How Small Is Too Small?

[TritonSailor]

Well if the weather is that bad, then I quess a clean pair of underwear will be helpful

[rtbates]

You'll know the answer to the question of size at about the same time you gather enough knowledge so as to not be a danger to yourself and those sailing around you..

[cosmosmariner]

Originally Posted by TritonSailor

I just wanted to weigh in because I own what would be considered a small boat and I chose this particular boat for many reasons. Every boat out there comes with a list of pro's and a list of con's. For people to say why bother if they don't include a watermaker, TV, and refrigerator I feel are ignorant. I have a Pearson Triton which will be able to fit 60 gallons of water. That is feasibly enough for one person for a 30 day Pacific run. Maybe to play it safe I would add jugs of water for the just in case. If you are not in a marina, are you really going to consistently try and run a TV everyday and waste precious power, pick up a good book. Your in the tropics, learn how to identify different fish or birds. Refrigerators are a luxury, if your boat is big enough and maintenance can be afforded, all the power to ya. But there is such a thing as non-perishable food and it won't kill me to drink warm water. I'm not saying that if I could have those things I would turn it down. What I'm saying is that I know what I can afford, I know that I will survive and it will still be a great experience. The Triton is 28'6", I am 6'1" and I can stand up in the cabin. I can't jump up and down, but why would I want to do that. It has a place to cook and prepare food, it has an area for navigation equipment and radios, it has a head, and most importantly it has a decent size v-berth. It has been proven as a worthy world traveler and has stood up to what the sea has thrown at her. Now I can't take an Irish spring shower, I don't have a stateroom, I don't have two bathrooms. But I bet my little Triton can go from the west coast to the Marquesas and spend less money doing it. The important thing is if the individual or couple is happy living and cruising on the boat, if they are then it doesn't matter how big it is and if it has SatTV, humidor, waterheater, Teak interior. I like my little Triton. What's better is it's mine, not the banks. Now if I could just get the damn thing in the water!!!

Brothers and sisters...put your hands on the tiller... say Hallelujah... say Amen!

We're 25' and have solar power to run luxuries like portable Engel freezer and Pur water maker but if all the technology fails we have backups and backups to the backups as described by tritonsailor! by the way Triton was my first cruiser love!

[cosmosmariner]

Originally Posted by sabray

I think hereshoff said He had never met a man who ate ot slept standing up.
For me anything les then 28 woulld be to small and even then Id be looking into the 30's.

You gotta go with what fulfills the requirements. I'm 5' 8" and my wife is 5' 5". Wu-Hsin at 25' on deck has 5' 10" headroom with 6' in the galley area...works for us. Your boat's not too small...you're too tall! Next problem? (just kidding...just kidding........sorta')

[Squeaks]

My 32' Westerly has 5'10" headroom, my 29'6" Golden Gate a bit more headroom but much more interior room, larger water tanks, but not necessarily "stowage" (the Westerly has galley cabinets big enough for a full-sized pressure cooker, not so the Golden Gate). Every boat is a bit different and utilizes it's "size" differently. Like most things it boils down to personal taste and budget.
Keep it simple (unless you can fix it :-)

[permagrin]

no one needs a negative Nancy

[Oyvind]

The boat that has probably seen most circumnavigations is the 28' Albin Vega, a 70's long-keeled Swedish "pocket cruiser". They are cheap and able boats, but I'd try to get one that has been retrofitted with a new engine, and especially stay away from anything with a petrol engine. In general, if buying any old boat with the original, raw water cooled engine (common in the 70's and early 80's), you should make room for a new engine in your budget.

I own another, well known 70's Swede, a Maxi 84 which is also 28'. The build quality of the Maxi is overall better than the Albin, but the Albin may be a better sailor, especially off shore where the long keel makes for a smoother ride.

[Talbot]

Originally Posted by FS Mike

I humbly submit Porter's rule #2:
The ideal size cruising sailboat is 10' bigger than whatever you happen to be on when the weather goes to hell.

This post is undoubtedly the one that makes more sense than any of the others on this thread.

The perfect boat for a person is a personal decision based on finances, intentions for use, previous experience, and finally, boat availability when purchasing!

[johngd]

my father had a leisure 17 SL on a small lake. I learnd sailing on it. It turned out to be ideal for getting used to a yacht in miniture size. Ideal to learn single handed. The costs are plenty for a big boat will make more trouble than it's worth. Adventure is out there but mabe not on the luxury yacht and in the luxury marinas. I'm actually thinking of hiking the coastal area of croatia or greece in a open boat to get into the feeling that the world loves me. but how to get going when so many things we hang on to. maybe to observe our mind how it alway wants to go back to the thing it knows best. If you want to have adventure experience you have to take somebody on an adventure.

