How did you come to believe what you do about what boat is right for you?

[chrisncate]

The s/v Triumph story has really got me thinking a lot about the range of boat philosophies within our little sub culture, and just how much range there is out there in what we believe makes the perfect cruising yacht. Triumph's list of appointments was truly amazing (granite? in a boat? wow), and reading that thread and seeing where the captain wants to go in the future regarding a replacement boat, it really makes me wonder what makes us all tick so differently from one another regarding boats.

What galvanized your philosophy? Would you ever change it one way or the other?

[dhays]

I think it comes down to how the boat will be used. My cruising plans won't take me out of the relatively protected waters of the Salish Sea. Predominantly, it will be used by my wife and I. My wife isn't really a sailor, but she humors me with the boat. We wanted something comfortable for us. Most of the time the boat will be used for short trips, one or two nights. Yearly, we expect to be able to do 1 or 2 week trips. We sail year round in a moderate climate. Draft is seldom a problem in the deep waters here. Lack of wind is frequently a problem in the months with nicer weather.

Given all that, we decided on the Catalina 400. It is very comfortable for us and is easily single handed. It is plenty big for us and the occasional additional couple or our grown kids. It can easily handle the types of seas that we would normally see. It has a furling main for convenience.

It is not the boat I would pick for other sailing grounds for for bluewater passages. It isn't the boat I would pick if I wanted to live aboard. However, for us, here, now, it is perfect.

Was that what you had in mind?

Dave

[dhays]

Originally Posted by chrisncate

As a response? definitely.

Why wouldn't you live aboard her? A 40' Catalina is huge (from my perspective of course). What's she missing for l/a capability?

Yup. The C400 is a big boat. However, for all it's size it doesn't have much storage, whether it be for food, clothes, etc... There are smaller boats that have more storage. It also has two heads, not something I would chose for a live aboard. That is a lot of room wasted for the most part. The size makes it comfortable to spend time on, but it just isn't laid out well enough for l/a. At least in my opinion. Others obviously might disagree.

Dave

[chrisncate]

Originally Posted by dhays

Yup. The C400 is a big boat. However, for all it's size it doesn't have much storage, whether it be for food, clothes, etc... There are smaller boats that have more storage. It also has two heads, not something I would chose for a live aboard. That is a lot of room wasted for the most part. The size makes it comfortable to spend time on, but it just isn't laid out well enough for l/a. At least in my opinion. Others obviously might disagree.

Dave

So if things were as exactly as you'd like them to be, what's boat would fit your cruising ideal?

[MikeinLA]

I sail a coastal cruiser, but I have narrowed down the qualities I would want in a bluewater cruising boat. It must be easy to singlehand with an aft cockpit and a palatial aft cabin with those neat little windows in the transom. It must be heavily built but with good speed to outrun a storm. It must have massive fuel and water tankage with plenty of storage space below. A simple rig with mizzen mast. Finally, it must have a solid teak interior and lots of teak topsides that requires no varnish to remain shiny and, finally, teak decks that will never leak.

Which is why I'm still sailing my Catalina 36. Methinks I have a bit more "narrowing" to do.

Mike

[PBzeer]

dhays hit the nail on the head with his first sentence. Knowing how the boat will be used. I would also add, knowing yourself. It's easy to dream, but much harder, in a sense, to live the dream. And the bigger the dream, the harder it is for it to be what you dream.

In my case, I wanted to retire early, and live on a boat. Once I reached that decision, then I had to ask myself just what I was going to do with the boat. I knew I wasn't going to circumnavigate, and most likely, wouldn't even cross the Atlantic. I didn't though rule out a Pond crossing. So basically, I wanted a good coastal cruiser for the East Coast, Bahamas and Keys. I didn't want to go over 32-35 feet, as I wanted something I could manhandle at the dock. And, I wanted something that could stay away from shore for up to a month or so.

With those parameters in mind, I started what became a 3 year search that put the Ontario 32 at the top of my list. A choice I'm still happy with.

[wingNwing]

Our desires were similar to John's - we wanted a liveaboard coastal cruiser, particularly for warm locations - we had little interest in Maine, for example, and a Bahamas/Caribbean goal. It needed storage and tankage for long-term living, needed to be small enough for us to move around ourselves, and needed to be within our cash budget because we were unwilling to take on a loan. To meet that budget, we wanted an older boat that we could refit ourselves, with our choices of systems, over a few years. A good friend who was an excellent sailor helped us make a 'short list.' After 10 years fulltime aboard, we are still in love with our choice.

[tommays]

It changes as we age

My wife of 30 years and myself started with and 11' race dingy as we had ZERO money and it was free

Pretty soon we were doing much better and did not want wet butts 100% of the time and bought the Victoria 18 as the 2' draft suited the great south bay and the very steady wind direction made its up poor upwind abilities a small issue

Then we moved to Peconic Bay and the 18' boats poor upwind ability and the much rougher water made the boat a misery and we started seeing these strange flush deck things flying by us up wind


They turned out to be J24s and when your 26 years old four full berths and a potty is a cruising boat and went all over the east end doing weekends with four adults till it was children time


Went sailboat less for some time due to life

Went back to a J24 and had some fun and while at 55 are fitness level was not an issue on the boat most of the people we wanted to take sailing we not up to the moving around the boat required and the quest for the Cal 29 begin which has prove to have been a great pick as everybody likes it and comes back for more

[SailKing1]

I'm still looking for that boat to fill my live aboard needs at retirement. At one time I thought I had it narrowed down to a couple of choices. Over the last 3 years (since selling my last boat) I have had the opportunity to sail on a number of boats helping with deliveries. This has opened my eyes to other options i had not considered and, closed my eyes to some others. For me at this point major considerations are tankage, storage and size. Size being large enough to be comfortable and small enough to single-hand. I am thinking 35 - 37 would be best for me. I am leaning more towards older classic line boats, solid and well built. I also will want to do a refit myself before starting my adventures as I think getting to know your boat personally is important.

So, to answer your question, I'll let you know when I find it.

[wingNwing]

Dhays' very first sentence says it all - how will the boat be used? First, you have to know yourself, then make your list of priorities, then look at tradeoffs among existing boats. Are you asking, how that list was developed? We sacrificed the seaworthiness of flush decks in favor of what is now called "deck salon" because we knew for a few years we'd be living aboard in winter at a dock and light in the cabin was going to be a big issue. We sacrificed performance for shoal draft, because we were Bahamas and Chesapeake-bound.

A friend has a large boat with lots of teak and lots of varnish ... but he charters it so the additional cost and over-the-top amenities that would drive us crazy, are part of his cost of doing business.