New to sailing, which boat is the perfect Blue Water Boat?

Oct 22, 2014
20,993
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
Boy have we heard that question before. And the answers are as varied as the sailors who frequent these electronic shores..

Many of our comments have been.. It is not the boat it is the sailor and crew.

I read this article about blue water preparation by owners who want to participate in the "Atlantic Rally for Cruisers". It raised not only the money issues folk spend but some of the comments about what worked and what didn't. I thought it was informative and may help a sailor who has watched a YouTube video and said --- Well they did it why shouldn't I try it....

https://www.yachtingworld.com/saili...gear-offshore-cruising-essentials-cost-121745
 

ToddS

.
Sep 11, 2017
248
Beneteau 373 Cape Cod
That's like asking "What's the perfect career?" or "What's the perfect town in which to raise a family?" Sure, you might get some suggestions, and there are some that are certainly more desirable than others... but the right answer depends on your preferences (budget, crew size and ability, preferred destinations, etc). Which is better, a pickup truck, a 2-seater sports car, or a mini van? Well that depends on whether you're looking to haul lumber, win races, or drive 6 kids around town... right? Are you spending five million? five thousand? Are you looking for new or used? Are you handy and willing to fix something up, or looking for a turnkey boat ready to sail tomorrow? Sailing with a crew of 2? or 8? Looking for speed and thrills? or mellow and comfortable? Pure sailing or lots of motoring too? At sea for a couple days? A couple months? Are you young, fit and able, or older and less physically able? Do you care more about classic beauty/aesthetics, or the latest gadgets and high-tech materials? Sure, your question is an important one for you to find the answer to... but you're going to want to ask about zillion more-specific questions to understand what's best for you. So, not knowing any of your constraints (other than the boat should be blue-water-capable) I'll start by suggesting an "Oyster 1225". ;)
 
  • Like
Likes: jssailem
Dec 25, 2000
5,702
Hunter Passage 42 Shelter Bay, WA
Never heard of the perfect boat. Not sure if one exists. There are some good ones. Determine what you want in your boat, then go search for the one that best meets your needs towards your intended goals. Some might say ours is the perfect boat, but others will disagree.
 
Jan 8, 2020
48
brentswain 31 31 twin keeler Heriot Bay BC
Wow! They spend more on gear than my boat cost me to build, for my first offshore voyage in her , total!
If I had believed in all that crap, I would have never made it out of the harbour. Others who bought it, never did get out to sea.
Cruising dreams, lost, forever!
I never had a watermaker . Few did when I began cruising.I don't think they had been invented yet. After my last offshore cruises, I built my own.
540 gallons per day. Cost me around $700 CDN. Works well . It's in my book .
Thousands for a roller furler? Mine, I built for around $80. No problems since I built my first in 1982. Several have circumnavigated .No problems, no maintenance, in decades.
I did 3 Pacific crossings and 18 years of mostly full time cruising, before I installed my first electric system. Kero lamps worked fine. Going down the coast, an alternator quit. I just lit the "already in place" kero lamps for a couple of days ,before I found the problem. Didn't miss the volts much.
Safety? I'd rather be in my steel hull without a life raft, a hull which can withstand a collision with almost anything, than in a boat which cant, and have a liferaft. I can cruise for a winter, on the price of a liferaft. The Baileys and Calahan would have had no need for theIr liferafts, had they been in steel boats.( Search Yacht Gringo). They would not have sunk in the first plac. Having life rafts to panick step into, cost a lot of lives in the Fastnet disaster of 79.
$Thousands for sails? I have never paid more than $350 for used sails, in excellent condition.
Built my own Gale Rider type drogue, from old seat belts from abandoned cars. Cost me pennies.
My anchor winch cost me around $75 for materials.
Expiry dates on drugs in first aid kits are mosly scams. Most are good for decades.
Booze and beer budget? Zero! Don't drink.
Ditto many other so called "expenses."
One can easily cruise for a fraction what these guys spend .
I recently got an email from a guy who said his parents always dreamed of cruising, but never persued it, because they were convinced that only the rich could do it.Otherwise, he could have grown up on a cruising boat.
Sad to see such a barrage of expensive disinformation on the cost of going cruising, costing generations their cruising dreams.
Don't buy it!
 
Last edited:
Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
I'd rather be in my steel hull without a life raft, a hull which can withstand a collision with almost anything,
That's how I see it. Also, steel is not that difficult to repair, with a small investment in equipment and knowledge.

-Will (Dragonfly)
 
  • Like
Likes: jssailem

dLj

.
Mar 23, 2017
3,373
Belliure 41 Sailing back to the Chesapeake
@free cruiser - Brent, I see you finally made it over here to SBO! I'm glad to see you here! I'm sure you don't know who I am, but I've been listening (and sometimes posting) to the origami boats yahoo group for many years. Is it still going? I think I've seen some posts there, but since joining SBO I've been less in all the yahoo groups, plus they seem to all be migrating.

