My retirement boat.

burgundyben

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Its a long long way off, but one can dream.

I'd like to be able to say I have been I have been formulating this idea for a long time, but the truth is I was thinking about it today while driving home to meet the gas engineer who is repeatedly unable to fix the product he is trained to fix....

My retirement boat is about 70ft to 80ft long, displacement boat, centre main engine power to provide 10 knots max, wing engine to provide power generation and be able to be switched to provide maybe 4 knots, round bilge, maybe bilge keels, maybe stabs, generally system wise it would be kept fairly simple. Might be steel, perhaps GRP or wood composite, maybe aluminium. Would have a 3000 mile range so could cross the pond. Hull would be built to be able to take the ground and sit upright.

It would be pretty, a bit Fred Parker or Nicholson ish.

Hull would have a tall bow with quite a big flair, Portuguese bridge, crane on foredeck for lifting tender aboard, tender would be 10ft with a small inboard. Twin ground tackle set into the bow, with big hydraulic winches. Canoe stern with a big lazarette.

One driving position from the wheelhouse, steps up to a sun pad on top, the deck saloon would have lots of glass (and corresponding air con, a biggish aft deck with some fixed poles so it could be enclosed with a canopy.

A gate in the Bulwarks with steps down to the dinghy.

Galley aft of the engine room with a dumb waiter up to the saloon, steps fwd of the saloon down to the cabins with a companionway (opposite side to the wing engine) leading aft to the galley.

Two guest cabins, both ensuite with showers, an owners cabin up fwd with a 7ft sq bed and a walk in bathroom with hip bath.

Fwd end of the saloon backing onto the raised wheelhouse would be a small office with a writing bureau and small library.

Wheelhouse would have a full sized chart table. Radar, chart plotter and satellite gadgets kept to a minimum. BFO water maker, air con, heating and hot water.

Interior in mostly mahogany, fluer de lys featuring heavily in the soft furnishings, no keep calm/union jack items and no underwater led lighting.

A bloody great big flagstaff for the ensign, a funnel and mast for lights and aerials etc.

Horns louder than the Queen Mary/Concorde and the land speed record Sunbeam all together.

I think that's it for now.
 
What you need is a Malahide trawler, fits the bill exactly.:)
Hope those names you mentioned were not saily boats.:p
 
You forgot the champagne cooler and cigar humidor! Otherwise you must have been speaking to my SWMBO who whiles away her days by designing our retirement boat too
 
BB, great spec. Only thing I'd changes is I'd have galley up on main deck, owners cabin amidships and maybe guest cabin aft, then use bow as lazerette, lots of data and electronics at the helm ( to hell with paper) and all led lights including www.lumishore.com underwater. Also 2 or 3 gensets
 
There was a lovely motor yacht called Morning Watch who was designed by G L Watson and built by the Ailsa (later Ailsa Craig) Shipyard in Glasgow in the 60's - she would meet most of your requirements I think.

She arrived here in Barbados in the late 70's on a long cruise - I presume that she had just crossed the Atlantic from the Canaries.
Here is a photo of her from back then, at anchor in Carlisle Bay.

MorningWatch1_zpsf50be6fa.jpg


She was owned then by a gentleman called John Marriner who wrote various articles in Motor Boat & Yachting in the late 70's about his cruises / expeditions.
He has also written a few books - google John Marriner (yes, two 'r's) and Morning Watch on Amazon.

And Morning Watch is now for sale in Italy, although she is now called La Bimba - Morning Watch is a much nicer name I think!

http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1962/Ailsa--2383038/Genova/Italy

(And she looks much nicer with a dark blue hull, although I appreciate that white would be more practical for the Med)
 
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My choice would be between a FPB or this one, a very nice boat with very long legs as well.
http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/sea-spirit-yacht/12798-review-sea-spirit-60-passagemaker.html
Having had the opportunity to seen the latter in flesh, I can confirm that it would be a fine choice by all means.
Not sure about the first, though.
Stunning vessel as she surely is, in more ways than one, she rather gives me a "mean machine" feeling, than one of "understated luxury" which I would associate with the retirement expectations. But I've never seen one in flesh, so what do I know...? :)
 
Interesting thoughts.

Why the fwd owners cabin? Traditionalist view I guess, I like a nice wood panelled central companionway leading fwd, on 70 to 80ft I guess an owners centre full width cabin makes that impossible.

Yes, wing engine doubles as main genny, but at least 1 or 2 more.

Morning Watch (lovely name, dawn watch on a long passage is a special time of day), or a Malahide are plank on frame constructions, I wouldn't go there with either a new build or an old boat, as strong as the lenses in my rose tinted wooden boat spectacles are, big plank on frame timber boats can hide too much big trouble. There's a very famous pilot cutter ashore in the yard I keep PT, there's a short length of plank off under the counter, my god, there's some big timber issues in there, anyone walked around the yard in St Vaast of late and seen the timber boats, frightening. Hence in my spec, if timber it would be cold moulded epoxy build.

No lumishores.

I guess these days a chart plotter and autopilot would be handy, but I'd have a full size chart table with mahogany drawers full of admiralty charts.

Maybe a special hanging locker for varyin shades of red and pink trousers.
 
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