A cheap mono for cruising with lots of headroom

[schoonerdog]

A friend whose younger is thinking of spending some time off with his new family is looking at spending under 120k for a reliable boat with head room. He's also 6' 6". I'm a cat guy, but for cheap cruiser that needs 6' 6" of head room, monos can't be beat. Probably doing a bit of island hopping in the Caribbean and maybe a transpacific afterward. BTW, this is a two year off purchase, so no need to send actual boat offers, simply looking. I'm thinking something easy to work, low maintanence, extremely strong, lots of tankage and storage. Any suggestions?

[Pblais]

Once you get above 6' 2" it gets to be a head room issue. You just have to have a full size bunk and at least some places to stand up in else the whole comfort issue gets to be serious enough. For island hopping I don't see why you can't do well enough with the production boats in the 38 ft range give or take. The newer ones have head room to 6-6 at 6-8 it starts to get harder and it's almost a boat by boat choice. To make the money work I don't see getting into more expensive built to order boats. Valiants are generally great headroom boats but I'm not sure you can hit the price point.

[schoonerdog]

they may be doing more than simply island hopping, so didn't want to limit them with the choice. Morgan out island, older Pierson, whitby, I really don't know monos that well in terms of problems, capability, etc.

[Pblais]

they may be doing more than simply island hopping, so didn't want to limit them with the choice.

The budget limits them to a certain extent. A lot of great older boats could come up with about 3 to 4 inches less headroom.

[Samadhi V]

Some of the older flush deck designs from the 70s had greater than 6'6" headroom, but their looks are "polarizing".

I am 6'1" and our overheads are 6'6" (from memory) throughout the salon, galley and three cabins aboard Samadhi V. However, I *still* manage to find ways to hit my head on things regularly... Maybe we need a boat with 8' of headroom

[rtbates]

Originally Posted by Pblais

The budget limits them to a certain extent. A lot of great older boats could come up with about 3 to 4 inches less headroom.

120K budget is a limiting factor??? Give me a break!!!

[Macopa]

Originally Posted by rtbates

120K budget is a limiting factor??? Give me a break!!!

For real. How about a $15,000 budget?

[imagine2frolic]

Macopa,

there was a beautiful Columbia 34 for 19k in your area. It was on yachworld.com

[Sailormann]

Bayfields are good for this. 36 or 40.

[harryrezz]

Take a look at CSY 44's. Of course we all like our own boats, but in this case for someone seeking a boat with plenty of headroom (I've never measured it, but we have LOTS of headroom throughout), tankage (400 gal water, 100 gal fuel), blue water capable (many have circumnavigated ... in comfort) and with plenty of storage space for a small family .... and with many selling in the price range mentioned ... you could certainly do a lot worse! Oh, yes - did I mention that they also sail pretty well?