My first boat ... a Jeanneau 50?

[Southerncowboyz]

Hello all,

This is my first post as a member. I want to purchase a Jeanneau 50. I can afford the boat, but I'm clueless as to what the real cost is for a boat that size. I have basically zero boat experience. I fly jets for a living, so some of that translates well. I was already denied coverage by one company. I plan on getting my Coast Guard's license. I believe that will help. With basically no boat owner ship history, will I be able to find coverage? I have a few other questions.

1. How often do sails need to be replaced? Is the in-mast a huge advantage?
2. Steel or composite or glass?
3. How often does the boat need to be lifted and painted?
4. I plan on cruising both coasts. What type of a budget should I plan for expenses other than provisions and slip fees?
5. The boat will stay at the Marina while I go back and forth to work, so what kind of concerns should I have for a boat being unattended for extended periods.
6. What type of security systems are out there?
7. What is the preferred method of communication? HF, satellite when making a crossing or being out of sight of land. I know this is a lot, but any help is appreciated.

I have a ton more questions ... I know I should probably take a course prior to getting the captain's license. As you can all tell, I'm totally clueless. I have only sailed on other people's boats a few times.

Joe

PS I've had a few to drink, so please forgive my lack of sentence structure and all errors.

[Alecadi]

Get some sailing courses first
Then start chartering sailboats
Start with something smaller than a 50
You dońt need a Coast gard license, you need experience
Have fun

[carstenb]

Hi Joe,

Welcome aboard CF.

You ask lots of questions and to be honest - way too many to answer. Before you buy, take a couple of sailing courses - you might decide 50 footer is a bit ambitious.

I would also encourage you to use the search function here on CF - ask for threads relating to a specific question and it will almost always return several threads on just that issue.

Lots of reading - then come back with specific questions.

Some - such as in-mast furling will ignite passionate feelings and the discussion is not always as sober as we might like (that's why there are mods here).

as an example, here is a link to a thread discussing issues with in-mast furling. But you can search yourself


http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ems-98797.html

Good sailing

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by Alecadi

Get some sailing courses first
Then start chartering sailboats
Start with something smaller than a 50
You dońt need a Coast gard license, you need experience
Have fun

Life is too short to piss fart around taking the slow approach, I say sink or swim 😃

I say go and do some sailing courses to get some experience and when you get the boat, hire an instructor or an experienced skipper with good training skills to go out with you until you both think you are ready.

Maybe that approach might make the insurance companies more happy.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Southerncowboyz

Hello all,

This is my first post as a member. I want to purchase a Jeanneau 50. I can afford the boat, but I'm clueless as to what the real cost is for a boat that size. I have basically zero boat experience. I fly jets for a living, so some of that translates well. I was already denied coverage by one company. I plan on getting my Coast Guard's license. I believe that will help. With basically no boat owner ship history, will I be able to find coverage? I have a few other questions.

1. How often do sails need to be replaced? Is the in-mast a huge advantage?
Depends on how much sailing you do and where you sail... also how well you protect and maintain them... as to the in mast.. its a 'Marmite' thing.. you love it.. or hate it.. no real middle ground.
2. Steel or composite or glass?
They only build Jeaneaus in glass..
3. How often does the boat need to be lifted and painted?
Again.. use it regularly 2-3yrs depending on location.. marina queen more often as the growth will build up..
4. I plan on cruising both coasts. What type of a budget should I plan for expenses other than provisions and slip fees?
Visa's, Port entry and clearance fee's.. Canal transit fee's
5. The boat will stay at the Marina while I go back and forth to work, so what kind of concerns should I have for a boat being unattended for extended periods.
Build up of seagull poop
6. What type of security systems are out there?
Zero to hero... also as of this year you can buy your own personal drone..
7. What is the preferred method of communication? HF, satellite when making a crossing or being out of sight of land. I know this is a lot, but any help is appreciated.
Varies on personal choice.. some sail to escape communication and limit themselves to VHF... others of the 'Mobile Age' have sat phones, SSB and anything else they can get their hands on..
I have a ton more questions ... I know I should probably take a course prior to getting the captain's license.
Yes.. take some sail training... no you don't need a captains licence.. unless you have your heart set on calling yourself 'Captain Joe'..
As you can all tell, I'm totally clueless. I have only sailed on other people's boats a few times.

