how do you get to try different type of yachts for live aboard

[[3889]]

The problem with crewing is that only the skipper/dad gets the experience - and he is probably the one driving this. If it is just a couple then crewing as a couple has value. However this is a family, most of whom have no idea about sailing, let a lone living on a boat.

That is the value of chartering, as I said in my original response. Its purpose is to introduce the family to the idea - and at the same time be a holiday. as said if they don't like that, then the project is doomed anyway.

The OP does not say what age the children are, and while it might be easier to take pre school children on such an adventure, once they start school they also start building their own lives which makes it much more difficult to take them away. The fact that the OP (where is he I wonder?) is inevitably thinking long term suggests his children will not be pre school when they start.

Personally I think the fixation on the "right boat" is wrong. Rarely do such projects fail because the boat was wrong. it is almost always crew related issues that lead to the breakdown. so before investing in the boat and making a live changing decision, best to concentrate on trying to ensure all the family buys into it. Difficult enough when there are only two people involved, but committing your children to an unconventional life is very high risk.

Sound advice but I'm not sure whether a fortnight drifting around the Ionian is preparation for living aboard or a catalyst for bitter recriminations when the electrics go down mid-Atlantic.

 

[Sybarite]

Hi all we are at the beginning of are journey, with a plan to sail for 5 year with a family of 4 ,the problem i have is we are not a sailing family i have my day skippers and am doing a lot more training up to yacht masters.
and every course i can fit in from boat repairs to first aid etc etc ..

We are looking for a boat to bluewater live aboard but keep getting told we need to try as many boats as possible that's the hard part we dont live on the coast any more and dont have the contact with people who have boats we can ask to go out on to see what we think. so my question is how do you go about trying different types out for this kind of change to a life .


Age old problem i learned to sail on mono hulls and am draw to them as a rule, the wife like the space and not healing of a cat.

My short list of boat types is :
moody
Hylas
hallberg rassy
leopards
privilege
Manta Mark II

Can any one recommend a way of try before you buy lol

Try adding an Amel Santorin to your list. 14m designed for two couples (two double cabins with ensuite heads) and where physical strength is not a requirement.

https://www.argus-marine.com/annonces.html?q=amel+santorin+ketch

It exists as either a sloop or a ketch.

 

[laika]

Having gone through this all a few years ago, it's surprising how difficult it is to get access to this crowd while you do not have a boat, and how easy it is once you do!

Yes! and having, before buying a boat, joined the CA for the crewing service, chartering and taking every opportunity to sail anything I could I didn't get a fraction of the experience or opportunities that I did once I was living in boatyards and marinas on my own boat. Chartering/crewing != living aboard/owning

My experience, and that of many I've spoken with, is that only owning and living on a boat gives a true guide to what you will need, and what you won't. I suppose that's an argument for buying relatively small and cheap, and using the experience to teach you what will suit you all better when you come to trade up.

Yes! I spent a lot of time beforehand doing careful research as to the boat I wanted for my intended purpose. 2 problems with this approach:
- 9 years on I haven't actually got to my intended purpose and my boat would not have been what I would have chosen for bimbling around the channel
- It's *almost* right which is awful because it's good enough that I don't want the hassle of changing boats.

Buy something smaller and cheaper than you want. Buy something that's sailable right away so you don't need to invest in a load of new stuff (engine, sails rigging) which makes you attached to it

Expect to lose some money and budget for that

Buy something which suits the sailing you want to do tomorrow rather than the sailing you want to do next year

Then when you know what you want, trade up and go.

 

[Tranona]

Sound advice but I'm not sure whether a fortnight drifting around the Ionian is preparation for living aboard or a catalyst for bitter recriminations when the electrics go down mid-Atlantic.

Agree, but the OP (and his family) is starting from zero plus his dream so you have to start from somewhere.

 

[Paddy Fields]

Take the family to the med in the summer to learn dingy sailing at one of the dingy sailing camps. Make sure that you all have an f’ing good laugh. It’s a cheap holiday, and if you can establish that sailing is fun, that’s half the battle.

 

[moomba]

Agree, but the OP (and his family) is starting from zero plus his dream so you have to start from somewhere.

