OK I admit it I made a mistake !

[timmygobang]

I did exactly what you're looking to do. I saw a boat 2 years ago that had a good write up, seemed like the seller had spent some money on her and bought it for just shy of 10k pending a survey. I quietly watched while the surveyor did his thing (with his permission), and he kindly pointed out bits and pieces.

Now I know a bit more I'm looking to sell mine (its a fin keel I'm afraid) and get a bigger boat now that I have a bit more knowledge of what I personally want it a boat.

Good luck! Just do it!

 

[Ludd]

Can't let that one go!

Anyone can take a boat out onto the water without any kind of training or knowledge this makes them a danger to themselves but more importantly a danger to others on the water.

Maybe you taught yourself MOB drills, emergency procedures, rescue by lifeboat or helicopter, fire safety, IRPCS, using a VHF, shipping forecasts, principles of weather, maritime bouyage systems, passage planning, vessel lights and shapes. You are definitely the type of person I say “WTF is he doing?” and it worries me. Anyway let me know what waters you are sailing in so that I can stay well away.

Qualifications should be mandatory just like a car. It may help to bring insurance premiums down.

In the light of recent events,I am highly doubtful if RYA Qualifications are worth a damn. I would hazard a guess---and it is only that---that just as many certificated sailors get into or cause trouble as those with none.



My insurance company said "ALL WE WANT TO KNOW IS HOW MUCH SSAILING YOU'VE DONE."

 

[Haven't-a-Clue]

'Allo Searush, Y'know, I think we've been found out....we'll just have to accept the inevitable and hang up the old Sou'westers and call it a day............NOT!!!!

 

[Searush]

'Allo Searush, Y'know, I think we've been found out....we'll just have to accept the inevitable and hang up the old Sou'westers and call it a day............NOT!!!!

I'd quite happily go on a sailing holiday with the RYA - once they offer them free for pensioners . . . I did once do a week on the STA Malcolm Miller & had to tell the Bosun how to lower the Main Topsail jackyard. Unfortunately he wouldn't listen & ripped it from tack to luff. Hey-ho, he was the "qualified" one, I was only applying basic physics & commonsense.

Sadly tickets don't automatically bestow commonsense - hence the recent Hot Liquid threads. QED

 

[Clyde_Wanderer]

To throw another small but roomy cruising boat into the mix, how about a Newbridge Virgo Voyager?
Quite a few around in the price range, good 6ft headroom.

Exactly, that was one of the other boats which joined us on our GLCC Celtic cruise to NI.
The third was a Foxhound 24, another excellent small cruiser but without the inboard engine.
I believe they (Foxhound) are raced by some navel club down south.
And of course my Hummingbird 30 which would not be suitable for the op's requirements.
Here is all three together.
C_W

 

[wytco0]

Wytco0,

if you plan creek crawling & drying out on the twin keels, don't be so quick to specify a sea toilet; they don't work if the boat is dried out, and can require unpleasant & expensive maintenance including their seacocks, they also mean holes in the hull which can never be a particularly good thing.

Contrary to what some believe, modern chemical loos do not smell, can be used with the boat dried out - and in a crowded marina - and are completely self contained...just a thought.

Thanks for the warning I will keep this in mind.

 

[wytco0]

Dylan! how could you!

I cant believe he is being serious after all the slug isn't worth anything like £5k

 

[wytco0]

I did exactly what you're looking to do. I saw a boat 2 years ago that had a good write up, seemed like the seller had spent some money on her and bought it for just shy of 10k pending a survey. I quietly watched while the surveyor did his thing (with his permission), and he kindly pointed out bits and pieces.

Now I know a bit more I'm looking to sell mine (its a fin keel I'm afraid) and get a bigger boat now that I have a bit more knowledge of what I personally want it a boat.

Good luck! Just do it!

Thanks timmy I wish I had done this a couple of years ago rather than wasting time. Good to hear it worked for you.
Tim

 

[Twister_Ken]

Qualifications should be mandatory just like a car. It may help to bring insurance premiums down.

Didn't see the irony icons with that post, but they should have been there. 3000 people (give or take 100) die on Britain's roads every year, despite training, tests, mechanical verification, etc. And my boat is far cheaper to insure on a £premium per £value basis than my car.

