Twenty Small Sailboats, your version

kesh

kesh

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I'm reading John Vigor's Twenty Small Sailboats to Take You Anywhere. It seems a great book for someone like me who wants to buy a small first proper boat that I won't have to trade up if/when I want to venture out into the oceans.

Problem is only about five of the boats are available in the UK secondhand market, as far as I can tell. So what would you put in an equivalent book based around designs available here? Vigor's criteria were:

  • Capable of Ocean Crossings
  • Price £2000 to £30,000
  • 20 feet to 32 feet LOD
Go
 
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Based more on reading than actual experience, the usual choices would be something like:

Albin Vega
Contessa 26
Invicta 26
Halcyon 27
South Coast One Design
Folkboat
Offshore 8m
 
Thanks. To avoid repetition, I should perhaps point out the book covers the Albin Vega, Contessas 26 and 32, Frances/Morris 26, Folkboat and Nicholson 31. I'll look into those other ones.
 
There is a tendency in this list towards modern versions of old fashioned long keel designs whereas in fact there are many more modern designs which have been used successfully for ocean voyaging. With a budget of £30k there is a vast choice. The ones so far suggested are all limited in accommodation, so only really suitable for single handing or cosy spartan two handing. Many are prepared to put up with this as they believe this is offset by superior seakeeping - or low cost, minimum maintenance etc.

Interesting virtually nobody builds that type of boat anymore and none of them would achieve RCD Category A! (If that is important to potential "go anywhere" voyagers)
 
VinceHall said:
I believe John Vigor's book includes the Catalina 27. In Europe this called the Jaguar 27 and they are widely available.
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Thanks, just reading about it now. Vigor seems to think it a bit borderline on the oceangoing capability, unless you really, really know what you are doing.
 
Tranona said:
There is a tendency in this list towards modern versions of old fashioned long keel designs whereas in fact there are many more modern designs which have been used successfully for ocean voyaging. With a budget of £30k there is a vast choice. The ones so far suggested are all limited in accommodation, so only really suitable for single handing or cosy spartan two handing. Many are prepared to put up with this as they believe this is offset by superior seakeeping - or low cost, minimum maintenance etc.

Interesting virtually nobody builds that type of boat anymore and none of them would achieve RCD Category A! (If that is important to potential "go anywhere" voyagers)
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Vigor's limit was £30,000 (well $50,000), mine is more like £20,000, preferably half that. And I am looking at single and short handed. But obviously it is very early days for me so I am interested in slightly more expensive boats for general discussion purposes. Who knows, I may get a raise. And obviously a more expensive boat of the same date/model may save a little on the half-as-much-again I am told I should allow for sorting her out.
 
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I'm sure all sorts of boats would make it across (but may not be suitable on paper). Didn't an Etap 26 do the ARC a few years ago?

So therefore:
Etap 26
Leisure 27
Leisure 23 (one did the Atlantic and Pacific recently)
Cobra 850
Corribee
Shipman 28
Ruffian 23
Seamaster 815
 
Obviouslly I am biased but as you bring the budget down and expand on your wants it keeps pointing to the Albin Vega..... Have a look at teh website www.albinvega.co.uk and I think you will be surprised. Ask Webcraft about his trips with his Vega. Over 20 have circumnavigated and countless crossed the Atlantic. Sleeps 4 but 3 is ok and 2 is very comfortable.

Steve B
 
kesh said:
I'm reading John Vigor's Twenty Small Sailboats to Take You Anywhere. It seems a great book for someone like me who wants to buy a small first proper boat that I won't have to trade up if/when I want to venture out into the oceans.

Problem is only about five of the boats are available in the UK secondhand market, as far as I can tell. So what would you put in an equivalent book based around designs available here? Vigor's criteria were:

  • Capable of Ocean Crossings
  • Price £2000 to £30,000
  • 20 feet to 32 feet LOD
Go
Click to expand...

Vertue, or Vertue II.
 
Gawd, only 20 ?

There must be 50 UK available boats in that price bracket that would do the job, don't panic !
For a start I would think anything built by a reputable builder, like Halmatic ( moulders), Westerly, Marine projects and Rival ( Southern shipbuilding?). Then there are all the continentals. And don't forget that Bavarias are in fact totally amazing.

