i would like to avoid.

Cockpit is self draining with a new 1 1/2 inch seacock.
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Suggest filling / part filling cockpit with water and timing how long to drain. Previous owner o my boat took a wave mid Atlantic and filled the cockpit, took an eternity to drain, hence 2 x 4 inch sewer pipes through lazarette to transum were installed first job in the USA. Now drains instantly.

Brian
 
halcyon said:
Suggest filling / part filling cockpit with water and timing how long to drain. Previous owner o my boat took a wave mid Atlantic and filled the cockpit, took an eternity to drain, hence 2 x 4 inch sewer pipes through lazarette to transum were installed first job in the USA. Now drains instantly.

Brian
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Great suggestion. I shall.
 
Stemar said:
Inside, possibly not, but outside, the 24 footer's sooooo much easier to park when you get somewhere.
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Agreed. T hat's on of the reasons I am resting the temptation to update and upgrade. Additionally, I actually know every bit of my boat inside out and cannot see how I would get to the same level of knowledge/confidence on a new-to-me one by this time next year.
 
IMHO I like to get so used to going up to the mast that I won't be scared to in inhospitable circumstances. Therefore, most of my lines are controlled from the mast. I followed the advice of the Storm Tactics couple to make sure I could get there easily by practice and handholds all the way.
 
I guess that depends on how fit and agile you are. I got rid of my sailing dinghy because I was no longer agile enough to be sure I would be able to get it back up if it fell over, so ITSTM to be a lot safer to stay in the cockpit. Besides, I get a lot less earache from the Admiral if I don't go to the mast when it's bumpy. ;)
 
On our first yacht (27ft) the lines were partially led aft by the previous owner, but you still had to go up fwd to do the kicker and the reefing horn. We changed that so that every last line was led aft, not just halyard and reef lines.
It did work, but on a small boat like that meant masses of string in the cockpit, and the entire coachroof space under the sprayhood taken up with clutches. There was a fair amount of friction in the setup (I could have spent more on higher quality blocks of course) and putting reefs in and out was fairly arduous. We only rove two of the reefs, and to use the third one would have had to swap over one set of lines.
We found that quite often you had to go forward anyway because something would snag.

On our next boat (33ft) we inherited a setup where nothing was led aft. The bigger, more stable boat made working at the mast seem fairly safe- you're a long way from the gunwhale- and the reefing felt easy and quick because of the minimal line lengths and number of blocks involved. It is also great not having the cockpit littered with ropes and clutches.

On our new boat (39ft) nothing is led aft and despite plenty of coachroof/cockpit space to do so, I have no intention of changing anything.

Of course we nearly always sail two-up. I can understand that to a singlehander it might feel safer to stay in the cockpit, even if the whole process takes longer.
 
I’ve got a recently refitted Westerly Storm OOD for sale and you’ll have a nice amount of change from your 20K!
 
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