I will live-aboard. The clock is ticking

[Tranona]

Don't think you will learn much from the London Boat Show. Boats on dislay there will not be representative of what you could afford to buy.

Better to wait for the warmer weather and spend a long weekend somewhere on the South Coast between Brighton and Weymouth where you will be able to see a vst range of boats for sale which you can look around. Do your research on line draw up a representative list of boats you think might be suitable and go looking.

 

[Zanziba]

Don't think you will learn much from the London Boat Show. Boats on dislay there will not be representative of what you could afford to buy.

Better to wait for the warmer weather and spend a long weekend somewhere on the South Coast between Brighton and Weymouth where you will be able to see a vst range of boats for sale which you can look around. Do your research on line draw up a representative list of boats you think might be suitable and go looking.

Oh, yes I agree. But at least the boat show will give me an idea of how much room is inside a yacht of varying sizes.

I like the idea of having an excuse to enjoy the English Riviera for a week or so... purely for research reasons

I've also starting planning my next sailing holiday which is two weeks out of Lanzarote in July with Endeavour Sailing (Who I got my Comp. Crew and Day Skipper with) if anyone is interested then PM me - I need 3 more crew!

 

[V1701]

Hi,
Here's the thread that Tranona referred to. It's a good read as well as a lot of useful info...

My comments would be:

Really really don't worry too much about showering on board. Unless your marina's facilities are truly appalling it's easier to not shower on your boat.

Don't go as big as late 30's/40 feet, it's too big to singlehand easily, especially if relatively inexperienced, you would end up doing less sailing than if you had smaller.

A lot of the modern 32/34 plus footers have either one or 2 double aft sleeping cabins. Go for one with one aft cabin (these are often referred to as "owner's" versions). There is way too much space given over to sleeping accommodation in the double aft cabin versions for a private owner, these are more suitable and intended for chartering.

Don't be put off having a boat with a tiller - much more feel than a wheel, you're more involved, they're fantastic! (You wouldn't have one on anything much post 1990 and 30 odd feet or larger anyway).

You'll need a good (probably blown air) dry frorm of heat. Budget £2k inc. fitting. And an electric blanket, budget £20-£30!

If you seriously are going to be doing some cross ocean sailing broaden your search as already suggested. If that's something for the future I'd factor it out of the equation for now...

I live on a Jeanneau Sun-Dream 28 (29.5 feet), exactly the same hull and interior layout as the Sun Odyssey 30 here (though it looks much bigger than it actually is due to the fisheye lenses they use, the settees are about 6 feet long!). I love it and it's fine with up to four on. I singlehand but anything significantly bigger I'm not convinced I'd do that very often. The only issue for you would be height, I'm 5'7" so it's fine for me. For that reason and given your budget I'd probably go for a modern 32/34 footer, buy one 10 to 15 years old and you won't lose a fortune when you change boats.

Good luck with it...

 

[Baggy]

may i make a suggestion to look at;-

westerly 33 yachts


very well founded boats, ocean capable
good headroom
and they do have showers.... dont ya know

you could get a good example around the £30,000
probably got all the kit for liveaboard
...all ready to go

more info check out the westery owner web site

http://www.westerly-owners.co.uk/

yes I have a westerly....

 

[Zanziba]

may i make a suggestion to look at;-

westerly 33 yachts


very well founded boats, ocean capable
good headroom
and they do have showers.... dont ya know

you could get a good example around the £30,000
probably got all the kit for liveaboard
...all ready to go

more info check out the westery owner web site

http://www.westerly-owners.co.uk/

yes I have a westerly....

Thank you to BOTH posters... I am starting to learn what I need and what I don't and the recommendations you made make perfect sense.

I'm a little under 5'11" so six foot head room is essential. I'm going to try and get to the marina this month and check out the showers and facilities, that will have a bearing on my choice of yacht.

I will Ocean sail one day but I can always get a different yacht by then. I'm starting to like the idea of buying sooner and cheaper... learn the ropes and upgrade in a few years.

 

[Zanziba]

Okay... some further thoughts. I've spent a bit of time reading JimmyBob's thread which has a lot of interesting and helpful info.

