Downsizing suggestions please???

[Toutvabien]

After much debate and discussion we have decided that our beloved Jigsaw is to be sold. We have sailed her extensively in recent years, from the West of Ireland,Normandy, Brittany, Spain, Portugal and the Caribbean. We have been back in Brightlingsea for a couple of years now and as the girls are teenagers it is proving difficult to maintain their enthusiasm for trips to Walton and Pinmill and we won't have the time for any longer trips for a few years. Therefore I want to quit while I am ahead and admit that the family have gone along with my plans for years without complaining. We are planning on getting another bigger boat again in a few years to go off again on long trip back to the Caribbean and beyond.


However I still want a wee boat maybe 24+ foot, that I can potter about the rivers in, maybe on my own or with a mate, capable of making a cup of tea cooking a freshly caught fish and having a kip on, I have no interest in racing, but like a boat that sails well rather than a caravan with a stick on top. Probably want to spend less than 10K.

I have been looking through the ads but have been left uninspired so far.

Any ideas?

 

[FullCircle]

5'9" Headroom, fast and stable.

http://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/view/PAA3838


And you will pocket the considerable amount of change.

 

[dylanwinter]

now is the time to experiment

cut right back to basics

18 footer - zero draft

think small

I am having a ball with the slug

D

 

[Cobra]

Take a look HERE .

Lots of Hurley 22's starting at £1,995 and up to £5,200 with average price around £3,000 for a well sorted boat with loads of new kit.

Alternatively you will note a VERY nice Hurley 24/70 at £5,475 moored only just down the way at Burnham!

We downsized from our much loved Cobra 850 at the start of this season for much the same reason as your self...kids not interested in sailing, getting more tied up with work, wanting a boat that was not a caravan and would sail well and above all else one that I could just get in the dinghy, row over to and go for a sail whenever I wanted to on my own.

We keep our H22 on the White pontoons and have had half a season (didn't get her until start of July) of fantastic sailing with several midweek single handed sails.

Bags of fun for not a lot of cash, and above all else A SAILORS BOAT!

 

[TimfromMersea]

Many years ago I used to sail on a Galion 22. A nice little boat that sails well for it's size and era. It was the one and only design from an airline pilot called Ian Hannay and it was a good boat.

The only thing wrong with this one is that it has a 'Vile Vire'! As a former shipmate of a Vire engine I can't honestly see why anyone would bother to recondition one. Perhaps I was just unlucky but......

 

[jhr]

Many years ago I used to sail on a Galion 22. A nice little boat that sails well for it's size and era. It was the one and only design from an airline pilot called Ian Hannay and it was a good boat.

Ahem.....

(Ian Hannay's son is a colleague of mine)

 

[Toutvabien]

Downsizing

The Galleon 22 I remember from my early sailing days as a really good boat so that is a cracking suggestion, and cheap too.

I used to own a Hurley 22 and while they are a good sea boat (we took ours all over the place including North Sea and crossing the channel, I do not remember it as a vessel with fantastic sailing qualities, a bit heavy in light airs and a good deal of weather helm when it blew up a bit, although it was great well reefed downwind in a force 6 across the Southern North Sea (pre gps and we ended up a bit lost, had to sail up to a bouy to read the name).

Are Sonata's any good or are they all shagged from racing?

 

[FullCircle]

The Galleon 22 I remember from my early sailing days as a really good boat so that is a cracking suggestion, and cheap too.

I used to own a Hurley 22 and while they are a good sea boat (we took ours all over the place including North Sea and crossing the channel, I do not remember it as a vessel with fantastic sailing qualities, a bit heavy in light airs and a good deal of weather helm when it blew up a bit, although it was great well reefed downwind in a force 6 across the Southern North Sea (pre gps and we ended up a bit lost, had to sail up to a bouy to read the name).

Are Sonata's any good or are they all shagged from racing?

Dunno, guess you can find a good Sonata.

Major diff Hurley v Galion. Galion has 5'9" headroom, Hurley doesn't.

 

[Santana379]

However I still want a wee boat maybe 24+ foot, that I can potter about the rivers in, maybe on my own or with a mate, capable of making a cup of tea cooking a freshly caught fish and having a kip on, I have no interest in racing, but like a boat that sails well rather than a caravan with a stick on top. Probably want to spend less than 10K.

I have been looking through the ads but have been left uninspired so far.

Any ideas?

The Halcyon 27 answers your brief pretty well. In my limited experience of a friend's Halcyon it sailed like a dinghy and was also very seaworthy. Certainly a boat you'd be happy to tack through the moorings in. 6ft 1ins headroom, long keel, reasonably shallow draft, pretty hull....

 

[Koeketiene]

Downsizing suggestions

Downsizing suggestions:

2 aircraft carriers & 19 frigates

Sorry, couldn't resit it

Good luck with your search

 

[bond9007]

Downsizing

Hi

Sonata's are great boats sail like a big dinghy but will take care of you if it turns nasty. I have sailed mine single handed for a couple of years now on the Medway and Thames Estuary and she has never let me down.

