Your perfect boat for after you've retired

Evadne

Evadne

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Your perfect boat for after you\'ve retired

I used to think that when I could no longer handle "Evadne", even resorting to modern technology such as electric winches, capstan and roller furling, then I'd get me a 25-footer with a big engine and small sails, i.e. a motor sailor, Fisher or similar and carry on as I am now.
I have now come to the conclusion that the best boat would be a small sailing boat with no internal combustion engine at all, probably 22' to 25', 2 berths, a sweep and an electric o/b to get into and out of marina berths.
Result: no smells, no noise, no worries over whether the engine will start, or run, or continue to run, or pour oil or diesel into the bilges; drastically reduced running costs and maintenance and loads of extra "cool" points from learning how to sail onto moorings and berths.

Am I alone? Has anyone ever done the same and would like to warn me off?
 
Re: Your perfect boat for after you\'ve retired

My present boat is great for blue water sailing but a serious embarrassment in british harbours. If I'm still fit enough to wind a winch when I give up long-distance sailing it'll be a Dragonfly 920 or 1000. They'll probably be affordable secondhand by then!
 
Re: Your perfect boat for after you\'ve retired

I remember seeing a Dragonfly go past us outside Plymouth, in about 0.5 kts of wind, when out on "Terschelling" last spring. A pretty boat, and you certainly wouldn't need an engine for that one. I could be seriously tempted.
 
Re: Your perfect boat for after you\'ve retired

Lots of retired folk on my mooring patch, nearly all of whom sail on and off the moorings. Lots of interesting boats from 60s to 80s when smaller boats were normal.
I still think auxiliary is a must, but would opt for a 6hp 4 stroke size electric start with alternator.
22-25 foot is good, stick lower for easy handling, like my old Jouet 680 (delightful) or my Evolution 25 big enough to go fast and cross channel (but heavier gear).
I suppose looking at it from a retired point of view the Leisure 23SL has headroom and accomodation, small sails, an inboard, bilge keel draft, sidedecks for moving about and manoevering,a deep cockpit. All the comforts, none of the drama.

Going smaller than that, the Hunter Europa (Squib with a lid) sails really well.
 
Re: Your perfect boat for after you\'ve retired

I think I agree with Dave, but I take him to mean, "After I've retired from serious sailing", not "After I've got more time to go sailing"!

My present boat was sold to me by her previous owners when he was 78 and she was 81, and they had owned her for 34 years, so I'm in no hurry but I have always thought that I will end my days with something rather like this:

Must be pretty, as I will be spending a lot of time just looking at her.

Maybe 23-25ft LOA, spoon bow and counter stern, low freeboard, small cuddy cabin with two berths and a stove.

3/4 bermuda sloop, for ease of handling.

Ideally shoal drafted with a centreboard.
 
Re: Your perfect boat for after you\'ve retired

That was the sort of spec. I had in mind, a bit like my current boat, pretty and fairly traditional but with easier to handle sails and without the engine problems. I was particularly curious to know if anybody had tried "normal" UK sailing without a conventional engine. It is certainly the most expensive (and smelly) item to maintain and run on my boat!
The previous owner of my boat was in his seventies when I bought her, if I recall correctly, so hopefully I've got another 30 years to mull things over.
 
Re: Your perfect boat for after you\'ve retired

You will be Dave "Green" (Ho Ho)
I recently referred to an article in Classic Boat
suggesting that we now have the technology to produce
the boat you describe. The assumption was that enough
power and range was needed to compete with an average diesel engine.
This involved a bank of batteries mounted low down amidships, which could be compensated for, by reducing the weight of the keel.
You, however may have in mind, one of these little electric motors, which I fear may be lacking when trying to stem the tide.
Although I try to be green, economics dictate a
3 1/2 hp Tohatsu
If you are clever a search might find the thread

Regards Briani
 
Re: Your perfect boat for after you\'ve retired

This may not be relevant, but my first two boats, an 18ft half decker and a Dragon that I cruised in, were engineless and I actually took the Stuart Turner out of number 3, a nice 18ft pocket cruiser, after ten years with it, and did not miss it.

I do know and can point you to two people who cruise on the East Coast in engineless boats - Mike Burn in "Shiela" and Jamie Clay in "Firefly".

Now, both are highly expert and both boats are Albert Strange yawls, but it can be done.
 
Re: Your perfect boat for after you\'ve retired

There was an article in canal monthly or some such thing recently about a solar powered canal boat with an electric engine. Ok they don't have to stem the tide and probably had a lot more room for the batteries.

The sad part was that they installed a mini generator to power the tumble drier.

Apologies for the thread drift - lunchtime drinking is a dreadful thing.
 
green power

It would be nice, but we're not really there yet, IMHO. I did the sums a little while ago on how many batteries you'd need to provide a modest 4hp electric drive. At 12V that's 60+ Amps, so using conventional lead acids and not discharging excessively I'd need at more than one 100Ah battery per hour of motoring. And then you've got to charge them up again. I'm hoping methanol fuel cells come on in the next 20 years! At the moment they offer 100Ah per day (50W? here ) for £3000 each, so 7 of them would provide around 1hp ..... you could get away with fewer if you run off lead acids and use the fuel cell to recharge, but its still a lot of mass for a 20'-25' boat. And it defeats the object of going low-tech in the first place.

