Small center cockpits for coastal cruising liveboard family

[alohafam]

You are right, total noob over here. I have heard it is dangerous, but am not too familiar with why. Also, that was just one idea, if that doesn't work out then cruising the Bahamas would work too. I just speak fluent Spanish and wanted to expose my kids to Latin culture and live cheaply.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

.................
................................. Please know that "down the west coast" is NOT like Puget Sound, Strait of Juan deFuca or the waters of Straits of Georgia as far north as Desolation Sound. The boat that will serve on the "west coast" is NOT the same boat that suffices for the inland waters!

Maybe you'd like to talk to them wots seen THAT movie about it :-)

TrentePieds

This seems to be important advice. It's well known that the US East Coast is an easier path with more safe inlets and protected options. In addition the path south through the Bahamas offers more short hops.

I am curious about "THAT" movie. Is this a reference to a particular film or video?

[TrentePieds]

Not a ref to a movie, just a way of saying "familiar with the story" :-)

I think we are all agreed that serious seafaring is an activity that is so entirely different from shore side life that those who "haven't seen the movie" can not be expected to understand just HOW different it is, and to what degree it requires "life skills" that are not intuitive but have to be learned.

My reaction when I see this "down the west coast" desire expressed by a landsman (or Copenhagen to Stromsfjord, for that matter) is "Blimey- This person thinks it's like buying a brand new Toyota Corolla and driving it from Vancouver to Montreal"

I have related in a prior post that my BIL [Lt. (RCNR) Ret., with some sea time behind him including a Caribbean cruise in "Oriole" , q.v.] and his wife, in a brand new Atkins "Ingrid" departed Vancouver for "down the west coast" and got as far as Neah Bay before he decided that his marriage meant more to him than Ingrid did :-)

They were young then as are, apparently, most of the new people dreaming of coconuts that we meet on this forum. They hadn't had the years and years of the combination of book-leaning and practical experience required for that voyage. It's a great pity, for they are lovely people, and had they "come in through the hawse" they would, IMO, have made a success of it.

I have been on before about a vessel having to be "fit for her trade". Thus my comment that what will serve in PNW inshore waters may not be suitable for "down the west coast". It's equally true that Skipper has to be in sympathy with the particular vessel. I have no doubt that my BIL would have no difficulty bringing a YAG alongside. Nevertheless, when I asked him to bring TrentePieds alongside while I demonstrated some foredeck work to MyBeloved, he couldn't do it, not because he isn't competent enuff, but because TrentePieds is just a skittish, squirrelly little toy boat with a fin-keel and a spade rudder made all the worse by being wheel-steered. He found her responses totally confusing.

As I said: It's not like driving a Toyota :-)

TrentePieds

[Boatguy30]

Lest is not forget the "licensed captain" navy veteran and all his family misadventures well chronicaled here on CF!

You can get it on the NPR podcast. No movie yet, thankfully! Apparently the 2016 election has a monopoly on stupid at the moment.

[CSY Man]

. CSY 33 for under 15k?

Everything is negotiable

[CSY Man]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

Lest is not forget the "licensed captain" navy veteran and all his family misadventures well chronicaled here on CF!

You can get it on the NPR podcast. No movie yet, thankfully! Apparently the 2016 election has a monopoly on stupid at the moment.

Missed that one.
Link or handle?

[alohafam]

Ok, it seems that there are a lot of boats available on the East coast/Florida area, so that is good. How about buying something in Florida and hopping over to the Bahamas for a while before ending up on the east coast of Latin America? More doable? Or starting in S. California and heading down to Mexico? Or even buying somewhere in Latin America?

Thanks!

[Whitebread117]

Buy in Florida, do the keys or Bahamas, come back to FL to refit (you WILL want to change some things after living on the boat full time for a couple months). Then hop down to Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, etc for cheaper cruising. The Bahamas are nice, but expensive.

I saw your message, and sent you a private message with my email. Feel free to drop me a line if you want.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by alohafam

Hey all!

We are a small family looking to start a big adventure. We want to travel and sailing seems the perfect way to achieve this as a family. We have been looking at smaller, cheap, center cockpit/aft cabin boats around 35' or less, mainly because there are a lot of boats in this range available for cheap ($10-15k). We are beginner sailors and so are ok with a boat that is not capable of crossing oceans; we just need something that we can coastal cruise/cruise the Bahamas/marina hop in for a few years. We are very heavily inspired by Captain Fatty and his style of sailing/budget cruising.

Anyways, does anyone have any experience with any of these boats and could give us their opinion for coastal cruising/liveaboard worthiness for a family?