Joe

PS I've had a few to drink, so please forgive my lack of sentence structure and all errors.
Your on the right track already....

Now sit back and read some intelligent posts...

[Hyprdrv]

Hey Cowboy,
Funny you mention insurance. My wife and I decided to buy a 41' Catamaran after a day trip on a Booze cruise in Cozumel. No we weren't drunk but so enjoyed the day we started to think about it. You see we have never owned a boat before nor had any sailing experience on anything bigger than a 15 footer. So after looking around and figuring about what it would cost to buy one we took off for the Abocos Islands for a week of classes on a 44' Cat. Again we had such a great time it was decided we would go forward and find our boat.
So about a year later we find Electra glide, a 41' Lagoon Cat that we put a deposit on. Go through all the prerequisites including calling 3 different insurance companies for prices, explained the situation, and after the inspections and sea trials call the first insurance company, and get "you never owned a boat before and your buying what?" "Sorry, no can do". This happened 3 times in a matter of 1 hour while the final inspection is going on! I told all 3 (one was boatUS) what the plan was and the experience level the first time around so to say I was a little upset is an understatement considering I could loose my deposit and all costs related to the inspections. So in desperation I call my Home and Auto insurer State Farm. My agent goes "your buying what!?" "Ok your covered, don't hit anything." and that was it.
As for annual costs it depends on what your doing and how much sweat equity your willing to put in. A boat is a project that never ends. That's not necessarily a bad thing if your a tinkerer and you can save a bunch of money doing it yourself. If not then it can get expensive on that size boat. The trick is to stay one step ahead of everything. If you see a small drip inside fix it before it does a lot more damage. If you here or smell something funny find out what is causing it and fix it.
Security:
Yes the Bird Poop buildup is a dead giveaway that the owner isn't around much.
Make friends with your dock mates! They are your best defense, if they are a live-aboard put them on your Christmas list and send a card. Regulars on the dock should be on a first name bases with you and offer to help them with your skills even if it's just "holding the other end". They are a wealth of knowledge.
Something that doesn't come easy:
Docking.
Even during the classes we didn't get enough time on the wheel to learn to dock. We hadn't really docked a boat until we bought one. You see people don't want you to wreck their boat and docking is where most damage is done so take a hard look at where your boat will be docked and get an "easy" slip to get in and out of. Nice thing about a cat is most of the time we are on a "T".
Best of luck and go for it. We are glad we did.

Steve in Solomons MD.

[Prairie Chicken]

Are you flying for a carrier, or corporate? If corporate, draw a parallel to the yacht & you'll have a pretty accurate idea of requirements & options to answer your questions.

As to sails, ditto to what boatman says above. If you buy a newish boat with sails in good shape, don't sail non-stop and often in heavy wx, don't rip them up with electric winches, and don't crave the new technology versions, they'll likely last decades.

You may need to hire a yacht care company or individual to check the yacht periodically, and also to do routine maintenance that you don't have the time or interest to do yourself.

[Zanshin]

I'll chime in here - I started off with some college sailing experience on small boats and then years of flying and decided to get a boat. After researching the available boats and having decided that I could deal with an ex-charter boat, I opted for something in the 40-49 range and flew down to the BVI in off-season hot summer. After clambering in and around over 30 boats with camera and notepad I chose a Jeanneau 43DS as my first boat. Before buying it, I took the basic 3 or 4 ASA course in the BVI on the exact same make and model of boat and asked the instructor to let me do all the work since my intent was to single-hand the boat and I wanted to make sure that I really could.

The course not only helped learn the kinds of things one needs to know such as basic sailing and boat handling but also touched on boats systems and repairs. After that I decided to buy the 43DS and haven't looked back since, I'm on my 4th boat and now singlehand my Jeanneau 57, in fact I'm writing this post while anchored of Diamond Cay in Jost van Dyke in the BVI.

After having just finished the ASA courses and purchased my first boat, I was able to get insurance for the boat. They were more interested in the recent survey of the boat than in my sailing resume and a year later I sold the boat to someone who had never sailed before in his life and he, after 5 days of training, also got insurance for the boat without any problems. I mentioned my flying experience on my application and I believe that can make a positive difference to insurance companies.

