Boat recommendation - 26ft or less

andyb28

andyb28

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Hi Everyone,

I have been a bit round the houses with boats and could really do with some good advice from you.

For just over a year, I owned a Hunter Legend 290. It was a great boat in some respects and I had hoped to get my family into sailing with me. Prior to buying the Legend, I had been learning in a dinghy and still have one now (its a Gull).
Sadly, I had a couple of bad experiences with the boat. The main one being my wife gets scared of the boat heeling over and it got to the point she refused to get on the boat.

A local broker sold my Legend very quickly. 1 week!
After a lot of discussion, we decided to go back to a motor boat and now have a Sealine, which everyone is happy about in the family as it has more room, is easy to go places and most importantly, my wife feels safe.

It's left me with just the Gull if I want to progress with my sailing. I didnt think I would be all that bothered. But I now think I need to consider a smallish yacht that I can take out on my own either day sailing or occasional weekends. This would be ideal in the winter as the Sealine will be out of the water.

I am looking for something easy and forgiving for cruising (no racing). Would prefer twin / bilge keel and it made me go back through some of the boats I looked at prior to getting the Legend. Top of my list is probably a Hunter Ranger/Channel 245/26 or maybe an older Sadler 26.
There are lots of creeks / shallow bits to explore around here and so I dont want anything which needs a lot of water.
Any thoughts on those two boats?
Any others worth considering?

Edit: Needs to have a Sea Toilet, no porta pottis as there is no where to empty them.
 
There is a huge range to choose from, although most will be old. The 2 you have picked are probably the most modern with the Hunter range potentially younger. fine boats for the purpose. With all used boats, particularly older ones, availability and certainly condition are probably far more important than actual design.
 
andyb28 said:
Hi Everyone,

I have been a bit round the houses with boats and could really do with some good advice from you.

For just over a year, I owned a Hunter Legend 290. It was a great boat in some respects and I had hoped to get my family into sailing with me. Prior to buying the Legend, I had been learning in a dinghy and still have one now (its a Gull).
Sadly, I had a couple of bad experiences with the boat. The main one being my wife gets scared of the boat heeling over and it got to the point she refused to get on the boat.

A local broker sold my Legend very quickly. 1 week!
After a lot of discussion, we decided to go back to a motor boat and now have a Sealine, which everyone is happy about in the family as it has more room, is easy to go places and most importantly, my wife feels safe.

It's left me with just the Gull if I want to progress with my sailing. I didnt think I would be all that bothered. But I now think I need to consider a smallish yacht that I can take out on my own either day sailing or occasional weekends. This would be ideal in the winter as the Sealine will be out of the water.

I am looking for something easy and forgiving for cruising (no racing). Would prefer twin / bilge keel and it made me go back through some of the boats I looked at prior to getting the Legend. Top of my list is probably a Hunter Ranger/Channel 245/26 or maybe an older Sadler 26.
There are lots of creeks / shallow bits to explore around here and so I dont want anything which needs a lot of water.
Any thoughts on those two boats?
Any others worth considering?

Edit: Needs to have a Sea Toilet, no porta pottis as there is no where to empty them.
Click to expand...
An acquaintance has hunter ranger 245 for sale due to ill health for £12000. I can give you details if you like.
 
For the first three seasons after buying the boat, I had the exact same problem with my wife being scared of almost any movement of the boat, particularly heeling, and particularly bigger seas. The problems stemmed from:

1) basing the boat in the Bristol channel and the problems associated with poorer than average sea conditions even in better than average weather;
2) a couple of early weather mistakes in consequence of (1)
3) my wife not really understanding the boat, how it worked, and what to do to stay safe, despite her having taken RYA CC, DS, YM theory.

Throughout all this she stayed completely committed to sailing but it was coming to the point where it was destroying the whole hobby as we could never go anywhere or do anything. Eventually she decided to face her fears independently, and she did a week of adventure sailing with Rubicon 3. This cured her completely and more or less instantly, and she has enjoyed her sailing ever since to the point of probably being more relaxed about things than the skipper.

