First time cruiser

Anderson 22..............

2 on the OA website <4K


Welcome to the site.. Loads of threads on this topic via the search bit.....
 
I don't think you would find the sailing very hard but you would need to learn some basic navigational skills. I have a hurley22 myself and am pleased with her mostly.

tzread said:
I'm looking for my first cruiser, but have no idea where to start. I've been looking about and i think about 22 feet seems to fit the bill. My requirements would be as follows, it would be used on the river alde in suffolk and maybe (once/twice a year) going out and along the coast. It would have to sleep 2 people and have a small kitchen area, budget wise i as thinking 3000-4000, unless it had the extra something and maybe i could stretch the budget a bit. I'm not looking for a project boat, i don't mind some sanding and varnishing, dated interior etc..... but i would like to get on the water asap. I've been looking at jaguar, halcyon, hurley etc....
Anybody got any recommendations or advice? Also this may be a stupid question but i've sailed dinghies for quite a while and been on cruisers a few times, would it be an easy transition for me to sail it easily?
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tzread said:
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Anybody got any recommendations or advice? Also this may be a stupid question but i've sailed dinghies for quite a while and been on cruisers a few times, would it be an easy transition for me to sail it easily?
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If you are a dinghy sailor, it will seem large the first few times you take it out and you will be terrified of capsizing it - 'cos that's what dinghies do and you realise that you will not have a hope in hell of righting it by standing on the keel!

Two or three weeks later, you will begin to think it's far too small and you'll be raising all the sail you've got 'cos it's absolutely stable and you want to go as fast as you can. A few months later, you'll actually understand it having come close to broaching a couple of times and you'll be planning the upgrade to something around the 27 foot mark!

At least, that was the sequence for us. We are now poverty stricken and waiting for various organs to grow back so that we can sell them again and fund yet another upgrade! :)
 
You could add a Seal 22 to your list. There is one on Apollo Duck just now that looks OK. This will feal more like a proper little yacht than a dinghy with it's inboard diesel. Although those can be a mixed blessing as Dylan found.

And another one to look at is a Hunter Sonata. These get raced a fair bit so there is an active market. A bit more performance but not so easy to trail and sail.
 
Hurley 22's are meant to be great. A Hurley 20 has done an atlantic circuit. I was going to look at the 22 but there was a Fin keel Hurley 24 in the same yard. Definitely recommend the fin keel version. I'm sure like the 22 at least, she sails like a much bigger boat, but is easily handled solo or shorthanded. big boat for a 24 footer.

Andy
 
Hurley 24/70 is a massive amount of cruiser for the money,if you don't need to dry out. I've just been 2 months France,Belgium,Holland and back across the N Sea in mine. Tough little yachts,happily lacking the surrealist design feature of keels attached with nuts and bolts!
However everybody will recommend the type they own,there are lots to choose from,it is a buyers' market at £4k.
 
jerrytug said:
Hurley 24/70 is a massive amount of cruiser for the money,if you don't need to dry out. I've just been 2 months France,Belgium,Holland and back across the N Sea in mine. Tough little yachts,happily lacking the surrealist design feature of keels attached with little nuts and bolts!
However everybody will recommend the type they own,there are lots to choose from,it is a buyers' market at £4k.
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Totally agree. 300+ nm trip across channel over the last two weeks. She sails like a much bigger boat. Carries her sail incredibly well....we can sail in a 6 with full sail up. only just, but she copes. Better than boats nearly twice the size (naming no names) sailing next to us in the same winds. Love the encapsulated lead keel too.

Genuinely can't fault her. would love a 40ft version if I could afford to get her built.

Loads on Apollo Duck
 
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Another on the list (which in reality is pretty long...) and fun to sail is a J24, bit cramped below & has a keel (only 4ft or so). Son has one and has just cleaned up in the club cruiser races evening series.
 
We had a couple of years with a Westerly Cirrus, 3ft 6 ish fin keel. Fantastic accomodation and a 10hp diesel. I could easily match the local Hurley 22s going to windward, and we had standing headroom! That is if you are no more than my 5ft8 and don't mind standing in one place.

I went on a Cirrus a few years ago and it was just as clever as I had remembered. There are still some around, in fact, we saw one here in Germany 2 weeks ago, looking very smart.
 
As has been said already, everyone will recommend the boat they own, so here goes:-

If you don't mind sitting headroom only, the Achilles 24 is a great little boat, comes in fin, bilge, and triple keel versions, and you'd get a very decent one for £3-4k, or just a decent one for less with some left to spend on gear, upgrades, etc.

Have a look at www.achillesyachts.co.uk, and also search for the Achilles group on Flickr for loads of advice, ideas etc.
 
BAtoo said:
Another on the list (which in reality is pretty long...) and fun to sail is a J24, bit cramped below & has a keel (only 4ft or so). Son has one and has just cleaned up in the club cruiser races evening series.
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Not sure a J24 counts as a cruiser - it's really a pretty minimalistic racer, isn't it?
 
That's why I said its pretty cramped below, but space for 2 to sleep (just). But as a dinghy sailor the OP may well enjoy its sailing abilities.....

But he really knows by now that its an A22 for him....;)
 
Lots of good suggestions made. Just beware of old inboard engines, if they go wrong they can cost a lot of money to repair or replace! With an outboard your costs are limited to the replacement cost of a new outboard.
 
Tam Lin said:
Lots of good suggestions made. Just beware of old inboard engines, if they go wrong they can cost a lot of money to repair or replace! With an outboard your costs are limited to the replacement cost of a new outboard.
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There's a lot of wisdom in that - if I were buying anything under 25 foot, I would probably be looking very seriously at options with outboards.
 
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