Ex-SolentBoy
Well-Known Member
Here you go. Plenty of change to spend on further fitting out, spares etc.
Suggestions for Short list - Build Quality is important
- Thread starter wytco0
- Start date
Paragon
Well-Known Member
Vancouver 28/32
I would second the Vancouver suggestion. Proven blue water cruisers that fit all of your criteria especially being well built.
Vancouver 28 if there's just you or perhaps two of you, she was designed to cross oceans safely. And a 32 if you fancy a bit more room and/or perhaps guests coming to visit when away.
A quality boat!
I would second the Vancouver suggestion. Proven blue water cruisers that fit all of your criteria especially being well built.
Vancouver 28 if there's just you or perhaps two of you, she was designed to cross oceans safely. And a 32 if you fancy a bit more room and/or perhaps guests coming to visit when away.
A quality boat!
V1701
Well-Known Member
If you really do want to pay much less than £50k and are less than 5'8" have a look at a Vega...
jonic
Well-Known Member
Well I bought a Corsair for £56K and took it across the Atlantic and I have just sold this 376 for a client for £50K
E39mad
Well-Known Member
Sorry but I would not put the Storm or the Sadler on the OP's list personally - as wants best built for money with potential RTW, imho there are far better built boats and designs for the job. Both these boats have bolt on keels with spade rudders iirc and that is something I would personally avoid - I would want an encapsulated keel and supported rudder of some sort. Contessa 32 ... OK a great design but what are its load carrying capabilities like and as you state the accomodation is limited.
Like anything it's down to personal opinion but for me none of the 3 mentioned would be on my shortlist.
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Tranona
Well-Known Member
Well I bought a Corsair for £56K and took it across the Atlantic and I have just sold this 376 for a client for £50K
Agree the Corsair - although those I looked at in the under £50k range were knackered. Similarly the 37s and 376s. Guess with yours the location would have an influence on the price as most in UK have asking prices higher than that - although of course selling prices may be different.
Tranona
Well-Known Member
Could not agree more - which illustrates why it is largely a waste of time making recommendations of anything other than a very general nature to the OP.
This always happens when people ask for a recommendation of the "best" - whatever, trailer sailer, Ocean cruiser, family knockabout etc. You end up with a huge long list of widely disparate boats that represent the individuals' preferences. The only value is perhaps in establishing a "long list" - but any aware buyer who knows what he wants can do that anyway without asking other people!
Does however provide a bit of fun working out why people make some of the recommendations they do!
Seajet
...
Tranona,
I agree; most likely to be fun for those suggesting, similar to 'if I won the lottery' lists.
The Contessa 32 did cross my mind as in 'unlikely to kill one' but I discounted it as a blue water cruiser through lack of space, I would want something like a spare - maybe aft - cabin as a workshop, for a start...
I agree; most likely to be fun for those suggesting, similar to 'if I won the lottery' lists.
The Contessa 32 did cross my mind as in 'unlikely to kill one' but I discounted it as a blue water cruiser through lack of space, I would want something like a spare - maybe aft - cabin as a workshop, for a start...
SailBobSquarePants
Well-Known Member
As a Nicholson 32 owner, I have to recommend one for your criteria. It's what they are designed for - crossing blue water, not particularly quickly in today's terms, but very safely. Actually, I would recommend the Nicholson 35 if you can find one at a good price, just for the extra space. But, FWIW, I do know the Chichester Harbormaster single-handed his Nich 32 across the Atlantic successfully, as have others. You can buy excellent examples for under £30k, and then update and replace whatever your heart desires within your budget. There is also a very good class association, and most Nicholsons have been much loved by their previous owners.
The other boats that spring to mind are the Vancouver 32s. Similar boats, perhaps a bit more modern. Harder to find in the UK, so a more limited selection.
The Contessa 32 is also a good boat, but perhaps not the ultimate blue water boat the Nicholson is...faster, for sure, and more space too. But if you want blue water I would say go long keeled.
These are just my opinions, and I admit they are slightly biased via ownership.
The other boats that spring to mind are the Vancouver 32s. Similar boats, perhaps a bit more modern. Harder to find in the UK, so a more limited selection.
The Contessa 32 is also a good boat, but perhaps not the ultimate blue water boat the Nicholson is...faster, for sure, and more space too. But if you want blue water I would say go long keeled.
These are just my opinions, and I admit they are slightly biased via ownership.
E39mad
Well-Known Member
Looks like one of the last Pheon Yachts boats before Northshore took over the rights (Northshore moulded them all) - Northshore used an internal moulding whereas Pheon fitted our more expensively with more wood although not that noticeable unless viewed side by side.
snooks
Well-Known Member
You don't remember correctly
The Sadler 34 has a full length skeg on the rudder (longer than the Contessa 32). It's the "unsinkable" one and it does have a bolt on keel, but thousands of boats with bolt on keels have made it around the world including Sadler 34s
Seven Spades
Well-Known Member
Many Contessa 32 have crossed the Atlantic and some have circumnavigated. They are one of the safest boats ever made and I believe they all returned from Fastnet 79.
Bosun Higgs
N/A
You're a dreamer. We regularly get dreamers asking these sort of questions on here - no harm in that but I do wonder how many ever get near doing what they are thinking about and how many simply pass onto the next idea.
