I sail a Sirius 21 swing keel in Manitoba. When I first bought this, my first sailboat, I loved the idea of trailering to different lakes.
However we have a wonderful club on a 10 Nautical Mile lake. My boat never leaves the water from May until October. With my boat is in a slip, after a 50 minute drive to get to the club, in 10 minutes I can be out of the marina and sailing. My next day out will be the 20th time this season.
The Sirius 21 is a great boat but I'm starting to dream of something bigger, 25-27 ft. I would like more headroom (I'm 6 ft tall), something more stable in strong winds. Something with a shallow draft. (The great advantage of the swing keel for me is pulling up on to a beach but a shallow draft could work) A dinette layout is a bonus.
What are opinions on a Bayfield 25 full keel or a Hunter 26.5 shoal draft? Other recommendations? There is a Catalina 27 at our club that has lots of room but the V berth looks very small. Also, do all boats of this size have bilges or only the ones with inboards?
That's a lot of questions gang! Have at 'er!
However we have a wonderful club on a 10 Nautical Mile lake. My boat never leaves the water from May until October. With my boat is in a slip, after a 50 minute drive to get to the club, in 10 minutes I can be out of the marina and sailing. My next day out will be the 20th time this season.
The Sirius 21 is a great boat but I'm starting to dream of something bigger, 25-27 ft. I would like more headroom (I'm 6 ft tall), something more stable in strong winds. Something with a shallow draft. (The great advantage of the swing keel for me is pulling up on to a beach but a shallow draft could work) A dinette layout is a bonus.
What are opinions on a Bayfield 25 full keel or a Hunter 26.5 shoal draft? Other recommendations? There is a Catalina 27 at our club that has lots of room but the V berth looks very small. Also, do all boats of this size have bilges or only the ones with inboards?
That's a lot of questions gang! Have at 'er!