So if your wife still wants to sail, maybe deal with that first then put the money into a single suitable boat. If she's turned it down flat though, thats another matter.
 
Strangely enough my own experience is the opposite of you wife's. I started out in dinghies and was used to them being sailed flat, keeping them upright by the crew shifting their weight. My first time in a keel boat was fine until a gust hit and the boat heeled putting the gunwales under. It was nearly brown trousers time! Sixty years later I am still unhappy in a keel boat in gusty weather and have never been happy when it heels. In a dinghy you can keep it level and spill wind if weight alone can't do that.

Regarding a small sailing cruiser, early Westerly designs like the Centaur and Pageant are bilge keeled and readily available, sometimes very cheap. Another design that I like is the Albin Vega, which is fin keeled but quite shallow draft. Or the Achilles, which looks and sails better. Centre board boats are not for me however due to my (probably illogical) phobia of capsizing.
 
Trident 24 ..

2ft 9in draft triple keel ..

ideal for single handing - active class association ... boats will resell ...
 
Bodach na mara said:
Strangely enough my own experience is the opposite of you wife's. I started out in dinghies and was used to them being sailed flat, keeping them upright by the crew shifting their weight. My first time in a keel boat was fine until a gust hit and the boat heeled putting the gunwales under. It was nearly brown trousers time! Sixty years later I am still unhappy in a keel boat in gusty weather and have never been happy when it heels. In a dinghy you can keep it level and spill wind if weight alone can't do that.

Regarding a small sailing cruiser, early Westerly designs like the Centaur and Pageant are bilge keeled and readily available, sometimes very cheap. Another design that I like is the Albin Vega, which is fin keeled but quite shallow draft. Or the Achilles, which looks and sails better. Centre board boats are not for me however due to my (probably illogical) phobia of capsizing.
Click to expand...
I used to belong to Glenans Irish Sailing Club where we sailed 5.70 metre dayboats in Baltimore and dinghys at the base in Collanmore Island,in Clew Bay. A habitue of the latter came to Baltimore for a week's course on the keelboats and on the first day the boat she was on was heeled excessively by a sudden gust. To our surprise she immediately jumped out onto the keel:)
 
andyb28 said:
Hi Everyone,

I have been a bit round the houses with boats and could really do with some good advice from you.

For just over a year, I owned a Hunter Legend 290. It was a great boat in some respects and I had hoped to get my family into sailing with me. Prior to buying the Legend, I had been learning in a dinghy and still have one now (its a Gull).
Sadly, I had a couple of bad experiences with the boat. The main one being my wife gets scared of the boat heeling over and it got to the point she refused to get on the boat.

A local broker sold my Legend very quickly. 1 week!
After a lot of discussion, we decided to go back to a motor boat and now have a Sealine, which everyone is happy about in the family as it has more room, is easy to go places and most importantly, my wife feels safe.

It's left me with just the Gull if I want to progress with my sailing. I didnt think I would be all that bothered. But I now think I need to consider a smallish yacht that I can take out on my own either day sailing or occasional weekends. This would be ideal in the winter as the Sealine will be out of the water.

I am looking for something easy and forgiving for cruising (no racing). Would prefer twin / bilge keel and it made me go back through some of the boats I looked at prior to getting the Legend. Top of my list is probably a Hunter Ranger/Channel 245/26 or maybe an older Sadler 26.
There are lots of creeks / shallow bits to explore around here and so I dont want anything which needs a lot of water.
Any thoughts on those two boats?
Any others worth considering?

