How you use your boat

Bad Obsession · Jun 10, 2016

I am probably on the small side of this since I use my smaller boat a bit differently than most.

My boat is a Compac 23. I choose her because of some excellent qualities for my kind of cruising. She has a fixed keel (I didn't want to deal with centerboards and the issues and worries that come with them). She is a heavy 3500 pounds and she has a very large V-berth for a boat her size. I could probably trailer sail her but I keep her in a slip for the season because the mast is a bit much to do and there is a lot of rigging to do (put on the bimini, dodger, main sail, jib, etc etc etc).

I tend to do a lot of overnight sailing. A few weeks ago I was out on Saga for 12 days. I sailed 208 miles during that time and had a few times where I spend a few extra days in the anchorage due to weather (rain). All 12 evenings of the trip were spent on the anchor and I never went into a marina.

The end goal is what you need to focus on. What do YOU want to do with the boat? Do you want to overnight some? Do you want to keep it on a trailer and launch it to use it or do you want to put her in a slip for the season? What is your budget like? What are your home waters like?

In the end it really doesn't matter how we use our boats. What matters the most is your plans for the future.

Here is the video from my last trip:

Here is the video from my trip last September:

flynhi4u · Jun 11, 2016

We sail a 20 foot Hunter and love to overnight on her. For a small boat she has a lot of nice features that make her a comfortable boat for a couple to stay on, three would be a crowd. With a pop top and the tent enclosure I made for it Cindy can stand up in her. We have a nice sized table and at 6'1" I can stretch out in the V birth. We have totally redone the boat to suit our needs and really enjoy nights on the hook.
We keep her in a slip so we are 10 mins from the parking lot to sails up. Even with an hour drive both to and from the boat the slip allows us to sail every chance we get.
To us she is as much a floating camper as a sailboat. There just isn't anything like sleeping on the water in a small boat. Good luck!

Sam

whatfiero · Jun 11, 2016

I started with a hobie 16 my dad's put back together and sailed on beach that kinda how I met my wife had a baby and bought a h23 did the trailer thing and took it all over east coast visiting lakes different part of Chesapeake for long weekends sleeping 2 to 3 nights slowly starting towards the marina boat slip thing for convience first for a month a year then whole summer now upgraded to h30 keep at marina used to move to different marina every year to venture to different areas now been at same marina 3 yr sometimes don't go any where just sleep right there in slip and at least sleep 50 nights a year one weeken in winter just for fun

Stu Jackson · Jun 11, 2016

When we had our C22 we did it two ways. During the summer we'd trailer it up to a huge lake in Northern California, leave it in the water at a marina and drive up about 3 hours every weekend, and spend the night(s) at anchor. The marina didn't allow you to stay on the boat there at night, so we learned to anchor properly. During the winter, we trailer-sailed it from a local dry storage lot, but we could keep the mast up to the launch ramp a block away. We learned to sail SF Bay. We got the best of both worlds. Had a poptop and we built the plywood frame to sleep comfortably down below.

A few years later we upsized to a C25, which we kept for 13 years. Left her in the water here and sailed the Bay, The Delta and the ocean.

Gene Neill · Jun 11, 2016

andy creighton said:
"How do you use the cabin on your boat? " Do you actually hang out/sleep there or is it mostly storage when you are out?

The "new design" Catalina 22 has a very user-friendly cabin, like a small floating RV. We use it to cook, eat, sleep, play cards, watch movies, read ... pretty much every day-to-day activity except bathing, and washing larger pots and pans. We sleep in the quarter berths, and use the V berth for storage.

This is our cabin, with the table folded away. We don't use the table much anymore, unless we're eating something fancy or playing cards.

LANCE ON CLOUD NINE · Jun 11, 2016

I have done both sleeping in the cabin of a 23 footer and also used smaller open boats to beach camp. Each can provide its own form of enjoyment ....but one thing that stands out is there is less work when staying on the boat. Less to carry to shore and less to clean before putting it away. But you can have a blast either way! Good luck. Enjoy!

fred1diver · Jun 12, 2016

I have a Dolphin 23 and I love camping in her, great to have a cabin, if you get stuck in the rain you can always go inside

Stu Jackson · Jun 12, 2016

fred1diver said:
if you get stuck in the rain you can always go inside

Good point. One Labor Day weekend we were up at the lake on our Catalina 22. It blew and poured all three days. We stayed dry inside, but wished we'd brought more board games, since playing Uno got tiresome after the first two days!

