Choice of small cruising boat...

If you're that sensitive, don't wear the wrong coloured shirt or have the wrong haircut.

All I have done is respond to your brainless attack, there you go, ' Brainless ' that's another one...

Now actually spend a little of your time looking back at the thread before you arrived shouting !

- Everyone else, sorry for the thread drift but this DICK appeared...:rolleyes:
 
The only :0) failing in my personal choice of pocket cruiser (A venerable Centaur) is that it is too heavy to tow on the road. If starting the decision making process from scratch again I would definitely bear in mind that option, as 50 kt passage speeds to the cruising grounds are not to be sniffed at.
 
Sybarite said:
OP. If your type of sailing involves cruising over a certain distance, headroom becomes a serous comfort point.
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For ten years I lived aboard on a Listang T24 with sitting headroom only. Despite that, it was more comfortable down below than most contemporary boats, even those with much larger saloons. It's all about whether you spend most of your time sitting down or scampering about the place.
 
Just spotted a Halcyon 27 on facebook, £5k in Lowestoft, got a 1GM with 100hrs on it, looks good at first glance.
 
Without wishing to recommend a particular boat I would give one warning as a result of my OPB* experiences this season:

When shopping on a limited budget it is likely that a lot of the boats in your price range will be older ones. Designs from 20+ years ago tend to be a lot smaller inside than today's offerings and can feel very cramped. I recently did a passage on a Trintella 29 which was a bit of a nightmare space wise. There wasn't enough headroom to use the loo for example. That said, it sailed well, partly due to its narrower hull but I couldn't live with it longer term. I tried a Contessa 32 which had similar proportions but enough extra space to make it viable. It also sailed well. The Contessa 26 would be a good sea boat but has to be pretty cramped.

You could do worse than consider some of the offerings from British Hunter.
 
SAPurdie said:
For ten years I lived aboard on a Listang T24 with sitting headroom only. Despite that, it was more comfortable down below than most contemporary boats, even those with much larger saloons. It's all about whether you spend most of your time sitting down or scampering about the place.
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My first "lidded" command was an 18ft6 Blackwater sloop. That little beauty was amazingly comfortable, despite being only the size of a big dinghy. Certainly more so than the Contessa 26 I sailed in occasionally, partly because everything about her was so simple. I could say the same about the first "lidded" boat I actually owned, which was a 22 foot wooden gaffer.

But maybe it just felt that way because I was young. :)
 
SAPurdie said:
For ten years I lived aboard on a Listang T24 with sitting headroom only. Despite that, it was more comfortable down below than most contemporary boats, even those with much larger saloons. It's all about whether you spend most of your time sitting down or scampering about the place.
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I started off with a 17' Lysander and so I know about sitting headroom. My first serious offshore (charter) boat was a First 29 where the only standing headroom for me was under the main hatch. Just by going up 2 feet to the Feeling 920 made all the difference.
 
As its been said many a time if you want to stand up go on deck.I spent one summer crushing the south and west in a 15 cabinet sloop..a.standing up in the hatchway afforded plenty of headroom.,,..... the 1970 when men where men....
 
A big factor I think well worth mentioning, is size of owner / crew rather than boat !

I'm 5'9"" so a wide 22' boat with good 4'8" sitting headroom seems pretty roomy.

A portly 6'4' bloke would think very differently and especially if new to boats might find anything under 35' a trial...
 
Very interesting. I've had half an eye on the Achilles 24 for at least 25 years...amusing that the typical asking price hasn't budged much in that time, despite the fact that even the oldest examples have more than doubled in age since then.

The Achilles still seems to me to be a great little offshore yacht that didn't compromise its styling or seaworthiness just in order to be accommodating or speedy...

...even though speed & space would in fact be welcome. I like the Achilles's slender stern and the availability of a triple-keel version...

...it's just a pity that you pay for the styling by enduring her 4ft 8inch maximum headroom.

postadsuk.com-1-yacht-achilles-24ft-sailing-boat.JPG
 
A chum had an Achilles 24 in Wales and did very well in club racing, I've always held them in high regard as very seaworthy boats with a good turn of speed.

However when a chum at my club bought one and I went aboard I was astonished, my Anderson is not exactly accomodation oriented but compared to her the Achilles was like a tiny tunnel; my chum had an Avon inflatable rolled up, and it was clearly a choice of it or us in the saloon, as no way was it going to be both !

Also she suffers the same snag as the Hunter Europa, in that the bilge ( triple ) keel version has outer keels like stabilisers which dig into soft mud too easily, so she spent most of her dried out time on her ear.

Don't get me wrong, a good sailor's boat; but maybe that good sailor should have a fin keel one in Wales or Scotland...
 
Thanks for a mention of the Pandora mine being a 700, but like all these type of small boats, standing is a problem, okay saying you can stand in the hatchway, but who wants to do that when its pissing down, if I was going to change and we all think about this even in passing,I would prefer slightly longer with separate heads and a locker. Quite like the inboard engine well that allows you to change engine size, I recently took out Yamaha 9.9hp electric start, with remote and high thrust prop, and dropped in a 5hp Honda which is really all the boat needs, can still charge the battery. But should I require the extra HP then I could drop back on the larger engine,for long journeys. Best of both worlds. I don't try and drum my boat like other on here. I enjoy what I have and like reading other people's wish lists, but not going on about a pie or steak shaped Anderson all the time, we all are aware of our boats short comings,to say that's not the case is being to me just pig headed.
 
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