first time buying advice

[gunny263]

I have been reading through here from time to time and am just about ready to finally make the first step. I am looking for advice on purchasing a sailboat and have some rather limiting criteria which i am hoping the community here can help with:

1. we live inland near Tampa/Tarpon Springs, FL so a shallow draft is a must
2. needs to be trailerable and fit inside a 3 car garage (grr)
3. must accommodate 4 adults and 2 young children
4. strictly for destination daysailing and not interested in plumbing.

So, I am pretty much trying to find out if this is an impossibility and we need to concentrate more on Sailtime or Pinnacle for timeshare options (read the posts on the pros-cons to date) or resign ourselves to chartering only which we do about every 3 months now and long for more time on the water.

Thanks

[danjarch]

Is keeping the boat in a marina, either in the water or stored on the trailor to expensive for your plans.

[chucklesR]

Price range?
Tow weight?
Maximum length in garage?
Both Catalina and Hunter off pretty good starter models at the 22 foot range with water ballast. I'd start there.

Garage part is a the killer. Parking it on the trailer at a local marina is not an option?

[danjarch]

If it's still there, there is a sail boat marina in tampa thats pretty cheap. The a/c power sucks, but theres no bathrooms, and some of the boats in the marina are kinda funny looking. Other then that you can't beat the price.

[sailingdog]

Most boats that will fit six people are going to be significantly longer than a car, especially if they're on a trailer with a long y-tongue sticking out front.

Even if you're planning on only daysailing, you'll probably want a boat with a small cabin... since you could get caught out in bad weather, and not having a cabin will make the wife and kids very unhappy in a sudden rainstorm/squall.

It would also help if you said what your budget is...

One boat I can think of that would be pretty much perfect for you is the Farrier Tramp/Eagle. It's only 19' long, easily trailered, relatively light, very shoal draft... but finding one for sail might be tough. A Corsair 24 would also be a really good choice. But I'm a bit biased in favor of trimarans. The shoal draft and trailerability can be problems with monohulls.

Compac makes a series of boats that would also fit the bill. The Compac Suncat, (a cat boat not a catamaran), or the larger of the traditional catboats from Marshall.

[BarryL]

Hello,

I can't think of any boats that would fit 4 adults and 2 kids and still fit inside a trailer. Even a small boat like a Catalina 16 (which is 17' long) would probably be too big to fit in the garage when on a trailer. That boat is rated for 4 adults, so I doubt you could fit 2 small kids also.

Good luck,
Barry

[gunny263]

Thanks for the replies so far. The main reasons for the garage criteria would be the cost of a slip/insurance and we would like the flexibility of being able to sail freshwater locations up north. From what we have tested out with a friends powerboat, a 23' length with an overall width of 8' and a folding tongue would work fine in our garage.
as for budget, I am a bit flexible and am looking for something used between 5-20,000. As a starter, we only plan on using it for a couple years before moving up to something larger and marina based but this would be a good way to introduce our daughters to sailing and see if it's something we can do long term.
Of the charters, we prefer the cats to the monohulls so that would be the eventual goal.
Sailingdog brought up a really good point - spontaneous rains are an everyday occurrence in the summer so a rudimentary cabin would be a good idea.

I've been intrigued by the Corsair before but it's just over what we can store unless we rent a spot at a storage facility. That and used ones seem to start around 30k and go up quickly from there so perhaps it is our 2nd step.

[sailingdog]

Look for a Farrier Tramp... It's 19' LOA and should fit in the garage on a trailer.

[camaraderie]

gunny...I don't have any real good ideas for you boat wise but since you are talking about a garage...may I make the point that with a keel on a trailer and a mast on top of the pulpits...height may be an issue as well as length...and mast length if it overhangs the boat when down needs to also be considered.
Just trying to to prevent a "Duh" down the road! good luck & welcome!

[Maine Sail]

You'll potentially be better off posting your question of the Trailer Sailors Bulletin Board in terms of answers. The garage thing w/6 passengers is going to be very tough...