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Displacement per Person to Liveaboard?

5K views 41 replies 15 participants last post by  MikeOReilly 
#1 ·
Think I read somewhere that 5k# per is about the min required to have room for clothes, tools, food, water tankage, fishing gear and whatnot for one old hermit. Any thoughts?
 
#3 ·
Historically, the rule of thumb used to be that a distance cruiser needed a dry displacement of 2 1/5 to 5 long tons (5,600 to 11,200 lbs) per person. With modern tastes, preferences, sail handling hardware and sail plans, etc. that number has crept up so that numbers in the 6-7 ton range seem to be the more normally preferred range., Personally, I prefer closer to 5 tons dry weight but I also prefer performance oriented cruisers
Jeff
 
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#5 ·
Historically, the rule of thumb used to be that a distance cruiser needed 2 1/5 to 5 long tons (5,600 to 11,200 lbs) per person. With modern tastes, preferences, sail handling hardware and sail plans, etc. that number has crept up so that numbers in the 6-7 ton range seem to be more normally preferred range., Personally, I prefer closer to 5 tons dry weight but I also prefer performance oiriented cruisers
Jeff
Me too. I'm struggling with how bigga boat I need (to include maintenance). I like being comfy but that really doesn't take much space. I'm happy sleeping the wrong way in the anchor locker. My other and greater issue is draft. I pretty much know the pros and cons of draft and I much prefer shallow. There is one candidate boat that is actually beachable.I might use that a lot. And 4'6 is the most I want to consider.

The same old questions for many backwater sailors.
 
#7 ·
There are no rules of thumb. Those rules only apply to the hands from whose those thumbs came. There are plenty of people living on tiny boats. If being compact and economical are important, that is what you do. Keep in mind that bigger boats aren't just about more space for your stuff. Given the same type of boat, the bigger one will sail faster, and will be safer in big seas.
 
#11 ·
Lighter boats are faster obviously. My 36' is about 16K # and it feels perfect for a couple and squeezie for two couples living aboard. I stuff it filling every locker and then some for passage. And with a crew of 4 total (two on watch) and two off... it's not too bad. Cruising in tropical climates you need few clothes... Even now I have lockers stuffed with spares and so forth and I can't find what I am looking for half the time, I wonder what I would do with 6 or 12 more feet of LOA.
 
#14 ·
You don't mention where you are or what kind of sailing you like to do. So, it's really tough to make recommendations.

I should note, the smallest boat that I have personally lived on, full time, year round was 30 ft and 8600 pounds, so I am not talking from personal experience when I say I think I could live on a 5000 pound boat. But then again, if I told you you couldn't that wouldn't be from first hand experience either.

A couple of smaller boats that I have looked at that I think I could live aboard might be a Bayfield 25 or a Nimble Arctic. Neither of these boats are passage makers and both are in the motorsailer performance neighbourhood, but they are reasonably comfortable for their size. Nimble Kodiak
 
#15 ·
You don't mention where you are or what kind of sailing you like to do. So, it's really tough to make recommendations.

I should note, the smallest boat that I have personally lived on, full time, year round was 30 ft and 8600 pounds, so I am not talking from personal experience when I say I think I could live on a 5000 pound boat. But then again, if I told you you couldn't that wouldn't be from first hand experience either.

A couple of smaller boats that I have looked at that I think I could live aboard might be a Bayfield 25 or a Nimble Arctic. Neither of these boats are passage makers and both are in the motorsailer performance neighbourhood, but they are reasonably comfortable for their size. Nimble Kodiak
Yep, had a Bayfield 25. Very poor sailing boat. I like those Nimbles but haven't run into an affordable one (under 10 ). The Ericson 25 (5100#) is actually beachable. I'm a backcountry/sound guy near Albemarle and not going anywhere the ICW doesn't go. Boats to 28' seem to have around 7500 disp which is more than enough. And that's all I want to haul and paint.

A 28' c/b Oday at 3'3 draft suits me ... really more volume than I need, particularly since all that beam is kinda useless on the inside for one. I just kinda like to anchor shallower than most ... much less chance of the other guy dragging down on me. Plus given my druthers, I'll put down two anchors and crank the generator.
 
#21 ·
Well, at 30,000# I guess I'm on the heavy side. With a crew of two, this gives us lots of storage and tankage volume.

We are typically off the dock for months at a time, but we could stock the boat for a year. Our main limiting factor is water and fuel. As a sailboat I can manage fuel by being a sailboat. But water is limited to three months with our tank. Its why I'm considering a watermaker.
 
#22 ·
I'm guessing a majority (like 60%) of small boat cruisers/liveaboards would get bigger boat if they could afford to do so. I will fall into that category (when I move aboard). I want to have a smaller carbon footprint on the planet... just not THAT small.
 
