Looking for a 'Home'

[pb.and.j]

HE's from West Australia, working in West Africa ~Phillip B.
SHE's from Western Canada, studying in Eastern Canada ~ Janelle

WE are looking to buy a steel monohull to live aboard TOGETHER...

SOMEWHERE!

There are NO BERTHS in Western Australia! We prefer not to go there anyway - would LOVE to berth in Tasmania or near by from 2012 - prefer away from Australia - we are looking for a quiet life to live aboard - somewhere safe, friendly and cheap....

know a good spot for us? know of a steel hull for sale that would be large enough to live aboard comfortably? ....suggestions WELCOME!

CHEERS!

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by pb.and.j

HE's from West Australia, working in West Africa ~Phillip B.
SHE's from Western Canada, studying in Eastern Canada ~ Janelle

WE are looking to buy a steel monohull to live aboard TOGETHER...

SOMEWHERE!

There are NO BERTHS in Western Australia! We prefer not to go there anyway - would LOVE to berth in Tasmania or near by from 2012 - prefer away from Australia - we are looking for a quiet life to live aboard - somewhere safe, friendly and cheap....

know a good spot for us? know of a steel hull for sale that would be large enough to live aboard comfortably? ....suggestions WELCOME!

CHEERS!

PNW (Washington state and British Columbia). I saw a comparison of all the NAmerican cruising areas and the PNW came out on top. Nothing really great there, but NOTHING bad either: minimal bugs, no hurricanes, no winter haulout (though it does get cold and occasionally it snows), plenty of civilization (with boating infrastructure for boat repair and jobs to pay for it), reasonable prices, plenty of marinas, plenty of holes you can anchor the boat in for extended periods if not indefinitely.

Although I have been interested in them in the past, steel hulls never really fit with the rest of my life and I never did enough research to talk cogently about particular makes and models. Why steel? Do you have a specific adventure in mind or do you just want something that is bullet-proof?

More general questions: Where do you want to go in this steel boat? How big? How much lucre do you have for this little adventure? Are there or will there be little one involved?

[James S]

Welcome to the forum pb and j

[pb.and.j]

Thanks for your replies and welcomes!

This is our second lifetime. We are starting a new life together but we are in mid-life ourselves - so no more little ones! We have four big ones who are all on the verge of being self-sufficient... finally!

We are somewhat familiar with the PNW but it is not cheap. Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle and Portland are all favourite spots but they are expensive! I am a communications consultant and should be able to do my work with a laptop and satellite connection and my man will probably fly in and out of wherever we are as he is a Geologist. Part of why we like the idea of living aboard is that I may be able to anchor close to wherever his next contract is or at least somewhere with an airport that is less than 12-hrs away.

I like civilisation but he hates it, so the PNW also works in that respect and we both have no issue with cold weather (I lived aboard a tiny yacht in lake Ontario all year once!) and it might be a good spot to start out - but the taxes are too high and the cost of living is too expensive.

And yes - we want the steel hull because it is bullet proof - not just for bullets, but for reefs. We want to go everywhere! hahaha and we don't need to get there fast, we need to get there safe.

We spent the summer checking out the East coast up North to Newfoundland down to Nova Scotia and Maine as the cost of living is less - but that coast is harsh! Lots of wind and storms. So we are now wondering about Belize, Malaysia, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Costa Rica, Greece, France, Portugal, Spain, etc... place like that are from what we have read, seem like relatively cheaper and safe with moderate weather.

How much lucre? well - all of it! hahaha we are trying to downgrade and simplify life. Neither one of us is interested in a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence but we don't want a condo in the city either. I used to crew on racing yachts in South Australia in my youth and we both have the blood of mariners in our veins so the idea of having our own yacht and living where we want to live and being at sea perpetually is very appealing to us so we would like to give it a go. We will have no other ties or obligations on land except a small storage space in West Australia for whatever we need to keep that won't fit on the boat.

Hope that answers your questions and that spurs more suggestions and ideas

CHEERS!

[boatman61]

Hows this grab ya.....
Nice boat... can probably knock down the price for a fast purchase...
Great location/marina with all facilities and less than 45mins from an International airport...
If you want cheaper and closer anchor/moor up in the Faro/Olkau lagoon...
Used Sail Boats for Sale - Bluewater Algarve, Portugal

Alternatively there's a steel Kompier being discussed on another thread... needs a bit of work tho' it seems...

[pb.and.j]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Hows this grab ya.....
Nice boat... can probably knock down the price for a fast purchase...
Great location/marina with all facilities and less than 45mins from an International airport...
If you want cheaper and closer anchor/moor up in the Faro/Olkau lagoon...
Used Sail Boats for Sale - Bluewater Algarve, Portugal

Alternatively there's a steel Kompier being discussed on another thread... needs a bit of work tho' it seems...

What type of the boat you are suggesting? I can only find wood and fibreglass hulls in Algarve on this link? what am I missing and do you have a link to the other thread for the Kompier?

[boatman61]

Or..... if you want smaller and cheaper there's this one...
Used Sail Boats for Sale - Bluewater Algarve, Portugal


No affiliation... honest

[Adelie]

Maybe living in California for the last 5yr has skewed my sense of what is cheap, expensive and in between, but my experience was that PNW was middle of the road, not cheap but not expensive either.