At the moment I have one of those little electric motors for getting the tender out to the mooring and back. Its clean, quiet, and usually starts first time. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Its not really man enough for any more than that, sadly.
 
Re: Your perfect boat for after you\'ve retired

I always wanted a Dragon when I was learning to sail at Burnham on Crouch (St Peters Comprehensive sailing club). I still think they're pretty boats, maybe I'll fulfill that dream yet!
 
Re: Your perfect boat for after you\'ve retired

Personally very tempted by 3 boats - all similar but quite quite different.

1. Saltern Memory

gretel-dq1_smaller.jpg


2. Tadorne

tad-2.jpg


3. Romilly

roms13.jpg
 
Re: green power

For me, and I should point out I have no ambition to sail around the world etc. However before I give up big boat sailing I would want to sail all around the UK, stopping everywhere, then Ireland then all the coast of Europe from Holland down to northern Spain. Because of the weather and short season I would winter the boat wherever I finish up, then continue next season.

Of course when this is all done, I would still want to take a lazy day sailing in my home waters of Chichester Harbour, probably in a small open gaff rig day boat with an outboard. Just pottering around, waiting for God!
 
Re: Your perfect boat for after you\'ve retired

My friend has a Memory on a trailer, stuck in his drive, its been there years!

I think it would be a great boat for ones autumn years, of course it would have to be called 'NOT AS GOOD AS IT USED TO BE' or 'LOSING IT', what else could you call a Memory?
 
Re: Your perfect boat for after you\'ve retired

When does one retire? In Crouesty, Brittany we met a Frenchman on his Bavaria 36. He was 78! I asked did he sail much. He replied not much but they had been round Portugal and Spain last summer and up to Sardinia then returned. He was going out the next day with one stop to the Scilly Isles and perhaps Falmouth. When he returned he was going to help a guy bring his boat back from Norway! He normally sails with 2 mates of the same age.
 
Re: Your perfect boat for after you\'ve retired

Going full circle ?
Had a Corribee 21' for years ,with a small Seagull outboard on the back(so we got to do a lot of sailing ! ) The brilliant thing was that it was small yet big enough . snug down below and truly seaworthy ,dead easy to sail in and out of anywhere without frightening crew (or anyone else's crew) .
Running costs were negligeable and you could park it on the beach at the end of the day or so far up a shallow peaceful creek that 3 times out of 4 the harbour master left you alone ! The jump to a 26footer and onwards was I feel disproportionately so much more cumbersome .....
So we could easily end up with another little shoal draft boat as the retirement boat ,so long as we are still able to bend and sit in the tiny cabin!
 
Re: Your perfect boat for after you\'ve retired

[ QUOTE ]
I used to think that when I could no longer handle "Evadne", even resorting to modern technology such as electric winches, capstan and roller furling, then I'd get me a 25-footer with a big engine and small sails, i.e. a motor sailor, Fisher or similar and carry on as I am now.
I have now come to the conclusion that the best boat would be a small sailing boat with no internal combustion engine at all, probably 22' to 25', 2 berths, a sweep and an electric o/b to get into and out of marina berths.
Result: no smells, no noise, no worries over whether the engine will start, or run, or continue to run, or pour oil or diesel into the bilges; drastically reduced running costs and maintenance and loads of extra "cool" points from learning how to sail onto moorings and berths.

Am I alone? Has anyone ever done the same and would like to warn me off?

[/ QUOTE ]Why wait till you retire for this sort of propulsion??

Taking your original title as a question, and being retired, I have the perfect boat. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

(Oh, and it has an engine...)
 
Re: Your perfect boat for after you\'ve retired

no!

Go for a yacht with a modern diesel engine, a well built solid boat with easy rigged sails, lifting keel, bunks for 5 and a double berth proper bed.

I dont have one and have no interest but look at the beneteau first 25.7
 
Re: Your perfect boat for after you\'ve retired

I suppose the reason for not selling my boat now is that I've had her since 1985 and am unreasonably attached to her, despite her faults. Selling her to get a new boat would be a bit like selling the family dog to get a puppy. I hope to keep her sailing for many more years, but this season we had yet another "oil in the bilges" moment. The engine was only 2 years old when I bought her, and having seen how quickly they go downhill I am wary about buying a new one to solve all my problems.
An alternative to the diesel would be great, but it would have to be low-tech and reliable, and I don't think electric motors are yet suitable, because of the quantity of batteries you'd have to buy, charge, maintain and replace at regular intervals. But I may change my mind.
The alternative, in my mind, is a boat small and light enough to sail like a dinghy, into small creeks and onto pontoon berths.
 
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