40ft or 50ft -What Do You Like ?

[Kettlewell]

In other threads I have pointed out that in general (yes, there are many exceptions) the smaller the boat, the more fun the people seem to be having. The #1 reason people leave cruising is the cost and difficulty of maintaining their boats, and that factor increases hugely as you go up in length. Sit around the beach campfire with the folks on the smaller boats and they're talking about where they've been and where they're headed. Sit around the campfire with the bigger boat folks and they're talking about where they can get something fixed, or how to have something FedExed to some god-forsaken city that nobody would go to if they didn't have to get things shipped. And, yes, it's a broad generalization.

[minaret]

Originally Posted by daddle

I got the smallest lightest 50 footer I could afford. Length is all to the good. Beam, volume and displacement bad. Sails like a dinghy.

Beam, volume, and displacement are only bad if you place speed before stability, righting moment, and a comfortable motion in a seaway. It's not a race.

[captain58sailin]

I opted for the Skookum 53' as final vessel for adventuring. It is deep, heavy, and sails very well, regardless the weather. My Wife and I are in our 50's and both experienced seafarers, sail handling is not an issue with roller furling. The extra living space, fuel, water is a big plus for those of us that go for long periods of time between populated ports. The draft is a draw back for the Caribbean, but we prefer the deep anyway. It is far easier to dock a heavy boat than a light one, you don't have the bloody thing jumping around when comes time to tie off. The longer you are at sea, the smaller your vessel will seem to you. It is an individual choice. My Wife and I prefer the comfort of the larger vessel, plus ours has a blast freezer fish hold!

[Randyonr3]

Originally Posted by minaret

Beam, volume, and displacement are only bad if you place speed before stability, righting moment, and a comfortable motion in a seaway. It's not a race.

Constantly hear this remark from those with heavy boats, and I have to wonder where it comes from, as I've raced on a Santa Cruz 50 many times.. in the open ocean, of northern California, in very rough conditions and its one of the most comfortable boats to sail,
This myth is the same that arose when people started cruising "j" boats but you see hundreds out there with families aboard...
You have to use some common sence about some.of these choices and what boats someone has, the cost of a SC 50 is two to three times the price of any other 50 foot boat that's built for cruising, if your origional cost is that much for that boat, don't you think he knows something about it that others don't, and is satisfied with using it as a cruiser,

[minaret]

Lol! An SC50 costs a small fraction of the cost of a serious cruiser like mine. You can pick one up for under 200k.

[Randyonr3]

We found the 38 to 45 foot to be the most comfortable for us . Small enough to handle as we get older but large enough for us to live comfortable on. The added cost, maybe a.couple extra quarts of bottom paint every couple years, little more on sails every 10 years or so rigging every 10to15years.
But basic maintainance is the same on a smaller boat, that is until you get below 25to28foot.
When in harbor, we stay at yacht clubs so dock space is little, at anchor the cost is the same.
Ground tackle, maybe a little more to start but thats bought only once, hopefully.

[Kettlewell]

if your origional cost is that much for that boat, don't you think he knows something about it that others don't, and is satisfied with using it as a cruiser,

No. If you spend that much for something there is a powerful incentive to believe it is worth it.

[Randyonr3]

Originally Posted by minaret

Lol! An SC50 costs a small fraction of the cost of a serious cruiser like mine. You can pick one up for under 200k.

Not quite a small fraction, found 3 on line in just a few minutes for under 2

[Sailor_Hutch]

Originally Posted by svBeBe

Our previous boat was 46-ft and it did not have sufficient storage space and none of the luxuries. We sold it prior to beginning full-time cruising and bought a 53-ft boat. It is just the 2 of us aboard; and I cannot imagine living full-time on a smaller boat. We have tons of storage space and it is all filled.
Judy

... and it is all filled ...

Yep, the same thing happened to us when we upgraded the size of our house. (Our junk seemed to expand to fill available space - a little bit like that Great Neck expanding foam insulation).

Based on price/desirability/volume calculations, and for the typical budget, I think the price/size sweet spot must be in the low to mid forties. Yet, money can always be saved by operating below the sweet spot. If a Slocum 36 does it all for ya, it's silly to spend more! No two persons have exactly the same requirements - some are packrats, (I know one of those) and some feel overburdened when carrying more than a knap-sack (that's more like me) ...