Unless you want to where the water gets hard (ice) my feeling is that fiberglass can be as safe as steel or aluminum and will be a lot less work keeping the boat well maintained. For a new steel boat the maintenance would be equal to or less than glass. As the age the maintenance requirements go up faster. For a bullet-proof glass boat look at a Westsail 32.

WESTSAIL 32 sailboat on sailboatdata.com
1973 Westsail 32 Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com
1975 Westsail 32 Cutter Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

The question about money was seeking and answer with a number in it. There is a big difference in what you can buy used between $50k and $250k. If you had $250k I would suggest you talk to Bob Perry and have him design you a boat and have it built. With $50k we would start talking about how much to spend on a used boat and how much to upgrade and refit it.

[Celestialsailor]

The thought that steel is bullet proof is misleading. Bernard Moitessier lost his boat to a storm in Cabo San Lucus because he was unable to get it off a beach. Your likely hood of encountering a reef is probably 100,000:1 if not greater. Having built 2 steel sailboats, I'm here to tell you the maintenance can be time consuming compared to fiber-glass. There is a reason 99% of boats are f/g. I have a friend in Mazatlan, Mx. that has been fighting electrolisis in a marina there. Last time he was on the boat he told me that the intigral water tank were tasting like sea water...yup...you got it...the hull is now breached. He has $110,000 invested in the boat and it has been in the water for 20 years. I would get other opinions on this topic of steel boats.

[pb.and.j]

ah I see Adelie - you weren't talking about cruising in general you were talking about what we were willing to invest in a boat - sorry didn't get that the first time

well I think that for our first boat we would rather spend less until we learn more then a $250K is not unreasonable when it will be our home and our dream. We just don't feel confident in our knowledge yet - nor have we done enough research into it to make that expensive yet - but we definitely will in the near future so thank you for the suggestions. We have so much to learn and that is why we are 'here'!

CHEERS!

[Adelie]

Yeah, most people have some sort of on-going income for cruising, but usually have a fixed amount in mind towards purchasing the boat. What a lot of them miss is that purchasing the boat is just the start, most boats are used for day-sailing and coastal cruises and aren't equipped for long-term cruising or offshore. The rule of thumb is to count on spending 1/3-1/2 the purchase price on upgrades.

Then there is the question of how big a boat you want. Bigger boat gives more storage space and lets you be more independent and lets you have guests more easily. On the other hand a smaller boat is easier to maintain and maintenance is a big part of safety, guests are actually pretty rare and a small boat is much easier to handle in really bad weather or in a really bad anchorage.

You want a really safe boat and are willing to go with fiberglassI would go 30-35', full keel or rudder on a skeg, 4-5.5' draft, cutter, moderate beam (9-11').
Baba 30
Alajuela 33
Crealock 34
Pacific Seacraft 31

The boats below are built significantly heavier than the boats above, so much so that they are so heavy they have to have the sail area and anchoring gear of boats much longer than they are. They are somewhat more likely to survive damage but are also somewhat more likely to have problems related to their weight and sail area. Think about cars, would you feel safer driving an SUV (the boats above) or a Unimog (the boats below)?
Mariah 31
Westsail 32

I would pick the Alajuela as the best compromise between size and weight and it has the best layout of any boat in that size range I have seen.

Things to look for are wide side deck for going forward in bad weather, sink near centerline, 1 good berth in the main cabin for each regular crewmember (Pilot berth, quarterberth, aft cabin berth, settee bench, U- or L-dinette in that order of preference, a regular transverse dinette will be a giant hassle to convert nightly and the v-berth is unusable underway or in a bouncy anchorage)

[pb.and.j]

Good points that we were wondering about actually - since there will only be two of us we were thinking small enough to handle - big enough to be comfortable....but and excuse my newbiness if I don't get something - but I don't see any heads on these boats! or shower area? ack! I lived on a 25' boat for a year with no head - not excited about living that way permanently! That might be okay if you are used to living somewhere warm or you are always linked to a dock with services...but that is not our plan...

[Celestialsailor]

Usually anything over 27' will have a head. I could certainly see your concern without one!

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by pb.and.j

Good points that we were wondering about actually - since there will only be two of us we were thinking small enough to handle - big enough to be comfortable....but and excuse my newbiness if I don't get something - but I don't see any heads on these boats! or shower area? ack! I lived on a 25' boat for a year with no head - not excited about living that way permanently! That might be okay if you are used to living somewhere warm or you are always linked to a dock with services...but that is not our plan...

Look here for heads:
Baba 30 Stbd forward
Alajuela 33 Port at companionway
Crealock 34 Portside forward (Pacific Seacraft : PS 34
Pacific Seacraft 31 Starboard side at companion
Mariah 31 Port side forward
Westsail 32 port side forward

As far a showering goes, you will have to do it in the head. Some boats may come fit with showering acoutremont, on others you may have to fit curtains and plumbing. For myself, I intend to get a garden sprayer for the plumbing: cheap, reliable, no electric pumps, can preheat the water.

[captain58sailin]

Welcome to the forum pb and j, I work in west Africa myself, live in Alaska when I'm not galvanting around. I really liked Dover in Tasmania, really, really quiet, which is my speed. PNW is okay but as you observed it can be pricey and it does rain here a good bit. I havn't explored NZ, but by all accounts it is wonderful and the people there are great! The Admiral and I are going to sail down that way after I get slowed down.