Help Buying a 34'-35' sailboat to live in longterm

[roxmyster]

Hello everyone!

I am looking to buy a 34' or 35' sailboat that I can liveaboard longterm with my husband. Price needs to be kept under $50K and would like it to be roomy if possible (my husband is 6'4"). It will be primarily used for coastal cruising, with some excursions to the caribbean. We live in FL, so ventilation is a must and I would prefer the sails to be not so tall (unless there is a way to bring them down easily), since there are a lot of bridges to navigate though. Also, the draft has to be kept under 5.5' since we have shallow waters in FL.

Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance!

[ozskipper]

yachtworld.com has all the answers you need :-D

There are plenty of boats that will fit that price range. Columbias, cat, morgan, c&c, hunter, the specs will vary boat by boat. But an hour on yachtworld will give you some answers.

During your research, keep sailboatdata.com open in another tab/window. It has basic specs on most production boats out there.

[Stu Jackson]

Catalina 34, wing keel. For liveabord, remove the OEM saloon table and use a smaller one.

[CCBullseye]

Not many 34' boats have 6'4" headroom. I once bought a Morgan 34 because it was the smallest boat I could find which had 6'4" headroom. They stopped making them in 1969 I think. The 1970 35' Morgan did not have 6'4" head room.

[Kettlewell]

The headroom will be a problem. I suggest you start looking at lots of boats for sale, which is easy to do in Florida. Don't be picky at first, other than price range. You'll quickly get a feel for what suits you and what doesn't in terms of living aboard. Strangely, some of the older designs had deeper, fuller underbodies, and therefore they often had decent headroom, even if the overall space is not as large as in more modern, wider, flat-hulled boats. I should add that I lived aboard for years in boats where I couldn't stand upright except maybe under the open hatch, and it didn't really bother me. You don't tend to stand and walk around for long periods of time inside of a boat.

[ozskipper]

Originally Posted by ozskipper

yachtworld.com has all the answers you need :-D

There are plenty of boats that will fit that price range. Columbias, cat, morgan, c&c, hunter, the specs will vary boat by boat. But an hour on yachtworld will give you some answers.

During your research, keep sailboatdata.com open in another tab/window. It has basic specs on most production boats out there.

Getting a choice of boat, based on the headroom, may be a challenge. However the Columbia 34 has 7ft
COLUMBIA 34 Mk II sailboat specifications and details on sailboatdata.com

[wingNwing]

CSY 33 has 6'4" headroom in the main cabin, and the bunks are all 6'6". We've been living happily, comfortably on one for 10 years this month.

[forsailbyowner]

I live in a morgan outisland 33, headroom is 6'5. Its roomy with almost 12' beam. 3'11" draft, 47' bridge clearance. The underside is such that its very forgiving of mistakes. Damaging the rudder would be difficult and the keel is molded in so keelbolts aren't an issue. I solo it most of the time and with some practice reefing(the most difficult thing you will do with a sail) isn't too awful. This boat was built in st pete fl especially for cruising the florida and Bahama waters. A race boat it isn't but tracks nicely downwind where fin keels can be a bear to hold a course. You can buy one fully equipped for considerably less than $50k

[Mike OReilly]

Grampian 34 (either ketch or sloop versions). They have 7-feet of headroom in the main cabin, and at least 6 1/2 feet in the aft (on the ketch) and foreword cabins. Spacious, solid, cheap, but old now (mid-1970s).

[Adelie]

Tradewind 33