There are so many approaches to maintenance and ways to compute boat costs that I believe it will be difficult to correctly estimate running costs and maintenance. The major factor in costs, in my opinion, is labor. Any owner of large boat with complex systems (different battery banks, DC current, AC current, water pumps, engines, lines, etc.) should be able to perform many maintenance tasks. That doesn't mean that they have to perform the work, since that costs time and time is a valuable commodity for most boat owner. Thus you start balancing time against costs to pay someone else to do the work. And those decisions play a major factor in maintenance costs since some people with time and inclination put in hundreds of (unpaid) hours in maintaining the boat and see low maintenance costs, while others pay to get the work done and that raises the costs.

With some good training, I believe that starting with a large boat is not a problem. The bigger the boat gets the higher the forces, so a mistake that results in a rope burn on a dinghy could conceivably cause loss of a finger on a large one; or a docking error that will "buff out" on a lighter boat will need some fiberglass work on a big one.

[Greggegner]

Take some lessons and buy a cheap boat for one or two years. This will require you to; learn how to maintain the boat, get experience, allow you to better understand what size of boat you want, and what type of boat, etc. I suggest about a 30 in fair shape. Take some weekend trips. Then go for it in a year. You will know by then.

[CSY Man]

Sent you a PM...

[Capt.Alex]

All good advice so far. As far as getting a captains license goes, it's not that simple. A USCG captains license requires at minimum 360 DAYS of documented experience in the operation of a boat. Unless you have crewed and/or chartered a whole lot, and you say this would be your first boat, you probably don't have the time in. I would focus on taking the ASA sailing courses, maybe a US Power squadron course, and go sailing as often as possible on other peoples boats. Most yacht owners do not have a captains license, insurors are more concerned with the amount of experience you have on similar sized vessels. Go charter in the BVI's a couple of times with a captain. You will gain invaluable experience and also build your sailing resume for the insurance co. BTW...I went from a sunfish to a 44' center cockpit

[a64pilot]

Since your a pilot I'll put my answer in that perspective.
What your wanting is a King Air, but maybe you ought to get your Private first in a 172?

[caradow]

Not to stifle your dreams but this thread is very scary reading about some people who encourage you to go through with buying a 50 ft. boat with no experience.
Do yourself a big favor and please listen to those that have suggested a slower approach. There are so many things that can go wrong out there and I suspect those that are encouraging you have not really done that much sailing or sail in relatively protected waters such as the BVI's or live very dangerously no matter what size boat they now sail.
Simply bringing a 50 ft boat into a dock on a windy day can be tricky enough not to mention how you do when you experience your first squall.
It is one thing to not be concerned about the damage to your boat but what about all the other boats you will encounter? Also the "adventure" will certainly be crushed when you are responsible for someone's death.
Also 50 ft boats are expensive to maintain from yard bills to equipment and sails. Things are always breaking and the sea is a very harsh environment. Did I mention yard bills?
Buy a small keel boat and learn to sail. Eventually graduate to sailing in strong winds in protected waters. Also like others have suggested charter with a captain in the islands somewhere. Last but not least crew on a delivery that involves open ocean sailing for at least two to three days.

And if you have nice weather go again and again until you experience bad weather and you ask yourself WTF am I doing out here? Then and only then will you be ready to make an informed decision. Believe me it will be money and time well spent!

oh yea there are those that use their boats as condo's and never leave the dock.
good luck

[Jim Cate]

Hmmm...

The OP has not re-emerged since the 9th. I suspect that he sobered up (hopefully before flying off with a bunch of passengers) and realized that he didn't make too much sense.

Or perhaps he is busy sailing his new fifty footer!

Jim

[goboatingnow]

having delivered several 50 footers for new clients , and that was their first boat , let me add my tuppence.

A 50 footer can seem too big or small depending on how you sail, with who do you sail and where.

SO who are your crew ? and what is their experience.

Try and take small steps , hopefully with someone experienced at your side. Or else leave her at the docks and crew for other people to build experience. It doesnt take too long to get the hang of things

If you are taking her out , get some expert help for as long as necessarily. Do everything yourself, but you have help to hand.

for a newbie crew on a 50 footer are important.

Nice yacht BTW, shell take you anywhere. ( and fast too) Is she rigged with the performance options ?

dave