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DreamMachine

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We have a Sunseeker in Puerto Portals ,Mallorca but we are thinking of changing our boat for a yacht 40-50' that doesnt keep burning our credit cards filling her up! and liveaboard in the Med to start with anyway. Im from Guernsey and have been brought up around boats, sailed dingys and raced cruiser class yachts in the winter, but mostly owned Motorboats, Fairline Targa's, Wellcraft etc, so my knowledge of yachts is a little limited so I would appreciate some help form experienced Yachties it point me in the right direction. We are considering a Moody or a Jeanneau both second hand, we need a least two good sized doubles plus 2 heads to accomodate our visiting grown up squids.

Thank you for any advise you can offer in this respect.
 
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If you post this on the Scuttlebutt forum you will get a ton of answers, which will eventually degenerate into an argument about something insignificant. Probably need more details - budget, location vessel will be kept, size etc. only thing I can say with certainty is you will definitely save a fortune on fuel! Plenty of Jeanneaus and Moody's about :encouragement:
 
DreamMachine said:
We are considering a Moody or a Jeanneau both second hand, we need a least two good sized doubles plus 2 heads to accomodate our visiting grown up squids. Thank you for any advise you can offer in this respect.
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No doubt I'm biased but would say the Moody is a better blue water boat if that's what you're after. For performance sailing then the Jeanneau will no doubt be quicker. Have a look at underwater profiles and see the differences - Some boats have more wetted area, skegged rudder and longer keel, others have high aspect keel, spade rudders and not much hull in the water.
 
DreamMachine said:
We have a Sunseeker in Puerto Portals ,Mallorca but we are thinking of changing our boat for a yacht 40-50' that doesnt keep burning our credit cards filling her up! and liveaboard in the Med to start with anyway. Im from Guernsey and have been brought up around boats, sailed dingys and raced cruiser class yachts in the winter, but mostly owned Motorboats, Fairline Targa's, Wellcraft etc, so my knowledge of yachts is a little limited so I would appreciate some help form experienced Yachties it point me in the right direction. We are considering a Moody or a Jeanneau both second hand, we need a least two good sized doubles plus 2 heads to accomodate our visiting grown up squids.

Thank you for any advise you can offer in this respect.
Click to expand...

Here's an article I wrote for our website some time ago; it may give you some idea of the factors you need to consider rather than specific boats to look at.
http://www.saltyjohn.co.uk/resources/Defining%20the%20cruising%20boat.pdf
 
Which Yachts hold there Value the best?

robmcg said:
If you post this on the Scuttlebutt forum you will get a ton of answers, which will eventually degenerate into an argument about something insignificant. Probably need more details - budget, location vessel will be kept, size etc. only thing I can say with certainty is you will definitely save a fortune on fuel! Plenty of Jeanneaus and Moody's about :encouragement:
Click to expand...

Thank you Robmcg for your advice, appreciated, here are our thoughts,

Size: Would you say a 45' Cruising Yacht is a practical size to go for, ie comfortable for two liveboards with occassional guests.

Location: Initially Mallorca, but want to explore Italy & Greece.

Budget: We are looking at spending upto 240K or less if possible, in your opinion which yachts hold there value the best?
What would you go for..
 
With that sort of budget you have an enormous choice. You could get a new Jeanneau, Bavaria etc of around 42' ready to go for that money. Such boats are ideal for what you plan and are easily handled by a couple. Such features as in mast furling, big engine and bow thrusters reduce the amount of effort to sail and particularly to moor in congested harbours and marinas. The open cockpits and stern platforms are ideal for outdoor living and at that size you will get a good master cabin plus at least one good guest cabin. Slight downside of buying new is the initial hit on depreciation, but over a reasonable period of ownership (5-10 years) this is partly offset by lower maintenance and repair costs.

An alternative is to look at older boats from one of the premium builders such as HR or Oyster (as examples - there are many others), but they are likely in that size range to be 10 or more years old. They tend to be more traditional in style and particularly strong on detail finishing and high quality equipment. The designs tend to be more orientated towards ocean sailing than relaxed Med cruising. However, although depreciation is much less - such boats tend to lose little in monetary value - you perhaps need to be prepared for significant refit and updating costs.

One thing you might do is charter a boat for a couple of weeks. Charter companies tend to use boats of the first type so you would get a very good idea of whether you could live with a newish type boat. Less easy to get experience of living on the second type, but there are plenty around to look at to get a feel as to whether you would value what they have on offer. This is what we did when we bought our boat - chartered 3 times on different boats, a Beneteau, Moody and Bavaria and then bought a new Bavaria. Accept that it is not the "quality" of an HR, but the basics (engine, rig, deck gear etc) are the same and functionally did the job well and was very reliable.

Hope this helps.
 
