Dicision making need experience help

[john wieland brake]

Ahoy fellow sailors. What brings me to ask for opinion s. Is that I've got the wanderlust
2 yes ago I took a year off to full fill my dream of sailing never have I sailed before but I sold everything but the house bought a 25 lancer and sailed from ma to gulf and of all times to start it was august I reached Florida on DEC 2 with one lesson and a dummies book
Needless to say it was a adventure of a lifetime which I crave everyday since I've been back
But my ? Is I'm looking for my next vessel and only solo sailing a shoal draft boat have almost no knowledge of deeper draft boats except for what I've seen of them in the groups I would try to keep up with and fail 25 foot boats were not ever seen by me performing this journey. And when I saw a 26-27 footer we became instant friends because of our solidarity ( which was not often)
I will stay in the under 28 ft choice because of solo sailing reasons
Other than the reason of hiding in gunkholes during bad weather were others could not go
I need options from sailors who have sailed shoal draft and deep keel boat ( cb swing keel included)
My plans are the keys and Bahamas this time any and all response will be appreciated
John

 

[Anonymous 121765]

John,
Congrats on taking the plunge. Maybe you should compile your experiences into a book. I'm quite sure it will be colorful.

As for your next boat upsize, this should depend on how & where you want to sail. If coastal cruising a fin or modified keel will be best. The deeper your draft, the sooner you go aground. A shorter draft will give you access to areas that are not conducive to deep drafts coastal-wise.

As for length of boat, I had a 22 footer. My pal bought a C27 & that was when I decided to move up to a 27 ft. also. My pal said NOOO, for he wished he had bought a 30 footer. He said, it's beamier, better room & height below, bigger cockpit, more deck room plus, it was more stable & a more comfortable boat to spend time on.

Hence, I have a C30 & am satisfied with as a coastal cruiser. I've done some extended offshore sailing in both my boat & on blue water cruisers but, having this behind me & being alittle bit older & hopefully wiser, I rather comfort & anchorages as opposed to endless days at sea.

Just my take & I know one size doesn't fit all. So, your decision should be based on the type & places that you wish to sail in. Good hunting pal, It's really very simple.

CR

 

[MrBill_FLL]

storage would be the reason I would go to a larger vessel. and with a autopilot single handing a larger boat is not impossible.
catalina 30 is a good choice, or tartan 34 with centerboard.

budget?

 

[Roland5048]

There's no reason to stay under 28 ft. just because you're going solo. If all lines are led aft, you can easily go much bigger. Bigger doesn't have to mean deeper draft. My 30 footer is easily single handed and draws just four feet. I've single handed boats to almost fifty feet. Depends, again, on how she's rigged. For the Keys and Bahamas you wouldn't want to go much deeper than four feet anyway. Bigger is usually, but not always, safer. Besides, being bigger means you will, in all likely-hood, have bigger tankage and more space for storage. Keep your options open. When you lay eyes on her, you will know it.
Roland
s/v Fraulein II
ps By the way, Sailing for Dummies, is an excellent resource. I recommend it to all my students.

 

[Anonymous 121765]

John,

I forgot to add a discussion about motor placement. If your current engine is located in the quarter berth area under the cockpit, for me having worked on these, I would NEVER purchase a boat with this configuration.

I believe in working easy, not hard. Access is limited, also space & maintenance/changeouts are more difficult in a 27-34 foot range with this setup.

I'll probably take some hits for this but you know what, different strokes for different folks I say. I have had complete access to my engine located under the galley counter & setee with ease. I removed the counter once but, that was for repowering.

You should take the time & look for engines that are NOT under the cockpit pal.

CR

 

[Roland5048]

Captnron, I completely agree with you on the ease of maintenance issue but, that leaves out a lot of good old boats.
Roland
s/v Fraulein II

 

[Anonymous 121765]

Roland,

Unfortunately, you are correct my friend. Yea, a forward engine placement is few & far in between.
The reason being, it's only all about packaging, not considering maintenance, ease & access.

Sadly, not much to pick from in a 28 34 foot range. It was one design Frank Butler did right.