This be true , my position is the same as the OPs I was looking for a boat to circumnavigate with my daughter who will be 9 when we go and my Wife, started from scratch as in needed the right boat ,fit it out, plan the journey, read everything , research everything , watch U tube and then filter out the rubbish , then make your own mind up due to what you have learned and hope that 30% of what you wanted and expected you will get.
to the OP you dont state the budget for the boat , refurbishment , getting the family engaged in the process, these might help in helping you decide, especially the budget for your boat and the size you would be comfortable with, large different in prices for a good Hallberg to a good Moody or a Cat, but all will take you around the world.
You also need buy in from the family and the enthusiasm to keep plodding away at the dream , I am 3 years into my plan and only expect to get away in a year and a half, this constitutes getting the boat that was right for us (budget dependent) then doing the work ourselfs to get it to a sea state, and researching and preparing for offshore sailing.
good luck in your search

 

[DoubleEnder]

Lots of charter cats now in the Med. just saying

 

[RupertW]

This be true , my position is the same as the OPs I was looking for a boat to circumnavigate with my daughter who will be 9 when we go and my Wife, started from scratch as in needed the right boat ,fit it out, plan the journey, read everything , research everything , watch U tube and then filter out the rubbish , then make your own mind up due to what you have learned and hope that 30% of what you wanted and expected you will get.
to the OP you dont state the budget for the boat , refurbishment , getting the family engaged in the process, these might help in helping you decide, especially the budget for your boat and the size you would be comfortable with, large different in prices for a good Hallberg to a good Moody or a Cat, but all will take you around the world.
You also need buy in from the family and the enthusiasm to keep plodding away at the dream , I am 3 years into my plan and only expect to get away in a year and a half, this constitutes getting the boat that was right for us (budget dependent) then doing the work ourselfs to get it to a sea state, and researching and preparing for offshore sailing.
good luck in your search

But when plans like yours do go wrong it's usually the lack of buy in of the family which is why is so critical that they experIence idyllic easy sailing with you to find out whether even that is any fun to them. Otherwise you get the normal pattern of obsessive years of tinkering instead of doing what real voyagers do and just set sail in a production boat. Then after the tinkering which still leaves the boat bizarrely unfinished the voyage is solo after the first fright.

 

[moomba]

But when plans like yours do go wrong it's usually the lack of buy in of the family which is why is so critical that they experIence idyllic easy sailing with you to find out whether even that is any fun to them. Otherwise you get the normal pattern of obsessive years of tinkering instead of doing what real voyagers do and just set sail in a production boat. Then after the tinkering which still leaves the boat bizarrely unfinished the voyage is solo after the first fright.

I always like to look at the glass half full , and the years of getting to where we are know, in the process we have learnt so much already ,the family are not adverse to sailing gets pretty tasty up here in Scotland. Also in refurbishing an older boat you know every part of that boat inside out ,to many people go out and cant rewire a plug, there is no part in my boat that I have not been upside down in, swearing, you also have to build in the tenacity of the family going , and their history , each persons dreams are always different.
Also some peoples tinkering keeps then sane , I always hear that a boat will always need maintenance and this is part of the grind , then I throw this back to you , in my house , I need to cut grass , decorate , DIY constantly.

 

[RupertW]

I always like to look at the glass half full , and the years of getting to where we are know, in the process we have learnt so much already ,the family are not adverse to sailing gets pretty tasty up here in Scotland. Also in refurbishing an older boat you know every part of that boat inside out ,to many people go out and cant rewire a plug, there is no part in my boat that I have not been upside down in, swearing, you also have to build in the tenacity of the family going , and their history , each persons dreams are always different.
Also some peoples tinkering keeps then sane , I always hear that a boat will always need maintenance and this is part of the grind , then I throw this back to you , in my house , I need to cut grass , decorate , DIY constantly.

That's fair and my post was a bit twatish - sorry. Certainly you need to get to know your boat ideally but we met a nice couple in our marina in Croatia in Summer 2017 who had first stepped on a boat for a flotilla holiday in May, bought a ten year old charter boat and were having a week's instruction on it before setting off exploring.

We next met them again in January this year and went out to them after they'd dropped anchor off Port St Charles in Barbados after their first Atlantic crossing. I found that scary, naive but very exciting for them and they had become pretty good sailors along the way even if they still thought you needed to start the engine to safely reef.