Starting at the bottom

[Weyalan]

Having just spent 10 days in the Whitsundays, cruising on someone else shoal draft (less than 1.5m) adams 40, I can understand the attraction of shallow draft boats. Having said that, I bough a bout with about 7' draft, and I am out there sailing and having fun. If I was to wait until I could afford the "right" boat, I would be waiting a few more years yet. For me, I purchased the best boat I could afford, and then I live with its limitation (in this case, relatively deep draft & relatively basic fit out) and revel in its advantages (in this case, having it now, plus generally being first boat to get to the anchorages)

[cat man do]

First to an anchorage????? unless there's a multi around. Me and the other multi's we cruised with usualy slept in, stopped off for a swim somewhere nice for lunch and usualy still beat the mono's that left before us to the next anchorage. Then we'd motor up to the beach and anchor in a few feet of water .

But hey... this is so not meant as a beat up, just a bit of gentle ribbing. Afterall I've had mono's before and there are some bloody good ones out there.

Dave

[Weyalan]

Heh Dave, no offense taken... I could mention something about people not being able to afford a cat until they are too old to even bother pututting sails up any more, but that would be cheeky, so I won't

[Tropic Cat]

Hey, my cat handles my wheelchair just fine.

OK, I'm Kiddin, what it really does is attact young women and at my age, that can be dangerous.

Rick in Florida

[Tropic Cat]

oops... I meant attract

[mudnut]

AudreyK,Lets see how small a world is>Suburb,One mile.Mudnut.

[hellosailor]

On the ex-racing boats, I'm sure some fit the bill for conversion but many othes simply won't. Typically, the engine will be a "docking motor" only, so a $12,000 powerplant will need to be added. And the rigging will be set up with running backstays, a bit inconvenient for the solo or short crew owner. So rerigging may be needed. Then there's deck layout, what fits a racing crew usually can't be handled short-handed either. And while a bare interior is a good chance to "build it my way" a lot of ex-racers also just don't have the interior capacity or payload capacity to haul around a cruising interior and stowage. And racers built lightly, well, sometimes those are the boats that have lost their keels, etc. because they were built for limited conditions and light weight.

Still, if you find something that can be made to work, and hasn't been abused too badly in the days it was racing...by all means.

[AudreyK]

Thanks for all the advice guys , I hadnt really considered a cruiser racer - there are plenty of dedicated cruising boats in my potential price range, and I dont want to start by making such serious modifications to a boat as cutting of the keel - the question about the twin keels was more curiosity than anything else as there a not that many around, but they would still be an advantage - especially up north around darwin and the kimberlies where the tidal range is so large that even with a floating anchorage you still might have to walk over a kilometer at low tide dragging a dingy just to put it in the water!
oh mudnut - north ippy bout 3 or 4 k
Audrey

[mudnut]

Audrey,see ,Its smaller then we realize.Thanks again for the info.Mudnut.