Choosing between 30 footers

[Newbie16932]

Thanks for all the advice...

I appreciate all the input. Just to add a little info, this will be a live aboard used for weekend sailing trips around the San Juans (relatively protected coastal waters). It'll be primarily for cruising. Here's what I'm hearing so far:-Buy bigger if you can afford it.-Buy bigger (and older if not), then put money into it later.-OR, take a look at a hunter 31' or catalina 30'. Sound like a good plan?

 

[Gordon8780]

30 footer, wait

If you can wait for a bit, attend the Seattle Boat Show. The in the water show is where you can see some older (Used) boats. Were I going to live aboard I would look real hard at a center cockpit, so the bedroom can stay a bedroom. If you are going to live aboard as you say you are, don't clutter the boat up with too many "Household" items, or you will never cruise with it.

 

[Warren Milberg]

I've been sailing...

boats in the 30-ft range for more than 30 yrs. I can't imagine living on any of them. We all know boats are a compromise of everything. But if you really want to live on a smallish sailboat, you've got to have lots of volume below for all your clothes and everyday needs. Once you load up a 30-footer like that, plan on raising the waterline a few feet and not doing any serious sailing. You basically have a waterborne Winnebago. Or, you can rent a storage space ashore and keep your stuff there. What fun that is. Once winter comes, you realize that most production 30 footer are not insulated, and you find this out the hard way: condensation all over everything -- with the first cold drops falling on you as you sleep one night. In summer, you'll need AC or you'll swelter, depending on where you live. Or are you planning to sail to FL for the winter and to Maine for the summers? Good luck with your loaded down 30 footer. It could be that you have mimimalist Trappist monk tendencies and pain and discomfort are good things....My suggestion would be to rent, borrow, or charter a 30 footer and try to live on it for a while without buying it. You'll soon become acquainted with the logistics of living aboard and that may, or may not, be a good thing. Give it a try before you buy.

 

[Ross]

Ray, I think that you have a landlubber

housing mentality. Living aboard is a lifestyle. The same collections of stuff form a house on land can never fit in a boat. There are rules that live-aboards have, "you can't bring anything else onboard until you take something away" is the most important one.

 

[sailortonyb]

Living Aboard a 30 footer

First off, all 30 footers are not alike. Catalina's and Hunter's are probably the 'biggest' inside. A boat 1 foot wider inside than another makes a world of difference.We lived aboard our Catalina 30 for almost 5 years. I didnt consider it minimalistic living for boat living. In our previous Apt, even our puter had its own room so nothing will ever be as big as your house or apartment. Everyone has a different level of comfort range. We were never hot or cold as we had central heat and air. We maintained a mini-storage unit for $80/mo. and we seasonally moved our clothes back and forth. Our boat was well maintained and was NOT a garbage barge. We had central heat and air,hot water, 3 burner stove and oven, micro-wave and some electric cooking appliances. Our boat was never loaded down very much as we didnt keep anything we didnt really use much. We did not add any shelves or change the main design of the interior so that we didnt encroach on any of our living space both physically and visually. No house plants or pets. We lived in a very nice marina in Biloxi, Ms. next door to 3 casino's. The casino Hotels allowed the marina tenants to use their swimming pools, hot tubs, excercise rooms etc. We day or week end sailed at least once or twice a month. We took one week trips at least once every 3 months and sometimes took a month long trip at least once a year.It all boils down to planning and not being a 'collector' of any kind. I feel that if you cant live on a 30 foot boat, you probably couldnt live on a 40 foot boat either.If your were to buy say a 20 to 25 year old Catalina 30 for say $20K in good condition, plan on adding at least $10K more for necessary upgrades.I think if you spend anything less, you are just kidding yourself. I'm sure many will argue with me, but I have never found a fixer-upper to be a good deal. The time, effort and money required is much great than originally anticipated. I speak from experience. If I look back at those three factors and the selling price of the boats, i could have owned the QE II by now. Most fixer-uppers I know of were sold years later still as fixer-uppers.I cannot emphase this point enough...if you are a pack-rat, living aboard is not for you. We now have a 39 foot Allied ketch. Much much more room. We now have plenty of storage that we didnt have before which is a giant PLUS, but as for everyday living, I dont really feel much of a difference. The best advice is from live-aboards and not from non-livaboards that tell you what they need to live aboard. Its definately not for everyone, or everyone would be doing it.Good luck in whatever you choose Tony B

