Looking for a sailboat to fit these criteria

[skipmac]

Hello, Have been sailboat shopping but so far no luck finding the perfect fit (if there is such a thing). What I'm trying to find.

Must have pilot house or deck salon, meaning a covered, enclosed area for sitting and lounging that will be completely out of the sun but also have a view. Wife has a high risk of skin cancer and has to stay inside midday but hates being below with just tiny ports to see out.

And
- length mid forty foot range
- draft maximum 6' or very close to it
- no teak decks or if I find the otherwise absolutely perfect boat then new or recently replaced teak decks. Also the less teak outside the better. None is good.
- really, really prefer cutter rig and modified fin keel. But again if the otherwise perfect boat I guess I can think about it.
- don't want a motor sailor but a boat that actually sails.
- thought about a cat but seem over priced in the current market and not a fan of sail drives which seem to be the standard in 98% of the cats.
- price. If I spend more than a couple hundred thousand quid wife will kill me, divorce me or both.

Comments. Have found a lot of boats with nice deck salons and windows BUT the great majority the dinette or other sitting area is low and the windows up high. So one gets a great view of the sky and clouds but cannot actually see the scenery. Oysters, at least all I've seen, are a prime example of this

I have found a couple of boats that have the right layout IE enclosed area with visibility. A couple of new examples: Regina 43, several Nordship models, some of the Nauticats (not the 44 motor sailor), the old Moody Eclipse 43. The problem I have found except the Moody have teak decks and the couple of Moodys I've found looked pretty tired. I ,could custom order a new Regina or Nordship without teak decks but that would take a couple of years, put me way over budget and if not in the poorhouse certainly in the doghouse (and not the nautical kind of dog house).

Open to ideas and suggestions.

 

[DoubleEnder]

Isn’t this Island Packet territory? I’m not very familiar with the range but I think this is their market. Maybe not the best sailing performance but you are going to have to compromise somewhere. And what about all those Out Islands….Morgan?

I assume you are actually in the USA. Cruisers Forum is good

 

[Sandy]

Boreal 44 or 47.

 

[Stemar]

A cat? A 38 foot job would have enough space for you, with the advantage that it won't spill the G&T.

(Unless you really do something silly - just added that to head off the half-boat fanatics )

 

[Daydream believer]

Wauquiez make a pilot saloon 42, but whether second hand ones come within your price range is another matter. I would imagine that the promised divorce would be a lot cheaper. The latest ones have windows with manually adjustable tints to stop people looking in at night. That would be a great plus for your wife on bright sunny days. They are absolutely beautiful boats. To come within your price range, they would have to be quite old & probably not have the atributes that you are looking for. But worth a look.

 

[sailingmartin]

A Southerly 42 might fit the criteria. Lovely boat to live on.

 

[dunedin]

If you are buying in the USA then the range of boats available will be very differnt.

 

[jon711]

Sirius Yachts 40DS may be a bit shorter than you wished but seems to tick all your boxes, except for price - never seen one for sale second hand!

 

[Scarboroughsloop]

A Southerly 42 might fit the criteria. Lovely boat to live on.

Or the 48 - might struggle on the 200K though.

 

[westhinder]

Dick Koopmans has designed quite a number of boats that would tick all your boxes, both in GRP and aluminium. No idea about availability second hand in the US. Some other Dutch boats as well, such as Bestevaer, Hutting, Noordkaper,

 

[skipmac]

Boreal 44 or 47.

Thanks. Good idea but another almost.

A good friend has a Boreal and it is an amazing boat but is another almost.

It does have a fantastic pilothouse but it's rather small and not where you would normally hang out; more a nav and watch keeping area. Then the dinette below is like most others with the windows rather high overhead.

 

[Daydream believer]

Boreal 44 or 47.

Must be quite cheap; because when I saw one, I could not help thinking that they used a slightly modified outsized bath for a mould, to save cost on hull design. Must sail like a real dog ?

