Is there an ultimate first liveaboard sailing boat for a bachelor?

[dunedin]

No one has mentioned a Vancouver 27 maybe just within your price range or Vancouver 28 but more expensive. Both superb Ocean going boats they might be old but they are worth it and worth considering. People might suggest they are too small but. that is not my opinion. Anyway mine served me well sailing to Spain , Portugal across the Atlantic through the Caribbean and then across Pacific to NZ.

But "Med, Portugal" is hardly an "ocean going" requirement, even if the "maybe the Azores" is a bit more.
Space for living aboard is perhaps more important than trans ocean capabilities? In which case the Moody, Westerly etc are massively more practical than the older / narrower style boats.
A bit of extra beam and freeboard doesn't tend to cost more in harbour fees, yet provides lots more living space.

 

[ashtead]

I don’t think we know your passport status but if uk you might want to see if you or spouse have Irish roots and invest in a new Irish passport for eu travels. Once sorted you will find plenty of older yachts lurking in eastern med but condition might blow budget - assuming single handed then a big older boat might be too much do you want stern cabin or cockpit might be a consideration but maybe a £50k budget would get you a Bav34 from 2000 say with cash for the required repairs. Boats in med age quickly though so many tired examples around . Personally I would suggest initially a look at what you can buy in mainland Spain for your cash perhaps looking at owners websites eg moody owners or such like. I won’t suggest a boat as ar this segment it’s really the condition that’s key particularly if stretching budget.

 

[doug748]

Could look at Rival 34's:


Rival 34 Sailing Yachts for sale UK, used Rival Sailing Yachts, new Rival yacht sales, free photo ads - Apollo Duck


These two are a bit down on their luck but affordable. As the others have said, buying a boat is the cheap part.

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[capnsensible]

Did you buy the Moody 33 for less than £20K though? & was it up to scratch for sailing that far before you left at £20K?
The OP would have a £20K budget to buy his boat maintain it & get to Spain . I do not think that will be so easy. Yes if the budget was higher.
What was yours? £20K?

We bought the boat for more than 20k in 1998. We sailed from UK without needing to do much more than a good engine service and investing in a spinnaker pole and lines for poling out a headsail.

Over the 23 years we did a lot of changes. We finally sold the boat a couple of years ago for not much more than 20k and with the addition of food and drinks was ready for another Atlantic circuit.

 

[Tranona]

I don’t think we know your passport status but if uk you might want to see if you or spouse have Irish roots and invest in a new Irish passport for eu travels.

First post from OP specifically said suitable for a bachelor!

 

[dunedin]

………….

That’s a good shout, hadn’t considered that approach. Wheelhouse for additional living space is a great one to consider on a smaller boat for sure, Sounds like you had a great adventure!

……….

A wheelhouse type boat might be a nice idea for northern climates, but probably a disadvantage for hotter southern places where you say you are headed.
A decent sized cockpit is wanted for living above decks, and a cockpit tent much more useful than a wheelhouse - as can be used fully enclosed for winter / wet weather, with one or more sides removed but roof in place as a shelter from sun or rain showers whilst keeping cool in the breeze, or removed entirely when sun not too strong.

 

[14K478]

No one has mentioned a Vancouver 27 maybe just within your price range or Vancouver 28 but more expensive. Both superb Ocean going boats they might be old but they are worth it and worth considering. People might suggest they are too small but. that is not my opinion. Anyway mine served me well sailing to Spain , Portugal across the Atlantic through the Caribbean and then across Pacific to NZ.

Excellent suggestion, and you have certainly proven it yourself

 

[Tranona]

There is always a good supply of suitable boats well within the OPs £20k purchase budget whether they be old school pocket ocean cruisers like Twister, Halmatic 30, Nic 32, Rivals, GH31 or next generation family cruisers such as Westerly 31, 33, Discus, Colvic, Moody 33 that are commonly used for liveaboard. However they vary enormously in terms of condition and equipment so OP needs to look at as many as possible to find one that will be ready to use within the overall budget he has.

 

[RAI]

A wheelhouse type boat might be a nice idea for northern climates, but probably a disadvantage for hotter southern places where you say you are headed.
A decent sized cockpit is wanted for living above decks, and a cockpit tent much more useful than a wheelhouse - as can be used fully enclosed for winter / wet weather, with one or more sides removed but roof in place as a shelter from sun or rain showers whilst keeping cool in the breeze, or removed entirely when sun not too strong.

That has not been my experience but I have got no further south than the Canary Islands.
A strong wheelhouse provides support for multiple combinations and layers of shade protection rain and wind re-direction. It is also more UV resistant with simpler to replace material panels. After twenty years of sailing from Fair Isles to Canary Islands, I have never wished for a dodger, bimini, or cockpit tent combination. Yes, they work, but not quite as well.

 

[Daydream believer]

We bought the boat for more than 20k in 1998. We sailed from UK without needing to do much more than a good engine service and investing in a spinnaker pole and lines for poling out a headsail.

So, with due respect, you are not comparing like with like then are you? Which is the point I was making.