 

[Warren Milberg]

How many posters

here have actually lived aboard a 30 ft boat for more than 6 months? A few perhaps, but I bet not very many.... Ross is right, it's great if don't have much of anything and that's ok with you. It certainly is with me. All I'm saying to a guy new to sailing is that living on a boat, any size boat, takes a commitment and lots of planning. He should try it out first and see if the lifestyle, and compromises, fit.

 

[Newbie16932]

Good info. Thanks again.

This website is a beautiful thing. Ha ha. You guys do all the thinking for me! And I really do appreciate it.I think I will try something close to a 30 footer. I have very little in the way of possessions. I'm 27 years old and still haven't bought any new furniture. It's all been given to me by family and friends. I really don't value things like that. Even in my current situation, fixing up a house, I live alone and basically live in just one room of a 4 bed 2 1/2 bath house. So it seems like a good fit. I have no quams with having just the basics on board, and will likely rent a small storage space for any exceptions. The more I hear, the more convinced I am that this will work. It fits my personality well. Thanks again for your input. I wish you all the best.

 

[Ross]

Newbie, The female friend that I wrote about

as one half of a live aboard couple was about 25 when she embraced the life style. She is a quick study and seriously tough. They live on shore now but she was able to make the life work for them.

 

[Fred]

I lived aboard for over 20 years on all kinds

and sizes of boat mostly in Port Townsend. The Catalina 30 is probably the most boat for the bucks. Hunter, Newport,and Pearson are similar in the older boats.An aft cabin or big bunk under the cockpit (like a Catalina 30)makes a huge difference in how big a boat feels. You have the V berth for company and storage, your own bunk aft, and you don't have to put your bed away every morning like you would have to do on a narrow boat with quarter berths. The Seattle-Tacoma Craig's List, Yachtworld, and boattrader.com are all good sources. This is the best time of year to buy.Make low offers! Like half of asking. Make twenty really low offers and you'll get two or three positive responses. If they say no, make sure you leave your contact info so they can get in touch when they are ready to say yes. I have owned over a hundred wood boats, and founded a school of wood boatbuilding (www.boatschool.com) but my advice is don't even think about a wood boat. Glass has more space for the size, and it's very durable.That said, look for soft spots in the deck of any glass boat, and don't pay much for a boat, even a Catalina or Hunter, with soft decks. They can be repaired, but the repairs will show and the boat will never bring a creampuff price.The folks who say fixer upper is more expensive in the long run are right, but sometimes a fixer is all you can afford. A 30 footer is a good size to find used sails and other gear. I can hear the chorus already "used sails are junk" and they are if you want to win a race, but you can get by (and still go to windward) with older sails. They may need restitching or patching, but you'll be sailing.Bacon and associates (Google them) is a great source for used sails.I like wood heat on a boat. Fuel is cheap or free and it has a cozy feel. There are lots of different ways to heat a boat, but make sure you can heat your boat! I believe heat in the Northwest will make the difference between a happy liveaboard and a miserable one. Your heater MUST exhaust the combustion gasses outside!I'm with the other liveaboard poster who had a storage locker. You can keep everything you need on a 30 footer, but we all have too much s**t and way too many clothes. If you can keep the boat open and uncluttered it will feel bigger.If you find a boat and you have questions or want more advice after reading this, feel free to contact me at waterrat@island.net or 250-247-0025. I'm on Gabriola Island BC now. I've been buying boats in the States and selling them up here lately, so I may even run across a deal in the Seattle area.

 

[Fred]

Here's one

Offer this guy $20K (or less) sounds like a nice one.http://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/boa/248870282.html