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by
However, going bigger would mean (in order of importance to me) 1) more time doing maintenance than having fun.[COLOR=red

Why as they all have the same systems! So unless the bigger boat has more systems, especially electrical ones, the maintenance time is the same! The only thing that takes a little more time is painting/waxing/cleaning the deck. I will admit that probably wastes 30 minutes a year more for me. [/COLOR] More boat means more hardware to rebed, more bottom to paint and clean, more things that could break and need repair. Again it is minor amount of extra time and is well worth the extra comfort of the larger boat. My 43.5' boat has LESS fittings on the deck than my 39' boat had. 2) more cost for replacement items and repairs. sure some costs are going to be more, but it isn't all about costs 3) compromises on features because i would have to get an older boat to stay in that price range. just another budget item4) a harder boat for my Bride to handle when it's her shift. I don't think a 45' bat is any harder to handle than a 35' boat, unless you have 35' boat winches on your 45' boat

For us, the Catalina 310 is a perfect cruising boat to cruise the east cost and Caribbean. And it's only 31 feet with loads of smart design features that I wouldn't have in a larger boat. That's great, for you!

If your goal is cruise and not just go sailing I'm going to stick to my belief that you should get the largest boat you can afford to buy, operate and maintain (within in reason which for a couple to me gets to the point of low return around 46-48'). This is going to be your HOME!

So ask yourself how much is reasonable per year to have the extra comfort.

[Triton318]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

A bigger boat is faster (length at the waterline) and more seaworthy, other things being equal.

No doubt a longer waterline corresponds to a faster hull speed, but I would have to respectfully disagree with you on the latter. The definition of seaworthy is "fit or safe for a sea voyage." All things being equal, a 28' boat can be just as seaworthy as a 45' boat.

If you feel differently, I would love to hear your thoughts on the topic.

Thanks.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Triton318

No doubt a longer waterline corresponds to a faster hull speed, but I would have to respectfully disagree with you on the latter. The definition of seaworthy is "fit or safe for a sea voyage." All things being equal, a 28' boat can be just as seaworthy as a 45' boat.

If you feel differently, I would love to hear your thoughts on the topic.

Thanks.

Hey I'll support you on this, for the most part!

I would have said that a bigger boat is faster and more comfortable! That comfort part though can come into play in a lot of related areas.

[Seadog54]

Have years of monohull experience and we both are currently panning our own sell-up-and sail venture. We had narrowed choices down to 40 feet as more length was out of range of our budget! All the live-aboard books, CD's, DVDs seem to stress the absolute necessity of plenty of living space. The at London boat show discovered our ideal boat was very small (cramped)for a quality live-aboard life style. Then stepped on a catamaran and had my prejudices blown apart! A 38 foot Cat brings us twice the living space and a cruising life not at a permanent heel! Read Chris White' "The Cruising Multihull for technological paradigm shift.

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by Seadog54

Have years of monohull experience and we both are currently panning our own sell-up-and sail venture. We had narrowed choices down to 40 feet as more length was out of range of our budget! All the live-aboard books, CD's, DVDs seem to stress the absolute necessity of plenty of living space. The at London boat show discovered our ideal boat was very small (cramped)for a quality live-aboard life style. Then stepped on a catamaran and had my prejudices blown apart! A 38 foot Cat brings us twice the living space and a cruising life not at a permanent heel! Read Chris White' "The Cruising Multihull for technological paradigm shift.

Interesting.
Most will say a Cat is equal to a Mono hull +10 feet.
Your 38 foot cat should equal a 48 foot mono hull.

I have a 46 foot Tartan in the slip next to me and they agree that our 36 Cat has more room than theirs. The 46 foot Tartan cost 2 times more than our boat.
If you do the math, it's sometime cheaper to have a cat.
All our expenses went down from having our Catalina 380.

Our two kids never wanted to go on the Catalina 380.
They want to be on the Cat every week.

[sailorboy1]

I keep hearing this "how big cats" are. One of you cat people need to invite me onto you boat because I went onto a 38' cat at the Boston Boat Show and I felt it had less room than my boat! yes it had a decent size salon table that would seat 1 more thn my table, but the rest just sucked!

Not saying that you don't have a nice boat, just that I don't believe the blanket statement based on the cats I've been on.