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Old 27-01-2015, 06:19   #1
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Suggested 35'-50' for extended voyages.

I am sure this has been covered but I don't want to hijack anyone else's thread so I thought I would ask here.
I am retiring in a few years and we will be selling off 99.99% of our junk and heading out to sea to see the world. Starting off in the caribbean the who knows where, south Pacific maybe??
Anyway, we are starting to look at what is out there. Thinking a 35-50 footer would work for two people and hoping to keep the price under 100k. So, what boats should I be looking at and which should I avoid?
So far recommended manufacturers have been Beneteau and Morgan and I have been told to avoid Hunters and Catalinas.
Any and all suggestions are welcome.

FYI, I currently have a MacGregor 26X and have sailed it out as far as the Bahamas and many midwestern lakes and rivers.
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Old 27-01-2015, 06:38   #2
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Re: Suggested 35'-50' for extended voyages.

Howdy and welcome aboard this forum.

This topic has been covered many times and there are many comments and much advice in those threads or discussions.

I think the fastest and easiest way to get the info you want is to look on the forum for the search field or tab. Then select the drop down Google search, and enter terms such as "blue water" and "production boats" as a start. Some of the discussions have hundreds of comments.

Good luck on your research, boat choice and future cruising!
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Old 27-01-2015, 06:49   #3
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Re: Suggested 35'-50' for extended voyages.

Any of these will work...Full List of Sailboats and http://sailboatdata.com/ will give ya more information on the other boats

My opinion, make sure it has an encapuslated keel, not a bolt on. reason being if ya hit bottom hard, it wont rip your keel off. Something beamy 11ft 12ft will feel roomy. get one with a good headroom and wide decks for walking around. Make sure you it has good prop and rudder protection.

The one thing I dislike about Bend-a-toes is that they pound in heavy seas. Personally I like double enders, they are a hardy boat, but slow.
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Old 27-01-2015, 06:52   #4
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Re: Suggested 35'-50' for extended voyages.

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Any of these will work...Full List of Sailboats
So all the listed boats here would be considered bluewater capable?
By the way, your sigline is one of the same quotes I have been telling people for years. I agree completely.
Thanks!
Gary

oops, looks like a bunch of reviews on different boats. Good reading though..
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Old 27-01-2015, 07:00   #5
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Re: Suggested 35'-50' for extended voyages.

You're in the realm of "personal preferences".

Those who bash the larger Catalinas or Hunters are also largely being driven by their own personal preferences, but there are those who have used those boats for grand cruising trips, sometimes with a few commonly mentioned modifications.

This is the boating equivalent of asking "what car should I buy, I prefer one with four doors?", and the answers are going to range from "Hyundais are cheaply made -- you should buy an older Porsche" to "Hyundais are great".

If you search this forum, you'll find hundreds of threads discussing this topic, but in the end, you'll find yourself buying some books and going to marinas and looking at boats to determine your own preferences.

A good bit of it will be driven by your own finances, and desire/willingness to fix up an older boat, and size preferences. Do you need air conditioning, or will a wind scoop do? Do you want the security of a full keel, or do you prefer the lighter handling of a fin keel? Where do you anticipate spending most of your time? Don't even get us started on monohulls vs catamarans.

Do some searching on this thread, and get out there and look at some boats, but don't let other people tell you what your preferences should be.
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Old 27-01-2015, 07:11   #6
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Re: Suggested 35'-50' for extended voyages.

"capable" is relative to the vessel but more so the skill level of the captain that sails her.
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Old 27-01-2015, 07:18   #7
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Re: Suggested 35'-50' for extended voyages.

Ok, that makes sense, the operator being more important than the machine. So what features should I look for? For example, I have heard deck stepped masts are not as strong and of course the afore mentioned comment on the keel.
Maybe I should go out and find a few books on sailboat design rather than spend a few months typing up posts here
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Old 27-01-2015, 07:25   #8
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Re: Suggested 35'-50' for extended voyages.

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Maybe I should go out and find a few books on sailboat design rather than spend a few months typing up posts here
Good idea... :-) Bob Perry's book would be a good place to start...

Also suggest you narrow your focus re size, 35-50 feet is a HUGE range... And finding something suitable in the upper end of that range within your budget will likely be very difficult...
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Old 27-01-2015, 07:30   #9
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Re: Suggested 35'-50' for extended voyages.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MidwestRefugee View Post
Ok, that makes sense, the operator being more important than the machine. So what features should I look for? For example, I have heard deck stepped masts are not as strong and of course the afore mentioned comment on the keel.
Maybe I should go out and find a few books on sailboat design rather than spend a few months typing up posts here
You could easily spend a couple YEARS just educating yourself, by reading the posts on this forum. There are over a 100,000 members here, and so when you ask a question there will sometimes be a response from a member who hasn't posted in years, but breaks his silence just to help you become seaworthy yourself.
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Old 27-01-2015, 07:33   #10
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Re: Suggested 35'-50' for extended voyages.