#25 · (Edited)
The question is meaningless. Two boats over are a happy couple who have been living on an Alberg 27 for 30 yrs. That would be like living in a toothpaste tube to me. We went from 37' to 45' and found it way too big ( it locked us out of our favourite anchorages and free docks, also made getting a transient slip much more difficult ). We are now happily ensconced in 38'. ... whatever floats your boat.
 
#28 ·
I think this is a good point for those who prefer to stay in slips. Underway or at anchor larger size is like not a concern... maintenance and cleaning, for example increase dramatically as you go up in size. My sense is that where size is important is... the galley, the cockpit, engine access and head.... and of course storage... lockers and liquids. If you are cruising locally storage is less of a concern. Our tanks are not terribly large but fuel and water are readily available,
So if you are living aboard and cooking... you'll want a decent size galley and counter space and one that works well in a seaway. Which shape do you prefer... linear, L or U? I prefer U adjacent to the companionway... between the two eating areas... salon and cockpit. L's seem to lack counter space. How important are 2 galley sinks? I don't think they are. I use the small sink to hold cleaning stuff
 
#26 ·
I have been solo on a 39 footer. But would gladly go for a much bigger boat. 46 ft there are some great boats. Now with a GF and cruising full time I would love a 46 to 54 footer. The amount of space to be a home with associated junk is not so easy on a small boat.
One I have always loved is a Beneteau 473 2 cabin version has a huge walk in Lazarette from aft the galley. Thats the space I would love.
 
#31 ·
So how much square footage per person is optimal in a house? That figure has been rising for decades along with price and the perceived need for creature comforts. I suspect that there may be a correlation there for boat owners as well! I certainly don't have any answers for either boats or homes but do know that we have tried (not always successfully!) to live by the less is more approach to life. Lin and Larry Pardy seem to have done well on pretty small boats. Then again they had extra storage space in the engine compartment, oh that's right they didn't have an engine!

"alone at sea I learned how little I needed not how much" Robin Lee Graham-'The Voyage of Dove'
 
#32 ·
Boat size seems to have risen along with average house size*. People aren't any bigger. Our biology's haven't changed, so what has changed is our desire for more.

Back in the 1970s a BIG boat was in the low 30s. In the 80s and 90s the BIG boat became upper 30s to low 40s. Then it shifted to upper 40s in the 00's. Today a BIG boat is 55'+, with everything less than that being commensurable smaller. People haven't changed in that time, but wants (not needs) certainly have.

So, are you asking what do people need, or what do they want? Two very different questions.

*Interestingly, I've studied boat size for long-distance, round-the-world type of cruisers. This measure has remained stubbornly stable from the 1970s on. Here the median size is about 42 feet.
 
#33 ·
Boat size seems to have risen along with average house size*. People aren't any bigger. Our biology's haven't changed, so what has changed is our desire for more.

Back in the 1970s a BIG boat was in the low 30s. In the 80s and 90s the BIG boat became upper 30s to low 40s. Then it shifted to upper 40s in the 00's. Today a BIG boat is 55'+, with everything less than that being commensurable smaller. People haven't changed in that time, but wants (not needs) certainly have.

So, are you asking what do people need, or what do they want? Two very different questions.

*Interestingly, I've studied boat size for long-distance, round-the-world type of cruisers. This measure has remained stubbornly stable from the 1970s on. Here the median size is about 42 feet.
I am guessing here....the increase in OAL is related to the "fact" that cruising was less common back then... People did more day saying, club racing and did not do much over nighting. Local cruising drove the upgrading of the interiors to be more amenable to cruising and along came the creature comforts and things like refrigeration.. and shower stalls. Gone were the spartan "stripped down" interiors.

maybe
 
#40 ·
My boat is pretty small compared to the median rtw cruiser. I'd suggest 42ft mono and 41ft cat (there's lots of 38 and 40ft cats.).

When I sail into ports in the USA (Not Florida), UK and France the median boat is smaller, about my size.
Yes, there's lots of smaller boats doing long range cruising, but there's more bigger.

😊
 
#42 ·
My boat is pretty small compared to the median rtw cruiser. I'd suggest 42ft mono and 41ft cat (there's lots of 38 and 40ft cats.).

When I sail into ports in the USA (Not Florida), UK and France the median boat is smaller, about my size.
Yes, there's lots of smaller boats doing long range cruising, but there's more bigger.

😊
Yes, as I say, based on a few analysis (some I've done), the median is persistent around 42 feet. Interestingly, this is a constant number from the 1970s on. Your 39-footer is on the small side of that line, but not dramatically so. So be proud my man!

But if you're hanging around some of the more popular cruising areas like much of the Caribbean or the Med, I bet you look pretty small. But come up my way to Newfoundland, where only the long-distance cruisers venture, and you'll be on the larger side.
 
#41 ·
Covid has forced us to stay in a yacht club with 420 slips. The bigger boats rarely go more than 14 miles to the Toronto Islands for a weekend. A few of the bigger sailboats make a trip the the east end of Lake Ontario for two weeks in the summer. Of 420 boats there are only 2 others that have been as far as the Bahamas.
 
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