Just got the bug and don't know what to do!

[camartins77]

Just got the bug and don\'t know what to do!

Hi all

I’ve been on holiday recently in North Wales/Port Dinorwick and now all I can think of is finishing my RYA Courses, buy a small boat and sail!!!
My plan is to take my Competent Crew Practical course first and while taking my Day Skipper Theory/Practical ones during the winter, to get a small trailer sailor and get it ready for next summer. My problem is that I can’t find any guidance on which second hand boat to get! What I want is a good/stable trailer sailor that I can tow to my car and take out every weekend and on holiday. Something with 16ft to 22ft and 2 or 3 berths, for me and my lady! I would also like to buy a boat that would enable me, as my experience develops, to make bigger crossings and even take me across the channel! I found some information on the internet but it’s all regarding American built small boats like the Com-Pac 19 (a favourite??!!!), the Nimbus, Precisions, Hunter 240 and they all seem impossible to find/buy around here. I found some for sale in the US though and at really good prices! Anything similar over here? Read about the new Cape Cutter 19 but at 18k is well over budget! I’m completely new to all this and all help and guidance will be more than welcome and appreciated.
Thank you very much

C A Martins




<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[jamesjermain]

Re: Just got the bug and don\'t know what to do!

Consider some of teh following:

British Hunter Medina or Sonata
Parker 22
Leisure 23
Jaguar 21, 22 or 23
Hurley 22
Seal 22

There are many, many others in all sorts of styles but these are all reliable and well reputed.

If you want a simple, two-berth weekender, you cold try one of the little gaffers such as the Cornish Shrimper.

Incidentally, as you are planning to become a boat owner I wouldn't bother with the competent crew course. I'd go straight for day skipper.

<hr width=100% size=1>JJ

 

[Twister_Ken]

PBO

Practical Boat Owner did a months' long series on just about every trailer/sailer known to man a year or two back. Does you local library keep back issues? Or call PBO's reprint service.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.writeforweb.com/twister1>Let's Twist Again</A>

 

[Mirelle]

What NOT to do....

James' and Ken's advice is very good.

What NOT to do is to spend too much money on your first boat, for the simple reason that she is bound to be wrong for you. You don't know enough, yet, to know what sort of sailing you really like in the long term. So keep your first boat as basic, as cheap and as secondhand as you reasonably can.

The boat you buy for Channel crossings will be a different boat, bought in the light of experience.

Besides James's list, consider some of the open camping type boats, from the Wayfarer and Wanderer dinghies through the Drascomes.

Now, a caution about trailer sailing. There are huge drawbacks to this, so far as anything bigger than a 16ft dinghy is concerned, and sometimes even then, here in Britain, which don't apply in the States. The USA is a huge country with a lot of big, tideless, lakes, that people can trail boats to if they don't have the good fortune to live on or near the coast. Americans usually have big cars, big roads, and they have good launching facilities.

Here, we all live within 150 miles of the coast. Launching into the tidal sea is a pain in the neck. Your big, gas guzzling car, that you bought to tow the boat, has to be left somewhere vandal-proof with the big trailer when you go sailing You are forever greasing trailer bearings, and so on.

I strongly advise against a trailer sailer. Get in the care and visit as many yachting centres as you can in terms of driving distance from home. Find one you like and join a Club there. You will almost certainly find that it is cheaper, and it is always easier, to keep your boat at the coast than to trail it home, except perhaps for winter maintenance. Drying moorings are very cheap.

Visit as many places as you can, and look at at least thirty boats. before you buy!
Meanwhile, get along to the Public Library and read as much as you can.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Ohdrat]

Re: Just got the bug and don\'t know what to do!

mmm well I would scrub the Jaguars as they are not very well built and not very seaworthy.. too flimsy and light for UK conditions (they're actually dirivitives of a US design)

Hurleys come in various sizes 18 up to 24 feet.