CR

 

[Benny17441]

The Florida Keys and The Bahamas share one characteristic and that is skinny or shallow waters. I would consider the adequate draft to sail these areas would be under 4.5 ft. The one thing you need to do when going to the Bahamas is to cross the Gulf Stream and even though it is a short passage (10-14 hours) it is still considered an offshore jump. For offshore I do prefer a fixed keel boat. Ballasted swing keels subjected to strong currents can and will develop in time play in the pivot bolt which can cause a damaging to fiberglass "keel slap". Water ballasted and short keel boats with centerboards tend to be tender and do not offer the best stability. If you are not thinking about a trailer boat I would not consider other than a fixed keel vessel. Most manufacturers in the 27' to 30' class offer shallow draft and regular models. The shallow draft keel ballast can be compensated by a bulb or winged appendix or just a reshaped keel. In that class boat you can find shallow draft vessels from 3.8' to 4.3' on the average. What we do here in FL is to have a depth sounder and carry charts to decide where we can go; if uncertain then approach slowly and the keel will let you know if it is deep enough or not. In the Bahamas charts are not very reliable and you need to learn how to read the depth by the color of the water. Using the depth meter to approach and then your sight to navigate. It is not unusual to sail in a few inches of water below the keel but it is something anyone can get used to when you realize that at some point you will become grounded and that there are techniques and tools to free yourself. I don't think you may find that much difference between single handling a 28' or a 30' so I would go for a 30 which would be a much more capable boat to cross the Gulf Stream plus more comfortable.

 

[Stu Jackson]

In almost all boat builders' offerings, I have seen that the modest 28 foot boat become the most highly priced per pound vessel in their entire fleet. This is certainly true of the Catalina 28, and was most likely true of the great Islander 28 as well.

Why? Because it is the smallest foot print that will involve the entirety of BIG BOAT systems: pressure hot & cold water, diesel engines (in too tight spaces, ala Captain Ron's very valid point), double sinks in galleys that were to small for single sinks to begin with, leaving no usable flat counter space; but double sinks on a boat are a Godsend: they save a lot of water), lack of storage for anything including water and holding tanks sizes), lack of headroom for vertically challenged skippers & crew, etc. And most 28 foot boats are completely different animals than the same builder's 27 foot models. The 27 foot models are their 25 foot models with only a few extra inches, and the same lack of "systems" although some 25 and 27 footers have inboard diesels. Look up the stats, it's pretty true. An inboard diesel on a boat that small means (with few exceptions, like Bob's Vancouver line of sailboats) two critical things: no access for work/service and an impossible to service stuffing box.

I agree that Catalina 30 for example is a fine boat. In fact, if you check out pricing for used Catalina 28s compared to used Catalina 30s, the pricing differences are staggering. Sometimes twice as much for the smaller 28 footer. You do NOT get more in a smaller boat.

Now one idea that Catalina DID get right is the C310. It's essentially a C30 laid out for a small two person crew with some vast improvements over the C30. The C310 was specifically designed with a GOAL in mind and it succeeded quite well.

As for singlehanding, I and many others do it easily on larger boats. Why and how? We set the boats up to do so easily. Don Guilette has a topic going on on the Sail Trim Forum about just this right now, or you could search on this forum for singlehanding or any variation of the word, since it's been discussed here many times.

Don't think a bigger boat can't be run with one person. It's a fallacy. Docking is the most difficult thing to do for most people, regardless of crew size, because they don't practice. There is a nice new lady in our marina with a Newport 30, and on Tuesday we're going out to practice docking, because she figures "I want to take this boat out of my slip, but I figured I'd have to learn how to bring it back, too!" Smart lady.

Get a bigger boat, your back will thank you, and your head!

Bigger boats with deeper keels do the Bahamas all the time. Unless you have a nine foot keel, the difference between a six or four is meaningless, based on the claptrap/advice I've read on cruisersforum, those guys have BTDT.

 

[john wieland brake]

Thanks for you input all. And my experience is most all on my lancer but have sailed /crewed on Mac x
C&c 32 and Morgan out islander 28. All nice and different as night n day. But 32 while reefing and pulling the sheets I felt inferior one of few times had to use a handle to winch gave me the feeling that instead of a pinched finger. In the lines to a no finger on my hand. I'll expand research to include 30 foot models
And yes budget is always a factor from what I read and have seen. More than 30 is a different price bracket.
And I remember the times there was no can tuna or tiny wienies to go with the roman Noddle's