 

[skipmac]

Isn’t this Island Packet territory? I’m not very familiar with the range but I think this is their market. Maybe not the best sailing performance but you are going to have to compromise somewhere. And what about all those Out Islands….Morgan?

I assume you are actually in the USA. Cruisers Forum is good

I actually learned to sail on a Morgan Out Island. Great layout but cockpit is wide open. I have seen a few with an after market pilot house added on and that is a concept I'm considering.

Am more or less familiar with Island Packets as well and don't recall any that had the layout I'm looking for. They do have a new 42 motor sailor that would work but that's a lot more compromise on sailing qualities than I want to make.

And yes I'm in the US and tried CF a year or so ago and struck out completely. Seems like Europe this kind of layout is more common.

 

[skipmac]

A cat? A 38 foot job would have enough space for you, with the advantage that it won't spill the G&T.

(Unless you really do something silly - just added that to head off the half-boat fanatics )

Have and am still considering a cat. But as mentioned two things are putting me off for now. One I think the cat market is seriously overpriced at the moment. Covid restrictions and lockdowns plus a surge of retiring baby boomers has created really strong demand for cats and prices are just crazy. I'm expecting that market to cool off in a year or three but meanwhile.

Then the other thing is the sail drive. Very, very few cats on the market without saildrives. Yes I know lots and lots of boats with them but just seems like a lot more to go wrong, a lot more maintenance and a lot higher risk of a catastrophic failure compared to the old fashioned prop shaft. But if I end up with a cat a sail drive may just be inevitable.

 

[skipmac]

Wauquiez make a pilot saloon 42, but whether second hand ones come within your price range is another matter. I would imagine that the promised divorce would be a lot cheaper. The latest ones have windows with manually adjustable tints to stop people looking in at night. That would be a great plus for your wife on bright sunny days. They are absolutely beautiful boats. To come within your price range, they would have to be quite old & probably not have the atributes that you are looking for. But worth a look.

Thanks. Will investigate the Wauquiez. I am of course familiar with the brand but not the specifics of the different models.

And as I mentioned on another thread, anyone that thinks a divorce might be cheaper than a boat is not familiar with US divorce laws. I would be lucky to come out of one with the boat and enough income to live on beans and rice for the rest of my years. Plus I would have to give up a wonderful wife that has put up with (most of) my foibles for 40+ years.

 

[skipmac]

A Southerly 42 might fit the criteria. Lovely boat to live on.

Thanks. Have asked Mr Google to tell me more about the Southerly. Have only vaguely heard the name before.

 

[skipmac]

If you are buying in the USA then the range of boats available will be very differnt.

Able and willing to travel to get the right boat. Had planned sailing last boat to Europe anyway until Covid intervened.

 

[skipmac]

Sirius Yachts 40DS may be a bit shorter than you wished but seems to tick all your boxes, except for price - never seen one for sale second hand!

Thanks for the reminder. I had bumped into Sirius 40DS before but had forgotten about them. And yes, they're pretty new to the line and haven't seen any used. Plus, like several of the boats I've found that meet all the other criteria, they come with teak decks. Yes I know teak decks are lovely and the best non skid but a lot of extra work to take care of and, especially with plantation grown teak that most are built from, have a limited life span with a huge cost to replace.

 

[skipmac]

Or the 48 - might struggle on the 200K though.

Found a couple of 42s on the brokerage market and even those would more than double my budget. Also the first couple I looked at, 10-12 years old, had teak decks and no telling how long before all the bungs start popping. Can't tell from the photos but the decks might be glued and not screwed but even so, with a listed price of over $400,000 used this would get a firm veto from the wife. If the 42 is selling for this much then the 48 isn't even in the running.

 

[Concerto]

My late parents had a Moody Eclipse 43 and most were supplied without teak decks, so worth keep on looking. They also made an Eclispe 38 that could also suit but few were made. The 43 was a reasonable sailing boat and was nice to live aboard for weeks on end. Whilst seated in the deck saloon you had about 270 degree all round vision as there were no windows into the cockpit.