If you're just daysailing and NOT planning to anchor overnight, then an easier to set up rig would be preferable.

I just love anchoring out.

RussC · Jun 12, 2016

I bought a Snark (11ft "canoe" w lateen sail setup) on a whim a few years ago which caused the initial infection. within weeks the illness spread to become a 12' Puffer (daggerboard dinghy) that we sailed a lot, most of that summer. that fall I found a really nice Capri 14.2 (centerboard dinghy) that provided us much more cockpit room, but a couple months after that we started getting colder weather so the thought occurred that we needed something with a cabin to escape into, and overnight on once in a wile. that brings us to the first part of this year, when we've had the newest, a 25' Macgregor, at the lake for 3 excellent two day trips and another 3-4 days just for the day sail.

We LOVE our new Mac, but now the days are getting hotter and we're getting older, so doing the drive, plus the setup and breakdown on a 25' boat for just one day of sailing is a bit of a handful. the best sailing here seems to be early morning and later in the afternoon, so two day trips have always provided us with the best sailing conditions also. We've really gotten to appreciate the more relaxed sailing the 25 provides…… so enter the search for a quick set-up swing keel or keel/cb small (Montgomery 15?) boat for day sailing in the summer months only, and keeping the M25 for overnight trips as well.
You just can't have too many sailboats.

rgranger · Jun 12, 2016

I like to sleep out on the boat. Sleeping at anchor, with the boat gently rocking, is some of the deepest sleeps I've ever had. And for some reason, scrambled eggs always taste that much better the morning after.

Bad Obsession · Jun 12, 2016

Food always tastes better when you aboard. If I haven't been to the store in a while and I am into my can provisions they taste good aboard. If you pull the can stuff out at home you look at it and say "Blah! Heck no!" LOL.

One other trick to getting a good night's sleep on the boat is to have VERY good ground tackle. My Compac 23 has a 22 pound Lewmar Claw with 30 feet of 1/4" chain. It holds well and knowing that makes me sleep better!

Why beach camp? Get a nice sized boat and sleep aboard. It is more comfortable and less like camping. Why camp in a tent when you can sleep in a RV?

rgranger · Jun 12, 2016

RussC said:
You just can't have too many sailboats.

Tell that to my wife....

rgranger · Jun 12, 2016

Bad Obsession said:
Why beach camp? Get a nice sized boat and sleep aboard. It is more comfortable and less like camping. Why camp in a tent when you can sleep in a RV?

... and if you have a decent wind blowing, the bugs won't find you out on the water. Alternatively, I like to hang a few of those "off" mosquito cartridge devices on the bow pulpit and that seems to wash the repellent over the entire boat. I find I have very little trouble with bugs unless I'm anchored in the deep marsh.... and then I just cover over with a mosquito net and I still sleep fine.

I'm heading to Oriental in a few weeks and will be deploying both strategies......

Karyon · Jun 15, 2016

Havn't slept on our new to us boat yet, but this summer we are taking her to Flathead lake in Montana for a week, we booked a slip with the local Yacht club, so we will be docked and a few nights at anchor, We are actually really looking forward to this trip.

Bosman · Jun 15, 2016

The admiral and I usually spend the weekends on the boat - is it Friday yet?

jssailem · Jun 15, 2016

skutsje said:
Havn't slept on our new to us boat yet, but this summer we are taking her to Flathead lake in Montana for a week, we booked a slip with the local Yacht club, so we will be docked and a few nights at anchor, We are actually really looking forward to this trip.

That should be a terrific experience. Family held a reunion at a Luthern Camp on the west shore a few years back. Got a chance to take one of there boats out for an afternoon. It was calm so the sailing was less than exciting (though I was informed the winds can pop up and to be prepared - big lake and a lot of fetch if you are on the lee shore). The views were spectacular. Have a great time.

How you use your boat

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