Reality of family boat ownership and decline of boating

[[165264]]

Fascinating thread to read. I'm 63 and AFAIK in good health. Overweight but not obese. Non smoker and moderate/low drinker. Tried dinghy sailing for a bit, and wife didn't like it. Kids did it for a while. We had a Laser Statos in fact. We live not far from Southampton, Hamble etc. When I retired at 57 (from a toxic NHS) I did Dayskipper, and Yachtmaster theory, did a few trips here and there with commercial firms around the Solent and further. We've done about 4 charters in the Med now; 3 Croatia and one Greece. I joined a commercial "boat club" aka "yacht-share" on the Hamble for 2 years. This was to give me more hours (which it did) and to try more yachts (which it did) and to firm up my ideas about whether to get a boat of my own. (Which it didn't!) I gave it up last year. If you really want, I can tell you the pros and cons but that is not for now. One major "con" is that they really only wanted you in or close to, the Solent.

I still am wondering whether to buy a used boat for myself. I really think new ones are financial suicide. I can afford a decent used boat. And I reckon on a budget of c£10-12k pa for marina (YES- I want comfort at 63!) insurance, servicing and some maintenance. I would envisage short trips to Poole, Weymouth plus (oddly) using it in the winter for fishing days.

One problem with the yacht-share was that even if I was happy to use my own points to take out a boat for a few days, people would ALWAYS drop out and ruin my plans. So I thought, "To hell with this" and gave up. (They didn't allow single-handed use, really. ) So I'd be looking at something I could manage myself, if I had to, or even, by default, which to my mind is something like a small Jeanneau, or something up to c 34ft with a remote-controlled bow-thruster. (So many people are sniffy about these; to me they are a "get out of jail free" card. ) My problem is that I am tall at c 6ft 4in, so options are limited. Beneteau 343 if tall though, as is the new small Jeanneau. And yes, Mrs Saliva doesn't like boats. Actually, I deliberately did a couple of trips with complete novices in the knowledge it would be a bit l ike solo sailing, just to see how it went, and it was OK. Even in worse than benign weather.

Lockdown has reinforced what I already knew; I love solitude and am happy in my own company, so such a boat would suit me well. BUT, I still don't know if the enjoyment I'd get out of it is worth the money. I'm lucky in that I could afford c £12k pa without having to make major sacrifices, though heaven knows, I paid a heavy price in getting to that position.

So, I'm waiting to see if prices drop of a cliff for used boats. I can understand that sellers and brokers don't want that, but it's a game of nautical "chicken" really. If we have a recession and people go bust, prices will fall, unless people just try to sink their boats to get the insurance. Used cars will be the same. I keep browsing the web with interest!

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Yes, my girls are currently learning to dinghy sail in Toppers and with a properly trailerable dinghy we hope to have some adventures in new parts of the country. A charter would be great, but we only have May/Oct half terms for that, which probably means Eastern Med.

I forgot a strange detail.

About 20 odd years ago David Glenn wrote a Yachting World article about chartering with his teenage kids. I didn't really get on with my own father, and when I read it I wondered if I'd ever get to do that with my then young uns, and it then became a bit of a dream that I must have subconsciously held onto through the ups and downs that you go through with them. Later on, as the daughter realised that parent's book recommendations might actually be worthwhile and she'd admitted that Frenchman's Creek had been a decent read (in the same way as 'my' music turned out to be pretty good after all) - a bit of a plan emerged.

As I said, it took two goes to get there. But here's the strange bit. We were filling up with diesel on the fuel barge in Falmouth Haven and I was second in the queue to pay. Guess who was in front of me? David Glenn. I think he was quite chuffed when I told him what he'd inspired.

 

[rwoofer]

Fascinating thread to read. I'm 63 and AFAIK in good health. Overweight but not obese. Non smoker and moderate/low drinker. Tried dinghy sailing for a bit, and wife didn't like it. Kids did it for a while. We had a Laser Statos in fact. We live not far from Southampton, Hamble etc. When I retired at 57 (from a toxic NHS) I did Dayskipper, and Yachtmaster theory, did a few trips here and there with commercial firms around the Solent and further. We've done about 4 charters in the Med now; 3 Croatia and one Greece. I joined a commercial "boat club" aka "yacht-share" on the Hamble for 2 years. This was to give me more hours (which it did) and to try more yachts (which it did) and to firm up my ideas about whether to get a boat of my own. (Which it didn't!) I gave it up last year. If you really want, I can tell you the pros and cons but that is not for now. One major "con" is that they really only wanted you in or close to, the Solent.

I still am wondering whether to buy a used boat for myself. I really think new ones are financial suicide. I can afford a decent used boat. And I reckon on a budget of c£10-12k pa for marina (YES- I want comfort at 63!) insurance, servicing and some maintenance. I would envisage short trips to Poole, Weymouth plus (oddly) using it in the winter for fishing days.

One problem with the yacht-share was that even if I was happy to use my own points to take out a boat for a few days, people would ALWAYS drop out and ruin my plans. So I thought, "To hell with this" and gave up. (They didn't allow single-handed use, really. ) So I'd be looking at something I could manage myself, if I had to, or even, by default, which to my mind is something like a small Jeanneau, or something up to c 34ft with a remote-controlled bow-thruster. (So many people are sniffy about these; to me they are a "get out of jail free" card. ) My problem is that I am tall at c 6ft 4in, so options are limited. Beneteau 343 if tall though, as is the new small Jeanneau. And yes, Mrs Saliva doesn't like boats. Actually, I deliberately did a couple of trips with complete novices in the knowledge it would be a bit l ike solo sailing, just to see how it went, and it was OK. Even in worse than benign weather.

Lockdown has reinforced what I already knew; I love solitude and am happy in my own company, so such a boat would suit me well. BUT, I still don't know if the enjoyment I'd get out of it is worth the money. I'm lucky in that I could afford c £12k pa without having to make major sacrifices, though heaven knows, I paid a heavy price in getting to that position.

So, I'm waiting to see if prices drop of a cliff for used boats. I can understand that sellers and brokers don't want that, but it's a game of nautical "chicken" really. If we have a recession and people go bust, prices will fall, unless people just try to sink their boats to get the insurance. Used cars will be the same. I keep browsing the web with interest!

I'm 6'6" and know full well the problems of finding boats I fit in. Strangely enough once you get near 20 ft berths get bigger again, as you can only fit a few in. It is the 25 to 35ft size that is worst for berth sizes I find.

 

[Babylon]

Fascinating thread to read. I'm 63 and AFAIK in good health. ...
...So I'd be looking at something I could manage myself, if I had to, or even, by default, which to my mind is something like a small Jeanneau, or something up to c 34ft.
...My problem is that I am tall at c 6ft 4in, so options are limited. Beneteau 343 if tall though, as is the new small Jeanneau.
...I love solitude and am happy in my own company, so such a boat would suit me well. BUT, I still don't know if the enjoyment I'd get out of it is worth the money.

You won't know unless you try it - boat ownership and single-handing that is.

I appreciate you are tall but a smaller boat, say 30-32ft, would be a lot easier to single-hand (especially as you get older) and there are surely plenty enough to choose from which can give you dog-house height (forward is less important) and at least 6'2" of bunk length (lie diagonally to stretch out).

 

[Mark-1]

6'2" of bunk length (lie diagonally to stretch out).

Pythagoras's bunk.

 

[Frogmogman]

One of the advantages of the older style with a quarter berth rather than an aft cabin, is that very often it provides a really decent long berth.