Hi,
I''m reletivley new to this. Still loving my little 20'', but at the same time, as soon as I''ve got her in bristol fashion, and a few thousand dollars in savings, she''s going away in favor of something I can take out of the country. (comfortably, for me. No offence to you loons..er, I mean brave souls who circumnavigate in capri''s and stuff. )
For a while I was in love with the Catalina''s. I''ve spent some time on older 27''s and 32''s and they sail well (in my limited experience, I dont know too many boats) and seem to be great little boats.
But now I''m talking to people, and finding alot of people with horror stories (normaly something that someone in a dock heard someone else say happened to thier cousin''s racing partners brother, etc) about how thier hulls are incredibly thin, and they''re not safe boats for doing any distance sailing.
Once agian, I''m new to this, and not sure what qualifies as "distance" sailing. Once I get a boat I feel comfortable living/cruising on, I want to go from LA down to Mexico for a while, and maybe through the canal, and shoot over to Louisiana. Eventualy I''d like to do something like the Transpac, but I have no delusions about skippering it till I''ve crewed on other peoples boats for a trip or two. That being said, if I blow $XX,XXX (yes, well under $100,000, but still alot of money for me, I''m 23.) on a boat, I dont want it to be something that cant do what I bought it for, and do it safley. If I could do it comfortably, and reletivley fast too(and those three are in exactly that order) that would be awsome.
I''m looking at less expensive boats. I can probibly afford $10,000-15,000. I''m pretty decent with electronic and basic maintenance stuff, so I dont need to get one in perfect condition, but something I can find in that price range with a solid hull, and rigging and sails that arent going to need to be replaced immediatley would be good.
So, do I stay stuck around SoCal with my little 20 untill I''m 110 years old and have finaly saved up the $300,000 to buy a new island packet? Or is there something near what I can afford (maybe something from the 60''s or 70''s that goes for that range?) that with a little work could be ready for a bit of out of country coastal (and maybe not so costal) cruising?
oh yhea, and if it can point too, I''ll kiss you! (or get a cute girl to ) I love my little Signet to death, but she sails like a square rig.
Thanks guys.
-- James
I''m reletivley new to this. Still loving my little 20'', but at the same time, as soon as I''ve got her in bristol fashion, and a few thousand dollars in savings, she''s going away in favor of something I can take out of the country. (comfortably, for me. No offence to you loons..er, I mean brave souls who circumnavigate in capri''s and stuff. )
For a while I was in love with the Catalina''s. I''ve spent some time on older 27''s and 32''s and they sail well (in my limited experience, I dont know too many boats) and seem to be great little boats.
But now I''m talking to people, and finding alot of people with horror stories (normaly something that someone in a dock heard someone else say happened to thier cousin''s racing partners brother, etc) about how thier hulls are incredibly thin, and they''re not safe boats for doing any distance sailing.
Once agian, I''m new to this, and not sure what qualifies as "distance" sailing. Once I get a boat I feel comfortable living/cruising on, I want to go from LA down to Mexico for a while, and maybe through the canal, and shoot over to Louisiana. Eventualy I''d like to do something like the Transpac, but I have no delusions about skippering it till I''ve crewed on other peoples boats for a trip or two. That being said, if I blow $XX,XXX (yes, well under $100,000, but still alot of money for me, I''m 23.) on a boat, I dont want it to be something that cant do what I bought it for, and do it safley. If I could do it comfortably, and reletivley fast too(and those three are in exactly that order) that would be awsome.
I''m looking at less expensive boats. I can probibly afford $10,000-15,000. I''m pretty decent with electronic and basic maintenance stuff, so I dont need to get one in perfect condition, but something I can find in that price range with a solid hull, and rigging and sails that arent going to need to be replaced immediatley would be good.
So, do I stay stuck around SoCal with my little 20 untill I''m 110 years old and have finaly saved up the $300,000 to buy a new island packet? Or is there something near what I can afford (maybe something from the 60''s or 70''s that goes for that range?) that with a little work could be ready for a bit of out of country coastal (and maybe not so costal) cruising?
oh yhea, and if it can point too, I''ll kiss you! (or get a cute girl to ) I love my little Signet to death, but she sails like a square rig.
Thanks guys.
-- James