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yes another help me find the perfect boat....

9252 Views 67 Replies 26 Participants Last post by vtsailguy, Feb 16, 2015

NegotiatedDreams

Discussion Starter · Feb 11, 2015

so I have read several books and countless blogs and articles on the internet searching for the elusive "perfect boat". what I have gathered is, buying a boat is about finding not THE but MY "perfect boat". Ill be looking to buy in June I think (im planning my mid life crisis in my early 30’s because im impatient)
let me answer a few questions I see yall commonly ask when one of these posts go up.
• my intentions to circumnavigate in 2016-2017
• my budget for the boat/gear/journey/supplies/fuel etc. every penny I have to spend on this adventure is 160K
• I need a boat that the two of us can sail so im thinking in the 38-48 foot range. I understand that most boats this size if set up and handled correctly are safe so for lack of a better word I want a boat that is comfortable in seas. one we can cross 2 oceans in and we will still be a couple afterwards.
• age is not nearly as concerning to me as condition. although id prefer not to look at anything much before 1980.
• Speed is fun but im not looking to race, im looking to cruise so in the speed department ill take what I can get but its low on my list of wants.
• I have been told at least one bathroom with a dedicated shower(separate room from the head/sink)
• I am open to a fixer upper as well as a turnkey however my time to work on it will be a total of around 35 full days so even a fixer upper for a good deal I will probably have to contract out most of the work.
• I don’t like a pilothouse. Prefer aft cockpit.
• I prefer a deck material I can run around barefoot without burning the bottoms off my feet
Ive read all of the top picks and the lists upon lists. Here are a few of my favorites (I think?) yes, I know a bit eclectic of a list!

Cabo Rico
Fantasia
Tayana
Hylas
Hinckley Bermuda
Baba
Rival
Trintella
X-Yachts

just had the idea if I tried to give some personal specifications maybe id get a majority of votes for one, a few reasons or questions I have yet to ask myself or a few other models I hadn’t thought about….. Cheers!

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Faster

· #8 · Feb 12, 2015

Welcome to SN and best of luck on your future plans...

but I'm thinking that anyone who still calls the 'head' a bathroom is unlikely to be ready to circumnavigate in a couple of years... It sounds to me like you are both currently non-sailors, but I'd be happy to be corrected on that.

Your budget, as mentioned, is more appropriate for a 35-40 footer than what you're thinking now. Which, btw, I think is just fine for a couple. More manageable, keeps costs down considerably.

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Faster

· #13 · Feb 12, 2015

NegotiatedDreams said:
~Faster
I had typed "head" initially in my first post and I decided to rewrite it using "bathroom" as not to confuse the use of the term "Head" for my meaning bathroom and not actually just the toilet itself. it is tough to explain the shower being in a separate room from the toilet if I refer to the bathroom and the toilet as both "the Head". as you see below I used "head" to refer to the toilet in my post. clear as mud?

Ahh.. but I'm pretty sure that asking for a boat with a head plus a separate shower would have got the job done - esp amongst this knowledgable crowd - without you sounding like a rank newbie

NegotiatedDreams said:
I have been told at least one bathroom with a dedicated shower(separate room from the head/sink)

So be it... however as a 'priority' for a capable offshore boat, that has to be at or near the bottom of an otherwise rather long list..

Have you and your wife ever done a even a short strait crossing (say 25-30nm) in snotty weather? In a boat such as you're considering?

I applaud your goals and ambitions, I really do, but at this point I don't see it happening in your time frame.. not successfully anyhow. By all means buy your boat, tweak it, sail it, live it... and go when your confidence and experience allow - don't wait til you're truly 'ready', that may never happen

.. but don't put yourself on a schedule at this point.

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· #17 · Feb 12, 2015

aeventyr60 said:
BLjones can be a nice guy too.

Who knew ????

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· #50 · Feb 12, 2015

The fact that your 'schedule' is the only non-negotiable item is just plain scary.

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· #61 · Feb 13, 2015

Many many people have spent a decade happily cruising the Eastern Caribbean, Bahamas, VIs etc and not 'seen' it all. We've done the same here in BC. Many more have sailed south from here to Mexico with a Pacific loop in mind, and never get farther than Mexico..

Many wishful circumnavigators make it to SF, Hawaii, Marquesas and change their minds when reality doesn't match the dream.

But to be fair, many also do all of that and achieve their dreams - but not within a few months of deciding to go, and certainly not 'completed' within a couple of years. (misguided teenage record seekers aside)

I don't have a burning desire to circumnavigate, maybe that's why I don't get the 'urgency' that the OP is hung up on. But as is so often touted around here, any sailor's worst enemy is a 'schedule'....

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