confussed

[Canoe Phil]

My wife and I are fairly new to sailing, ASA lessons, a few short charters in the Great Lakes, and many charters on a Colgate 26. We are now wanting to cruise down the ICW and maybe over to the Bahamas. The boat selection is over welming, were thinking in the 35 foot range, swim platform would be very nice, price range up to $70,000. Any sugestions???
Thanks

[Jeff_H]

My first suggestion is that you get a lot more experience out on the water on as wide a range of boats as you can so that you will know more about what aspects of an individual boat appeals to you or you would prefer not to have.

In a general sense, 35 is a little on the small size for two people to live on an really too big to learn to sail well on. Based on your sailing plans, draft will be important. 6''6" is an absolute maximum with less than 5''0 as a much easier draft for your chosen venues. Of course less than 5 foot draft comes with a price, decreased stability, windward ability and/or performance. I would advise you to look at sloops in this size range. While ketches and cutters can make sense on bigger boats, these boats are really too small to take advantage of these rigs and both rigs add complexity, can be typically more work to handle, and rob performance.

You have a number of options in terms of type of boat. Given your itinerary, price and general size range, you have a number of distinct ways to go;

Traditional coastal cruiser:
These will tend to offer a less room below or on deck and perhaps less seaworthiness and motion comfort. They will be older boats from the 1960''s and 1970''s and so will require potentially require some fix up, updates and modifications to do as you are planning, if the prior owner has not done this work already. For example boats of this type will often still have gasoline engines, and need new sails, and standing and running rigging. They often have old style hardware and deck layouts requiring higher strength to operate and requires crew to leave the cockpit to make many rudimentary sail adjustments.

These are often old CCA era raceboats which tend to be a little tender, require large hard to handle genoas, behave poorly in a chop, and sail pretty slowly compared to more up to date designs. They tend to be pretty heavy (especially as related to waterline length) and in and of itself weight does nothing good for a boat. More weight does not mean greater strength,seaworthiness, more comfortable motion, bigger accomodations, or greater carrying capacity. Weight is simply weight and as such it usually adds to the loads on the boat, makes them harder to handle, more expensive to maintain and operate, and poorer performing in all conditions. You can often find keel centerboard boats in this category that offer a little better windward performance with very shoal draft. Some possible better examples in this category might include:
-Alberg 37
-Bristol 35
-Cape Dory 36
-Choey Lee Luders 36
-Chris Craft Appache 37
-Hood Blackwatch 37
-Morgan 38 (Brewer)
-Pearson 36P


Traditional offshore and live aboard cruisers:
These tend to be comparatively heavy boats for thier length. They tend to be the slowest boats on this list. They offer a lot of accomodations for their length but not all that much for their displacement. You will spend a lot more time motoring in the typically light wind normal coastal conditions encountered in your choice of sailing venues in one of these than you would in a more moderate design. These boats will be a lot more work to sail. They will be next to imposible as a vessel to learn sailing on. Sailing days will also be much rarer. Some possible better examples in this category might include:
-Allied Princess 36
-Chris Craft 35 aft cabin (1960''s)
-CSY 37
-Dickerson 36
-Hinterhoeler Niagara 35
-Moody 36
-Pearson 365
-Rafiki37,Ingrid 37, Alejuela 37
-Tayana 37
-Union 26
(all adaptations of the Atkins Ingrid design, itself an adaptation of Colin Archer''s work)
-Westerly Conway or Corsair 36''s


Modern Production cruiser:
These will often be boats produced in large numbers. They will offer more modern underbodies and rigs and so offer better performance. They generally will have better deck hardware and deck layouts. They will often gave bigger cockpits, better ventilation and interior layouts for coastal cruising which in part is what you are doing. This comes at the price that many are less robustly constructed and generally a little deeper than other boats on this list. They greater responsiveness means that you have a better chance of developing your sailing skills but that too comes at a price in that they require a bit more skill to sail in rougher going. They are often based on IOR era hull and rig forms which are less than idea for offshore work. They will generally have smaller rigging loads and modern deck harware making the physical labor a bit less. Thier fin keels offer a lighter helm, and greater ease of freeing the boat in a grounding. Some possible better examples in this category might include:
-Beneteau First 375 (early 1980''s)
-Bristol 35.5
-C&C 36 (Late 70''s, early 1980''s)
-C&C 37 (early 1980''s)
-Contest 36
-Endeavour35
-Ericson 35
-Ericson 37
-Freedom 36
-Hunter 36/37 cutter(Late 70''s and early 80''s)
Before you rule these out, dispite Hunter''s current reputation, these were reasonably well built boats and in many ways ideal for what you are considering.
-Morgan N/M 36, centerboard- cruise model
-Pearson 36
-Pearson 37P
-Sabre 36
-Sigma 362
-Tartan 37,
These will be harder to find in good condition in your price range. I am not a big fan of these but they are pretty sidely used for your purposes, especially the centerboard versions.

Performance cruiser:
These are often boats that were sold as racer/cruisers or as performance cruisers. They tend to be a little lighter than the other boat on this list and offer better performance. Their more easily driven hulls mean that you can get by with a smaller sail plan. They often have super deck hardware and sail handling gear. They often have better seaberths and offshore layouts than many of the boats above and larger interior volumes. Their better sailing ability means less motoring and more sailing. They often have really top notch engineering making them surprisingly robust for their weight.

This comes at a price as well. They often cannot accomodate as much extra stuff as some of the boats above. They generally have simplier, lighter weight interiors. They are often deeper draft. They often need additional tankage and storage. Some of these are better than others for your purpose. Some possible better examples in this category might include:
-Albin Stratus 36
-CF 37
-Farr 38 (Farr 11.6)
(A few years ago, I went through the identical search to yours looking for a boat for myself and I ended up with a Farr 38.)
-Frers 36
J34C/35C
-J-36
-J37(c)

This should be a good start. I need to go back to work.
Jeff