What boat size for offshore with kids?

[Snowpetrel]

Originally Posted by B00B00

It's a pretty easy job for price of mind.
Who knows what you might hit or get caught on the rudder during the trip.
Probably just a couple of layers of 100mm glass down the front edge staggered either side then a quick skim with bog and repaint. Would only do it if I had to do the antifoul or another job underneath.
I just did exactly that on my Jeanneau Sunfast 3600 after we hit a log and split one of the rudders. I got a new one but fixed it up as a spare for the Round North Island race. Was surprised how it held together at the time even with a sizable Crack. It was about 500mm long and at the top of the rudder was opened up by about 6mm. Held for about 100nm of racing and 50nm delivery home.

Hi BooBoo, I suspect the real worry is not the rudder itself failing as happened to the sunfast due to impact, but issues with the rudder stock supports inside the boat letting go that can lead to the rudder ripping a hole in the stern, or the rudder tube, as has happened to a couple of bene's recently.

I don't know if Hanse are any worse than any other production boat in this regard. Many of the issues seem to be caused by poor inital construction and no regular inpections, poorly fitted aftemarket mods like autopilots, or dodgy repairs.

Even though it may be a bit more of a handfull in port, daysailing or if stuff goes wrong there is no doubt that a big hull like that 52 foot Hanse will eat up the miles easily offshore. I am picking it would average around 160-170 miles a day pretty easy and 200+ would be pretty achievable without pushing too hard (by my standards, not yours!) in the right conditions with a flat sea.

My biggest gripes with it are the layout of the 3 cabin boat. It doesn't really seem to give you much extra over a similar 3 cabin 46 footer, a bit more room for the kids to throw things at each other or spread lego over the floor but no real extra seating, bench space and even linited extra storage as they open the interior out a fair bit. Without adding much extra locker space. Not that storage is going to be a big issue on a boat that size. The two seats opposite the table waste what would have been a great seaberth.

http://www.nautic-tours.de/Segelyachten/hanse-540.html

I really like layout 3 in the above link, with the master cabin forward having the bunks further aft and the single bunk and office space. But you do lose the sail locker/naughty kid storage area..

I really like the dinghy storage in the garage. That saves an expensive and clumsy set of davits, or having to stow something on the foredeck(hard to do with the self taking jib) Or deflated below taking up a heap of space and being very heavy to get out. Though with the dink filling the space under the cockpit is there much room for fenders, ropes, kayaks and the like?

[B00B00]

yeah Ben I agree that the layout with the sea berth in the front cabin is the best. Im with you on the lack of cabins/bunks. Really on a boat of this size there should be the twin bunk bed cabin somewhere. The hanse 470s, and most of the big dufours are the same, just lacking bunk space for what we want to do with the kids and family and friends on board for parts of the trip.
I think on the 540 I could add a bunk in the aft cabins above the lockers. would be good for the kids but maybe not for an adult.

[B00B00]

Getting pretty close to signing a deal on a 2013 Dufour 450 like the one in this picture.
Really nice and well equiped boat. Interior layout is not the best for us with just the 3 double cabins but the whole deal has many positives and its a great looking boat that should be pretty easy to sell after we have finished. Also very nice to be dealing direct with the owner (the broker put us in touch).

[Snowpetrel]

Looks good. Love the Prod!

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[B00B00]

Yeah Ben I will flick you an email with the details. Always good to get the big Brothers opinion and seal of aproval!
Remember you will likely be joining us at some stage... (hopefully the atlantic crossing!)

[UNCIVILIZED]

Firstly, plenty of folks have cruised RTW with 3 kids on 25-30'ers. So remember to have 2 columns on your boat selection checklist; necessity, & luxury. And I won't even touch the issues that go along with ever growing boat sizes.

That said, I'm amazed that catamarans haven't been mentioned/aren't in the running. And not so much floating condos, as performance types. Since you can always slow the faster boats down, but not vice versa. And faster has a lot of perks over slower.

You've probably read most of the perks on cats, but if not, just say as much. Since the benefits that they offer go a long, long way to keeping fence sitting semi-sailors on as crew, & in keeping everyone a lot happier in general. Plus the sailing's a blast on the speedy ones. And almost all of them are nice to be on when the weather isn't.

