Buying an Overseas Boat?

[wallace8585]

Hello All! I am new to thi site and am quite excited to be here. My husband and I wish to buy a sailboat that we intend to be able to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. Our major concern is what''s the best minimum size of a sailboat, that you guys would recommend purchasing in order to cross major bodies of water? We want to be able to make our new boat our home and travel. I look forward to hearing from you all, thanks for your time in advance!

[DuaneIsing]

wallace8585,

A sincere welcome to this site.

Without wishing to discourage you one bit, I do need to point out that your question is posted here often enough, and usually by people with little to no experience with sailing. There are entire books written to help answer some of the many hundreds of questions that need to be answered before you will know what is right for you.

One book which I like is Nigel Calder''s Cruising Handbook. Another is Beth Leonard''s Voyager''s Handbook. If you read those two, you will have an appreciation for the kind of knowledge one should have in order to make a transoceanic voyage without depending solely on luck.

Again not trying to be harsh, but when you say your "major concern" is to find the best minimum size boat, it makes me think your REAL major concern should be to find out what skills and knowledge you will need in addition to what you may already have.

Once you have educated yourselves a bit, you will be in a good position to start building on that foundation and get good answers appropriate to your situation. Now, that I have been the "bad" guy, I think you''ll find some others here who will give you answers closer to what you were hoping for.

Let me close with this. If you two have this as your dream, by all means make it happen. Just get educated enough to do it safely so you can enjoy it for as long as you like.

Happy New Year.

Duane

[Jeff_H]

If I am interpreting your question properly, you are not asking about an ''overseas'' boat as much as you are looking for a boat intended for use offshore. I think that previous the advice about spending a lot more time sailing so that you can begin to answer that question for yourself is excellent advise. There are a lot of similar discussions in the archives that should prove helpful as well.

To give you a brief and general answer, it is very common for people think of length as being the predominant determinant of the ''size'' of a boat. When you talk about a boat intended for long distance voyaging, length is far less significant of a determinant of size than displacement (which is the weight of the boat). In other words, while it is tempting to search for boat based solely on length and the need for specific accommodations, the displacement of a particular boat says a lot more about its ''real'' size.

Traditionally, the classic cruising texts used to suggest that a distance cruiser needed 2 1/2 to five long tons (2,240 lbs) of displacement person. In the past, when the typical L/D (length to displacement) ratio was in the mid to high 300''s this meant that an ideal single-hander was somewhere around 29 feet and an ideal cruiser for a couple would be somewhere around 32 to 35 feet or so. If you look at the boats that were used for distance cruising in the 1930''s on up to the 1950''s this was pretty much the case.

In recent years improvements in materials, engineering, sail handling gear, and the like, have reduced the ideal L/D ratio so that these days boats of a similar weight to the boats that were used for distance cruising in the 1930''s on up to the 1950''s, will more typically be in the range of 38 to 42 feet.

All other things being equal, if you compare two boats of equal weight, one being longer and the other being shorter, the longer boat will offer better motion comfort, be more seaworthy, be easier to handle, have an ability to carry more supplies, and be faster. In most cases, if the boats are of equal weight they will have a similar cost to buy, and maintain.

I strongly suggest that a boat built for offshore use will make a very poor first boat. If you actually want to learn to sail well I suggest that you start with pretty small (say 23-27 feet max), responsive, sloop with a tiller, fin keel and spade rudder. A boat like that will greatly shorten the learning curve and prepare you to pick a boat that is suitable for your purposes.

Respectfully,
Jeff

[WHOOSH]

W:

Choosing your offshore boat is a pretty big topic and doesn''t IMO lend itself well to BB postings. I think you''d benefit far more from some careful, thoughtful reading, at least initially, in a few of the sources that are widely well regarded. Two that come to mind are:

Voyager''s Handbook by Beth Leonard: I notice that Beth''s writings seem to resonate equally well to both men and women, and her previous consulting experiences (I''m guessing with McKinsey) allows her to do an especially good job of correlating boat choice with cruising goals and one''s budget. I think she also has a keen insight on what is needed in an ocean crossing boat vs. all the gimicks we tend to think of.

Cruising Handbook by Nigel Calder: Considered a hardware ''guru'', Nigel''s sailing experience is far more limited than Beth''s but he does a very good job of describing the many choices that one faces when picking a boat that one must then live with and maintain. His initial chapters, which review hull choices, construction techniques, etc., are conventional but clear and concise in content IMO and you will find a lot of similarities with Beth''s writing.

Finally, I''d encourage you to reread Jeff''s comment on the consequences of a boat''s size, which I''ll repost here:
"All other things being equal, if you compare two boats of equal weight, one being longer and the other being shorter, the longer boat will offer better motion comfort, be more seaworthy, be easier to handle, have an ability to carry more supplies, and be faster. In most cases, if the boats are of equal weight they will have a similar cost to buy, and maintain."

Jeff''s main point - that size is a function of displacement - and the related observations about cost and capability are worth thinking about seriously and the two best ways to control the cost of cruising is by selecting smaller and simplier when choosing a boat & equipping her. OTOH this isn''t as simple a matter as it might seem, for choosing a "smaller" boat - meaning a boat of less displacement - means it will need to be constructed more carefully, as you are asking less structure to accommodate the same or greater stresses. There are some subtleties in all this that require some thoughtful review, which is why I think careful, offline reading can be so productive.

Good luck on the search! In one sense, your cruise has begun once you begin searching for your boat - Enjoy!

Jack

[DuaneIsing]

5 days ago, wallace8585 wrote:
"...I am new to this site and am quite excited to be here...I look forward to hearing from you all..."

Well, Wallace8585, you got a few very good responses to your open-ended question and we haven''t heard a peep from you. Still there?