Help - is pilothouse yacht right for me?

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West Coast

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I currently have a Starlight 35, which over past 13 years my wife and I sail together. The problem is that my wife has developed an autoimmune condition which means it is increasingly difficult for her to keep warm, especially in windy and wet conditions. So trying to see what options may be best for a future boat, if indeed we can keep on sailing together :( Motor/power boat is not an option!

Was wondering about a pilothouse type boat, where she could at times be inside but with good visability to minimise becoming seasick. I am not concerned with inside steering position, and am happy to run the boat solo if necessary (the starlight is set up in this way). For example, had a look online at a used Wauquiez 40 PS, are there others similar to consider?

Any thoughts appreciated
 
West Coast said:
I currently have a Starlight 35, which over past 13 years my wife and I sail together. The problem is that my wife has developed an autoimmune condition which means it is increasingly difficult for her to keep warm, especially in windy and wet conditions. So trying to see what options may be best for a future boat, if indeed we can keep on sailing together :( Motor/power boat is not an option!

Was wondering about a pilothouse type boat, where she could at times be inside but with good visability to minimise becoming seasick. I am not concerned with inside steering position, and am happy to run the boat solo if necessary (the starlight is set up in this way). For example, had a look online at a used Wauquiez 40 PS, are there others similar to consider?

Any thoughts appreciated
Click to expand...

If you don’t want to change boats there may be another solution.

We have a great cockpit canopy on our Beneteau Oceanis 38 and we often sail with it up - partially or fully. We came across Biscay last spring with it mostly fully up. It really kept the cold and damp out especially at night.

My wife doesn’t have a health condition but she refuses to sail if it’s too cold, and with the canopy she is fine. We can leave the companionway open and feed the heating into the cockpit if necessary.

The good thing about the canopy, is that we can remove parts of it when we want to as the weather improves.

Anyway, just a thought.

Garold
 
As ever the choice depends on budget and what is available on the market. "Pilot House" covers a whole range of styles of boats, mostly though made in small numbers. Under 40' they can end up cramped and ungainly, particularly those where a house has been plonked on top an existing sailing boat. Many have a bias towards the motor end of the spectrum and at the other end others try to keep sleek looks and then end up with a house that is not very good underway. The term "Deck Saloon" is also commonly used to try and differentiate from the commercial connotations that come with the word "pilot". All semantics really as you are likely to focus on features that appeal to you rather than the terms used.

Scandinavians probably produce the best range of boats suitable for keeping warm while still being engaged with sailing. My personal favourite would be a Nauticat 42, but they are getting on a bit now.

You will probably spend more time looking for this type of boat, partly due to the variety available and partly because of the small numbers of each type produced.
 
Have a look at the Sirius range. May not be the prettiest but they pack a lot into the space and they would provide maximum protection whilst still allowing you wife to see whats going on.
 
I think a pilothouse yacht is most likely to be the best solution. People who don't feel the cold often don't appreciate how debilitating cold can be to those who react. I get Raynaulds to a moderate degree and winter sailing is now not an option. If I just touch a piece of cold metal my finger/s is gone until I can warm my hands through in warm water. If West Coast's wife is anything like this, then a well-sheltered open cockpit is unlikely to satisfy her needs. They might be able to manage for a while, but might well get disillusioned. Unfortunately, a pilot house doesn't go well with good looks and good sailing ability in smaller yachts, but I'm sure that a compromise can be found, and it is likely that their overall sailing pleasure will be greater.
 
If you currently sail a Starlight, then I'm making an assumption that the sailing experience is important to you. Friends of mine circumnavigated in a Wauquiez 40PS and rated it highly so that's a good start. Off the top of my head, I'd also suggest looking at Dehler DS41, Arcona 400DS and wasn't there a DS version of the Starlight 38/39 (no idea how many were built though)?
 
Last edited:
Hacker said:
Have a look at the Sirius range. May not be the prettiest but they pack a lot into the space and they would provide maximum protection whilst still allowing you wife to see whats going on.
Click to expand...

We saw the Sirius for the first time at this year's boat show and I really fell in love with it - including the appearance. I was beginning to reach for the cheque book when my wife brought me back down to earth!
 
johnalison said:
I think a pilothouse yacht is most likely to be the best solution. People who don't feel the cold often don't appreciate how debilitating cold can be to those who react. I get Raynaulds to a moderate degree and winter sailing is now not an option. If I just touch a piece of cold metal my finger/s is gone until I can warm my hands through in warm water. If West Coast's wife is anything like this, then a well-sheltered open cockpit is unlikely to satisfy her needs. They might be able to manage for a while, but might well get disillusioned. Unfortunately, a pilot house doesn't go well with good looks and good sailing ability in smaller yachts, but I'm sure that a compromise can be found, and it is likely that their overall sailing pleasure will be greater.
Click to expand...