Steel hull boats are my number 1 choice for off-shore sailboats. Steel is a material that can withstand tremendous abuse and still remain intact. The only difficulty is finding available boats. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to build a boat from scratch such as your origami designed boats. If I were, that would be my number one choice. I've occasionally seen one of your boats come up for sale, but never when I'm in a position to buy it. When I am in the market, one of those will be high on my list to look for at that time.

@jssailem I read through the article you linked, very interesting. Of course as you well know, I'm more of a minimalist and the multiple references to the iridium sat phones I just can't accept. Why can't you get all that through a ham radio set-up? I don't need email when I'm in the middle of the ocean. I also don't want any monthly payments. Plus, with ham radio, you can get email, albeit slow.

I do like the idea of a water maker, but as Brent indicates, build it yourself. They are quite easy to build, work as well or better than commercial equipment, plus, then replacement filters are generic off-the-shelf varieties rather than possibly proprietary filters needed for a commercial unit. That's a win-win.

dj
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Likes: Will Gilmore
Oct 22, 2014
20,993
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
Being able to DIY makes boating affordable to more people. Minimizing your systems helps to have systems you know the ins and outs how they work and less complexity are easier to fix.

The attached link was an organized rally with “safety rules” decided by organizers. When you cruise on your own you set your own rules.
 
  • Like
Likes: Will Gilmore

dLj

.
Mar 23, 2017
3,373
Belliure 41 Sailing back to the Chesapeake
Being able to DIY makes boating affordable to more people. Minimizing your systems helps to have systems you know the ins and outs how they work and less complexity are easier to fix.

The attached link was an organized rally with “safety rules” decided by organizers. When you cruise on your own you set your own rules.
Yes, you can do that. But looking at what the professionals are looking at in my mind is always an excellent idea! Here's a link to the actual safety regs for off-shore racing:


dj
 
Jan 8, 2020
48
brentswain 31 31 twin keeler Heriot Bay BC
@free cruiser - Brent, I see you finally made it over here to SBO! I'm glad to see you here! I'm sure you don't know who I am, but I've been listening (and sometimes posting) to the origami boats yahoo group for many years. Is it still going? I think I've seen some posts there, but since joining SBO I've been less in all the yahoo groups, plus they seem to all be migrating.

Steel hull boats are my number 1 choice for off-shore sailboats. Steel is a material that can withstand tremendous abuse and still remain intact. The only difficulty is finding available boats. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to build a boat from scratch such as your origami designed boats. If I were, that would be my number one choice. I've occasionally seen one of your boats come up for sale, but never when I'm in a position to buy it. When I am in the market, one of those will be high on my list to look for at that time.

@jssailem I read through the article you linked, very interesting. Of course as you well know, I'm more of a minimalist and the multiple references to the iridium sat phones I just can't accept. Why can't you get all that through a ham radio set-up? I don't need email when I'm in the middle of the ocean. I also don't want any monthly payments. Plus, with ham radio, you can get email, albeit slow.

I do like the idea of a water maker, but as Brent indicates, build it yourself. They are quite easy to build, work as well or better than commercial equipment, plus, then replacement filters are generic off-the-shelf varieties rather than possibly proprietary filters needed for a commercial unit. That's a win-win.

dj
Yahoo has recently shut down all it's discussions, so we are trying to get the files transferred to groups .io. Some have saved the files.
I bought my first VHF after 17 years of mostly full time cruising and 4 Pacific Crossings. Just bought my first ham, after 8 Pacific crossings. Never had a sat phone. Owned a cell phone only briefly . Don't need one. Such a scam; in Canada
 

dLj

.
Mar 23, 2017
3,373
Belliure 41 Sailing back to the Chesapeake
The staunchion heights are minimums. They can be higher. I'm sure that's a compromise for off shore racing. I definitely agree, waist height is where they should be. My main complaint is they don't permit solid top rails, at least as I read these documents. I much prefer a solid top rail rather than a flexible line. Better for many reasons.

The Basque fishing boats had solid top rails waste high or a bit higher - that's a design that has developed over hundreds of years in a tough sea to sail.

dj
 
  • Like
Likes: Will Gilmore

DArcy

.
Feb 11, 2017
1,690
Islander Freeport 36 Ottawa
According to an April 1998 Cruising World article, the Corbin 39 is the perfect cruising boat. They used a fuzzy logic algorithm to come up with an interesting comparison of 90 classic boats and the Corbin came out on top when analyzed with a "very close fuzzy logic". I say classic because this was in the '90s so they are all classic by today's standard. Of course, this was a fairly narrow point of view more playing with the concept of fuzzy logic than truly evaluating cruising boats since the only looked at these parameters:
D/L
SA/D
Velocity Ratio
Comfort Factor
Capsize Risk
LOA

Still, the Corbin is one of my all time favourite boats.


 
  • Like
Likes: Will Gilmore
Dec 26, 2019
21
Oyster 62 & Oyster 53 Caribbean, Greece
We presently own two perfect bluewater capable yachts, an Oyster 62 G5 and an Oyster 53, either boat is perfect for a cruising couple to head out anywhere in the world in complete safety and total comfort. If you’d like to try one out, please contact us. Presently, the 62 is located in the eastern Caribbean November-May and the 53 is located in western Greece June-October. Both boats are fully equipped with all possible options.