How big is BIG enough?

[maby]

She sure is......but we have no option......

Don't see it as second best... We love being semi-liveaboard - have to return to the house from time to time for family and business commitments, but we always do so with a degree of regret. Look - if you could afford a 50 or 60 footer in really nice condition and moor it in St. Kats, you would not be considering it second best - you would be bursting with pride and your daughter would be the most popular girl in school with a long queue of friends waiting to come round for the weekend. Incidentally, you will also develop a long queue of candidates to become her step-mother!

Your £40k will not run to that, but if you apply a bit of common sense chosing the boat and a lot of elbow grease renovating it, you can still end up with something that will attract compliments and give both you and your daughter a lot of pleasure. Just don't fall into the floating gypsy lifestyle - keep it clean, no pot plants on the coachroof and, if you want a bimini, save up to buy one - don't throw an old tarpauline over the boom!

 

[Sequoiah1]

Now the reason I have posted this here is that the folks in this forum have always been most helpful and honest.

Time has com to ditch the wife and go livaboard.

I will need a sailing yacht, bilge keel, big enough for myself and my 13 yr old daughter and occasional visitors.

My budget is £40k.

So what do you good folk recomend I should buy please?

Thanks

John

Macwester Seaforth?

 

[samwise]

We have spent two extended liveaboard sessions on our Westerly Storm 33, catering for up to four folk at a time ( self, wife and two large teenagers). Very similar to the Fulmar that I would also recommend as an option. Bigger boats will cost more in maintenance and marina fees and an extra foot or so on the l.o.a. does not necessarily mean the accommodation is better for long term use. Most of the boats in the 10 to 12m range are designed for short term use and beware the "blue water cruiser" tag that is often applied to craft that are anything but. You need good stowage ( the Storm has a huge cockpit locker) but it is amazing how you can tuck away a lot of stuff as you get into the swing of the liveaboard life. If 40k is your top budget, it would be wise not to spend it all on the purchase and leave a bit for fitting out and essential overhauls. Those "bits and pieces" can soon add 5k or more to your spend.
But in the end, as you said in one of your posts, JFDI. If you don't you'll regret it!

 

[ianat182]

I think the Westerly Konsort might fill the bill and leave your budget reasonably able to afford the heating system you want. A good stable sailing boat, reasonable speed and performance and plenty of rooom and facilities below; with full headroom.
She'll take you safely anywhere;on the continent through the canals to the Med for an extended holiday too.
She'll handle very well under power and have enough room on deck to stow a dinghy.
Marina costs at about the normal minimum rather than paying for the xtra length with raking bow etc.

A really good one around £28K with uptodate engine and sails should be possible.

ianat182

 

[maby]

I think the Westerly Konsort might fill the bill and leave your budget reasonably able to afford the heating system you want. A good stable sailing boat, reasonable speed and performance and plenty of rooom and facilities below; with full headroom.
She'll take you safely anywhere;on the continent through the canals to the Med for an extended holiday too.
She'll handle very well under power and have enough room on deck to stow a dinghy.
Marina costs at about the normal minimum rather than paying for the xtra length with raking bow etc.

A really good one around £28K with uptodate engine and sails should be possible.

ianat182

We looked at one of those a few years ago and were favourably impressed. They will be getting well into middle age by now and will probably need a bit of TLC to bring up to a nice standard, but if you are able to do much of the work yourself, you should be able to find one at a price that will leave you plenty to bring it up to specification within budget.

 

[vlada111]

You should go for Fulmar, that is my dream yacht

 

[zambant]

Any other suggestions ?

Thx all for your suggestions and helpful (mostly) comments.

Westerly's do seem to be coming out well in this trawl of opinion

Seem's as though their may be a good chance of a different berth in the marina so the door is wide open now...... Fin keelers atr in the agenda too

 

[Greenheart]

Whilst I'm a big fan of almost all things Westerly, I'm not sure that many of their designs available under £40K, are suitable as liveaboards. Remember that plentiful daylight in the saloon (when the hatches are closed, as UK weather will often require) is critical to sanity.

With wheelhouses or 'deck saloons' in mind (which should also allow miserable wet cold trips to be steered from 'indoors'), have a look at Apollo Duck's motor-sailer section. Plenty there within your budget, like this: http://yachts.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=220542

Of course it's easy to waste time dreaming how you'd spend more money than you have...but if you could find £45K, you're playing a different and much nicer ballgame, with separate cabins and nobody sleeping in the living room...important for happy relations:

Nice Nauticat here: http://yachts.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=240234

Above all, if you really will be aboard day and night, summer and winter, beware anything race-bred or performance-orientated. Competitive yachting isn't known for its comfort...

...aspects like decent headroom throughout and a bathroom wider than your shoulders, are often compromised in sporty designs, but like the slick 2dr coupe that can get under parking barriers, they're intolerable in the real world!