Leaving the rat race

[Johnboy2004]

hi folks im thinking of leaving the rat race for a while , and heading down to the med, nice, cannes etc, then heading down to the canaries for a few months... i was thinking of selling the house and buying a new hunter 356,,,, can any one recommend a suitable yacht for 2people and any advice,

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[slavkod]

Hi,

Choosing a boat is very difficult and personal matter. There number of factor one has to take in to account. So, recommendation is difficult from my point of view. We own Bavaria 40 Ocean and have been sailing her with 2000 miles in 2003 in Med without any major problem . She nicely fulfilled our budget and space recommendation. There are number of people out there who would tell that this not a boat for extensive traveling. I have been speaking with designer and constructor who confirmed that the boat was designed for this purpose in mind. Again it is personal. List your requirements, check the offering on internet and compare it to your budget. Do not overspend on boat as you will suffer later when to cost will run over your total budget.

Slavko

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[Ric]

I would advise against getting a new boat. If you buy a new, you will spend months fixing all the small problems and getting her kitted out. You would be much better to buy a second-hand boat from a former loving owner who has done all the work for you.

The type of boat you buy is never easy to know as a first time buyer. No matter what you get, you will be lucky if it turns out to be ideal in hindsight.
Virtually all boats of the size you are looking at on the market are designed for the charter market where cramming as many people in as possible is the principle design criteria. The hull therefore sacrifices sailing qualities to maximise interior space (and the Hunter 356 is one of the worst offenders!), they have lots of tiny cabins, tiny little heads, hopelessly small chart-table with no outside view, unnecessarily large dining table, no workshop for tools, and the standard sailplan needs lots of hands to work it. Of course, you can still sail one of these boats as a couple, but it is not ideal, and you will probably spend lots of money altering things to suit you.


There are really very few boats on the market that are optimised for two people in that size range. the only one I know is the German Sirius. Only one cabin, but really huge, and with separate full size heads and shower, huge chart table, deck saloon so you can see outside while navigating/cooking etc, proper space to work on the engine and small workshop aft. Super sail plan with rolling genoa and self-tacking stay sail. Nice boats if you can afford one!

Having said that, it is probably still best to go for a more mainstream boat as it will be easier to resell later. I'd put other marques way ahead of Hunter though. Jeanneau and Beneteau both make sweeter sailing boats. Bavarias are well built and good value for money, but not as nice to sail. Elan's are really nice - good quality, sporty. I hate Hunter's. I think they were wallowy and pig ugly, and besides I try to avoid buying all US made products until they sign Kyoto. But that is a personal issue.

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[slavkod]

I do not agree with your opinion about Bavaria sailing performance. Other comments are valid.

Slavko

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[tcm]

can't speak of the specific boat you mention, but we have a boat in sof france.

1. You can anchor out for ages in villefranche free of charge in calm weather and just nip round the headland half a mile for a night in Nice if it cuts up

2. You can anchor out ion tyhe bay of Cannes, also for free.

3. You need good sun protection on deck for summer - a decent bimini.

4 . You will probly be better buying a boat designed for and located in warm climes so it has suitable kit and so on.


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[Johnboy2004]

hi folks thanks for the info..

do boats of this size depreciate much from new?

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[slavkod]

all boats depreciate. Some faster then others. Check on ybw site for model you are interested in.

Slavko

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[roly_voya]

Disagree about all boats depreciating! New boat probably yes but get a good quality old one ond it can maintain or increase its value. Also quality boats usually mean good heavy gear which lasts so lower maintainance costs, try comparing a 20 year old victoria with a 20 year old cheap poduction lightwaight

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[Grehan]

Without suggesting any kind of solution . . .

a) You will spend a lot of time in/on your boat - much much more than you ever might have done on a holiday or weekend basis. She must be comfortable for living in/on, for you. This might not equate to 'luxurious' or replete with lots of bells and whistles. Space to spread yourself and your stuff out is important.

b) You'll also need to sail her, maybe in some testing conditions (eg Golfe de Lion, where some pretty strong wind and sea conditions can spring up). She needs to be able to cope safely and comfortably.

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[Dave99]

Definitely wouldn't sell house and spend proceeds on a new boat if I ever wanted to live in house again!! Depreciation on new boats will be thousands, however if you but the right second hand boat it may go up in value, and you can pick one which has had all the gadgets put on so you don't spend another £25,000 fitting it out.

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[charles_reed]

Most people doing what you\'re proposing

save money by buying a 2nd hand boat.

Keep their house, rent it out and live off the proceeds.

Spend about 3/12 months earning from their specialism to fund the cruising life-style.

If you do buy a new boat, allow £20-25K for fittings that you'll need for living aboard - I'd be very wary of most production boats, they depreciate fast, whereas a classic, is rather like a house and maintains it's value and occasionally even appreciates.

I know the Med fascinates most people but IMHO it's a vastly inferior, more expensive and overcrowded cruising area than the Atlantic coasts of Europe, with far more changeable and uncomfortable weather.

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[mike_bryon]

My wife and I are currently getting our boat ready for living aboard. We sold our house and bought the boat last December. We moved into a little rented flat for the winter - had to give away heaps of stuff - and we move aboard 1st April (date deliberately chosen) when we will give away heaps more stuff. We have also cruised the Atlantic for months at a time on previous boats.

When you are out there you realise that it can be done in almost any boat. You will certainly meet people doing it in boats that lots of people say are unsuitable but they do not seem to have realised and are having a ball anyway. This is not to say that other views are wrong but perhaps it is more important that you get started than spend years trying to find the ideal boat and sufficient funds. Heads bigger than a lot of the charter version production boats was high on our list. Likewise extra storage and tankage is needed, but you can look forward to living with a lot fewer possessions and using far less water etc. We have four children so accommodation was a higher priority than sailing performance. Great if you can buy both and I think we did but we most like to sail downwind in warm water and most boats will do this very well. Living aboard means you can better choose your departure dates to suit the weather.

You will buy a boat but need it to be a home as well so it is probability unavoidable that you will spend quite a lot of money making it more suitable for living aboard. Many of these changes are personal but we have spent the winter and quite a lot of money upgrading the shore power and ring main, improving the heating, buying a cockpit enclosure, hatch blinds etc. as well as undertaking all the usual winter maintenance. We still have quite a long wish list.

We have only owned second hard boats and we have always considered depreciation to be less than on a new boat but we expect that maintenance cost have been much higher. We have always lost money on every boat that we have owned so would not recommend them as a sound financial investment but a high yield lifestyle investment!

Living aboard should mean we have more time to spend on providing TLC to our new home, so for this reason we were looking for a boat that had been well maintained but had a hard life and a price that reflected that fact.

Hope these thoughts are of interest and best of luck with your plans.




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