How do you use your boat

[glassdad]

After reading 22+ pages on the thread about Production Boats, I have a question. What type of boat do you have and how do you use it? Do you have a Bluewater cruiser and do you cross oceans or do you have a Coastal cruiser and cruise up and down the coast?

I have a Catalina 30. It is a coastal cruiser. I use it 40 to 45 weekends a year and mostly for day sailing. I go out to Anacapa Island a couple of times per year for long weekends. I go to Catalina at least once a year (a 60 mile crossing). I had plans to go out to Santa Cruz, probable this year, and to San Nicholas, and Santa Barbara Island. Santa Barbara Island is 60 miles out.

So how do you use your boat?

[travlineasy]

I have a 33 Morgan Out Island, which I consider a go anywhere, do anything kind of boat. It handles well in offshore waters, it handles well inshore, it only draws 4-feet of water, it's big enough for a couple of adults to live upon comfortably and has all the amenities of home.

I've only owned the boat for just over three years, however, I make 60 to 70 trips a year, mostly just one to four day voyages in and around Chesapeake Bay. This fall, however, I ventured out on a 7-month voyage down the ICW and offshore to the Florida Keys, a 1,500-mile trip that has not only been exciting, but at times somewhat scary. Hopefully, the trip home, which will begin on or about March 1, 2013, will be a bit easier - no hurricanes, storms, and with luck, warmer weather for the first 1,000-miles or so.

Cheers,

Gary

[brokesailor]

I have a Crealock 37 Yawl. It is an Ocean cruiser but sadly I use it mostly in the Chesspeake Bay on daysails and weekend trips. I hope to take her up to New England next summer on a 3 week cruise and eventually one day retire and go cruising full time health and budget permitting.

[JimMcGee]

We have a Catalina 30 that we sail on Barnegat Bay. Mostly day sails with the occasional night on the hook (hopefully a lot more nights this year).

We live aboard most weekends from April through November. I've had her on the Chesapeake and work permitting we'll be doing some longer coastal trips this summer. A lot of our improvements and upgrades have to do with making the boat more comfortable and reliable because we spend so much time aboard.

I've also been following the production boat thread. What gets lost in a lot of those discussions is the reality that most people use their boats for day sailing and coastal cruising for a few days at a time, not crossing oceans.

Gary congrats again on your ICW trip, I'm envious. Hope the weather in Marathon is a little warmer than we're getting up here

[bigdogandy]

Mine is a 30+ year old production boat, and I use it for daysails and the occasional coastal overnighter, and spend most weekends aboard at the marina. I'm saving my pennies and hope to take a large chunk of time off fairly soon for a trip to the Bahamas and possibly beyond.....and I think this boat is suitable for that with careful planning and weather window management. This boat is clearly not suitable for an open ocean crossing, though, in my opinion. When the time comes for that I'll look for an Allied Seawind, Westsail, CSY, or similar older slab o' glass.

[PaulinVictoria]

C&C 24 which is a "production boat", an IOR-inspired fin keel racer/cruiser for those that don't know. Mostly use her for day-sails and occasional overnight/long weekends in and around the Gulf Islands of BC as often as I can.
Does exactly what it's supposed to do
Lots of big, ocean-worthy sailboats in our marina that never go anywhere. Lots of big coastal-cruisers that never go anywhere either. Aside from the race fleet, the only other boats that ever seem to get any use are under 30ft.

[BubbleheadMd]

I have a Pearson 30, which I consider to be a strong, coastal cruiser/racer and that's how I use it. I've done beer can series and distance races and cruising on the Chesapeake Bay.

Soon, I hope to cruise outside the Bay, along the Atlantic coast to Maine.

[capta]

We have a Pearson 530, a center cockpit ketch.
Purchased as a "last boat" for voyaging, she has made two trips from Newport to the Caribbean and one north in the last 2.2 years as well as 3 trips through the Windwards and Leewards and we're on our 4th now, heading north.
This is our home, we have no other and we have even given up the storage locker ashore. Our only tie to the shore is a PO Box.
With no plan or itinerary, other than to pick up a few items and mail in St.Thomas once a year, we find ourselves enjoying the sailing with little regard for the destination. Sometimes it's a busy, popular place like Bequia, others, it's lonely anchorages on the windward side of Martinique.
At times we spend several days aboard at anchor without going ashore, doing little jobs, snorkeling; just enjoying each others company and watching for that perfect green flash at sunset.

[ShoalFinder]

I have a Morgan 22. I sail it as often as I can, sometimes just for a few hours on a weekday and nearly every weekend. Lately I've been doing weekend overnights. I cruise it out of St. Petersurg, FL so it sees the Gulf Coast as a coastal daysailer. I am nearly always singlehanding. When the kids go out we sail around in the bay and keep things fun and easy. This boat is a joy to sail. She's a little rocket but handles the swell with ease. I love this boat. If I could scale it up to 30 feet I wouldn't change a thing, and the only reason I would scale it up is so I could stand up inside and have a bit of storage.

[steve77]

My previous boat was a Pearson Triton that I used for daysailing in Casco Bay, with occasional weekends aboard. Just bought a Catalina 34 that will see basically the same type of use only I'll spend more time living aboard and will do more cruising along the New England coast.