1) Sail yacht is the way to go for me, no discussion.
2) GRP - I'm not looking at anything else
3) I need space. 35-38 foot I believe to be ideal. I do have people who will help crew but I also need, after some experience, to be able to single handed. I assume most marinas will hepl with your lines when you radio ahead if you ask when you moor?
4) My budget will be about £35k - £40k. My target is 2013 to buy and move aboard. I was going to wait longer but I think a mortage for 50% will be a good idea.
5) I want a yacht make people have heard of incase I need to resell. Jeaneau, Bavaria, Moody, Beneteau, Westerly... what's missing?
6) I want it to be relatively modern. I am thinking 1990 onwards. Why??? Well, I can do a bit of DIY and as a Physics teacher I know a bit about electrics but I am not a whizz in that respect and don;t want something too old. Looking at pictures older early 1980's yachts look very dated inside. My views on this may change next summer when I start looking at them (Not to buy, just to pretend and learn more)
7) A Cockpit enclosure - Great idea as a permanent thing in winter when I wont get much sailing done? I lived in a caravan for 4 months once (Just a little 2 berth thing) and the awning doubled my living space.
8) Getting a dehumidifier and paying for an eber blow air system to be fitted seems a definate. One post said Eberspacher system £1500 plus fitting. How much would fitting be and can you fit it to any yacht?
9) I need more sailing experience so I am booking one holiday this year, one next, have my fathers 29' gibsea to play on and will put an advert in a couple of places offering my services.

So, has anything changed? Well, maybe, maybe not. I think my mind has been concreted a little more in what I want. I am wondering less. I think 35-38 foot, GRP, 1990 onwards sailing yacht. I've set a date for latest 31/12/2013 so three years to buy one.

Best get saving then.

---------- Addition -----------

Something like these

http://uk.yachtworld.com/core/listi...ine-38-2057879/United-Kingdom&boat_id=2057879

http://www.ancasta.com/boatinformation.aspx?boatid=25097

 

[dslittle]

Visiting

Hi,
I live on a Jeanneau Sun-Dream 28 (29.5 feet), exactly the same hull and interior layout as the Sun Odyssey 30 here (though it looks much bigger than it actually is due to the fisheye lenses they use, the settees are about 6 feet long!). I love it and it's fine with up to four on. I singlehand but anything significantly bigger I'm not convinced I'd do that very often. The only issue for you would be height, I'm 5'7" so it's fine for me. For that reason and given your budget I'd probably go for a modern 32/34 footer, buy one 10 to 15 years old and you won't lose a fortune when you change boats.

Good luck with it...

Following on from this and other replies, I am in the same marina as djbreeze and would welcome you down for a weekend if you want to look around a few boats 'in situ'. Previous quotes have stated the 'falseness' of a boat show demo boat with lots of space but NOTHING IN IT. To get a real idea of the space that you will need, get onto some liveaboard boats and see the reality.
PM me if you want to come down.

 

[PlanB]

The invitation above will obviously give you a really good idea of liveaboard accommodation, but we also found that wandering around marinas and looking at a variety of boat interiors helped us enormously when we were trying to narrow our search down from a zero-knowledge base. Most boat brokers are a different breed from car salesmen, with boating experience, and are more than happy to discuss requirements and show you boats in a relaxed manner.

 

[Zanziba]

The invitation above will obviously give you a really good idea of liveaboard accommodation, but we also found that wandering around marinas and looking at a variety of boat interiors helped us enormously when we were trying to narrow our search down from a zero-knowledge base. Most boat brokers are a different breed from car salesmen, with boating experience, and are more than happy to discuss requirements and show you boats in a relaxed manner.

That's really sound advice. Does anyone know of such an outlet in the North West though where I'd be allowed to peruse the stock?

 

[V1701]

You'll have to spend quite a lot of time trawling round the Internet. As someone already suggested a week on the south coast would be a good plan, when there's more boats on the market, maybe try april/may. When I started looking there was a couple of times I contacted brokers and explained that they had several boats on their books that I wanted to see. I turned up and they were happy to give me a couple of sets of keys, go and have a look, come back, another couple of sets of keys and so on...

 

[AndrewB]

Good luck! I ended up living on a boat during each of my divorces, and can recommend it.

If you are expecting to be in a situation of having your kids visit regularly, try to involve them in your decision and bear in mind they will need decent space of their own aboard. If they don't like it, you risk losing contact. Don't expect them automatically to take to actual sailing - that would be a real plus if they do, but you will have to introduce it very carefully.