To answer your question. IMO you are starting from the wrong point. There is no such thing as an ideal one boat for life, any more than there is one ideal car for everything or one ideal house. Whats more, you dont really have the knowledge to make what is clearly an important decision for you. So the best advice I can give is to join a local friendly sailing club, go sailing with other people on their boats for a year or two and you will suddenly find you are beginning to form well informed clear opinions. And they wont be a bit like the ideas you now have.
It has to be your decision because only you can know what aspects of a design are important to you. All you will get on here is other people's prejudices - often not informed by ever having sailed on the boats they write about.
So sit on your wallet, dont spend a bean and go to the clubs rather than the marine car parks to gain real knowledge. Not exciting advice IO know, but wise words, or at least I think so.
Aeolus
Well-Known Member
Smaller and less expensive but with ocean potential
You could look a Seamaster 925, slightly smaller than most of the other suggested boats but very well built, easy to sail single handed and well within your budget. You're welcome to look at mine (which is not for sale btw) in Newhaven if you're anywhere nearby.
Like you plan to do, I bought mine as my first boat and expect to keep her for life and also plan some oceanic sailing in a few years time.
Dedicated Yahoo group here http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Seamaster-925/
Good luck
You could look a Seamaster 925, slightly smaller than most of the other suggested boats but very well built, easy to sail single handed and well within your budget. You're welcome to look at mine (which is not for sale btw) in Newhaven if you're anywhere nearby.
Like you plan to do, I bought mine as my first boat and expect to keep her for life and also plan some oceanic sailing in a few years time.
Dedicated Yahoo group here http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Seamaster-925/
Good luck
snooks
Well-Known Member
[pedant] Surely you mean "safest small yachts" rather than "safest boats"?[/pedant]
I'd like to think lifeboats, by their very nature, are safer
and by mile travelled to crew loss, container ships have to be up there as well wytco0
Well-Known Member
Hi Bosun, I want to answer your points first as I think you may think I am wasting poeples time and I want to assure you that isn't the case.
Yes in some ways I am a dreamer, I am also a 50something year old professional project manager who knows how to collect information and organise things and how to work with the resources available. Ideally I would have started sailing when I was much younger but I didn't so I am starting from here.
The limited time available means I need to try and do this differently. Forums have limited space available to make points and I haven't given more information about my background but please be assured that I aim to do this and I aim to do it pretty soon.
Even though I am a novice sailor having been a private Pilot I know a fair bit about navigation and as a lifelong amatuer mechanic I know how to look after machines, I also understand aerodynamics and I can relate that to hull shapes and sails and understand some of the relevance of this to the performance of boats. I know I still have a lot to learn but I know how to do that as well ;-)
True I don't have the knowledge at the moment and I don't have unlimited time but I do know how to collect information and analyse it and then use it to support my decisions. I know its a tall order to do what I want with one boat and I fully understand that I want to do several things which in some ways conflict.
I did say in my original question "Am I trying to do the impossible can I get away with only buying one boat? " from your comments and others I may be asking the impossible but the responses are greatly helping me work out what to do next.
Yes fully accept it has to be up to me, I am happy to do the research to support my decision but I am amazed and very gratefull for the willingness of this community to share thoughts and ideas.
I do agree, as someone else has said, that my list will be more of a long list than short list but after spending a lot of time walking round marinas and boat yards I feel I have been given more useful information here in 24 hours that I have found in several months.
I have a thing about sailing clubs and similar and I don't really like them, I am not interested in racing or other group activities but I do love talking 1:1 with knowledgable experienced people and exchanging information and ideas. Sailing clubs are no doubt great for some people but not really for me. Don't mistake this for arrogance or unwillingness to learn its certainly not that.
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E39mad
Well-Known Member
They were one of the safest designs in Fastnet as most at that time were dreadful unstable (for a yacht) IOR designed racing machines. Iirc the Contessa's were further back and did not get the severity of the storm that others did. Also most of the other boats mentioned have no pretentions about racing so is not really a comparison against the others.
Tranona
Well-Known Member
Agree with your comments about clubs - not for everybody. However, if you think you have made some progress through listening to voices on here, rather than wandering round looking at boats (and no doubt reading about them) it is nothing compared with getting in there, buying a boat and trying things out for yourself. Two years in a smaller more manageable boat approximating to the type you think will suit you will turn out to be a bargain.
You will learn more in that time than you could ever imagine - from one extreme of finding you hate it to the other (more likely) of finding out what you like that will make choosing and equipping you "ideal" boat a doddle - even if actually finding one at a price you can afford may be more problematic.
sighmoon
Well-Known Member
I saw a 90's Halberg Rassy 31, for a little under budget in July's YM
KellysEye
Well-Known Member
>Fully agree, I would be extremely annoyed if my marina were to allow a stranger to wander around just looking at boats.
From what I've seen most UK marinas are fairly secure but with no security for lowlifes coming from seaward. Once out of the UK many of the marinas the OP might stop in (for fuel, provisions, spares etc) have little or no security. This includes places the OP might stop: some in Portugal and Spain, almost all in the Canaries and Caribbean (where the lowlifes do come from seaward and are generally locals or French).
From what I've seen most UK marinas are fairly secure but with no security for lowlifes coming from seaward. Once out of the UK many of the marinas the OP might stop in (for fuel, provisions, spares etc) have little or no security. This includes places the OP might stop: some in Portugal and Spain, almost all in the Canaries and Caribbean (where the lowlifes do come from seaward and are generally locals or French).
