Twin double cabin / heads boat options

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Dutch01527

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I am concidering replacing my trailer sailer with a bigger boat. My wife has a strong preference for a boat with two seperate double cabins, each with private head. We often take friends sailing and swmbo does not do lack of privacy. We have spent a fortune this year on renting cottages.

I have a strong preference for a boat less than £20k with decent heavy weather capability, can be sailed short handed and reasonable speed. Shallow draft would be an advantage.A difficult (near impossible) specification I know. It will have to be a old boat and maybe a bit of a project. I do not have the time or energy for a major project however.

Only found two possible options to date. Colvic Countess 33 ( a cheap one) and Carter 39. Also maybe thinking of a boat share.

Any more suggestions ?
 
Dutch01527 said:
I am concidering replacing my trailer sailer with a bigger boat. My wife has a strong preference for a boat with two seperate double cabins, each with private head. We often take friends sailing and swmbo does not do lack of privacy. We have spent a fortune this year on renting cottages.

I have a strong preference for a boat less than £20k with decent heavy weather capability, can be sailed short handed and reasonable speed. Shallow draft would be an advantage.A difficult (near impossible) specification I know. It will have to be a old boat and maybe a bit of a project. I do not have the time or energy for a major project however.

Only found two possible options to date. Colvic Countess 33 ( a cheap one) and Carter 39. Also maybe thinking of a boat share.

Any more suggestions ?
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I think it's a tough one with that budget but my wife said the same a few years ago and she has turned out to be completely right given the amount of time we are taking off work and spending on the boat each year. The main advantage has been guests having their own loo and their own separate cabins - they feel like they are staying in a friend's seaside cottage not roughing it. Also it has been very pleasant even with just two of us on board which is most of the time as we have a loo/shower each.

But 20k is a tough call - I wonder whether you can show her boats a bit (a lot?) more expensive than that which she would really love to see if she changes her priorities a bit?
 
Would have difficulty getting that at even triple the budget, particularly with shallow draft. to make two loos work normally means at least 38' and most (like a Bavaria 38) will be deep keel. Few 2 double cabin boats in the under £20k range anyway.

Most two double cabin boats will have a completely separate toilet compartment which is not a problem to share. How much time does the average person need to spend in the toilet?
 
I can certainly recommend the Colvic Countess 33 - well I would, wouldn't I?
If you can get to Poole / Wareham area you are welcome to look or go out in mine.

This is my layout, but they come in a variety of layouts and standards of completion due to the majority being home compleated.
CC33-Plan.jpg
 
Thanks.

The Countess and Conway both look like real options and close enough to budget to maybe be feasable with a bit of compromise on condition / negotiation. The Sundance also if I could strech budget a bit.

Keep them coming!!
 
Tranona said:
Most two double cabin boats will have a completely separate toilet compartment which is not a problem to share. How much time does the average person need to spend in the toilet?
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So you say - it was a showstopper for my wife for a house or a boat.
 
Tranona said:
Most two double cabin boats will have a completely separate toilet compartment which is not a problem to share. How much time does the average person need to spend in the toilet?
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+1. You do find a lot of people are funny about toilets. Personally, I figure if someone is going to need the sort of privacy they get in a (perhaps large) house when they come sailing, then sailing is not going to be for them: after several days with several others in even a forty-foot tube you are going to feel a lack of privacy generally.

If I were the OP I would look at smaller boats and intend to sail as a couple rather than larger boats where they can entertain others but which his wife may get fed up with anyway, leaving them short-handing a bigger than necessary boat. That way his 20k will go a lot further and get him closer to his sailing objectives. The plan at the moment is the recipe for an under-used big (and quite old) boat which on a tight budget they may struggle to maintain with all the usual downward spiral that entails.
 
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More than £20k, but have you considered a Bavaria 350 from the early nineties? A friend sold a twin heads model for sub £30k a couple of years ago. These were really nice boats too.
 
Goldie said:
More than £20k, but have you considered a Bavaria 350 from the early nineties? A friend sold a twin heads model for sub £30k a couple of years ago. These were really nice boats too.
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That looks very nice, over budget but tempting especially when you calculate how much interest £10k generates at the moment. May need to rethink budget.
 
