Hello!
We're looking to step up to a larger boat and are looking for suggestions as to what boats to consider.
A little background: We currently own a Precision 21. It's a great boat and we spend a lot of time on it but now we're ready to step up to something larger and a bit more comfortable.
How and where we sail: We sail on a fresh water lake in upstate NY that tends to be a bit shallow. The lake tends to have lightish winds with most of our sailing days being somewhere in the range of 5-15 mph. We'll occasionally find ourself in some stronger stuff. We try to spend most summer weekends on the boat which means arriving on Friday evening or Saturday morning and returning home on Sunday evening. My wife and I sleep in the boat during most weekends.
What we want: A shoal keel cruiser (monohull) in the 26 to 30 foot range that will perform reasonably well in the lightish winds that are most common on the lake (even if it means reefing early for stronger wind). I'm nearly 6 feet tall and I'd like to have standing or near standing headroom in the cabin. We'd like to comfortably sleep 2 adults with room for 2 more. We'd like a cockpit that can comfortably accomodate 4 to 6 adults. We'd like an enclosed head and also a small but functional galley. Useable side decks are a must for us. We'd like an inboard diesel motor but would consider an oatboard gas motor if the boat met our other requirements. We'd like to the boat to be comfortable for some extended stays (~ 1 week) as opposed to the one or two nights that we do now. As much as I'd love a new boat it's simply not in the financial cards. So I'd be looking for something used.
Boats were considering: We love our Precision 21 so the boat that's at the top of our list is a Precision 27 or 28. Sadly for us they didn't build a lot of these and the people that have them tend to hold onto them so I think we'll be forced to look at other boats as well unless we're willing to wait a long time for the right one to come along. We've also been on and liked a Catalina 27 and a Sabre 28.
I'm looking to compile a list of boats that might be suitable so I can start searching and be ready to pounce if the right deal comes along. I know that asking for opinions about boats is like asking people their favorite ice cream flavor...everyone has a different one. I'm just looking to get ideas about boats that I might not have known about or otherwise considered. We'll probably start seriously looking next year. But if the right deal presented itself sooner...well, anything is possible!
Thanks!
We're looking to step up to a larger boat and are looking for suggestions as to what boats to consider.
A little background: We currently own a Precision 21. It's a great boat and we spend a lot of time on it but now we're ready to step up to something larger and a bit more comfortable.
How and where we sail: We sail on a fresh water lake in upstate NY that tends to be a bit shallow. The lake tends to have lightish winds with most of our sailing days being somewhere in the range of 5-15 mph. We'll occasionally find ourself in some stronger stuff. We try to spend most summer weekends on the boat which means arriving on Friday evening or Saturday morning and returning home on Sunday evening. My wife and I sleep in the boat during most weekends.
What we want: A shoal keel cruiser (monohull) in the 26 to 30 foot range that will perform reasonably well in the lightish winds that are most common on the lake (even if it means reefing early for stronger wind). I'm nearly 6 feet tall and I'd like to have standing or near standing headroom in the cabin. We'd like to comfortably sleep 2 adults with room for 2 more. We'd like a cockpit that can comfortably accomodate 4 to 6 adults. We'd like an enclosed head and also a small but functional galley. Useable side decks are a must for us. We'd like an inboard diesel motor but would consider an oatboard gas motor if the boat met our other requirements. We'd like to the boat to be comfortable for some extended stays (~ 1 week) as opposed to the one or two nights that we do now. As much as I'd love a new boat it's simply not in the financial cards. So I'd be looking for something used.
Boats were considering: We love our Precision 21 so the boat that's at the top of our list is a Precision 27 or 28. Sadly for us they didn't build a lot of these and the people that have them tend to hold onto them so I think we'll be forced to look at other boats as well unless we're willing to wait a long time for the right one to come along. We've also been on and liked a Catalina 27 and a Sabre 28.
I'm looking to compile a list of boats that might be suitable so I can start searching and be ready to pounce if the right deal comes along. I know that asking for opinions about boats is like asking people their favorite ice cream flavor...everyone has a different one. I'm just looking to get ideas about boats that I might not have known about or otherwise considered. We'll probably start seriously looking next year. But if the right deal presented itself sooner...well, anything is possible!
Thanks!