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Originally Posted by labatt
We'll be selling the P40 in a couple of years. We expect in one year to make a decision to either have a custom 48'-54' Passport, Cabo or similar built or to buy a previously owned boat. The P40 has two cabins. We need three (one for us, one for each kid) plus a lot more storage. I have info on this decision on another thread  |
Do you *really* need a bigger boat? I say this not only because that's a pretty roomy 40, but also because I looked long and hard at 45-50 footers before deciding that 42 feet/13 metres was about as big a boat as my wife could single-hand on watch without "complications" such as electrical
winches, etc. She's five foot tall and weighs a pretty muscular 115 pounds, but she can reef our main fairly easily.
Furling and downhauls and general caution take care of the rest.
If you play on a 40 footer and then go to a 50 footer and leave right away, you'll have the added stress of "breaking in an old crew on a new boat"...just learning to sail the thing effectively might be a new(ish) ball game. Not to mention you'll have to size up all your spare halyards,
ground tackle, sheets and
lines. Not to mention the added cost of nearly everything on the boat, plus dockage, storage, transit fees, etc.
Personally, while I respect the privacy issues, I suspect a simple curtain over a bunk will give No. 1 Son the privacy a growing boy requires, and at 12, he'll be likely old enough to stand daylight watches anyway, meaning that between school lessons, boat maintenance, doodling around between boats on visits and his watchkeeping duties, he'll stay out of his sister's hair. And yours.
You asked what I would recommend in terms of formal training that hasn't been mentioned: I would take celestial navigation and coastal pilotage courses, plus if you are going to have
radar, a
radar interpretation course.