Boat recommendation for South West cruiser/liveaboard.

S

Seasick Ian

Active Member
Joined
13 Jan 2015
Messages
62
Visit site
Hi everyone,

Currently looking for a sailboat to live on, based in Plymouth, for cruising around the local area. I have been looking at boats in the 24ft-27ft range and have been favouring bilge keelers. So far I've giving most attention to Westerly Centaurs, but I also like the features of the Sabre 27 and the Macwester 27. However I've also seen some fin-keel boats that are quite appealing. At first I valued the benefits of a bilge-keeler; shallow draught and the ability to stand upright, but now I am being lured by the better sailing performance of a fin keel. In fact i'm liking the look of a 30ft fin-keel which is not what I set out for!

I am not from the South-West and I'm not sure what the most suitable hull design is for the area- will I get a lot of benefit from having bilge keels? Will a fin keel restrict me much? I plan on just doing some easy coastal cruising, exploring the little bays and inlets and that sort of thing. Has anyone got any other recommendations for boats I may consider?

Thanks,

Ian
 
It's more a matter of working out yourself exactly what your priorities are - as it sounds like you've started doing.

If you're just going to bumble around the coast and avoid heavy weather, then you don't need to focus quite so much on performance and seakeeping ability.

If you're looking to cut costs by avoiding the marinas and main anchorages, then shallow draught and bilge keels have an advantage. More convenient to live aboard in the boatyard than a deep draught fin keeler.

Centaurs certainly have the advantage of being much more of a commodity - so more choice when buying - more competition when selling but much more of a market.

But if you're going to get frustrated with a bilge-keelers performance it's going to get to you and make you less than satisfied with the boat.

If you've already decided to live in a marina - for convenient access ashore - then how much is a bilge keeler really going to save you?

Like just about anywhere, there are small harbours and the top end of creeks that you'll be able to go and stay the night with shallow draught. But there's enough deep water destinations along the S Devon & S Cornish coats for a fin keeler - they're quite expensive though.

You could easily cross the channel in a Centaur in the right weather window - some other boats will do it quicker or make it feasible in a more marginal window.
 
Thanks for the advice, I do indeed plan to bumble around the coast. The biggest job I can see me doing is visiting the channel isles but that is by no means a goal. One day I may get stuck into serious sailing but for this year at least I just want to stay local and easy.

It seems I'll probably choose a boat based on its overall merits including whether it be bilge or fin, the both seem to have advantages that I can appreciate.

I will be staying in a marina, haven't fully decided which one (will start another thread on that...) but wherever I end up I hope to spend as much time out of it as I can- i.e weekends + holidays.
 
Seasick Ian said:
Thanks for the advice, I do indeed plan to bumble around the coast. The biggest job I can see me doing is visiting the channel isles but that is by no means a goal. One day I may get stuck into serious sailing but for this year at least I just want to stay local and easy.

It seems I'll probably choose a boat based on its overall merits including whether it be bilge or fin, the both seem to have advantages that I can appreciate.

I will be staying in a marina, haven't fully decided which one (will start another thread on that...) but wherever I end up I hope to spend as much time out of it as I can- i.e weekends + holidays.
Click to expand...

Best of luck with it all.

A few other factors to throw in:

It's usually cheaper to spend a little more and buy the best condition boat you can of the model you choose. Fixing up a neglected boat is much more expensive than you think.

It's easier to buy than sell.

When you're spending time on a boat on your own the worst time is when it is raining and it's a long walk to the marina bridgehead. I think there's a lot to be said for having some form of cockpit tent to expand the space available to you.

And here's a thread on the perils of listening to too much good advice. Best make your own mistakes.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?252129-Is-there-a-modern-equivalant-to-the-Nicholson-32
 
Also bear in mind that most marinas officially don't allow living aboard, so be subtle in your approach to them (i.e. don't tell 'em!) & after you've moved in be quiet & respectful of others, don't make it blatantly obvious you're living there full time & you should be fine pretty much anywhere...
 
Remember your 27foot boat will cost about 3.5 grand a year to moor in a Plymouth marina. The rate only goes up by £400 a metre, so marinas are probably better value for longer boats (within sense) + ones with more people in them. Singlehanded they are a bit of a mugs game - unless you are minted.
On that theme, how much are you spending?
 
lpdsn- Thanks. I am looking for the best possible condition I can get, I have seen a boat that was described as a 'bargain', and it well could be, but I don't have the level of knowledge to make that call and quite frankly, I am wary of bargains. Yeah, I appreciate the point about a cockpit cover, if the boat comes with a full enclosure, all the better, but I'd also be happy with just a bimini or a boom tent. The fact that it's a buyer's market only occurred to me in the past few days, I was too excited about the start of my boat adventure I never thought about the end of it. When it comes time to sell, I'll just hope to get as much as my money back as I can and try to cut my losses and not rack up storage fees.

V1701- I have made some gentle enquiries about the marina liveaboard experience and reckon there shouldn't be any issues unless I go looking for them. I'll be as discreet as the queen's butler.

doug748- berthing fees will be pretty much the same as what I pay in rent, surprisingly. I have only looked at one 30ft boat and it really didn't seem more spacious than the 26/27ft boats I've seen. I'm looking at boats in the £6-8k region.
 
A sabre is a goodchoice imo. We started looking this time last year and looked at loads of boats. We found the sabre to our liking loads of storage large galley, full oven hobs and grill. Vbirth. 2x 1/4 births for more storage.
If you want any info pm me. There are loads for sale on the sabre site that have been there for over a year now. We paid 3k for ours i think people are asking too much for theirs. But if you want you could beat them up on price as they are imo price based on what the current owner has spent on them not what they are worth.
 
Slight thread drift but I often see peeps mentioning Centaurs as poss liveaboards. I fulyl appreciate the qualities of them having owned a smaller sister (Warwick) for some years.

At 26 feet they are similar in size to my current Colvic Watson 28, but the CW has much much more accommodation, in fact is palatial compared with a Centaur. Alright, before anyone else says it, the CW is not a great sailer but does very well above a F3, in fact will even tack without her engine in a F4.

What I would like to know is why are CW's not more popular as live aboard boats?
 
Keels fall off... I think this is a good reason. If your living on it and not really using it for sailing then you want something stress free... We looked at lots of boats and after lots of research... The sabre came up as the cheapest up keep for known problems. One of which i am fixing at the moment but should be gppd for 20 years or so... If i get it right.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top