Sail to power: coming to our senses

maby said:
Could the problem be more one of sailing style and less of boat style? At the risk of overgeneralising, I think that most women don't like adventurous sailing. Several of our (male) friends find themselves sailing alone because of this. They are only happy with the boat heeling at forty degrees or more, water running down the side decks and hanging on for dear life at the helm. I do know a couple of women who think likewise, but very few in comparison with the men. My wife loves sailing and far prefers sailing boats over mobos, but her approach to sailing is to reef early, drop sail and resort to engine soon after reefing and never willingly go out in anything more than a force 4.
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Hi maby, that's true except that the bar is much much lower, and it's more a case that we resort to sailing when we'd be on a beam reach or broader, F2-3, warm and sunny. Otherwise it's a no. Obs we could keep the yacht and motor everywhere, or go nowhere, but it's not enjoyable.
 
Scala said:
Hi maby, that's true except that the bar is much much lower, and it's more a case that we resort to sailing when we'd be on a beam reach or broader, F2-3, warm and sunny. Otherwise it's a no. Obs we could keep the yacht and motor everywhere, or go nowhere, but it's not enjoyable.
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You could also do what other friends of ours in a similar position do - form an alliance with one or more like minded couples so that, when the men want to engage in some "top shelf sailing", they get together on one boat and the ladies relax with Pimm's or G&T on another. That way, everyone gets what they want!
 
maby said:
You could also do what other friends of ours in a similar position do - form an alliance with one or more like minded couples so that, when the men want to engage in some "top shelf sailing", they get together on one boat and the ladies relax with Pimm's or G&T on another. That way, everyone gets what they want!
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Yes that's a good idea, funnily enough we're trying something a bit like that in a couple of weeks. If we sell the yacht I still want to go sailing, got some friends I can hook up with.
 
I can't generalise on behalf of all females, but the guidelines I had to work with were something like:

- The interior should not look like a boat. The interior experience should be more like staying in a good hotel that is modern or has been recently been refurbished.
- The exterior should not suggest that the boat is ever used for fishing or nudging ships into their berths.
- The cockpit should have a mix of sunny spots (her) and shady spots (myself).
- It should be possible to cook a leg of lamb on-board, although this has never actually happened.
- The controls should not require a gorilla to operate them.
- Decks should be sufficiently wide and have high enough guardrails to avoid unintentional swims in March.

All of the boats in your list will have similar stability characteristics, it's more a case of first choosing something that is about the right size with the layout you want, then trying to find an example that is in "as good condition as possible" for your budget.

My shortlist when buying the SC35 was:
- Fairline Targa 38 - Compact interior, but probably the best on-the-water performance. Can do 40kts with the larger engines. Standard fiddly canvas.
- Sealine SC35 - Hull extends underneath the bathing platform, and quite beamy, so good seakeeping for the size. Modern interior. Tight around the forward berth. Love it or Loathe it styling. Top speed 30kts if you are lucky. Cruise speed 22kts. Large soft-top sliding roof is a plus - less canvas to mess around with.
- Sealine SC38 - Similar to SC35 but with softer styling and more space around the berths. The main issue here is that when the SC35 was launched, it cannibalised sales of the SC38, so they are few and far between on the second hand market. Note that the S38 is an older model that had hull problems (most were fixed/strengthened at Desty Marine, fixed ones are fine).

I also really liked the Princess V42, but they were out of budget for the age range I was looking at, and running costs would have been higher.

.
 
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Hi FP, thanks, that's funny :) I'd add,

- "Parking should always occur perfectly at first attempt without the need for leaving the boat" and
- "Your WC and my WC shall forever remain separate".

Ho hum. Some are possible.