One model mentioned that I would reject is the Catalina (Jaguar) 27. Having had tea on one that had been sailed to windward from the States down to Puerto Rico, I was horrified at the very real distortion to deck, chainplates, main bulkheads etc, just from mast loadings. Mebbe the British ones used heavier laminate though?
 
May be worth looking at a Sigma33 OD not the OOD. The OD has mast head rig and longer but shorter keel.
I know of one that sailed the AZAB more than once and believe there are records of other doing some long distance sailing.
Price would be about right although not sure how many were made.
 
Aphrodite101
Nicholson 32
Rival 32
Nantucket clipper
Sadler32
Twister
Rustler31
She 31/32
Contest 30
Elizabethan 29/30
Contessa 32
Golden Hind 31
Hustler30
Pioneer 9m
Trintella 29
Achilles 840

Moodys and Westerlies are all capable.

Lets not forget the huge number of wooden boats also out there of which there are too many to mention.
Favored would be a twister or a vega keeping it small and simple.
 
Albin Vega - pros and cons

.
The Vega is a well-tried solution to affordable blue water crusing. We've dabbled with a trip to the Canaries and Azores, so FWIW here's my thoughts on the pros and cons of this particular type:

PROS
-----
~ Simple, well-built, not much to go wrong, not prone to osmosis

~ Encapsulated long keel with cutaway forefoot is IMO an optimum hull shape combining excellent speed for waterine length with good seakeeping qualities

~ Great fun to sail - not at all pedestrian

~ Open nature of accommodation (no chart table or extensive galley) means there is plenty of living space and an airy feel down below

~ More space in the forepeak than many 33 footers - a proper double bed space means you have a proper 'ownrs cabin' in harbour or at anchor

~ Good self-draining cockpit, side decks big enough to go forward safely, capacious stowage in cockpit lockers and lazarette

~ Excellent ventilation system 'built in' by the designer means the boat stays dry inside

~ Over 3,000 built - always a few on the market, loads of advice, support and spares from the Owners Association

~ Great value for money if you choose the right one

CONS
------
~ Only 5' 7" standing headroom - fine for us as we are dwarves, but not so good for tal people. (halcyon 27 has better headroom)

~ No chart table - although many people have built a solution while others don't find it a problem

~ Galley usually hasn't got an oven unless the layout has been modified. Again, we didn't find that a problem during the year we lived on board

~ Windows are a known weakness in knockdown/survival situations. Some replace them with alu frames, we made stormboards (cheap and easy).

~ Original (Volvo) engines and the insane Combi stern gear are generally worn out and should be thrown away - ideally look for one where a previous owner has already re-engined or be prepared to do this before setting off.

~ Anchor locker slightly small - we just about manage to cram 35m chain and 20m warp in ours

-------------------------

Hope this is useful, perhaps people with other types in this category (cheap potential liveaboard/bluewater) could post similar lists of pros and cons.

- W
 
Davidrss38 said:
May be worth looking at a Sigma33 OD not the OOD. The OD has mast head rig and longer but shorter keel.
I know of one that sailed the AZAB more than once and believe there are records of other doing some long distance sailing.
Price would be about right although not sure how many were made.
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The only quality that the MH Sigma33 has, that the OOD lacks is the ability to go everywhere slowly. In the 1970s there was still a resistance among some died in the wool cruisers to fractional rig, so to sell a few more hulls Marine Projects cobbled together the 'cruising' version, with lower standard rig and deck gear. Ask David Thomas which is the better boat. The OOD is a far better offshore boat in a gale than the much lauded Contessa 32.
 
Quandary said:
The OOD is a far better offshore boat in a gale than the much lauded Contessa 32.
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Not an opinion I have heard expressed anywhere else I have to say :rolleyes:

Ive sailed both the Sigma OOD and the Sigma 33C and prefer the masthead version personally, but if I had to be offshore in a gale I'd take the Contessa any day. I guess there are as many opinions as boats. I certainly don't think any variety of Sigma falls into the OP's category of small affordable boats for blue water under £20,000 though.


- W
 
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Difference might be that I have done it. The Contessa was nearly awash below before the night was half over.
Anyone got £20k I can find you a choice of OOD Sigmas, the mh ones will be even cheaper though I admit, harder to find.
 
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