A lesson I learnt the hard way: be careful about saving hard until the divorce has been finalised - if you do, salt your dosh well away.

 

[Zanziba]

A lesson I learnt the hard way: be careful about saving hard until the divorce has been finalised - if you do, salt your dosh well away.

I understand this fully... I can chuck it at debts if need be. I've no shortage of those now!

 

[JustinC]

Good luck with your plans and dreams.

We´re finally setting off this March for 8 months cruising round the Balearics and Italian islands, and it´s been a few years in the planning....can´t wait!

I was once told that you should never laugh at the dreams of anybody, because anybody who doesn´t have dreams has nothing at all, so stick with it, regardless what anyone else says.

From my experience, I´d avoid showering much on a boat in winter if you can help it for all the damp and condensation that you will generate.

And 37-38 seems on the large side bearing in mind that the kids won´t be living with you all the time, and single-handed sailing is that much harder when it´s bigger.

I´d say closer to 32-33 would be better, and the maintenance costs are much lower.

Also, 37-38 footers often get shunted up to the next size of moorings in the ports, which make it all much more expensive, so find out from your local marina on their berth sizes (and ask if they have one near the showers for the above reason)

Good luck!

 

[penfold]

Another thing to do would be to attend any 2nd hand boat shows at marinas near you as you will be able to get inside many different boats on the same day, and often get to speak the owner. These are usually run in the spring, but sometimes at other times of the year.

 

[rivonia]

I wish you all the very best of LUCK with you dream. Keep at it. It would appear that you know exactly which direction you are going. Many many years ago I was just like you and had my dreams and ambitions-EVERY single one came to fruition. I stuck up labels/pictures of those things that I was trying to reach for and got them.

You will 100% need a good shower fitted, a large comfortable Bed, adequate galley and plenty of storage space. We now have a 11mt catamaran, this is what we wanted. You want a monohull at approx 37ft... GO FOR IT.

Peter

 

[Allycat]

Hi Zanziba

I'm from south africa and am living aboard a 28 footer on the east sussex coast. Am glad I found this thread as coming from a 3rd world country and not having a penny to my name or any professional qualifications I can understand how you're feeling. I've been surviving on menial jobs as soon as I got into the uk after saving up for a flight ticket and visa. Been here 7 years now and through a lot of hassle and issues I now have a resident visa. I eventually managed to get a small bank loan to buy a boat and been living aboard since 2007. Having gained an rya competent crew and vhf license, I've done a bit of sailing on various boats between eastbourne and the solent, and am thinking of sailing right around the uk going through the caledonian canal, so am saving my pennies again haha! I've been keeping an eye on a couple webpages and blogs, especially the adventures of sarabande, they inspire me the most! PM me if you'd like to chat

 

[cimota]

I went through a similar situation to the OP a few years ago. At the moment I'm also 3-4 years away from buying the boat I want (aiming for 40ft model) for sailing around the world when my kids are a bit older, a bit more independent.

Looking forward to living vicariously though your plans!

 

[V1701]

Horses for courses, each to their own and all that, but hot shower on board is way down on my list of priorities. I have access to excellent shower facilities in the marina (UK). When I go somewhere warmer a solar shower will suffice, or I can use the cold shower on board. What I would say is if you're living on your own, get out of the rat race sooner by having a smaller, cheaper boat. It may turn out to your liking, or if not you won't lose out too much financially when you sell it on. And you'll save way more money sooner if you live on a smaller boat than if you're renting a flat/house anyway.

To me the more I keep costs down now the sooner I can sail away for a few years or longer.

Berthing costs at Brighton , for example:
8-10 metres (nearly 33 feet) £3023
10-12 metres (39 feet) £3613
12-14 metres (46 feet) £4571

For the larger boat Gosport is over £6.5k, Swanwick over £8k. Boats over 12 metres are often significantly more expensive in the Med as well. Food for thought...

 

[Zanziba]

I have decided to go to the boat show this weekend... going to try and get a feel for yachts of different sizes. I know that they're all new and roomy and posh but at least it gives me something to go on.

YBW also has a marina of 2nd hand boats there apparently so I can have a look there but I don't know if people will be able to see inside them?

 

[cimota]

I'm going there on Wednesday. I was over for the LWF conference so this is serendipity of the highest order. Hoping Wednesday won't be too busy. Am also interested in seeing some of the modern boats.