So my on-paper longish list at this smaller (more sensible) LOA is

Broom 35 Coupe
Bavaria 360 Sport coupe
Jeanneau NC11
Sealine SC35
Jeanneau Prestige 38
Fairline Targa 38 / 40
Princess V42
 
Might be worth checking out a Broom 36, Ocean 38, 39KL, etc. The aft cabin and big aft deck entertaining area has converted a few friends disinterested wives. Also, a good forward facing passenger seating area is a must.
 
FlowerPower said:
I can't generalise on behalf of all females, but the guidelines I had to work with were something like:

- The interior should not look like a boat. The interior experience should be more like staying in a good hotel that is modern or has been recently been refurbished.
- The exterior should not suggest that the boat is ever used for fishing or nudging ships into their berths.
- The cockpit should have a mix of sunny spots (her) and shady spots (myself).
- It should be possible to cook a leg of lamb on-board, although this has never actually happened.
- The controls should not require a gorilla to operate them.
- Decks should be sufficiently wide and have high enough guardrails to avoid unintentional swims in March.

.
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Change your wife! …… :encouragement:
 
Some points I failed to mention today.

Make sure you look at boats with good engine fits. Don’t get the lowest spec, it will be under powered.

Bathroom space. The Prestige 38/390S has a tiny bathroom and a plastic shower curtain. Bzzz.

The Bav40 is much bigger than the 36. I’ve crawled all over both and the difference is noticeable.

I found the NC layout weird, and the pull out bed extension in the fore cabin just wrong. If the bed needs to be 6’8” long the make it that long, don’t have some ridiculous pull out thing.

Fairline and Princess will be lovely, but age and budget will become a factor.

Happy to talk again.
 
mcanderson said:
Some points I failed to mention today.

Make sure you look at boats with good engine fits. Don’t get the lowest spec, it will be under powered.

Bathroom space. The Prestige 38/390S has a tiny bathroom and a plastic shower curtain. Bzzz.

The Bav40 is much bigger than the 36. I’ve crawled all over both and the difference is noticeable.

I found the NC layout weird, and the pull out bed extension in the fore cabin just wrong. If the bed needs to be 6’8” long the make it that long, don’t have some ridiculous pull out thing.

Fairline and Princess will be lovely, but age and budget will become a factor.

Happy to talk again.
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Hi Shane, thanks again for taking the time.

"Tiny" anything (except fuel bills of course) won't cut it...! :) Boat needs to be spacious enough that we don't feel cramped. Yes the extra 4' makes a lot of difference, that way lies the inevitable slide into bigger boats. I'm going to look at some possibles next week.
 
mcanderson said:
Some points I failed to mention today.

Make sure you look at boats with good engine fits. Don’t get the lowest spec, it will be under powered.

Bathroom space. The Prestige 38/390S has a tiny bathroom and a plastic shower curtain. Bzzz.

The Bav40 is much bigger than the 36. I’ve crawled all over both and the difference is noticeable.

I found the NC layout weird, and the pull out bed extension in the fore cabin just wrong. If the bed needs to be 6’8” long the make it that long, don’t have some ridiculous pull out thing.

Fairline and Princess will be lovely, but age and budget will become a factor.

Happy to talk again.
Click to expand...

You are thinking of a different boat - The NC11 has a full fixed double berth forward

See here: https://www.jeanneau.com/en-gb/boats/10-nc/33-nc-11#gallery-interior
 
I seriously don’t think you should discount these just because they have a fly bridge . Just because it has one does not mean you have to use it as one, in the photos they can be used as a pure sun deck instead then, on a lovely day if you wanted to use it you could. In my opinion it’s better to have and not need than not have then want !!
Rodmans are excellent boats with a superb reputation. They are generally better made than the normal beneteau/jenneau type of more common boats.
 
Returning to seakeeping, keeping our eye on the ball for Mrs Scala the whole raison d etre for this thread I would take a look at the Sunseeker camargue range .
44 or 50 .
The 50 has a formidable wave crushing reputation.
Both shafts easy maintenance bills going forwards compared to aged VP outdrives .
One buy not money sink hole intermediate stage .
 
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