[johngd]

or let somebody take you

(talking to myself as most of the time)

[Sea Wolf]

When my husband and I first went cruising, we went down the ICW from NY to the islands. In Beaufort, NC, we met a young man who was a ranger in the arctic circle. Carl took a sabbatical from his job and was cruising in a 19' lightening, open sailboat. He was 6'5". At the time, it was snowing... so you know how cold it was. His only problem was that he was lonely. He was pushing to get to Charleston, where he was meeting up with fiance. She was a nurse in the arctic circle. And then there were two on that 19 foot boat. They had a little cook stove and a tent and they were about as happy and content as any cruisers we've ever met. The moral of this little story is that you can cruise contentedly on very little, in what I consider to be abominable condition... happiness it's all a state of mind.

That being said... no way, no how, would I do what they did, but I give them credit for getting out there and doing it.

Loree
Aboard SeaWolf
CruisersLife.com

[JackHinks]

Hey don't let the enormity of the journey get to you. My old man read a book about sailing, bought an ensign and took me sailing as a kid. We kinda fumbled through it together. I later picked up skills as I went along. Did I dream of bluewater and a circumnavigation back then? Yes, (and still do). And like some of these other posts, there were those that told me I shouldn't dream such big dreams. But Tiger Woods was dreamin' of the Masters when he was three or four years old, and look what he accomplished. Read everything you can on sailing, sail as much as possible, take some lessons, get a cheap boat to hone your skills with, and you will go farther than you ever dreamed.
As Samuel Eliot Morison (Sailor/Historian) once wrote: "Dream dreams, and write about them...But live them first."

[JackHinks]

Another thing about size...
I have been beat up in a F-27 in the Gulf of Mexico in a 5 foot steep chop and thought I'd been "beamed-up" to a Sears Kenmore Washing Machine on rinse cycle! Another time I was delivery crew on an 80ft Steel motor-vessel from Boston to Miami and in Block-Island sound with 10-12 foot seas, the Captain (very experienced) and the mate (bluewater experience on a schooner) started to get real worried ( and me, mr coastal-cruiser, 25 ft catalina) too dumb to know better, the Capt & Mate said "we're headin' into New London" and I was like "Why"? They later told me that the boat would have been fine, but the crew would have been "long past the point of giving a flyin' flip". Thing is, and I have not been in Cape Horn Conditions or anything like that, from what I've read and heard from those that have been bluewater, that is UNLESS you are on the QEII or a Nimitz class carrier, everything under 300 feet or 200 tons gets tossed around like a cork. My dad still tells horror stories about his marine unit coming back from the med in 1953 on an LST (Navy transport about 500 ft) that 30-40 ft and larger waves incapacitated most of the marines/navy crew. But that was the north atlantic in november and Jimmy Cornell and Beth Leonards' books on routing tell us all to not go there then!
Still Tania Aebi (after her circumnavigation) said that she would have liked a bigger boat for her next bluewater trip.
That being said, TritonSailor seems to sum it up best.
Whether I go to Tahiti or to the Keys, I am gonna go in a classic plastic about 28-32 feet and forego the floating condo with all the amenities. They all break-down anyway!

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by JackHinks

. . . Tiger Woods was dreamin' of the Masters when he was three or four years old, and look what he accomplished.

Eldrick "Tiger" Woods was born with incomparable talent, an unmatched competitive drive and a willingness to work like hell to take advantage of all that talent and competitive drive. He was also fortunate to be the only son of Eldrick Woods, Sr.

Luckily, since virtually none of us possesses such talent, drive or parentage, the one thing that's still available is to work hard at something, in this case sailing, and accomplish wonderful things. As moderator Paul is fond of saying, it's mostly about showing up.

Keep showing up, work hard on getting better and you will attain the satisfaction of becoming a more-than-competent sailor.

TaoJones

[weedeater64]

Originally Posted by meyermm

Most blue water cruising boats are in the 37 to 44ft range! Why, well yes price but even if you can afford the most expensive boat you still have to be able to sail it without a crew. Smaller than 37 and storage becomes an issue smaller tanks fuel and water, less room for water maker etc. I get a little tired of reading how someone sailed without watermaker, shower, fridge etc. Why? It is as though they are trying to show how tough they are, most people in the developed world have water to drink and bath in, a refrigerator and TV so why would you not want those basics when you live aboard? If you are unable to afford those basics then maybe you can't afford to cruise. As has been already pointed out you can go in a 20ft boat if you are prepared but the chances of doing it safely are greatly diminished along with comfort which then begs the question why bother?

What do watermakers, showers, and fridges, tv's and such, have to do with doing it safely?