Just a question about the choice of two different boats

[Brian24jersey]

I plan on getting a boat about five years down the road partially as a mobile shore house and as a coastal cruiser. After looking through Greg Nestors "Twenty affordable sailboats" there was two sail boats that caught my eye.

Bob Perry's BaBa 30

and the Cheoy Lee 36

looking at some of the specs on the boats it seems the baba would be a faster ship at least. Does anyone else have any comments on this topic?

[Faster]

First some clarification might be in order; there's a Cheoy Lee Luders and a Pedrick 36 - two quite different boats.

The Babas are pretty typical of his work of that type, heavyish, pretty, good sailors although no go-to-weather machines like other more spritely designs. I don't think RP has ever designed an unattractive boat (well... maybe one, but that's another subject)

Not knowing which Cheoy Lee makes comparisons more difficult.. I'd guess it's the Luders which may well be essentially similar in concept. Of course a boat 6 feet longer is going to offer more of some things.. hopefully space and speed but also cost.

As a coastal cruiser my preference would be something with more zip, esp beating in narrow channels, but that's our area - yours may differ.

There are plenty of these types of boats cruising far and wide - just not sure that's the ideal for localized coastal cruising.

[lobstahpotts]

If you can afford it and the extra mooring fees, more space is almost always desirable if both yachts are available. There are trade-offs and exceptions to this, such as potentially keeping you out of some harbors, but for coastal cruising the extra space could be nice to spread out more.

That being said, it can also be argued that the smaller boat is better for coastal cruising because you will not be out as long or need to carry as many supplies onboard. It can also be cheaper when looking at things like slips and whatnot. On the other hand the larger boat may be able to accommodate some electronic upgrades that might be more difficult to fit in on the smaller boat.

I think the biggest consideration if you're planning on mainly coastal cruising is what position are you in to pay costs, as space is not quite as big of an issue and the two will have fairly similar performance.