dreaming of buying boat for big family

[Smart555]

Hello!
We’re the family of six: 42, 38, 12, 9, 3 years old and a newborn dreaming of buying new for us boat.
We’ve got only experience as owners boats such a 24” Yamaha bow rider and then 32” Regal express cruiser. We sailed all around the nearest area from Fort Lauderdale to Key West and Dry Tortuga, and also Bahamas , - the places we only could reach having such a small fuel capacity and sucks gasoline 750hp engine! Even we had not a big boat we preferred moving along the ocean and stayed aboard sometimes during 2-3 weeks.

Now when our family’s grown bigger we’re looking for a bigger and larger boat as well for long and safe cruising.

Our plans for nearest future are to travel the Bahamas and Caribbean during the summer vacation and then go further... honestly our the biggest dream is pacific crossing but we could afford it not earlier then in the next 4-5 years.

Our budget is around 200 000$ maybe plus 20-30К$ for upgrade and repair

Now we considered two different options
First
Motor-yacht 50-60” long (for example Hatteras 1983-1986 or Defever trawler )
Second
Sailing boat in size 44-46” 2007-2009 (maybe Beneteau or Jenneau )

Each decision is a compromise for us and has pros and cons

Power- Yacht
Pros
Comfort and more space for our big family
More space for storage , provision, water and fuel
More social outside open space
Opportunity to live aboard in wintertime during school year (at the moment we’re not ready for home schooling ,maybe a little later) and at this point we could avoid additional expense for rent the apartment, home maintainence...

Cons
The cost of repair and maintenance is higher and in case of serious damage could be unexpectedly expensive. And of course we’d like to enjoy traveling but not a long lasting maintenance.
The cost of fuel is higher as well. But considering living aboard it’s about the same if you will rent a house plus slip for sailboat at the marina.
This boat is not meant for long trip across the ocean.
Re-seling is more difficult and takes longer time.
Boats offered in this budget (~200000) is pretty old.

Sailsboat
Pros
Spend less money for fuel
Maintenance and repair is cheaper and more easier
This is the opportunity to learn something new, to learn sailing and to start living a dream of the long traveling around the world
You can feel more close to nature sailing not listening the noise of working engines constantly
You can afford newer boat for this price

Cons
The space for 2 adults and 4 kids is too limited
It’s too small outside as well
It’s dangerous for kids being on the deck
It’s impossible to live aboard. We have to rent the apartment in this case and also pay for keeping the boat at the marina
The operating the sailsboat is more difficult because we don’t have this experience.
It’s less storage for things, food and everything you might need during long trip.

We’re looking forward to your opinion and comments which I’m sure help us to make the right decision!

[rbk]

I would suggest chartering some larger boats both power and sail to clear up some misconceptions you have and maybe consider comparing similar sized vessels if it’s coming down to renting a condo vs living aboard.

[valhalla360]

Check out some of the catamarans. They motor great and can sail. Biggest advantage is getting 3-4 cabins is doable which means some level of privacy on long duration trips.

With a $200k budget, there are plenty of options.

As mentioned, your assumptions of pros/cons has a lot of misconceptions. Either option can be made to work and I wouldn't count on either being significantly cheaper just that the costs may move around a bit.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Smart.

[Smart555]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Smart.

Thank you !

[SailsWithFists]

Originally Posted by Smart555

Sailsboat

Cons
The space for 2 adults and 4 kids is too limited
It’s too small outside as well
It’s dangerous for kids being on the deck
It’s impossible to live aboard. We have to rent the apartment in this case and also pay for keeping the boat at the marina
The operating the sailsboat is more difficult because we don’t have this experience.
It’s less storage for things, food and everything you might need during long trip.

Someone already suggested a catamaran, which would be my suggestion as well.

However, your list of Sailboat (monohull) cons I think is exaggerated, probably due to lack of relevant experience.

I am also a family of 6, and our boat fits everyone nicely with space left over for guests. and cost far less than your budget.

"Small outside" is dependent upon the design itself. Some designs are small outside, while others can have the feel of a catamaran.

A sailboat is no more dangerous to kids on deck than any other boat.

I am not sure why you believe it is impossible to live aboard a sailboat. Plenty of people/families do so. Try reading the blog of Totem, which might begin to dispel your myths. You do not have to rent any apartments (if you find the right boat), and you certainly do not need to keep the boat in a marina.

Learning to sail is not rocket science. Any competent sailor can set you on the road to success in a couple of weeks. I taught myself 30 years ago only by reading Sail magazine.

Storage is a function of design. It is all about finding the right boat. There are so many choices. Open your mind and you will start to see the things you have not been able to see so far.

[skipmac]

Hi Smart555 and welcome to the forum,

Finding a boat for a large family does indeed present a few problems. It basically comes down to two options, a really big boat (which means big money) or a smaller boat with little private space, shared cabins, etc.

First you have to focus your thinking not on the length of the boat but the length times the beam or square footage. Then you have to look at the physical limitations imposed by the shape. For example to get five cabins in a monohull sailboat or powerboat you would usually have to go wide enough to allow cabins port and starboard. Especially in a sailboat this will also mean very long to practically get that much beam.