Edit: Needs to have a Sea Toilet, no porta pottis as there is no where to empty them.
Click to expand...
When you do get the right boat, to entice your wife back into sailing , start out with two reefs in, so that the boat definitely sails flat. Once she has gained a little confidence you can increase your sailplan. Get her to take the helm so that she can get more of a feel for what is happening.
A boat doesn't have to be sailed "on her ear" and except for very old designs generally sail more efficiently when sailed flat, particularly more modern ones with broader sterns. Indeed the impression of speed when sailing well heeled is just that, an impression
Your dinghy sailor's skills should have equipped you to observe the arrival of gusts and to dump the mainsheet in time, in order to prevent being blown over. Remembering to employ these points would result in a more pleasant experience for all on board.
 
I had a Hunter Ranger 245 and then a Channel 31 so I am a bit of a Hunter aficionado. Both were very good boats. What the 245 manages in only 24' is amazing. The 245 is probably a little "sportier" than the 265, which I always thought was a bit under canvassed. My partner felt much more reassured on the twin keel Channel 31 than she does the current 40' fin keeler as that latter can handle a slightly bigger angle of heel. When I have finished with the 40' and have become too old, my hope is to pick up another 245....even better if it can be the original one I finished as a kit ;-) They are great boats
 
Many thanks for your replies and suggestions.

Some fantastic ideas for getting my wife back onboard. I really do hope that can happen in the future.
Interestingly, I showed her this video the other day. Which I think was quite an eye opener for her to see someone literally forcing their boat over that far and it coming back.

However, I also have to face the reality of I am going to be on my own for a while sailing and I need to be sure that whatever I get will be small and easy to sail, dock, etc. To be honest the 245 really ticks all my boxes. I am open to other suggestions, but nothing I have seen so far in my view is beating the little Hunter.
 
It may help to put your wife on the helm & deliberately over press the boat so she can experience how she rounds up. As long as you explain well in advance and talk her though what will happen and what she will feel through the helm.

No amount of explaining physics to my GF really convinced her until she actually experienced it whilst helming and finally appreciated that the boat simply could t be “blown over” ;)
 
matt1 said:
I had a Hunter Ranger 245 and then a Channel 31 so I am a bit of a Hunter aficionado. Both were very good boats. What the 245 manages in only 24' is amazing. The 245 is probably a little "sportier" than the 265, which I always thought was a bit under canvassed. My partner felt much more reassured on the twin keel Channel 31 than she does the current 40' fin keeler as that latter can handle a slightly bigger angle of heel. When I have finished with the 40' and have become too old, my hope is to pick up another 245....even better if it can be the original one I finished as a kit ;-) They are great boats
Click to expand...

Another thumbs up for the Ranger 245.

My better half doesn't like tippy boats at all and we both appreciate how stiff our 245 is. Despite twin keels it points well without making any noticeable leeway and in any strength of wind heels to 15-20 deg then just digs in and goes. Ours has the optional code zero which transforms the boat in light airs. It's nicely made and feels like a good quality boat too and it's well laid out with an astonishing amount of room and storage down below.

Ours has the Yanmar GM10 engine which is perhaps not quite enough for slogging your way through a serious wind over tide chop but it'll get you there and sips diesel and is a simple little engine to work on. Outboard version have the motor in the port locker.

Only negatives for us are the tiny gas locker which means there's no choice but to use the smallest 1.8 kg cylinders which are outrageously expensive and the single line reefing system which frankly is a bit rubbish. Like most Hunters and other boats that age the windows have crazed and tend to leak a little so new ones are going on this winter.

PBO gave the 245 Channel version a glowing review as a second hand buy in Jan '21 and I'm than happy with ours - it's a great little boat.
 
They'll all be of a certain age, all you can do really is see what's available within a reasonable distance of where you intend to keep it and treat each on it's merits. The snapping up of just about anything that floats seems to have slowed somewhat now and a few listings are appearing with reduced prices (though likely reduced from some pie in the sky starting point) so not such a bad time to be looking as it was six months ago...
 
There is a very nice looking boat in this size in the Twizzle. I think It is a Jeanneau Sun- something. It would suit anyone I would think.
 
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