First Boat

[Arque]

Hello everyone, I have just retired and now have the time to fulfill my dream of owning a yacht.

Could anyone advise me of a good first boat: The main requirement is something I can cruise down canals as I live in Amsterdam and use on open water, other than that, well built, ease of use, plenty of room in the cabin and a foredeck with space to relax,sunbath etc.

I have been looking at Moody 28-30?

All comments appreciated.

Best Regards,
Robert.

[sailingdog]

How deep are the canals, and what is the air clearance on the bridges over it. Most sailboats are fairly ill-suited to canal cruising due to their deeper draft and high-air draft requirements.

[Arque]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

How deep are the canals, and what is the air clearance on the bridges over it. Most sailboats are fairly ill-suited to canal cruising due to their deeper draft and high-air draft requirements.

Thanks Sailingdog for my first reply, Theirs no problem with the draft the canals are deep here but, I need a boat where I could collapse the rigging if possible. If all of the above is too much of a hinderance. We are very close to open water as you know so, could moor it very easily.

My budget is 20,000 euros max.

[blt2ski]

Not to argue with SD, BUT< from reading the Jeanneau owners forum, it seems that Europeans that live near canals as you seem to, have figured out some ingenious ways of making masts easily drop able, or pivot at a spot just above/below the boom. I would NOT if I lived near you worry about how to get under the non working bridges as much, as finding a boat that you can find parts for locally, will sail to your specs etc.

Granted this is a 20' boat, but an example of things being done in the canals of Europe
Sun 2000 Mast Lowering Kit

Good luck
Marty

[blt2ski]

A Year In Paradise: Sailing the US East Coast, Cleveland to the Keys

Here is another link to some info, altho you may have to buy a book to figure out how theses folks cruised here in NA up and down a few canals with the mast off.

I'm not finding the article on a boat(s) with pivoting masts. Kinda of bugging me. What you want to do is doable. Jut need to find the articles. Some other sites, like Cruising world, a US magazine, yachting World out of the UK may have some online articles with some how to's of building/making pivoting masts.

marty

[Faster]

Many bridges in the Netherlands open, but also many of the yachts there have tabernacle mast steps to facilitate lowering the rigs. In England somewhere there's an annual "3 rivers Race" where the competitors must repeatedly lower the rigs to clear bridges, drifting, sculling or poling through, and rehoist the rig and carry on. So Europeans are accustomed to this sort of thing.

I would expect that there are many boats for sale in your area where lowering the mast has been dealt with. At the same time there's lots of open water too, so not every boat is so equipped (as I'm sure you know already)

[Arque]

Thanks for the replies: I am narrowing down my list of boats which fit my needs and I am very attracted to the Kelt 850. I just spoke to a broker who has one. He said what most people do is detach the mast as it is fitted to the deck and transport it. That would be a solution as, my first trip would be down the canals through France to the Med, before tackling The Bay of Biscay.