Hello and Intro - from UK

[moonlighter]

Hi everyone! As per the instructions, having just joined the board I'm introducing myself. Brought up sailing small craft and dinghies, then dropped sailing for many years while working. Then bought a 43' blue water yacht with hubby which we owned for nearly 20 years, and sailed in foreign seas, before recently selling.

I am now about to purchase a much smaller vessel for myself, and have pretty much narrowed it down to a choice between a Trident 24 or Eventide 26. As I'll be sailing her alone, I'm looking for a boat that will solo easily. Looking at the advantages of a junk rig on the Trident, but the accommodations are so much better on the Eventide! But am concerned that I know nothing about wood/epoxy hulls. Should I be afraid/very afraid and stay away from them, stick to tupp*rware? I hope to find the answer on this board. Fast. Hah!

Also, I apologise for my general anonymity to members of the board; this is a project I'm funding and carrying out on my own, and I don't want hubby finding out until I'm good and ready. Nice to be here, anyway!

[Liam Wald]

Hi MOONLIGHTER'
Cheers from California. Good luck with the boat search and the "secret".

[captain58sailin]

Welcome moonlighter,
There have been several discussions on this subject on this forum, if you perform a search you will find some opinions about wood/epoxy. I don't know about the brand vessel you are asking about, but I have had good experience with plywood/epoxy projects that I have engaged on different vessels that I have owned. We also have a skiff builder in our town that uses plywood/epoxy exclusively and he provides a superior product with a good record of longevity.

[anglooff]

Welcome Moonlighter,

We brits are always more interesting with a little bit of intrigue thrown into the mix. I hope you find what your looking for and when you find it, tell us what you bought and your location....just after you tell your hubby.

Best Regards

Alan

[moonlighter]

Hi Guys, thanks for the welcome! As to the intrigue, I may find it all a bit too much after a while. How DO people cover their tracks effectively when doing something the spouse doesn't know about - whatever it may be??? Oy vey! As a first-time "behind the back-er", even though this is a GOOD surprise for him, I already have the jitters, LOL! Shall be checking out the rest of the board for info on the wooden hulls, and you're right, we Brits are definitely interesting, even if only because we're lunatics. (I was about to add the little icon that looked to me like someone raising a glass of ale to that, but apparently it's popcorn, which doesn't have quite the same impact! So ...)

[bastonjock]

Hi Im on the East coast,im not familiar with the boats that you mention but there are plenty of 26footers about,personally unless you love siting down at the boat and varnishing i would stick with the GRP.What king of sailing are you going to do?is it little coastal hops or do you want to be able to have the odd weekend?

[moonlighter]

Hi Jock, can't say I'm MAD about varnishing, but the Eventides have such wonderful character and other attributes over all the GRP boats I've seen ... and lived in. LOL! Also, as I'm wanting to train myself on this boat and really imprint myself on it, I need something that's no larger than 26', but it has to have a private forepeak cabin, and it MUST have a heads that can be closed off from the main cabin. Last time I made hubby stand outside in mid-winter with the cows, he swore it was the last time. lol! (No, this wasn't at sea, it was on a farm; I wasn't seeing sea-cows! hah!) - Not a lot of 26' boats that give as much space and solidity as the Eventides, or at least I haven't met one yet. Yet. ;-)

The sailing: basically I want to start gently, re-remind myself how it all works (and how I work within that!), do some Broads sailing, then as my confidence grows move to the estuaries and coast, then cross to Europe and do those waterways, and hopefully navigate through to the Med sooner or later. I am torn between getting a smaller boat here for the learning, then selling it and getting a bigger one for the Med, or just getting a "middler" to do both.

Haven't decided yet whether hubby will be let in on the secret before, or after, I do the Med.

[bastonjock]

for the broads,try to find a boat that has a mast that you can drop,a lifting keel is also a good Idea.There are a lot of small boats further down the coast from the Broads.

