Family boat advice please

[arfa]

I have a young family (SWMBO 4 year old and 2 year old) and am interested in buying a trailerable coastal yacht up to 24 feet in length. I am thinking of sailing around chichester harbour with the odd solent trip (nearest sailing area to where I live I'm afraid). I am leaning in the direction of an etap 21i (build quality, safety, easy to trail and low depreciation). I have looked at many other options but I was wondering if any other forumites had advice to offer ?
Any advice gratefully received
PS I have read all the entries about taking young families sailing and have followed the advice.

 

[tillip]

And how much would like to invest in this yacht sir?

 

[arfa]

My budget is approximately £20,000 but could push it higher if there was a compelling reason to do so. Obviously I'd prefer value for money but the bracket I am looking at seems to work along the lines of get what you pay for. The Etap 21i seems to tick all boxes but I was wondering if I'd been too blinkered in my search ?

 

[Seven Spades]

You could get a Contessa 26 for your budget, but IO am not sure you can get it on a trailer.

 

[tillip]

You would get quite a of of boat for £20k, are you going to the Southampton boat show?

 

[Moonshining]

For no reason other than that they're cute as a button, the right size and the right price how about a Cornish Shrimper?

 

[arfa]

unfortunately I can't make southampton but i will target the london boat show. I am doing my research now with a view to trial sails before the season's over and making a decision in the new year

 

[arfa]

I agree that the cornish shrimper is stunning but my reservation there is that it might be alot of maintenance which might not keep the nippers too interested and swmbo for that matter too !

 

[arfa]

The displacement of the contessa 26 is al ittle high for me to tow (I am contemplating towing over to Ireland for a bit of peaceful summer sailing) but were I to go for a yacht with a permanent mooring I would probably go for the contessa 26

 

[paulburton44]

Parker 235......lift keel....trailer sailer....easy to launch and recover...all up wieght on trailer 1800kg. Sleeps 4 and sails fantastic...

 

[arfa]

Thanks - I'll take a closer look. The Parker 235 is at the higher end of my price range but it does look well put together and I'd be happy to support our home manufacturers

 

[BAtoo]

How about a Dehler 25; bit more room & a Van De Stadt design so will sail well there's one here - www.boatshed.com/viewboat.php?boat=16367 -& well in budget!!

 

[Talbot]

if your budget is that much, I would be using it to buy a more stable boat (i.e. not lightweight trailer sailer type, which would be much easier for sailing , and using the money that the trailer would have cost for a tidal or swinging mooring. I reckon you will enhjoy it more.

The main reason for going the trailer sailer route is if your intentions are to travel around a lot with motor and boat.

 

[paulburton44]

Just think of the hassle of a boat on a mooring...
lift in and out
winter storage
inboard engine hassle,
worry about the boat when you can't get to it,
need for a tender and engine to get to the boat
Antifouling
scubbing.

Or go trailer sailer and keep it in your drive with no worries
Take the outboard engine off for it's service ( or plug change)
It won't matter if you don't use it for a couple of months cause its on your drive.
You will be able to go to far more sheltered, shallow places than a "more stable boat"......!!!!!

The choice is yours...

You do need a decent car to trail a boat about though.

 

[Talbot]

yes of course there are some advantages, but you didnt list the disadvantages . Every boat is a compromise and this is also true of how you keep your boat.

for example
space for the boat
if you keep it at home, you are always informing thiefs when you are away
trailer bearings
wear and tear on the car (particularly the clutch)
where do you keep the car and trailer when off sailing
preperations for an evenings sail involve putting boat in water, raising mast, lowering mast and recovering boat, thus taking up a lot of the available time.

As I already said, boating is a compromise, the real trick to enjoyment is working out what are the most important aspects for you and your family, and then analysing what boat meeets those main compromise requirements.

 

[mainmarine]

I would check out how quick and easy the boat is to launch and rig on your own, not much fun for the kids watching dad up to his chest in water trying to get the boat off the trailer, then spending two hours getting the mast up and rigging the boat, SWMBO getting redder by the minute with the crowd gathering to give advice etc.
Been there, done that, no Tee shirt though
Malc

 

[Allegro]

I don't have one, so maybe I'm talking rubbish, but I'm curious that you thought the Cornish Shrimper would be a lot of maintainance. They're fibreglass and although they've got more bits of string to pull than some, that may well turn into an advantage as the kids get just a little older. My only reservation is they have rather small cabins for that many people, although the benefit of that is a huge cockpit...

Cheers
Patrick (Currently sailing with wife and children, 5 and 3).

 

[StugeronSteve]

I was just about to post something on those lines. Waiting for a turn on the slip way, sorting out a trailer that has got stuck in the mud. Then de-rigging a boat at the end of a weekend, when the kids and swmbo are tired and want to go home, can really take the shine off things. That's before you find that your trailer lights aren't working etc, etc.

It only took a couple of launches to realize that it was a lot more fun keeping our Dehler 25 on a seasonal pile mooring.

 

[tillip]

Try this link ttp://www.easternyachts.com/soldtrailersailers.htm
or this one
http://www.thetrailersailercentre.co.uk

 

[weaver_fish]

"It only took a couple of launches to realize that it was a lot more fun keeping our Dehler 25 on a seasonal pile mooring. "

Go for the best of both worlds. Get a good trailer sailer and have a cheap mooring. Hassle free sailing during the season, no stressful launch and recoveries every time you go out and low costs so you can bring it home over winter (also very wife friendly in terms of doing maintenance at home) plus the option of exploring new places further afield when you have a holiday.

We are based in the West Country, so can do the local thing at weekends but have also explored Pembrokshire and the Norfolk Broads.

We have found that our trailer sailer goes upwind at 50mph on its trailer and no need to worry about weather / tides / kids and wife getting bored.

Long sea passages with little ones is not the best of fun anyway. One of our best hols was to rent an apartment at Neyland Marina as a base and then trail up with the boat and have it on a pontoon outside for day trips / the odd overnighter.

Great way of introducing kids to sailing and very safe too. Whatever you do, you don't want them having a bad experience by being too ambitious on long passages early on.