Twenty Small Sailboats, your version

[ff_nick]

i'll maybe be looking into a 2012 jester challenge

This:

http://marinedirectory.ybw.com/boat/new/boat_details1.jsp?id=47006&curr_id=1

looks as though it's ready to do just that. No connection, I've not sailed one these for 20 years, I was just thinking about the boats I suggested above.

 

[Porthandbuoy]

There's been some damn good suggestions on here. Stick with the forum and let us know what you decide and how you get on. Best of luck.

 

[Wunja]

I believe John Vigor's book includes the Catalina 27. In Europe this called the Jaguar 27 and they are widely available.

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.

I'll let you know if I get to the Azores in 2012

 

[froglet]

Really? I hadn't heard about that - do you know of any links?

The boat was named 'Valkyrien' , I followed his blog and there were great pics . He sailed from Norway to Belgium, then through the French canals to Gibraltar, and crossed both the Atlantic and the Pacific. He finally gave up his journey in New Zealand but sadly the whole thing seems to have disappeared now, links gone blank

Ahah found a reference to his adventures in another blog, click on 'Valkyrien' ... Sorry it's in French
http://www.banik.org/Annuaire/Pacifiquos.htm#Valkyrien

 

[SAWDOC]

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

Delighted to see the Offshore 8 metre included as it must be one of the most under mentioned sea worthy models around. Roger Taylor's exploits have made a convincing case for the Corribbee - see thesimplesailor.com for his tales.

 

[PeteCooper]

I'm Confused

Is this a thread about small boats, or boats up to 32ft? I remember when 27ft was a big boat

 

[kesh]

Is this a thread about small boats, or boats up to 32ft? I remember when 27ft was a big boat

I went on Vigor's definitions, just because you need to draw a line. Though I'm happy that people of stretched it. My main criteria are blue water safety and affordability.

 

[Kelpie]

Delighted to see the Offshore 8 metre included as it must be one of the most under mentioned sea worthy models around.

Well I only included it cos I like the look of them! Not really all that dissimilar to a Vega, as far as I understand? Mind you that's just based on reading up about them and not actually owning/sailing on them!

 

[Babylon]

Never mind Vigor's list

...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...

Don't get too hung up on Vigor's list, go look at a few examples from your own shortlist of boats, then go for what your heart tells you to.

FWIW, in a not dissimilar position to you three years ago and with a similar buget range, having looked at a few different 25-28' boats for home waters and later offshore use (long keel heavier displacement was always my own priority so this narrowed my list), I bought the first Vancouver 27 I saw, even though it was at the upper limit of my budget range - and haven't regretted it. She's been good from the start, and slowly - year by year - improving her without spending an additional fortune.

 

[LittleSister]

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.

There are lots of great boats out there (including the Samphire range, of course! -see below). However, I think it might be a mistake to try to buy the 'perfect' boat for your 'needs' for your first boat. Your views will almost certainly change after you've had your own boat for a while.

So rather than thinking you must try to avoid having to change boats later, accept that you probably will. (It's actually quite nice to change boats!) Go for something affordable (and resaleable!) that takes your fancy (and especially something that suits your home cruising waters), and then see how you get on with it. Put off committing yourself to having to have the ultimate cruising boat, or kitting it out for ocean cruising, until you are sure the boat is the right type for you, and don't worry if you find you are drawn to something different after a while. (You may even find you change your mind about wanting to do ocean cruising, or decide you'd prefer to do that aspect of sailing in someone else's boat!)

Happy sailing in whatever you get!

(P.S. Two for the price of one - I just told the First Mate about your query, and she says 'He'd be mad to spend £20K on his first boat. He should get something 17 to 23 feet long for about £2,000 or £3,000, sail it around for a year, see how gets gets on, he'll have loads of fun, and then he'll have a really good idea about what he want and prefers, and decide what he really wants to spend his £20k on.')

 

[bobdoughty]

Small boats with good seakeeping

Thanks Kesh for pointing me to your thread which I hadn't seen. Quite a few boats listed here meet my requirements of good seakeeping, easy to singlehand, beamy and stable, about 26 foot and under £20k - though I also need to be able to dry out. Don't think I'm going to be attempting any oceans but like the Hurley 22 (which have also done some substantial voyages) that I sail at the moment I want something that looks after me when it gets rough.

Still mulling over the contents of these threads but current front runners are Sadler 26, Moody 27, Hunter Horizon 26 & 273 and Westerly Griffon. Further suggestions very welcome here or at http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228501

 

[kesh]

(P.S. Two for the price of one - I just told the First Mate about your query, and she says 'He'd be mad to spend £20K on his first boat. He should get something 17 to 23 feet long for about £2,000 or £3,000, sail it around for a year, see how gets gets on, he'll have loads of fun, and then he'll have a really good idea about what he want and prefers, and decide what he really wants to spend his £20k on.')

i'm very tempted to do this, but the thing is i've lived on boats for years, but on the inland waterways. i'm on dry land now and i'm not sure i like it. so getting one i could live aboard is an option i'm seriously thinking about

 

[Searush]

Shane Acton did alright with his 18+' Mark 1 Caprice - he even had an outboard and a Woolworths inflatable for part of the cirumnavigation!

Not to mention the Swedish girlfriend who was almost as big as him!

 

[Searush]

Yes, my current boat is a 1979 Moody 33 and it cost well under 20k and as capnsensible says I would be happy to cross the atlantic in it - I've just renewed the skinfitting for the toilet outlet and the grp at that point was 1" thick - very reassuring.

Wasn't Primrose drowned when one of his own 33's went down?

 

[Tranona]

Wasn't Primrose drowned when one of his own 33's went down?

No, it was a 36. Foundered in a gale off the Carolinas coast of USA.

 

[TamarMike]

dont forget the Macwesters

An Atlanta 28 is certainly recorded as making the crossing, and in a reasonable time: - must have been better fitted out than mine and no doubt its mainsail was less than 34 years old!

 

[kesh]

No, it was a 36. Foundered in a gale off the Carolinas coast of USA.

His obit says a 33.

http://www.rendcombian.org.uk/pdfnews/1981.pdf

I wonder what happened to make him abandon.

 

[bobgoode]

Hurely 22; Hurley 30, Hurley 9.5; Sivereign 32 (pricey though); Elizabethan 30 .. a must; Javelin 30...pretty but long overhangs so limited accomodation; Dufor Arpege; Albin Balad.......

 

[Kelpie]

Not to mention the Swedish girlfriend who was almost as big as him!

[nitpicking]
I think she was actually Swiss
[/nitpicking]

The Shane Acton story is great reading, highly reccomended.
http://members.multimania.co.uk/marybonney/PDFs/Shrimpy.pdf

 

[webcraft]

His obit says a 33.

http://www.rendcombian.org.uk/pdfnews/1981.pdf

I wonder what happened to make him abandon.

I always thought it was a 33S as well. A friend had one and I helped him sail it to the Canaries. Very solid boats, very roomy, and probably a good choice as a cheapish roomy liveaboard but overall I would not personally choose one for prolonged ocean voyaging. Haven't seen an AVS curve for them, but I suspect there might be a largish area under the curve, and the flattish forward sections mean they can slam going to windward.

Very clever accommodation layout though, with removable panels to close off the quarterberth into an aft cabin.

- W