Some small-boat cruising commandments

Oct 19, 2017
7,733
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
My definition of boat size would be based upon the ease of maneuverability in a marina. If you can pull up to a dock with the ease of anything between a rowboat and a center-console fishing boat, fend off and tie it up solo, it's a small boat. Anything else requires an adjustment to the type of skills and techniques to get her from point A to point B. In some ways, it's the sailor that defines a small or large vessel.
"It's not the size of the boat that matters, but the sailor at the helm."

-Will (Dragonfly)
 

Johnb

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Jan 22, 2008
1,420
Hunter 37-cutter Richmond CA
Another measure for me is how sensitive it is to ones body weight. Do you have to coordinate crew movement? How much do you feel it if your dog is moving around? Over a few days on board that becomes the most wearying of all the inconveniences.

At 22 feet and with a 600 pound keel our previous boat did not respond much to random crew movement.
 

DArcy

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Feb 11, 2017
1,691
Islander Freeport 36 Ottawa
At my club "big boat" is over 5000 kg (11000 lb). But that is only because of which crane is needed to haul them out ;)
 
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