Tranona said:
An alternative is to look at older boats from one of the premium builders such as HR or Oyster (as examples - there are many others), but they are likely in that size range to be 10 or more years old. They tend to be more traditional in style and particularly strong on detail finishing and high quality equipment. The designs tend to be more orientated towards ocean sailing than relaxed Med cruising. However, although depreciation is much less - such boats tend to lose little in monetary value - you perhaps need to be prepared for significant refit and updating costs.
Click to expand...

Just heard the boat next to me "Night Sky" will be going on the market, cutter rigged Oyster 45 used to be owned by Clare Francis. Ideal kind of boat for the OP and within budget even after possibly extensive refit.
 
If your knowledge of sailing is limited then you may want to consider a trawler yacht;
e.g. lesbirdsnest.com
 
Best Keel for Med cruising ?

GrahamM376 said:
No doubt I'm biased but would say the Moody is a better blue water boat if that's what you're after. For performance sailing then the Jeanneau will no doubt be quicker. Have a look at underwater profiles and see the differences - Some boats have more wetted area, skegged rudder and longer keel, others have high aspect keel, spade rudders and not much hull in the water.
Click to expand...

I think im heading more towards a Moody, I sailed a Moody42 some years ago around Mallorca and loved it, never forgot the experience.

Im not too fussy about a little extra speed and somehow the Moody seems a better put together boat, looking at the secondhand prices, they appear to hold there value quite well.

A friend has told me to look at a Grandsol 46, any idea what these are like?

Thank you for your input
Kind Regards
Scott
 
As your used to motor boats,
Instead of turning to sail why not go for a good displacement motor boat that burns far less fuel,
as your from Guernsey how about an Aquastar, (they are a good Donkey boat!)
look to one with a single engine to keep fuel & running costs to a minimum.
You will still have a large speed margin over sail boats and more inside space for an equivalent length sail boat, and the cockpit is a lot more sociable than a sail boat cave.
Regards
Paul
 
Tranona said:
With that sort of budget you have an enormous choice. You could get a new Jeanneau, Bavaria etc of around 42' ready to go for that money. Such boats are ideal for what you plan and are easily handled by a couple. Such features as in mast furling, big engine and bow thrusters reduce the amount of effort to sail and particularly to moor in congested harbours and marinas. The open cockpits and stern platforms are ideal for outdoor living and at that size you will get a good master cabin plus at least one good guest cabin. Slight downside of buying new is the initial hit on depreciation, but over a reasonable period of ownership (5-10 years) this is partly offset by lower maintenance and repair costs.

An alternative is to look at older boats from one of the premium builders such as HR or Oyster (as examples - there are many others), but they are likely in that size range to be 10 or more years old. They tend to be more traditional in style and particularly strong on detail finishing and high quality equipment. The designs tend to be more orientated towards ocean sailing than relaxed Med cruising. However, although depreciation is much less - such boats tend to lose little in monetary value - you perhaps need to be prepared for significant refit and updating costs.

One thing you might do is charter a boat for a couple of weeks. Charter companies tend to use boats of the first type so you would get a very good idea of whether you could live with a newish type boat. Less easy to get experience of living on the second type, but there are plenty around to look at to get a feel as to whether you would value what they have on offer. This is what we did when we bought our boat - chartered 3 times on different boats, a Beneteau, Moody and Bavaria and then bought a new Bavaria. Accept that it is not the "quality" of an HR, but the basics (engine, rig, deck gear etc) are the same and functionally did the job well and was very reliable.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Thank you , yes we have chartered in the Ionian Isles, we chartered a 35' Bavaria, unfortunately the boat was about 8-10 years year old and a little tired, great fun but no something we could live on long term. Thank you of your advise, all duly noted.
Regards
Scott
 
Hi,
We have considered displacement, not so sure about Aquastar, I know they are good boats and bullet proof which could come in handy depending on where we set sail.

We recently looked around the Hardy42DS, my son loves it has a great wheelhouse proper little ship, but the accomodation is poor especially the second cabin. Also they are only available new so an expensive option. We are considering a Jeaneau so54DS second hand half the price, beautiful interior, very light definately no cave, great cockpit for entertaining fellow islanders :-)

Thank you for your comments
 
Something like a Moody 46 should be comfortably in budget - in fact it should leave you a bit for any upgrades you may want and pay for a marina berth for a good few years. You will have literally loads of choices of boat in your budget. Make a list of what is really important to you in terms of what you want from a yacht (your 'can't like without' list) and work back from that.
 
On that budget you will be able to get anything (within reason) I'd keep at least half back and still have your pick.

If you're liveaboard intending on coastal sailing in fair weather (as we do) think in terms of accommodation; you don't need an ocean crosser and will be moored or anchored a lot more than actually sailing. A decent sized engine is must in the med. We have 50hp in our Countess 33. Burns about 1.5 litres an hour.
 
Many people going from motor boats to sail change to a catamaran. Comfort more like a mobo but with much more reasonable cost. Virtually any cat between 40-45 ft will do. Mine - recently sold - would have been perfect.
 
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