Greeting new buyer advice needed? ironquois catamaran or westerley kornort under 10k???

[Phifedawg]

Hi im looking for some advice first time buying a sail boat, looking to live on board with my dog and sail from uk to spain then onwards. im stuggling to decide between a iroquios catamaran and a westerley koncort. they are both just under 10k ? any advice ?

 

[Tranona]

Welcome to the forum

They are completely different boats and neither really suitable for what you want to do, although maybe the Westerly is a more seaworthy craft for cruising. However one at under £10k will be well short of being ready to go without a great deal of work and expenditure. Cruising with that kind of budget is difficult these days particularly if you want to include spending any time in Europe. Taking a dog just makes it even more difficult.

Such a lifestyle looks good on youtube but for every one that actually does it there are maybe at a guess 50 who tried and did not make it!

 

[Wansworth]

Bienvenido………would be handy to know of your skill set ,no point offering advice and you turn out to be a mechanic with yacht masters ocean

 

[nortada]

We have some experience as liveaboards.

The more explicit you can be regarding experience and aspirations the better the advice you will get.

 

[Kelpie]

I've been aboard a Konsort, it's an impressively spacious boat for the length. I presume that a £10k one will need work.

Will you be limited in Schengen time?

 

[ashtead]

Buy a westerly or moody -easy to sell on but look on respective owners fora for advice and tips . Personally your budget seems low for Konsort so maybe look at a centaur if cash is limited

 

[Bajansailor]

I have seen an Iroquois that crossed the Atlantic to Barbados, but that was many years ago.
They are relatively narrow, compared to 'modern' cats, and I think that one or two have flipped in the past.

A Konsort would probably be a better bet - but I will echo the warnings above, re if they are asking 'only' 10k, you will probably still have to fling a lot more money at them, to get them in a seaworthy state re 'heading to Spain and then onwards'.

Do you have any links re the vessels you are interested in?

 

[srm]

Which Iroquois? Mk1 was performance orientated and a few have inverted. Mk2 a little bit more sedate but again have been known to invert. I think it was a Mk 2 that the crew spent a night hanging on to after it inverted in the Solent - quite a few years ago.
Also, if thinking of marinas for the winters multihulls are often surcharged 50% or more, if they have a berth wide enough.
While they have lots of internal space for the length they need to be kept light. Its tempting to fill them with gear etc but then performance suffers and they can become dangerous. I sold my 32 ft Prout cat for that reason, heavy weather damage half way to Norway and all my fault for overloading it.

 

[V1701]

I think Heavenly Twins 26 is considered more seaworthy than Iroquois but do your own research. There is one for sale for £10k on Apolloduck that has a recent engine. The Konsort is nice and roomy for its size - been on one & I'd say it's big enough for one and a dog if you're the right sort of person, I'd choose that but wouldn't go any smaller & I have lived on smaller...
Can't comment on the other aspects of your post unless we have more info but good luck. I still (after 12 years) think it's a nice way to live but it's not for everyone and is becoming more difficult what with more marinas playing hardball and enforcing no living aboard & Brexit meaning we are subject to Schengen (90/180) visa rules. Whether you plan to live aboard or not always have somewhere to moor/berth lined up before you buy...

 

[KeelsonGraham]

The Konsort is a good boat. Kept us safe in an F9 across the channel. But, as everyone else is saying, £10k is just the starting point. You’ll need at least twice that to get her up to scratch and safe to cross Biscay.