You have mentioned the limitations of a powerboat, mainly fuel costs and limited range for ocean crossing. There are a few ocean crossing powerboats but they tend to be quite expensive.

All things considered I think your best option is going to be a catamaran. Four cabin models are quite common, even down to under 40' length. Have not researched the issue but I would guess you could find a five cabin boat in the 45-50' range.

[Aquadome]

As the owner of a 44 power boat the way I see it with your budget the only powerboat you can afford is a really old one which will bankrupt you with maintenance issues. Unless you come up with a lot more cash for a 3 stateroom 50 plus foot power boat you'll have to stick with sail.

[Larry Florida]

A sailboat the size you speak of seems quite large for a first sailboat. In any event will require many months or likely years of experience to safely sail from Florida to the Caribbean with your family.

[Smart555]

Originally Posted by rbk

I would suggest chartering some larger boats both power and sail to clear up some misconceptions you have and maybe consider comparing similar sized vessels if it’s coming down to renting a condo vs living aboard.

Thank you for the reply.
We’ve already chartered 47 power cat Leopard for 3 days operated by myself. And also we got twice sail catamaran with captain becouse we don’t have sailing experience. He was teaching little us during the trip. Both catamarans was great! But the one with sails is more preferable ones we learn to operate it. Both of them are slow comparing our 32’’ sport cruiser but the sail one is more quite and less fuel consumption (that means cheaper during long traveling). There is plenty space for our big family as well, but unfortunately we don’t have enough budget to buy catamaran in this size not so old in good condition.

[Smart555]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

Check out some of the catamarans. They motor great and can sail. Biggest advantage is getting 3-4 cabins is doable which means some level of privacy on long duration trips.

With a $200k budget, there are plenty of options.

As mentioned, your assumptions of pros/cons has a lot of misconceptions. Either option can be made to work and I wouldn't count on either being significantly cheaper just that the costs may move around a bit.

Thank you very much for your opinion! According our research we don’t have enough budget for buying the 40-45” catamaran in good condition. All of them cost starting from 350-400k.
And could you explain a little bit about our misconceptions of pros/cons ?
With your experience it would be useful for us!

[SailsWithFists]

Originally Posted by Smart555

Thank you for the reply.
We’ve already chartered 47 power cat Leopard for 3 days operated by myself. And also we got twice sail catamaran with captain becouse we don’t have sailing experience. He was teaching little us during the trip. Both catamarans was great! But the one with sails is more preferable ones we learn to operate it. Both of them are slow comparing our 32’’ sport cruiser but the sail one is more quite and less fuel consumption (that means cheaper during long traveling). There is plenty space for our big family as well, but unfortunately we don’t have enough budget to buy catamaran in this size not so old in good condition.

You are likely going to have to compromise somewhere.

To get in your price range and have the cabin space, you are looking at "older" boats. Is old bad? Not necessarily, if the boat was well cared for.

To get a faster boat, you will compromise space or price.



Good condition/age, adequate space, budget price. You can only pick two.

[Smart555]

Originally Posted by SailsWithFists

You are likely going to have to compromise somewhere.

To get in your price range and have the cabin space, you are looking at "older" boats. Is old bad? Not necessarily, if the boat was well cared for.

To get a faster boat, you will compromise space or price.



Good condition/age, adequate space, budget price. You can only pick two.

Thank you!
Actually we don’t really think that the old boat is necessarily mean the bad boat and understand that some of old boat is heavy build and more suitable for crossing the ocean comparing their modern production sailings boat. But as we can see most of them require serious refit and upgrade!

And also we agree that it’s not a problem to live aboard for 6 people if you have a boat more then 50” sailboat . But I doubt that I can operate it sailing solo with little experience. I’m not sure that my wife can serious help because most time she needs to take care about children

[Smart555]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Hi Smart555 and welcome to the forum,

Finding a boat for a large family does indeed present a few problems. It basically comes down to two options, a really big boat (which means big money) or a smaller boat with little private space, shared cabins, etc.

You have mentioned the limitations of a powerboat, mainly fuel costs and limited range for ocean crossing. There are a few ocean crossing powerboats but they tend to be quite expensive.

Thank you very much!
We think that 3 cabin is enough for us to live but also we prefer to have more social space to spend time because our kids is very active

And also we understand that if we buy power boat we should refuse of our dream to cross the ocean. There is really blue water cruises but we can’t afford their expensive cost and to pay tens of thousands for fuel

[Smart555]

Originally Posted by Aquadome

As the owner of a 44 power boat the way I see it with your budget the only powerboat you can afford is a really old one which will bankrupt you with maintenance issues. Unless you come up with a lot more cash for a 3 stateroom 50 plus foot power boat you'll have to stick with sail.

Yes , this is the point why we hesitate to buy the old power boat.
Having the budget of 200-250k we only can afford the 30 years old boat over 50” length
There are a lot of good looking and heavy build boats in the market such as Hatteras, Defever, Marine trader... but even if we have good marine surveyor we are not sure that maintenance and repair don’t turn into nightmare

Tank you!