[moonlighter]

Yes, sussed that, although if you stick to the southern rivers the bridges are all lifting or swinging, I believe, so the mast is only an issue if you want to go into Norwich, or into the northern river system. The lifting keel is nice, but it's a horrible addition to the accommodations! I also have an inbuilt mistrust of something that can get stuck, break off, drop off, etc ... more easily than fixed ones, I mean. But I may have to grin and bear it if I go with the Trident 24 I like so much in most other ways!

[Roaring Girl]

Hi Moonlighter - another E coast sailor! I don't know the Eventide or Trident well but have heard good reports of them as sailors. Your point as to whether to get the learner (not that it sounds like you have much sailing learning to do) and then go up is a good one. The advantage of this is that if in the end you don't want to do the other things (age/boredom/fear/money ....) you still have a boat that's good for where you are. Also if it all goes badly wrong you haven't invested money that maybe you can't afford to lose. I'm also not sure that a good Broads boat is a good one for the N Sea ...

So it may be better to start small and discover how much you like the pottering about and fixing things. If you wanted something slightly bigger (though I can't remember about the mast) then a Halcyon 27 or a Twister 28 are both good sea boats and easily single handed.

Final point: a lot of the best bargains are found with a short list of necessary features and then a lot of scouting around the backs of boat yards. It's not necessary to pick the class, rather than say - I want this kind of keel/rig/mast and go from there. For a leelte bit more work you can pick up good bargains that way. If you head to Woodbridge/Ipswich/Tollesbury there are tons of boats on cradles wanting some TLC and the open water.

[moonlighter]

Hi Sarah, love the name of your yacht! Yes, I've been thinking the same way, really, regarding the search. I do want a boat I can use in the southern river system as well as on the coast, and preferably one that will then also be able to take me to Europe/the Med. I don't want something I have to do much work on before I can sail her; I want a sail-away, though I don't mind doing ongoing stuff and upgrades as time passes. It's my hubby who likes "pottering around and fixing things", so once I reveal all to him, he'll be in heaven! LOL!

I'm also very restricted by budget. If I want hubby to remain unsuspecting, I can't sell the riverboat (cabin cruiser) till later, or he'll instantly know something's up. But yes, I've been looking on the internet and in boatyards along the coast (was in Woodbridge and Essex yesterday), and shall continue that way if I don't settle on one I've already seen. I did actually start by looking at 17-18 footers, just as day sailers really, but when you've come down from a 43' 13-tonner with effectively 3 sleeping cabins, 2 full heads, nav area, full galley, and large saloon, with full 6'6" headroom, it's kind of hard to find what the happy medium is. So I'm working my way up as I go, LOL!

I shall do a search for a Twister; have looked at Halcyons but none in my price range at this time. I think I'll have to settle for a generous 24-26' within budget for now, and plan larger later. Hey, just the idea of HAVING a sailing boat again is exciting enough for the moment. :-)

[moonlighter]

Actually, I'm more concerned about finding a suitable mooring at the moment. I have to either go for a drying mooring, or a river mooring on the southern rivers - can't afford a pontoon etc. So if anyone knows something suitable for a 24-26' boat, preferably on the southern Broads, please let me know? Thanks!

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!
If you want to keep your secret and cover the time you might be away from the house a good way is to pretend you are having an affair if he ever finds out. He'll be pleasantly surprised its a boat instead.
regards,

[Jim Cate]

G'Day Moonlighter,

Don't know if this thread is still active, but assuming that you are still interested in the "wood-epoxy" hull issue, here goes:

First, do you mean cold-molded construction, glass over plywood construction, or strip plank construction? All are "wood-epoxy" techniques, but are quite different in their qualities. I can't offer an educated opinion on the plywood method, but we've owned, lived aboard and blue-water cruised in a strip-planked (Western Red Cedar and epoxy composite) yacht for the last seven years, and have close friends with a cold molded yacht. In general, these construction methods, if well executed, are strong, long lived, and generally superior to the average polyester-glass FRP construction. If you have specific queries I'd be happy to give them consideration.

Cheers and good luck with your secret project.

Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable II lying Lake Macquarie, NSW, Oz