Smallest viable boat advice

[wanzap1]

Some great advice all, thank you.

I should add, I'm not overly concerned about internal space, other than being able to be comfortable cooking and preparing food. Otherwise small interior isn't a massive issue, as j can work around it. My real concern is that sailing will become a chore in anything other than ideal conditions, thus massively reducing the viable sailing days!

Lots of food for thought, thank you again.

 

[DreadShips]

Do many people who down size actually sail in those areas?

As one of Wansworth's fellow Apollo Duck tragics, it's not escaped my notice that there's a steady stream of Sonatas drifting through the adverts that are both in good nick and whose owners have been cruising the western isles with them for at least a few seasons.

(Edited to add that I'm finding this thread useful for clarifying my own thoughts about whether to pull the trigger!)

 

[steve yates]

I sailed my bradwell 18 all over the west coast of Scotland and the isles and Ireland, I’m 6 ft 1” and I was aboard for weeks at a time. It is like camping, but I had a good big dinghy, and long oars, so even in anchorages I could get ashore to stretch my legs.
Bigger boats will give more comfort for sure, but the smaller the boat the more adventure, and the cost savings are enormous.
For instance a new suit of sails for her cost me £700, full new standing rigging including a new furling system cost me £1200.
I have since gutted the inside and redone it, giving myself a comfy seat I can actually sit up at full head height, that has transformed time spent inside, the sort of thing you could do on your drive over the winter.

So I wouldn’t discount the smaller boats, it really depends on where your balance between comfort and costs lies.
As for the the north channel in f5 against tide, no boat with an outboard on the back is going to make any headway in that, you just have to try and plan/route to avoid that sort of shenanigins

Someone else made a very good point that you can buy a wee boat, use it and if its too wee just sell it again the next year, great advice.

As tranona said, it might be useful to know what your downsizing from?

 

[boomerangben]

Swallow Yachts have created a range of vessels that would tick your needs. They are relatively new so second prices are still high, but they sail well and water ballast makes trailing easy.

We have sailed a 20’ Bayraider/Bayraider Expedition around Mull, the Small Isles and Around Mingulay, so you can certainly use them in Scotland, although you have to pick your weather with the smaller ones at least. We have spent many nights, in fact most nights drying out and means accessing anchorages or parts of anchorages that others cannot reach.

I keep mine in Stornoway

 

[Snowgoose-1]

I've downsized twice but had do go back up a step.
Folks say you have more fun in small boats but in my case it didn't quite apply.

We all have our own idea what a decent sail means. In my case , it was too slow and non satisfying . Hope you find the right boat first time. Good luck with your serarch.

 

[Wansworth]

Some great advice all, thank you.

I should add, I'm not overly concerned about internal space, other than being able to be comfortable cooking and preparing food. Otherwise small interior isn't a massive issue, as j can work around it. My real concern is that sailing will become a chore in anything other than ideal conditions, thus massively reducing the viable sailing days!

Lots of food for thought, thank you again…….maybe fitasprayhood

Look at the Kingfisher20

 

[wanzap1]

Potentially downsizing from an albin Vega. Which is not a big boat at all, and I'm totally happy with it as a vessel - it ticks all my boxes (other than reversing), but I just spend so much money each year for quite limited use.

A great idea is to buy a cheap small boat and road test it, it comes with limited risk. I might try a seawych and keep the Vega for this year at least.

Great commentary

 

[Daydream believer]

(Edited to add that I'm finding this thread useful for clarifying my own thoughts about whether to pull the trigger!)

Have a chat to the Samaritans
There are other options to suicide & we do not want you giving the forum a bad name, as depressing as it may seem sometimes
It can be done
Look how Wansy has managed to pull back from the brink on a number of occasions

 

[Wansworth]

Potentially downsizing from an albin Vega. Which is not a big boat at all, and I'm totally happy with it as a vessel - it ticks all my boxes (other than reversing), but I just spend so much money each year for quite limited use.

A great idea is to buy a cheap small boat and road test it, it comes with limited risk. I might try a seawych and keep the Vega for this year at least.

Great commentary

We had a Vega and for a small boat the accommodation was comfortable……place to lie full stretch,some were to make meal and a porta pottie

 

[Wansworth]

The Puma 23 was trying to fit in too much,for instance a dinette,madness

 

[Wansworth]

Look at what you would be saving going down to a twenty footer,investigate even smaller if there is only you Thereare quite a few designs sub twenty,with acockpitcoveritmakes the cabin much bigger

 

[wanzap1]

Look at what you would be saving going down to a twenty footer,investigate even smaller if there is only you Thereare quite a few designs sub twenty,with acockpitcoveritmakes the cabin much bigger

I'm looking at prelude, seawych, kingfisher 20+, hunter horizon 21, just waiting to see what comes up for sale close by in reasonable condition!

 

[DreadShips]

Have a chat to the Samaritans
There are other options to suicide & we do not want you giving the forum a bad name, as depressing as it may seem sometimes
It can be done
Look how Wansy has managed to pull back from the brink on a number of occasions

Fortunately - and much to my suprise - I'm happily married, and whenever the urge to do something stupid rises up within me I simply have a conversation where my wife reminds me why we're happily married...

 

[Wansworth]

My wife has put her foot down and we won’t be considering a 23 footer .But the next available boat is almost double the price to which she sail “we shall see”Accommodation for two is toatallydifferent to just for one and that one being a woman .

 

[steveeasy]

A few years ago my first boat was a Dehla 22. It looked good, nice inside and a lowering keel amongst many other benifits.

It was the best boat I’ve ever owned. A great boat to race and if I’d kept it I’d be a better sailor today.
Less than 2 tonnes and easy to load. I may finally end up with one again. Might not be great in a storm but fantastic sailing even in calm winds.
Just need to figure out what you really want.
Steveeasy

 

[johnalison]

Some great advice all, thank you.

I should add, I'm not overly concerned about internal space, other than being able to be comfortable cooking and preparing food. Otherwise small interior isn't a massive issue, as j can work around it. My real concern is that sailing will become a chore in anything other than ideal conditions, thus massively reducing the viable sailing days!

Lots of food for thought, thank you again.

I think you may be right. Although my boat is a 34 weighing over five tons, I have sailed with a friend on his 20-footer and we bounced around in a popple that my boat would hardly have registered. You may have to think backwards from the kind of sailing you are prepared to adjust to and then find a boat that will do it.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Red Fox? Pretty compact, reputed to sail well.

 

[Wansworth]

Red Fox? Pretty compact, reputed to sail well.

Article in PBO a few years back …towed one to France had a good time had to make arrangements to leave trailer and car somewhere safe

 

[Tranona]

Potentially downsizing from an albin Vega. Which is not a big boat at all, and I'm totally happy with it as a vessel - it ticks all my boxes (other than reversing), but I just spend so much money each year for quite limited use.

A great idea is to buy a cheap small boat and road test it, it comes with limited risk. I might try a seawych and keep the Vega for this year at least.

Great commentary

My first "proper" boat was a Seawych built from a kit in my front garden. super little boat for pottering with 2 small children and a labrador (who loved the quarter berth). A Vega is pretty much at the bottom end of budget boating already and you might find changing boats is more costly than you imagine and you could end up spending much the same each year to get a much less capable boat. Changing boats like changing wives is almost always an expensive business!

 

[ylop]

Is a vega too heavy for a road trailer?