Others to consider Invictas - 26 ft similar long keel design to a thing called a Contessa 26 but the Invictas tend to be several grand cheaper than the Contessas

Both of the above are dirivitives of a thing called a Folkboat.. utterly seaworthy and good sailing too.. all of the later 3 are eminently capable of crossing the channel

A more modern alternative is the Achilles 24.

Above all go and look at LOTS of boats and see which feels right.. see if you can get a sail in some too.

One of the best ways of checking boats out online is via the various brokerage web sites and doing searches as many have class association web sites for further info

I'm hoping to buy my first boat (if the survey's ok) .. I've taken a lot of time (2 years0 working out which type of boat I want and fits the budget

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[camartins77]

Re: Just got the bug and don\'t know what to do!

First of all thanks a lot to everyone for replying!
This sort of advice is exactly what i'm after.
As you all noticed I'm really new to all this. But I'll get there with time, hopefully!
I'll start my search right away and study everything further.
Thanks once again

C A Martins

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Jeremy_W]

Re: Just got the bug and don\'t know what to do!

Do you live near to the Lake District? You could spend a season on the Lakes - with any of the small yachts James Jermain has mentioned - before making the switch to the sea. With the complication of tides out of the way you could really learn to sail a small yacht (on and off moorings; onto pontoons; adjusting sail area) before adding the complications of tides. Meanwhile press on with the theory courses and a couple of weekends' dinghy courses.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Sybarite]

Re: Just got the bug and don\'t know what to do!

Have a look at a Beneteau 240 ( or 210)

John

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Twister_Ken]

Re: Just got the bug and don\'t know what to do!

Invictas, Hurleys, Folkboats. CO26s, Achilles.

Trailer sailers?

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.writeforweb.com/twister1>Let's Twist Again</A>

 

[castaway]

Re: Just got the bug and don\'t know what to do!

Try to find an EBoat. 22ft with lifting keel draws only 10 inches with the keel up and very easy for trailer sailing. It also means that you can avail yourself of cheap drying moorings. Even if you take the option of mooring rather than trailer sailing you can park the boat on yr drive over the winter... All saves a lot of cash.

Exciting sailing a bit like a big dinghy. the accomodation is good although limited on head room. They come in wood or GRP but given the age of most boats now I would tend to go for the GRP version.

Trouble with some starter boats is that the performance is so stodgy that the new owner gets bored with it very soon.

I had one of these EBoats for 2 years whilst I was "in between boats" and loved it.. in fact it was the only boat that Ive ever owned that I was truely sorry to see go.

The EBoat Assoc does have a web site.. try a search on Google and there are a few pics of mine on the following site.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.yachtsite.co.uk/fairweather>http://www.yachtsite.co.uk/fairweather</A>

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Twister_Ken]

Swift 18?

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://homepages.enterprise.net/murphy/trails.html>Like this one</A>

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.writeforweb.com/twister1>Let's Twist Again</A>

 

[AndrewB]

Re: Just got the bug and don\'t know what to do!

I'd echo the advice to go for the day skipper rather than competent crew course. Also to buy a first yacht with the expectation of wanting to sell it after a year or two.

A new yacht is reassuring for a first-timer, but like cars they depreciate very rapidly. If you have some DIY skills, a used but not too old boat will be better value. Don't use all your capital on the purchase, as you are bound to want extras, then there is insurance, safety kit, charts, mooring or launch fees etc etc. But don't buy a lot of extras (other than safety kit) until you've tried the yacht a couple of times.

If you live close to the coast, there is a lot to be said for joining a local yacht club before you buy. There is opportunity to crew to gain experience, a lot of advice about local conditions, mooring facilities and their drawbacks, potential second-hand yachts available locally, people who'll lend a hand when you do buy/first sail, and so on.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Ohdrat]

Re: Just got the bug and don\'t know what to do!

Yes if you have a proper landrover.. you can just about trailer them!.. lifting them in might be a problem tho admittedly..

Actually I missed the "trailer" bit of the original post.. oppps

<hr width=100% size=1>