So just how much bigger....

Sans Bateau

Sans Bateau

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...are boats going to get?

I got home last night and took a quick browse through my Sept Yachting Monthly.

As we have become accustom, the Sept issue has all the new yachts we can expect to see at SIBS. With the exception of a couple; ETAP 28S and an interesting looking little Rustler 24, all the 'new boats are huge!

Bav 40, 44 & 50
Hanse 54 & 63
Oceanis 40 & 46
Dufour 525
Southerly 42 & 46
Najad 405 & 440

A couple of years ago when we moved up to our 35ftr, we felt we had joined the 'big boats'. But in fact a 35 is no more than a starter yacht.

I don’t suppose for one minute that the 40's 50's and 60 that are coming to market will become fast sellers (or maybe they will), but where the hell will they go?

Just think for a minute, your favorite weekend destination, add another 10% of boats, sizes 40ft upwards, were will they fit?

Bembridge, Yarmouth, St Peter Port, add your own overcrowded destination.
 
You are probably right, but there is the problem; you, Mr Marina owner, has two owners contact him for a berth, the one wants to place a 12 - 13 mtr boat with you, the other a 10 mtr boat. Which one do you look to accomodate first?

Then if the trend continues you might start to tailor your marina for the bigger bucks (sorry ment boats!). I think this has already happened to some degree in Chi marina?
 
A fairly well-known adage once-upon-a-time: sea time is in inverse proportion to size. I note that in our club with all the boats either modest ie. sub 30' or small - sub 23' members have quite a bit of sea time compared to other larger boats.
 
Never mind the length, how about the width.... Twice on our last trip in France we were waved into berths by marina staff, only to get stuck as our bedfellow took up more than half the space (we were on a Dehler 36).

People tend to buy in price bands. There was a band at about £70k, and one at £120K - Ten years ago the first would get you a 32 footer and the second a 37 footer. Now it's 37 and 45. I'm sure most people buying new now would have more fun (and learn more) with a smaller boat.
 
I believe this to be correct.

Last weekend, having nothing to do but to amuse the children and give my wife a break, I did not even take the mainsail cover off. We just blew down the river, anchored near a beach and blew back up to our mooring under light headsails.

When I had an 18 footer I would have considered this very shocking. In fact, I am ashamed of myself. I will not do it again - if I find myself doing it again I will move to a smaller boat.
 
I think its brilliant that boats are getting bigger,more accommodating and more all-weather luxurious. Oh and possibly treated as a cheap holiday home that one can drive around a bit...
The only trouble (for me!)is that they are staggeringly expensive to maintain,depreciate like a stone in water and are often a complete nightmare to handle at close quarters.The word 'Vacuous' comes to mind...
Peeps who tend to get more out of the sailing side of things buy a bit different,no?
Having said all that ,i once had the opportunity to sail with a HallbergRassy 49 sloop owner who loved to use his boat a lot and could afford to get stuff fixed.One memorable thrash through the straits of Gibralter with a n/s volvo,a steady 45 knots on the bow,amazing powerful sailing .When we arrived all the owner said was"if I had bought a Swan we would have arrived hours ago''
 
Our boat is about the same size (37ft) but we've been thinking of 'going larger' for some time, probably 45-48 ft which we feel we could manage 2 handed

The main attraction is that we've a lot of friends and relatives who want to come sailing and we'd like a bit more space to accommodate them and ourselves in better comfort

As for useage, we've had our current boat for 4 years and have spent 256 days out of our marina and cruised 6,500 miles so far. It will be interesting to compare this when we do decide to trade up
 
Tom

The likes of yourself and Ian will buy a boat to do the job and put some miles under the keel, we see the proof.

Would your move up to a bigger boat really give you more room and value when balanced against running & owning costs. I know SWMBO and I have discussed a larger boat, for the vary same reason that you have suggested, guests. We finish up deciding that what we have is plenty large enough for what we need, make the guests to comfy and you'll never get rid of 'em!
 
Its OK for you little guys. Our boat is fine for two of us to stay aboard, to sail and manouvre, except the bed is too small, the heads too cramped to 'sit and think' and I have to bend over the galley to cook.

To upgrade, our preference would be something like a Moody 40 with a centreline double berth in the aft cabin. But thats about another 80k which is a lot of dosh just to get a better night's sleep !
 
Nick, with the greatest respect, we are average size, there is probably nothing wrong with the size of your boat. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
To be fair, guests are only part of our thinking. We would like to have sleeping quarters which we didn't have to put away each day and I'd like to have some more headroom in the galley

A big factor is that we enjoy passages at sea and would like to spend more of our time afloat in the coming years. To make that feasible, we need to be able to do some work on board and so carry more equipment

Finally, we'd like to go further afield (Spain and Norway in particular) and would like to be largely self-sufficient which means more stores, bigger tanks etc
 
Having similar statue problems to Nick, we got a Moody 44 as the smallest boat we could comfortably fit in. Summer cruises tend to be down to Southern Brittany as far as La Rochelle. Reckon we do about 2000 miles a year cruising.

Don't think that size of the boat determines the usage at all. Think it is more like your lifestyle and calls on your leisure time - just so happens that a lot of people who can afford a big boat don't have such a lucky lifestyle balance....
 
I think our 35 is still easy to 'just go for a sail' on. Which means its used extensively, only one weekend missed this season so far, but have not managed evening sails, been busy earning to pay for it.
I (we) dont need crew and we have lots of local destinations, which helps a lot I guess. We also think the 35 is big enough to go much further afield on, and ours looks like a Tinkers caravan with all the kit onboard, so it is comfortable. Will accommodate us and another couple comfortably for a holiday, but didnt want the third cabin, preferring the estra stowage and better heads/shower.
Even the salesman said it was small for a starter boat. Tch. He should have cruised on our 22......
 
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...a lot of people who can afford a big boat don't have such a lucky lifestyle balance...

[/ QUOTE ]

Very true. I was in a big yard last weekend trying to find a second hand tender for sale and I was amazed at the number of huge shiny boats still up on the hard. I guess if you can afford a brand new Jeanneau DS50, you don't get much vacation.
 
One point that hasn't been mentioned is how cheap they are now. Without wishing to start an AWB debate just look at how many weeks/months /years you have to work to buy anything now.

I think houses have stayed a constant but cars and boats are so much cheaper and affordable. Obviously I am talking about new so take the new price of say a 1980 boat and if you can remember what you earnt in 1980 do the sums.

In spite of all our moans most of us have greater buying power and greater choice but Gordon B will try to help us out there!
 
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