 

[Tranona]

Didn't see the irony icons with that post, but they should have been there. 3000 people (give or take 100) die on Britain's roads every year, despite training, tests, mechanical verification, etc. And my boat is far cheaper to insure on a £premium per £value basis than my car.

Absolutely agree. Like I suspect many people My "learning" has been a mixture of having a go and taking advice/tuition when I wanted to be more adventurous. So learned how to make a boat work with mates, bought a boat, liked it, did the shorebased Yachtmaster course so I knew the basics of where I was and how to get to where I wanted to be. Bought a bigger boat, had support from a master mariner to check out that I could actually get the boat safely across the channel. Since sailed thousands of miles off UK and in the Med. Never had a claim (except for theft and storm damage) and a diminishing number of brown trouser moments.

So, advice to OP - get stuck in, push the boundaries out from time to time - it gets easier over time and enjoy.

 

[uxb]

Qualifications should be mandatory just like a car. It may help to bring insurance premiums down.

Daily Mail reader?

Are you a Yachtmaster by any chance?

I quite fancied getting 'qualified' at one point but gave it a miss when I saw the ammount of useless info that you had to learn to pass the exam.

 

[RupertW]

Daily Mail reader?

Are you a Yachtmaster by any chance?

I quite fancied getting 'qualified' at one point but gave it a miss when I saw the ammount of useless info that you had to learn to pass the exam.

I'm another self-taught and am sure thats the best way for many people to learn. After 20 years of sailing and owning boats though, I went on Coastal Skipper practical, then YM Theory, prep and practical exam. Well worth it and I learnt a lot of new skills just from sailing with other people for once, and realising that both my navigation and boat handling methods were just muddling through. Nothing unsafe or ineffective in my old habits but great to learn some better, slicker new ones.

I would have gained so much less from the courses if I hadn't already been experienced, but others prefer to be handheld first to shortcut the years of learning from small mistakes, and fair enough.

 

[jordanbasset]

Mirage 26 or 28
Cobra 750 or 850

Both designed on the E coast for the E coast

Certainly agree the Cobra 750 or 850 would be a good choice, lot of boat for your money

 

[Pasarell]

At the bottom end of your price range try looking at a Hurley 24. Plenty of bilge keelers around. Most have inboard engine, sea toilet and standing headroom in the saloon. For £6K should get a very good one.

 

[rickym]

Another couple of boats to look at are a Tomahawk 25 and Sabre 27 both twin keelers.

 

[Fantasie 19]

You are talking like a pillock, abusing people like that.

What courses did Ransome take, or Shane Acton, were the Hiscocks RYA trained, or Tilman? What is this stupid obsession with abrogating all responsibility for one's own safety by "taking courses?"

Watch some of Dylan's videos & see how he handles that small boat almost entirely under sail & often with a camera in hand - Dylan is self taught too. In my experience the biggest, most self-opinionated twots are often the know-it-alls "trained by the RYA". A piece of paper doesn't make you right, or even safe - vigilance, observation & understanding make you safe, not a silly bit of paper from the RYA.

On the other hand I happen to know quite a few good sailors that happen to hold RYA quals, but they are not good sailors just because they have the certificate.

Incidentally, it isn't hard to learn about all the stuff you talk about, there are plenty of books available & trying stuff out on your own boat is 10x better than classroom work. Please take your head out of your bum & have a good look around at the people who have bits of paper & those who have been sailing safely for years without.

I wouldn't have put it quite so forthrightly, but +1 from me...

 

[nigella]

Westerly Pageant - great small bilge keeler and sails amazingly well. About 5K should find a good one.

Have to declare I know the vendor, but there is a Pageant on ebay at the moment.

 

[doug748]

NIce Sabre for sale, lying Gosport, here:

http://www.sabre27.org.uk/sabre-27-for-sale.html

 

[aquaplane]

Leisure 27, may be a bit ropey for the budget but you may fall lucky.

edit: there you go http://essex.boatshed.com/leisure_27-boat-132676.html

 

[Simondjuk]

I quite fancied getting 'qualified' at one point but gave it a miss when I saw the ammount of useless info that you had to learn to pass the exam.

Which parts of the syllabus did you think were useless?