 

[BobnLesley]

If you want to look towards the lower end of your budget, leaving ample funds to fit out/upgrade and with even a bit left over to begin your sailing adventure, then an Albin Vega would be well worth looking at. I've seen what looked to be a really nice one being advertised in the Solent (nothing to do with me) only in the last week or so for only about £7k; from personal experience, I can advise that a Vega is more than capable of any/all those passages.
Admittedly the Vega won't quite give you that full 6' headroom that you'd like, but as you'll shortly find out should you progress with your plans, buying a boat, most especially with a tight budget, requires compromises; that advice too is based on personal experience.

 

[ylop]

So, with due respect, you are not comparing like with like then are you? Which is the point I was making.

You didn’t read his second paragraph before replying did you:

Over the 23 years we did a lot of changes. We finally sold the boat a couple of years ago for not much more than 20k and with the addition of food and drinks was ready for another Atlantic circuit.

 

[ashtead]

First post from OP specifically said suitable for a bachelor!

Maybe he will change once he realises how miserable life in uk as a liveabord might be long term . Another suggestion boat wise is an old Warrior 35 -might be slow and a pig in a marina but certainly cosy and will get him to med one day.

 

[Laminar Flow]

Liveaboard requires a vessel with a fair amount of displacement, especially in the smaller sizes. Anyone who thinks he might be able to make due with a light displacement craft is deluding himself.
Overloading a vessel, strains her structure and the rig, destroys ther performance and, ultimately, diminishes the vessel's seaworthiness.

As a couple with occasional guest(s), we live aboard for 4 months a year, cruise our little ship to some of the more challenging destinations (Norway, Sweden, Shetland, Orkney Scotland Ireland etc., etc.) and do several, multiday day sea passages in the process.

Our boat is a "pimped" Colvic Watson 32' motorsailer, the aft cockpit version. It has a nominal displacement of just over 8 tons and hence the capacity to carry all we need for a comfortable onboard living experience, while, due to the pimping, still providing a respectable performance and reassuring seaworthiness. Headroom is 6'4" throughout. (feel free to view my Youtube video: "Rehabilitating the traditional Motorsailer")

All in all, I have lived continuously some 10 years aboard boats in my life and, assuredly, there is a considerable difference between simply living aboard and cruising, even long term, and aboard the same vessel. My last permanent liveaboard was 65' overall and on which I had also done a deal of long distance cruising, just to give some perspective to the matter.

 

[capnsensible]

So, with due respect, you are not comparing like with like then are you? Which is the point I was making.

I understood your point to be no one knows how to fix yachts outside the UK........

 

[Tranona]

Maybe he will change once he realises how miserable life in uk as a liveabord might be long term . Another suggestion boat wise is an old Warrior 35 -might be slow and a pig in a marina but certainly cosy and will get him to med one day.

Maybe but finding a partner after living aboard on your own (particularly in something like a Vega) is probably more difficult than finding one first and convincing them that life on a Moody 36 might be fun! As to Warriors, I was re reading some articles in an old PBO about them when they were still sort of current and realised how poorly designed and built they were in some respects - but owners accepted it, perhaps because many were home completed. They were really only "good" in relation to the limited alternatives that were available at the time.

 

[Daydream believer]

I understood your point to be no one knows how to fix yachts outside the UK........

You only have to read posts on this forum to see issues people have getting stuff abroad. I was also pointing out that if you bought a boat costing more than £20K there was a good chance that you were starting from a much better base to begin with.
I would not mind betting that you also had considerable prior experience of boats & boating abroad, that the OP may not have. That counts for a lot. But that is only supposition & I may well be wrong on that.
But hey ho , this is about the OP & what boat to buy with a limited budget

 

[BobnLesley]

...Another suggestion boat wise is an old Warrior 35...

We've crossed oceans in a Trident Challenger - the stern cockpit version of the Warrior - which provides much better useable living space; there's a pilot house version made too. I didn't mention the Trident 35s as the OP is unlikely to find a reasonable one within his £20k budget.

 

[capnsensible]

You only have to read posts on this forum to see issues people have getting stuff abroad. I was also pointing out that if you bought a boat costing more than £20K there was a good chance that you were starting from a much better base to begin with.
I would not mind betting that you also had considerable prior experience of boats & boating abroad, that the OP may not have. That counts for a lot. But that is only supposition & I may well be wrong on that.
But hey ho , this is about the OP & what boat to buy with a limited budget

Have spent the last 25 years 'abroad'. Getting stuff for boats is easy in many, many places. Often duty free.

As I said, my fully kitted out yacht would have suited the needs of the op at a good price. There are lots like that out there that won't attract a higher price simply because of their age.

Abroad is not a sea monster.

 

[doug748]

Yes, I'm asking for me but wanted to open a discussion to help me decide if this is a realistic option for me to embrace next year.

That is a more difficult question.

Do you enjoy your own company?
Could you stick it in a small space. In four days of solid rain. Whilst paying e39 a day stuck in a marina?
Do you actually like being at sea, with nobody to lean on, out of sight of land, hanging by your own tail?
Do you get seasick?
Are you good at making do and mending things, ie not paying for things to be mended?

You could say that lots of people just take off and make a success of it, that's true. However, for every success there may be 100 who never left the mooring, got twenty miles down the coast or gave the boat away in short order. Think on.

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