S2 9.2C
Out island 33 (Ya I know, not a center cockpit-but some layouts have two quarter berths that would work for us.)
O'Day 32 thru 37
Irwin 37

Any suggestions for boats in this style and price range would be greatly appreciated! We would love to coastal cruise down the West coast of the US and Latin America for a few years, upgrade the boat, and start a circumnavigation. If there are any boats in this style and price range that would be suited to a circumnavigation, please let us know! We are most interested in getting out of the consumerism and negative culture of the US as soon as possible, that is why we are looking at boats in this price range. I am relatively handy and we are not too concerned about everything being in the best shape (besides safety issues), as we can fix those on the way.

Also not sure how often these get shared around here, but here are two videos that have really inspired us:

Go small, go simple, go now:

Vixen's Voyage: https://vimeo.com/139102400

Thanks so much!

Thanx for those great videos. I especially enjoyed the family one.
I've been messing around boats for almost 40 years. S#!t...where'd the time go! A 30-35' center cockpit boat for $10k-15k is a tall order and I certainly would not do an O'day or Coronado. Sorry to all the supporters of those and I mean no disrespect. To support my boat habit, I have, in my past, turned to being a shipwright and I can tell you, they are very thin and a poor laminate schedule.
My current boat is a pedigree in as far quality goes and I did pick her up for a very low price. But she needed tons of work, including an engine rebuild. To make her ocean worthy, I have dumped $20k into her and that is with me doing 95% of the labor.
If you can up your game to $30k, you may be a lot happier with what you get. These older Hallberg Rassy's can be had for around that.
I have posted here a few that came up on Yachtworld, that I would consider. With children, I would get as large as I could to the 35' criteria.

1982 S 2 Center Cockpit 9.2C Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

1973 Dickerson 36 Ketch Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

Hallberg Rassy Rasmus Ketch Boats For Sale

1974 Hallberg-Rassy Ketch Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

1984 S-2 Centercockpit Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

1983 Westerly Discuss Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

Lastly...if you can be open minded to other than a CC boat and looking for a deal. Mexico is a great place to find boats as low as 1/2 price of that in the US.

[Hudson Force]

I sure like that Dickerson. I remember being at the yard back when Mr. Lucky was there. Those Dickersons are beauties!

[alohafam]

I do really like the S2's. I would definitely consider looking in Mexico, probably best to go down there and look around though, right? I like the short cat's like the heavenly twin 26, especially since I have found several people saying they have done circumnavigations. Honestly I am open to any type and location of boat, as long as it meets my budget and is safe and ideally able to do a circumnavigation (maybe not right away as is, but with some repairs/preparations.) Thanks everyone, cruisers rock!

[sailjumanji]

It's a concern when someone says we don't need a boat capable of crossing oceans, as we're just going to Bahamas. We crossed over on April 1 this year, and recommended by Chris Parker the weather forecaster. It was much rougher than forecast, RE wave height. You needed a boat capable of crossing oceans. Crossing back was very easy with much more benign conditions. Don't assume you can pick a weather window to cross that won't require an open water capable boat. Forecasts can be wrong.

[reed1v]

Cheoy Lee made a 35' midshipman with stern cabin. Most built as either yawls or ketches. Probably can find one around 15-20k. Cheoy Lee layup was to make the entire hull, deck, and coachroof as one piece and then added nuts and bolts to the hull/deck area for overkill. The teak decks are cosmetic only since the underlying fiberglass is strong enough on its own. They did a sandwich of channelized mahogany strips and glassed over it from the insides to stiffen the decks further. Wont find a stronger hull except for Wetsnails. Built to Lloyd's specifications.
Any original metal fittings will need to be replaced but not difficult to do.

[barnakiel]

If you buy a Rasmus in the 10-15k range, that's it for your family adventures for the next 10 years. Reasonably well maintained ones fetch 30 to 40k.

IMHO it is next to impossible to buy a good 30+ centercockpit in the 10-15k unless you are incredibly lucky.

Be real to the dollar. nearly all lower priced quality (?anymore?) boats will take heaps of cash to prep for any voyage, let alone an open water one.

I think 10-15 buys only a sub-30' boat that could be a choice for a solo person accepting and willing to live with the involved limitations.

b.

[Scout 30]

Here's an interesting boat for sale that's a proven blue water design in your price range. It's priced low which is always a red flag but it might be due to it's location & not it's condition. If it's in good condition this would be quite a deal.

https://miami.craigslist.org/pbc/boa/5599269137.html