San Diego is the perfect place to study the "seaworth
blue water boat -vs- coastal cruiser&
liveaboard boat" phenomenon.
Dozens of examples of each type arrive here yearly.
I know many couples who
live aboard smaller Catalinas, Hunters, Beneteaus...etc. They have lots of room and creature comfort. Eventually some significant number of them
head off south down the
Baja Coast (750 miles of nothing with 15 - 25
knot winds and 4' to 7' waves/swells every day) and then spend a year or two in the
Sea of Cortez. Most then make the 185 - 350 mile crossing to the Mexican mainland. In the 14 years I've been doing the same thing myself I have never heard of a
single boat being damaged or destroyed due to light construction or "cheap building"
Likewise, I have several acquaintances here in
San Diego living aboard "crab crushers" or other "sea worthy" boats such as the Westsail. One of them lives on a very stout and sturdy 196?
Newport 30 - the
hull layup is over an inch thick and the rig could support twice the sail area. They give up a lot of space and modern creature comforts but are convinced their boats are safer and more sea kindly. They to do the
Baja, Mexican
route, and they to have no problems with their boats.
More than 150 boats a year do the Baja HaHa and, if you scour their boat registrations, you'll see many of the light weight "peoples cruisers" and in the last 15 years I can think of none who had a problem due to boat construction.
The ONLY two boats I personallyh knew that had serious problems cruising from San Diego to Central Ameria were a
Pacific Seacraft 37 that went on a rock in a
hurricane and sunk and a J-120 that
lost a
rudder bearing headed from Cabo to Tenacatita.
Most modern (post 1960) boats can handle way more than their crew if sailed / voyaged with some degree of caution when selecting
weather windows.
The question really comes down to:
What kind of boat do you want to LIVE on and in?