I seem to be going round in circles in my boat search.
Ive been fairly sold on the Formosa design because of the huge living space, mainly a decent head and large aft cabin with a proper large double bed with room to put a real matress in there. Space for life without claustrophobia and not needing to strip everything down to convert to day mode, then back again at night.
Standing headroom is another vital point. Add to that, heads holding tank and shower.
The 31 is approx 26/27' at waterline, - living space, which seems a little tight, but the 41 is ideal. ive found one here in UK and was planning on a viewing this weekend, but I thought i would just run it past a couple of friends who have lived aboard for 20 years and circumnavigated.
The consensus was, they think it would be too big for me to handle solo and as such would end up being a dock queen because i would be terrified of running into other boats while manovering. Its a lot of canvas to handle, even though she is set up for handling from the cockpit. They said that waiting for friends to come and crew isnt realistic and I would just end up with a lot of cancelled trips. You want to head off for a long weekend and they can only spare one day etc
So, I spent half the night going through boatshed, yachtworld and apolloduck, looking for anything in the 30-36' range which friends suggested.
What did I find?...........nothing i could afford, thats for sure. Everything else falls into the day/weekend sailer catagory.
Many of the 36' boats are barely 30' below and as such, I dont feel i could live in a space that small without regretting my decision and then feeling that i had made a huge mistake.
Jeeeez, some only have 5'4" headroom, no hot water system, no storage space etc
I know some people have, can and do live on boats which are in the 20s, but maybe im not some people. If i wanted to day sail round the bay, then head home to a real bed and bathroom it would be different.
Talk some sense into me please. Am I being unreasonable? Are Sally and Tony wrong about a 41 becoming a dock queen?
Whats more important, etc?
If I wasnt single or had someone who I could regularly sail with, this wouldnt be an issue and I would opt for a larger boat, but just to buy a boat to live aboard and not sail defeats the object.
GRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
