Buy the biggest boat you can or buy small and sail longer?

lw395 said:
Largely because you won't find too many people advocating being too poor to afford a shiny 35+ft boat, regrettably.
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You buncha.... I'm going to do a bit more research but if I can flatten the deck somewhat maybe a smaller boat may indeed be an option for me. o.o. Having gained modicum of experience (2 miles and a Lemonade) I can certainly see the advantage of going small to begin with. Not least the price o_o. 10k drops to 2.5k.
 
Unless your extremely lucky there is really no such thing as a cheap boat. for example X boat in full sail away condition might be £12,000. Yet you find a very similar example just needing a little TLC and sails. for 6,000. As you get stuck in you decide to replace the sails. the engine coughs and sputters. the seacocks need changing for insurance purposes. the list grows. without the blink of an eye you have spent more than the best boat on the market.

Selling is even more difficult. you get an offer. a good one. then you go to find a better boat but soon find you cant even replace the one your selling. because other boats you look at have older engines. Its at that point you reflect on what you have, what you may have done and how lucky you are. What suits one person wont suite another. When I raft up next to a 40ftooter. there is no animosity. the owner of the 40footer is happy and content. so am I. Hed struggle downsizing and id struggle upsizing. What you will find though is the total mutual respect shown to each other. quite astonishing really.

Steveeasy
 
Luminescent said:
The logic is perfectly sound and understandable. I haven't met many people advocating a 20-30ftr for coastal sailing around the UK though.
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I did it on an 18 footer. Cost me £600 for the boat and trailer,(the dinghy was worth £300) plus £600 for the outboard.

A 1200 mile trip in a year gave me a capital cost of £1 a mile. I spent £70 on a new anchor, £45 on a new lower backstay, about £20 in a boat jumble for halyards before I left. Spent about £200 on repairs en route, (biggest expense being £150 to crane her out so I could hook the lifting keel back on in the Isle of Man)

Easily my biggest costs were travelling to and from wherever I parked her up at each stage, beer, and food.

Those latter costs would be the same regardless of boat size, but the repairs, berthing/mooring fees would skyrocket by the square root of boat length!

I prefer to spend money on going places and enjoying myself rather than on painting and fettling.

My other consideration was learning. I didn't know how to sail when I left, and I figured a wee boat wouldn't do much damage when I screwed up parking her and hit other big expensive boats. (which I did, and she usually didn't even scratch them) and if I really screwed up and sank her, I wouldn't have lost very much money and could just buy another and try again. Or go back to climbing if I decided I didn't like it.

(I actually bought a big boat, but I still have the wee one, and now I am fixing up both of them, it is bloody expensive. Much cheaper to just go sailing)
 
steve yates said:
My other consideration was learning. I didn't know how to sail when I left, and I figured a wee boat wouldn't do much damage when I screwed up parking her and hit other big expensive boats. (which I did, and she usually didn't even scratch them) and if I really screwed up and sank her, I wouldn't have lost very much money and could just buy another and try again.
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*covers monitor with tea* Wha!? This is twice I've heard the, "I just got a boat and went". Did you write up/blog your experiences anywhere? Would be a great read XD.
 
Might the ease of selling a boat be a factor? Assuming you are likely to be moving on (either to bigger and better things, or because you have found out you hate sailing), then you don’t want a boat hanging round for years while you try to get rid of her.

Some better known and popular brands might have the edge here, at least until you have decided what kind of a boat would be a “keeper”

Alternatively, a “niche” boat that has an active user forum will tend to keep interest high, making it easier to move.
 
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I'm surprised that no-one has suggested the obvious contender, one with a transatlantic pedigree, one that is faster than most 40 footers, one with space for a vast array of electronics - the Anderson 22! If only there was a knowledgeable person who could extol the full virtues of this wonder craft.
 
Im sure seajet would advise its suitability as indeed several have made it across the atlantic by mounting the toilet bowl amidships and trimming off the bows to make it the right length for some category or other. On meeting my dear Navigator and taking her sailing in such a craft she suggested that it barely had room for a weekend never mind a weeks cruising. So we bought something bigger.

You can go round the world in something that small but it would be uncomfortable, hard work and thus inherently more risky than a larger craft. Why not an achilles 24 for instance. Narrow gutted with poor internal layout, just the job surely!



Me. if I wanted to go any real distance I would never go below 29ft/9m
 
If you are sailing solo you will need a boat that almost sails itself - that is a boat that minimal input on the helm when under way in most conditions. It will also be easier to set up self steering whether it be a vane or a tiller pilot. These well balanced boats use less power for the autopilot.

Such boats tend to be long keel or long fin. Also if sailing oceans I would want a protected rudder and prop and preferably an encapsulated keel rather than a bolt on.

Vancouver 27/28 has already been mentioned. Cheaper boats such as Cutlass 27, Frances/Victoria 26 or Contessa 26 might also fit the bill.
 
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I didnt say it couldnt be done in a 24ft. But with the price of boats being so low that an old 8m is about £6k and an old 9 or 10m only about £15k then why suffer?

As selling a boat is a way to lose both sailing time and money then if you really want a bigger boat, the less time you waste with smaller boats, the better
 
Luminescent said:
*covers monitor with tea* Wha!? This is twice I've heard the, "I just got a boat and went". Did you write up/blog your experiences anywhere? Would be a great read XD.
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I asked a lot of questions on here :)n and summarised it as I went.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...ruise-so-far-(warning-image-heavy)&highlight=

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...2-NW-Scotland-in-Aug-(image-heavy)&highlight=

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...he-scottish-coast-to-an-abrupt-end&highlight=


Can't remember if I ever did update the ending, but I had to wait till early march for a weather window, then sailed her round ro Portpatrick, then left at 3am for the mull of galloway, rrounding it at dawn, then across to Burrow Head, where i was 20 mins too late and got stopped rounding it by the increasing ebb, then carried backwards! Ended up running for port logan, getting in with about 15 mins to spare before she touched bottom and then dried out.

Left at 2am, and had a long cold hard slog back round burrow head and up the solway firth, getting into maryport 5 mins before the gates closed at 3.30 that afternoon. And that was that, 1200 miles, 1000 singlehanded. it was great. I looked at the wee boat, we were both covered in salt, and thought "you don't need to go back to sea till you have had a proper fettling"

In April I bought a westerly longbow ketch very cheaply and that winter sailed her south round lands end to essex, but thats another story.
 
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Luminescent said:
Buy boat and then do the atlantic trip coming back in preparation for doing the atlantic trip?
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If you are going around the world it doesn't really matter where you start.

The US is a great place to find cheap boats even allowing for the shocking exchange rate! The Americans don't buy old when it comes to boats.
 
PhillM said:
I do. And mine is old, basic wooden and slow. But still a wonderful experience,
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Make/model? I've seen a few wooden boats about, not sure they're my cup of tea (maintenance wise mostly...or maybe I'm a clueless idiot that doesn't know any better XD). I don't mind old so long as it sails well (though I don't mind about slow).
 
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