You have understood the problem exactly. Severe Raynauds is part of the condition, she cannot pick up a cold drink without her fingers going blue :( She is finding ways to combat this, including all types of clothing and heated boot soles as is determined that the condition will not rule her life! But this is only part of the solution. As other replies have observed, I do like a good sailing boat but am obviously willing to sacrifice this to find a boat she will be more comfortable in
 
My wife has raynards and it wasnt until we first went skiing to France one winter where we simply drove from the airport to the apartment, got out of the car into the car park and she showed me her hand............her fingers went a dark shade of purple, never seen anything like it.

All I can say is, make sure her 'core' is warm, even overly warm. This way her body will have excess heat and will be happy pump warm blood to the extremities. And make sure she is well fed as this will also help a great deal.

Simply sticking on an extra set of gloves, by themselves will not work. Neither will heated insoles. They do help, but you need to make sure the core body has excess heat to pump out to the places furthest from the heart.

Before I got into sailing I was climbing lots of very high altitude 'Cold' mountains which is how I know about this and how to keep things functioning at -40 having seen frostbite at first hand.

The good news though is that the continuation of sailing is more than achievable in my view.
 
the other point to mention is that Oilies do not provide any meaningful insulation. They are designed to keep seawater and rain out. She needs to get a very good synthetic insulated jacket to wear underneath. Synthetic so if it gets wet it still retains most of its thermal efficiency. If you stick a £200 down jacket from RAB etc it will get soaked with perspiration (ladies don't sweat) and be worse than useless after a few hours.

I wouldnt recommend a fleece jacket. The synthetic shell will slide underneath your oilies and you won't even know it is there. Fleeces just feel far to bulky when you start layering them with other clothing.
 
Thanks - all helpful! Agree re keeping core warm, we keep a supply of hot water bottles on board, and she uses these to under layers to keep core warm. Heated boot soles and heated gloves also help but are more limited. Once fingers go, heated gloves wont bring them back.
 
Or you could go one further and move your sailing to a warm climate such as Greece or Turkey. We have done this and left our heavy oilskins and gloves back at home. My wife is proud of her sunburnt knees, I no longer suffer agonies with frozen fingers. And costs (in Turkey) are far less than South Coast UK.
 
Tranona said:
As ever the choice depends on budget and what is available on the market. "Pilot House" covers a whole range of styles of boats, mostly though made in small numbers. Under 40' they can end up cramped and ungainly, particularly those where a house has been plonked on top an existing sailing boat. Many have a bias towards the motor end of the spectrum and at the other end others try to keep sleek looks and then end up with a house that is not very good underway. The term "Deck Saloon" is also commonly used to try and differentiate from the commercial connotations that come with the word "pilot". All semantics really as you are likely to focus on features that appeal to you rather than the terms used.

Scandinavians probably produce the best range of boats suitable for keeping warm while still being engaged with sailing. My personal favourite would be a Nauticat 42, but they are getting on a bit now.

You will probably spend more time looking for this type of boat, partly due to the variety available and partly because of the small numbers of each type produced.
Click to expand...

There is a basic difference between Pilot House, and Deck Saloon yachts, and it is not just semantics. I have a Deck Saloon, and although it is theoretically possible to sail from inside, I don't, but in bad weather I will motor from inside. All controls and instruments are duplicated.
The real difference for me is when we are anchored. Instead of being down below in a saloon, and not being able to see, we are in a comfotable deck saloon, not just a wheelhouse, where we can see what's happening around us.
 
NormanS said:
There is a basic difference between Pilot House, and Deck Saloon yachts, and it is not just semantics. I have a Deck Saloon, and although it is theoretically possible to sail from inside, I don't, but in bad weather I will motor from inside. All controls and instruments are duplicated.
The real difference for me is when we are anchored. Instead of being down below in a saloon, and not being able to see, we are in a comfotable deck saloon, not just a wheelhouse, where we can see what's happening around us.
Click to expand...

Fair point - would seem a Deck Saloon fits what I am looking for perhaps better than Pilot House. However, different manufacturers seem to use both these terms, eg the Wauquiez 40 is described as a Pilot Saloon, but has no way of steering from inside (unless autopilot control head is duplicated). I am not wanting to be able to steer from inside.
 
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