How about a centre cockpit Moody33 mk1 or mk2? Not twin doubles but a double in the fore cabin and two singles in the stern cabin in which we have a PortPotti. The stern cabin is only accessible from the cockpit but not usually a problem as we have a cockpit tent. Should be able to get one with your budget.
 
A Colvic Watson 32 with two proper sleeping cabins and two loos in shabby condition might go for £20k but then you're only delaying the £10k worth of bills.
 
Colvic Watson said:
A Colvic Watson 32 with two proper sleeping cabins and two loos in shabby condition might go for £20k but then you're only delaying the £10k worth of bills.
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Indeed. That's the universal problem with trying to buy big boats on small budgets, the OP is not the first to encounter it. What he's basically trying to do is buy a 2000s 40 footer with the money for a 1980s 30 footer.
 
An interesting thread.

I am not likely to be in this market but fascinating to see the suggestions.

Back in the nineties I used to instruct on Bavaria 350s, terrific boats. Cost about £55k in those days, were bulletproof and very well built by production boat standards.
The Jeanneau looks good too.

My memories of the old Colvics/Westerlies/Moodies and the like put me in mind of elderly aunts, the aromas, table cloths etc.
 
Tranona said:
Most two double cabin boats will have a separate toilet compartment which is not a problem to share. How much time does the average person need to spend in the toilet?
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Don't you know any women, Mr T? :)

Not just women though. A bunch of professional divers I know, went on a sailing tour in the north, last week...and by all accounts, nobody squeezed a drop or a plop on board, in five days. They all just waited till they were ashore...I believe it was something of a crawl between shore-side pubs.

Apparently it was the uncomfortable closeness of the environment, the lack of personal space, and concern about how the loo functioned - too many DON'Ts in the how-to lecture.

In truth, I'm certain yacht bathrooms would be less dislikeable for non-sailing guests (and for owners' SWMBOs) if the ventilation arrangements weren't so repellently inadequate.

Looking at yacht layout photos and drawings, I'm often reminded - unpleasantly - of French houses, where it is the norm to plumb a lavatory into a windowless cupboard, vented only by opening the door into adjacent living quarters. :grey:

Openable windows aboard yachts are rarely big enough to do more than blow shower-steam and sewage-stinks further into the accommodation. It isn't very surprising if ladies - or well-bred men - don't particularly enjoy eating meals, sipping cocktails or lying in bed amid the aroma of a public lavatory.

I've noticed there's a fairly entrenched vein of yachtsmen - proud, hardy types - who seem to enjoy crowing about their cheeseparing economy with hot water, and minimal comforts on board. As one whose cruising bathroom is at present necessarily of the bucket-&-chuck-it variety, I already know about minimalism, and I haven't learned much love of it.

"When I get my yacht"...I'll happily rip out some of the paneling to make room for a length of 4" ducting and a bilge-blower, to suck out moisture and miasma from the smallest room on board, and none of my guests will need to suffer the smell of economy-driven accommodation planning.

LadyInBed said:
CC33-Plan.jpg
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Very civilised layout L.I.B., I bet your guests are always keen to return!
 
bitbaltic said:
Indeed. That's the universal problem with trying to buy big boats on small budgets, the OP is not the first to encounter it. What he's basically trying to do is buy a 2000s 40 footer with the money for a 1980s 30 footer.
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Maybe but not sure yet that is accurate. The suggestions on this thread suggest that there are a number of options (Colvic, Westerly ect)around the 33 foot mark that might meet the spec and be reasonably near budget. I guess time will tell if I can find an example that is well maintained and affordable.

I quite like older boats in the same way I like classic cars. Better quality materials and more character, if they have been cherished.
 
dancrane said:
Don't you know any women, Mr T? :)
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Yes, I do - wife and two daughters, plus a succession of labrador bitches! None of them obsessed with spending large amounts of time in a cramped toilet compartment.

Was on a 43' boat yesterday which had two toilet compartments, both almost impossible to use for somebody my size. Not a patch on the huge (relatively) compartment and shower room in my 33'.

My objection to two toilets applies to the sort of boat the OP is looking for. The minimum size to get that usable space is modern 38'+, and even then both compartments are likely to be smaller than a single. Really starts to work when you get over 40', although not in the old fashioned boat I was on yesterday which crammed so much accommodation in that it was claustrophobic. However the owners had just completed a 15 year round the world trip and were very happy with it.
 
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