Walkaround boat for older sailer

[acbruce]

My father has been a raggie all of his life. Having now reached 80 years old he is having to think of the time when he can no longer single-handed his 42 ft sloop.

Both he and my mum love being on the water and he is impressed with the ease of use of my Trawler 42. I think a walkaround motor boat of 30ftish would be great. Any suggestions? It doesn't need to be fast.

 

[Canopy Locked]

How about the Trusty 23? - not exactly a walk around, but a nice little boat very well finished
http://www.bluecmarine.com/home.html

 

[contessa26]

Walkaround?
What's that?!
In no particular order: Rhea 1100 or 900, Rodman 1250 Sport Fisher, Sciallino S30, Delphis 10, Botnia Targa 31.1, Cygnus 33, Aquador 32C, Nimbus 335 Coupe, Landau 29 Continental, Osprey 26, Hardy Fishing 24, Orkney 24 Angler, Trusty 21, Beneteau various, Jeaneau various, Astinor various, Faeton various, Contessa 26, plus numerous others...
But may I suggest - ease and safety of access aboard from a pontoon, and a flat, broad, accommodation with few trip ups and steps, is worthy, er, also...
...ducks back down below parapet.
Best wishes.

 

[Bandit]

Botnia Targa 31 is excellent.

 

[Firefly625]

A boat to look at IMO is the Beneteau Antares 980
With twin Nanni 200hp Very economical, but just over 30ft.

or something a bit smaller, Jeanneau Merry Fisher 815

 

[Firefly625]

I should also mention, both 980 and MF 815 semi displacement hulls which will always be a priority for ex sailors if I am anything to go by!

 

[stuartwineberg]

I have a Hardy 36 which is most certainly a walkround with high wide guardrails and a midships step off. If I was speccing it for an elderly person I would go for hydraulic bow and stern thrusters so they can pin it to the dock and then handle lines at their leisure. Would make single handing quite possible for him as well. Everything is controlled from both steering positions including the anchor winch so anchoring and recovering is also a single handed proposition. Access to fly bridge is via easy shallow steps

 

[asteven221]

You can walkaround the decks of a Corvette 32, 360 degrees, very wide, teak, and all on the same level. Got to be worth considering imho.

 

[whisper]

Suggest you look at all makes/models nominated above and then see which have side doors in their "wheelhouses". For really simple singlehanding these are a huge boon. They allow you to be just a couple of steps away from a mid-ship cleat from which you can get a temporary line to shore.

 

[Al Dickson]

Nordstar 28 or 31 Patrol

Walkaround ,Side & rear doors, bowthruster and twin or single sterndrives for easy handling. But then i'm biased /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

 

[contessa26]

Walkaround?
Walkabout?
er...

Ah Whisper - yes, side doors - great... I guess, good for looping a spring over a pontoon cleat, whilst staying out of the rain!

What do you think of this 25 footer - looks nice? And the Paragon 31 also...
Best wishes.

 

[Al Dickson]

That Paragon is a cracking wee boat and really well built - interesting to see what the 31 will be like.

 

[whisper]

The best boats seem to look like "cheap" Botnia Targa copies to me

But then, I might also be biased.

 

[jhr]

The Paragon doesn't look particularly cheap to me! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Nice boat

There's an MBY Video of her here. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[whisper]

No, I agree actually, nothing from Scandinavia is "cheap". But it is the home of the most practical/useable boats in Europe IMHO.

We shoulld be back in the water this week - yippee. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[jhr]

[ QUOTE ]
But it is the home of the most practical/useable boats in Europe IMHO.


[/ QUOTE ] I agree - and I haven't even got one! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Rang the yard yesterday to ask when they were putting the boat back in (was expected to be later this week) and they said "we put her in today" /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Al Dickson]

Copies they may be but they are well built boats & the Nordstar is about 25% cheaper than the equivalent Targa