Suggestions for pocket cruiser

nedr

nedr

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Having been boatless for the past 3 years & having to rely on crewing & chartering to get my sailing fixes, I am contemplating re-entering the lunatic asylum of boat-owning next season. My last vessel was an ancient Vivacity 20, which gave me quite a bit of pleasure & was more-or-less affordable (alas, my pockets are shallower than my dreams). I will be looking for something not too dissimilar: between 18 - 25 foot LOA with shallow draught ( may be kept on drying mooring). Probably GRP, although I would consider a classic wooden boat at the lower end of the LOA scale (especially if cutter-rigged: so lovely to look at!). I would budget £10k max., with some of this held back for the inevitable repairs etc. The boat would be used for coastal sailing on the South Coast (probably kept either on the Exe, Brixham, or Weymouth). Enough basic accommodation for 2 for weekending / week-long cruising. Seaworthiness more important than performance, and sailable single-handed (prepared to make modifications to make this possible). Apart from the Vivacity, I have only sailed on a Red Fox and an Etap 23 in this length/class of boat: everything else has been larger. Any suggestions or recommendations would be very helpful. (Apologies if this subject has been dealt with in older threads...my search didn't find anything entirely relevant). Thanks in advance: this forum has been of great help to me in the past!
 
I sail a Leisure 23sl with bilge keels, most ropes back to cockpit, inboard diesel and sea-toilet. It has standing headroom, a large table, 5 berths and plenty of storage. Certainly not a performance boat but plenty seaworthy. Plenty of info at Leisure Owners Association website. Suits my needs and I would recommend it to you.
You can pick one up for between cheap and about £8000.
 
I have a Seal 22 which matches your description very well, I am very happy with it and had great fun. Lift keel, mine sits in a mud berth, very sail-able and seaworthy, single handed or with a small crew. Mine has halyards at the mast, not led back, but others will be rigged differently. I's quite light at about 1.5 tons and I don't go out in a Force 5 but who wants to do that anyway?

You can find a very nice one well under £5k. Search for the Parker Seal Owners web site and there are several for sale.
 
Old school choices you might like to consider: Hurley 22 bilge keel which is sound sailor, albeit with snug accommodation. Even snugger the Elizabethan 23 with lifting keel; I have not sailed one myself but they have some notable trips to their credit.

My personal pick might be to look for a nice Sadler 25
 
I note your requirement for a possible drying mooring and I think that is the key to sensible budget cruising. In that case you're looking at lifting keels or bilge keels. In my experience, many small bilge keelers have limited windward performance, although there are some exceptions such as the Hunter Duette or later Horizon 23, which should be within your budget. Someone else has suggested a Seal 22 which could be a very good choice for flexibility, affordability and good sailing performance.
 
doug748 said:
My personal pick might be to look for a nice Sadler 25
Click to expand...

I'd echo that sentiment. They really are surprisingly good boats for the their size, though mine is a fin keel, the word is that the bilge keelers are only marginally behind.
 
Seashoreman said:
I sail a Leisure 23sl with bilge keels, most ropes back to cockpit, inboard diesel and sea-toilet. It has standing headroom, a large table, 5 berths and plenty of storage. Certainly not a performance boat but plenty seaworthy. Plenty of info at Leisure Owners Association website. Suits my needs and I would recommend it to you.
You can pick one up for between cheap and about £8000.
Click to expand...
+1
 
Westerly 25 ?

I got one as a first sail boat to see if I liked sailing so I dont know what it is like against other boats but we find it OK we seam to get along as quick as most others and it can rest on any ground ast iron keels and skeg , and built like a brick %$t house .
we are moving up for a larger boat and full 6ft headroom but keeping to a bilge keeled Westerly
 
nedr said:
Having been boatless for the past 3 years & having to rely on crewing & chartering to get my sailing fixes, I am contemplating re-entering the lunatic asylum of boat-owning next season. My last vessel was an ancient Vivacity 20, which gave me quite a bit of pleasure & was more-or-less affordable (alas, my pockets are shallower than my dreams). I will be looking for something not too dissimilar: between 18 - 25 foot LOA with shallow draught ( may be kept on drying mooring). Probably GRP, although I would consider a classic wooden boat at the lower end of the LOA scale (especially if cutter-rigged: so lovely to look at!). I would budget £10k max., with some of this held back for the inevitable repairs etc. The boat would be used for coastal sailing on the South Coast (probably kept either on the Exe, Brixham, or Weymouth). Enough basic accommodation for 2 for weekending / week-long cruising. Seaworthiness more important than performance, and sailable single-handed (prepared to make modifications to make this possible). Apart from the Vivacity, I have only sailed on a Red Fox and an Etap 23 in this length/class of boat: everything else has been larger. Any suggestions or recommendations would be very helpful. (Apologies if this subject has been dealt with in older threads...my search didn't find anything entirely relevant). Thanks in advance: this forum has been of great help to me in the past!
Click to expand...

We are still happy with La Roca, the Seamaster Sailer 23´ swing-keel which we bought in Gib ten years ago. Stakpak and lines brought back to the cockpit for single handing. Shes not fast but very safe - we've survived a couple of nasty blows. Long weekending with three is enjoyable.
 
There are quite a few yachts that make your requirements. I would recomend most of the smaller Hunters which often have outboard engines making the whole old engine issue much less complicated, although many on this forum dont feel a Yacht is complete without a decent deisel donk! We had a Hunter delta and loved it for 5 years with a young family so that's particularly recommended. Apollo duck has quite a few for sale at the moment incluiding a bilge keel version so you wont have to mess around with the usuall lifting keel. They sail very well, we crossed the chanel in ours.
http://yachts.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=337950

Happy hunting to you.
 
My Achilles 24' is for sale for under 3k if that's any use to you. It's had recent surveys and is commercially endorsed by the RYA/MCA so is in good order and setup for single handing. I'll leave out the hard sell! You can probably find it on apollo duck/gumtree.
 
If you aren't looking for a performance boat, a Snapdragon 24 or 747 is a lot of boat for the size. The have separate heads, not something you find on many boats that size, a very good forepeak berth, better than many bigger boats, and when I got caught out in 30+ knots once, it was unpleasant, but didn't feel dangerous - the boat just got on with it.

Downside is they aren't the fastest around and aren't brilliant to windward. Beating against tide and wind is why they have an engine! OTOH, off the wind, they can surprise a good few faster boats.

We've had ours for over 10 years and love her to bits.
 
Well, a bilge-keeler of some sort certainly sounds the way to go. And if you're happy with an older style, Alan Buchanan designed a small spacious pocket cruiser just after the war, the YM 3-Tonner. Twenty feet LOD, 17' LWL, draft 2'-9", beam 7-'8", with raised topsides. She has two full-length berths, sideboards, galley, chart table, hanging wet-locker, space for a porta-potti, a sail locker, under-berth storage, a good forepeak accessible from the saloon. and lots of lazarette and under-seat locker space in the cockpit.

sanderling-ga.gif

There are some photos of a cutter-rigged version here -- http://www.woodenboatfittings.com.au/boats/sanderling.htm.

Mike
 
Seashoreman said:
I sail a Leisure 23sl with bilge keels, most ropes back to cockpit, inboard diesel and sea-toilet. It has standing headroom, a large table, 5 berths and plenty of storage. Certainly not a performance boat but plenty seaworthy. Plenty of info at Leisure Owners Association website. Suits my needs and I would recommend it to you.
You can pick one up for between cheap and about £8000.
Click to expand...
+1 - I have the outboard version. Not the fastest or highest-pointing boat, but doesn't do anything nasty, either.
 
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