[B00B00]

Yeah I know you can fit into into something much smaller. My wife and I cruised with the kids for weeks on end on a very smaller 26ft race yacht then upgraded to a 28fter for the last 4 years.
I was brought up living on a classic 45fter with 7 of us, 5 boys. It was a pretty small 45fter but we loved it and never felt cramped.
When you say necessity, to make the trip happen my wife wouldn't settle for anything less than 44ft for a 13000nm 2 year trip with 3 kids so in this case it really is a necessity!

Open to ideas about cats but I really don't know too much about them. I did own an 8.5m racing cat which I thrashed around for a few years but to be honest I wouldn't have wanted my family anywhere near it! Very different type of boat of course.
Have 2 very good friends with cruising cats who we spend a lot of time with. They seem to love them. One is a home built light weight and pretty basic boat that sails very well and the other is a 42 ft Fountaine Peugeot and is great at anchor but extremely slow both sailing and motoring even with 2 brand new motors.
Any decent performing cat that could do the trip seems to be well out of our price range which is around US $160k
Post any links, I would be happy to see what kind of options there are.

[UNCIVILIZED]

I commonly see Catanas, Shuttleworths, Simpsons, & Kurt Hughes cats for sale near, or below those figures. And there are a few Catanas on Yachtworld at the moment. Although to get a cat in that price range, it'll be between the upper 30' - low 40' range. Which cat's of that size typically have more room inside, & out than the size mono's you listed. Some of which translates into a lot more room to play, for both kids & adults, as well as giving everyone their own private space. Plus, given the makeup of your crew, your boat will need to be rigged as a single hander, & it's easier to perform sailing chores on a non-heeling deck.

There also have to be quite a number of other designs comparable to the above, I just don't happen to recall their names at the moment. But they're surely out there. And if you post in the Multihull section I'm sure you'd get more options offered to you.
Also, do a bit of searching on the major brokerage sites. Particularly in Australia, at least for ideas on what might work, as there are a lot of multi's there.

[B00B00]

Ok house is now sold so we can move on with the big plan. The house sold in 4 days and we got a bit more than we anticipated which opens a few other doors (wife said my budget for the whole trip is half what we clear).
So we gave up on the dufour 450 idea as neither of us liked the layout at all, fine for a Med cruiser but not what we want to do. Now back on the Hanse 470s and have a private sale lined up in palma for a 2008 boat with many upgrades and a full time pro skipper. Its a super tidy and well equipped boat.

Has anyone heard bad things about the hanse 470?
The only negative I have heard is that they can be a bit hard to steer in heavy seas. Other than that they seem to be pretty damn good and well respected.

Departure out of NZ scheduled for August 1st then the Med until November before we cross the Atlantic, most likely with the odyssey rally.

[Snowpetrel]

Great News! It's going to be a quick trip. We had better book some flights...

[Steadman Uhlich]

How about this cat for your voyage?
It has enough berths and heads for you to have your kids and crew and guests along.

Nice platform for a family (extended) cruise.

Price reduced.
Dufour Nautitech 475
Asking Price $200K
Location = Caribbean Grenada
1998 Dufour Nautitech 475 $$ REDUCTION Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

I think your proposed voyage sounds wonderful, and as your own life has been on boats, I can imagine how this voyage will build many great memories for your family.

[Snowpetrel]

Ohh nice! Lots of room for all.

[B00B00]

Settled on a Beneteau Oceanis 50 in the south of France. Has the hydro generator (watt and sea 300), 450w Solar, Davits, Watermaker, inner jib and is in pretty good condition. Passed Survey (my surveyor, not the brokers) nicely with only a few small jobs to do.
We move up to the boat early August and start the adventure.

[Snowpetrel]

Look very well set up. What Cabi layout?

[B00B00]

I emailed you some more photos and specs Ben. Its a 3 double cabin layout but i have sussed some second hand pipecots to go on the side of each quarter berth which should allow us to have another couple and 1 kid on board without the need to use the saloon. Perfect for you and the famiky mate. When you gonna join us?