Boat Recommendations Wanted

[ariella]

hello,

I would like to buy a sailboat for traveling from Amsterdam to India (via Spain - Greece - Egypt) & maybe eventually onto Australia, all the while sticking fairly close to the coastlines.

We are a family of 3: 2 adults and 1 child.

We would like to spend around 6,000-8,000 euros/pounds, to have a boat of approx. 9 meters length & plenty of headroom (1.8 meters+) and one double bed plus 1 single bed, though 2 double beds would be ideal.

Of course, seaworthiness is the most important consideration!

Thank you in advance for your recommendations. I would also appreciate resources or links of specific boats for sale, if you have.

 

[richardabeattie]

How much sailing have you done?

 

[donaldson]

Have you heard the rumours of piracy along parts of that route?

 

[PeterWright]

Before embarking on this adventure, I supect you need to learn a bit more about sailing and navigation. To get a boat basically seaworthy enough for the voyage you are contemplating, you will need to spend at least 5 times the price you are suggesting and then spend more on fitting her out for serious blue water sailing.

There is no option for a passage from Europe to Australia "sticking fairly close to the coastlines". You will at some points be several days' sailing from the nearest land. In the size of boat you suggest, you will do well to average 5 knots (about 9km per hour); with headwinds the speed made good in the direction you want to go will be more like 2 knots.

If you are seriously planning a passage to India via the Suez canal, you will need to budget for canal fees and, more importantly, work out a strategy for avoiding Somali pirates on leaving the gulf. You will also need to take care not to infringe Iranian territorial waters as they tend to the view that any westerners straying into their waters are spies.

Basically, I think you need to do a lot more research and learning before looking for a boat to buy.

Hope this helps,

Peter

 

[davidej]

Fairly ambitious to try to do it on that budget.

An extra zero on the end would be more realistic.

 

[webcraft]

hello,

I would like to buy a sailboat for traveling from Amsterdam to India (via Spain - Greece - Egypt) & maybe eventually onto Australia, all the while sticking fairly close to the coastlines.

We are a family of 3: 2 adults and 1 child.

We would like to spend around 6,000-8,000 euros/pounds, to have a boat of approx. 9 meters length & plenty of headroom (1.8 meters+) and one double bed plus 1 single bed, though 2 double beds would be ideal.

Of course, seaworthiness is the most important consideration!

Thank you in advance for your recommendations. I would also appreciate resources or links of specific boats for sale, if you have.

Hi,

Your budget is very small, to say the least. It is possible to get a boat around 8m-9m in length that is capable of long passages for the price you are proposing, but it is likely to need a lot of work donde and quite a few extras wil need to be purchased and installed before you are ready to set off.

As others point out, you will also need to know how to sail! The fact that you are posing this question in this way suggests that you do not have much experience. You will not be ab le to make the passages you are suggesting by 'sticking close to the coastlines' and will have to spend several days at sea on occasion

All the above notwithstanding, it is possible if you really want to. We met a couple in the Canaries in 2006 who had bought an Albin Vega in relatively poor condition very cheaply and sailed it from the Med. They later went on to cross the Atlantic. I have also met a guy who had never sailed before who bought an old Macwester 28 and set off for Brazil. He made it, and returned safely to the Canaries.

Make sure you understand the risks before embarking on a budget nautical adventure though. Do lots of reading.

Boats to look at with the budget and headroom you speak of might be:

~ Westerley Centaur
~ Halcyon 27
~ Elizabethan 29

- W

 

[CreakyDecks]

Hi,
You will not be able to make the passages you are suggesting by 'sticking close to the coastlines' and will have to spend several days at sea on occasion

Is that for political reasons (territorial waters etc) because it doesn't actually look like there are any "hops" between islands that are more than about 40 miles? Granted it would be a VERY long route!

 

[YachtAllegro]

Come on, no-one daysails all the way from Amsterdam to India! Granted I've never looked at it, but are there really all-weather anchorages within 40 miles of each other all the way? Surely not - its a struggle to find that along parts of the British coastline.

Cheers
Patrick

 

[zambant]

Fly mate - lots less heart ache

 

[Reverend Ludd]

Come on, no-one daysails all the way from Amsterdam to India! Granted I've never looked at it, but are there really all-weather anchorages within 40 miles of each other all the way? Surely not - its a struggle to find that along parts of the British coastline.

Cheers
Patrick

Who said daysail, not the OP.
It can be done all the way to india except a small hop across the gulf of Oman to avoid Iran. By the time he got that far he would be either dead or a salty sea dog, but he would be free. Well maybe not free as he may be tied up in a shed by pirates

 

[Neil_Y]

Firstly it's not the boat that is seaworthy it's how it is sailed and particularly in coastal hops it won't be the boat that lets you down but the navigation.

Many boats of that price or size with attention to the quality and strength of rudder, rig and sails will be seaworthy. As long as they are water tight in terms of deck, through hull fittings and other hull openings such as hatches and windows.

I don't think it costs that much to prepare a boat for open ocean or long distance voyages unless there is an underlying problem with either the rudder, rig or sails. I've perpared a few boats and many production boats are pretty much ready to go once they are inspected in detail for any likely failings. If the hull remains water tight, the rudder stays put and the rig and sails stay up in my view the boat is sea worthy but possibly not comfortable.

You will however have many other costs than the boat to be well equiped for a long voyage, but that's another subject or question.

Good luck, take it slowly and enjoy.

I've met similar families who have made it to Portugal and then changed boat and plans completely.

 

[Reverend Ludd]

I've met similar families who have made it to Portugal and then changed boat and plans completely.

Talking of change of plans. My old sailing buddy left to circumnavigate the globe and 7 yrs later he had only got as far as Greece. He was lured by the tinkling lights of the local taverna in every port he passed.