The jury is still out on deckstepped vs keelstepped. I would just google "advantages of keel stepped vs deck stepped" and make your own mind.
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Old 27-01-2015, 08:37   #11
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Re: Suggested 35'-50' for extended voyages.

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Originally Posted by MidwestRefugee View Post
.
Maybe I should go out and find a few books on sailboat design rather than spend a few months typing up posts here

Do both, as well as go out and look at boats. There are no perfect boats, all of them have weaknesses and do some things better than others, just have to decide what YOU want in a boat, and what you can afford.
Two foot itis is very prevalent, just remember bigger means way more expensive to maintain and more difficult to handle, and there are some 40 footers that seem to have more usable interior space than some 50 footers, especially when you consider most of the big boats have multiple heads etc, and do you really need four heads?
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Old 27-01-2015, 08:55   #12
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Re: Suggested 35'-50' for extended voyages.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MidwestRefugee View Post
So what features should I look for? For example, I have heard deck stepped masts are not as strong
I would 100% disagree with that statement. A properly made deck stepped mast is every bit as strong, safe and seaworthy as a keel stepped mast. This is based on owning and sailing thousands of miles with both types and a little background in engineering.



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And of course the afore mentioned comment on the keel.
Same comment here. I've owned both full keel and fin keel boats. After both I prefer a modified fin. The comfort, safety and seaworthiness of a boat cannot be based on a single factor like long keel vs fin. Its the case of hull design it is the overall hull that matters, not one feature. All other things being equal there are some tradeoffs between fin and long keel designs. This is pretty much true on 99% of the aspects of a boat. There's no free lunch. Go for one benefit there's usually a tradeoff elsewhere. A variation on a an old joke. I want a sailboat that is strong, light and cheap. You can pick any two but not all three.



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Maybe I should go out and find a few books on sailboat design rather than spend a few months typing up posts here
Another option. Read what sailors that have thousands of miles at sea are sailing. For one thing I think you will find the heavy, full keel, double ended, gaff ketch traditional boat is a minority. Some say because production boats are cheaper and more readily available but look at the high dollar cruising boats sailed by people where budget is not a major constraint and you will find the same.

All that being said, boats are to a very large degree and emotional decision and people often (usually?) buy what turns them on. It might be the best boat in the world but if you don't love it then you're missing a big part of the experience.
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Old 27-01-2015, 09:15   #13
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Re: Suggested 35'-50' for extended voyages.

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Originally Posted by MidwestRefugee View Post
So far recommended manufacturers have been Beneteau and Morgan and I have been told to avoid Hunters and Catalinas.
Any and all suggestions are welcome.
Curious as who told you this.

BTW - 35-50'? You need to provide more details as to what you want. But once you can do that you really don't need to ask a forum as you can just look yourself.
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Old 27-01-2015, 09:45   #14
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Re: Suggested 35'-50' for extended voyages.

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Read what sailors that have thousands of miles at sea are sailing. For one thing I think you will find the heavy, full keel, double ended, gaff ketch traditional boat is a minority. Some say because production boats are cheaper and more readily available but look at the high dollar cruising boats sailed by people where budget is not a major constraint and you will find the same.
Your first question is a good one, and I don't know if a good survey of that exists anywhere. If it does, I'd be interested in seeing it.

The driver in boat manufacturing today, however, is likely more about marketing to the priorities of today's sailor who can afford a new 40-50 foot boat than durability. Do people in the large boat market want small and bullet-proof or easy to dock and a large open interior?

How many people buy a boat primarily for circumnavigation vs cruising the islands in the Caribbean or the Mediterranean? How many people buy a boat for circumnavigation after having circumnavigated, and what do they buy next? What is the percentage of those buyers in the new boat marketplace vs people who just retired and are looking to liveaboard for a few years? I don't know the answers to these questions, but I'm guessing boat manufacturers do. I'm also guessing nice interior is at least as important as durability, and maybe that's how it should be.

All that said, Island Packet's interpretation of a full-keel still has a rather large following. Full keels trade windward performance for reduced draft and durability. Even then, they sometimes perform favorably when weighted down with cruising equipment and supplies.

I'm just surmising that modern boat design is driven as much by what marketers think people will purchase as by purpose-built circumnavigation vessels. Some smart person once said that "All boats are compromises," which of course echos the main concept of your post.
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Old 27-01-2015, 10:21   #15
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Re: Suggested 35'-50' for extended voyages.

A great reference on this topic---SAILING A SERIOUS OCEAN--- John Kretshmer does a great job of laying out the larger narrative of water sailing">blue water sailing along with his favorite twenty boats ranging from 32 to 55 ft. It's also one hell of a good read. my favorite chapter entails his liferaft inflating in the checkout line at Heathrow,, [tooo funny] good luck cpt steve



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