You'll find some have been raced but many, mine included, that have never been so you pays your money etc. Good luck in your search.

P.S. If you want to have a look mine's still in the water till December

Regards

 

[JamesFrance]

I bought a Galion 22 from Ian Hannay in I think 1967.

She had a blue hull and was a very pretty boat I was very proud to own. My first outing with her was moving her from Lymington to Portmadoc, which was a big adventure for me then, sailing alone with knowledge gained from studying Reeds. Before that I had only sailed as crew in a couple of races across the north sea and daysailed in the Thames estuary.

I can still remember every day of that cruise, no inboard but a 6hp Johnson for when the wind died.

 

[rudolph_hart]

The following all sail well, and should be in budget

Marcon Tomahawk 25
Marcon Cutlass 27
Jaguar 25
Jaguar 27
Hunter Sonata (too small?)
Hunter Delta
Invicta 26 (long keel)
Hustler 25.5
Sadler 25
Evolution 26
T24 (beware deck problems)

You might find one of the following at, or just above, budget:

First 25
Super Seal 26

 

[Vid]

A triple-keel Achilles 24 should be on the list - I have one and they're great.

 

[Gargleblaster]

Best boat I ever owned was the first boat I bought when I came to the UK. I had been looking at boats from Bristol to the Solent and finally found what I was told by Clark and Carter was a 'well known East Coast design' a Popcorn 23, which probably few people on the ECF would have heard of, so perhaps not quite as well known on the East Coast as I was told by Clark and Carter. But a wonderful boat. Short on headroom at 4' 2", but 4 berths, a cooker and an outboard in a well. But every time you got the sails up it just felt so good. On occasions she would plane to windward. I should never have sold her but having taken her to the Baltic and found I couldn't get petrol for the outboard without walking for miles, I decided to buy a boat with a diesel engine - big mistake.

At the other end of the small boat scale - I've been impressed with another forum member's [Flipper] purchase of an Itchen Ferry. Full keel, 22', inboard diesel, standing headroom and all the accommodation of a much larger boat. Looks ideal for pottering around the East Coast.

 

[FullCircle]

Best boat I ever owned was the first boat I bought when I came to the UK. I had been looking at boats from Bristol to the Solent and finally found what I was told by Clark and Carter was a 'well known East Coast design' a Popcorn 23, which probably few people on the ECF would have heard of, so perhaps not quite as well known on the East Coast as I was told by Clark and Carter. But a wonderful boat. Short on headroom at 4' 2", but 4 berths, a cooker and an outboard in a well. But every time you got the sails up it just felt so good. On occasions she would plane to windward. I should never have sold her but having taken her to the Baltic and found I couldn't get petrol for the outboard without walking for miles, I decided to buy a boat with a diesel engine - big mistake.

At the other end of the small boat scale - I've been impressed with another forum member's [Flipper] purchase of an Itchen Ferry. Full keel, 22', inboard diesel, standing headroom and all the accommodation of a much larger boat. Looks ideal for pottering around the East Coast.

I used to race against a Popcorn 23 in Burnham, but then owned by Ken (?) who worked as an engineer at Ford. It went well, and looked 'right'.
So that's two of us.

Itchen Ferry is 25' though... but still huge.

 

[Toutvabien]

Thanks

for the really helpful suggestions so far.

Jigsaw is now formally up for sale with Westwater in Titchmarsh.

We took her up there on Saturday, a cracking ride up the Wallet from B'sea in a WSW 4/5, got her tied up on the outside pontoon and took most of our personal gear off, felt very, very sad to leave her. I now have a very full garage, amazing how much gets taken on board over 6 years.

Had a look at several of the suggested boats, Hustler 25.5 looks like a possible, anybody sailed one?Have not found many likely looking boats for sale at present, (which is probably best as we have ended up with two boats in the past) apart from a Hustler 25.5 listed with Clarke and Carter.

A friend suggested a Hunter Impala but none that I can find listed at present, also not come across any Galion's yet apart from the one on boatsandoutboards.com

 

[FullCircle]

Impala is over 28ft, and a racing boat, so not setup for single handed very well.....
Good boat to race though.

 

[Toutvabien]

Ta

Thanks FC, that is helpful I will take the Impala off of the list.

 

[Athene V30]

Had a look at several of the suggested boats, Hustler 25.5 looks like a possible, anybody sailed one?Have not found many likely looking boats for sale at present, (which is probably best as we have ended up with two boats in the past) apart from a Hustler 25.5 listed with Clarke and Carter.

Looked at Huster 25.5 at C&C before I found The Cutlass 27 - dont know if it is the same one! Liked her just other than (I think ) for the saloon arrangement but thought for what I want a few extra inches on the waterline might be an advantage.