Circumnavigation - Advice from you

[NikolajAM]

Hi,
Which things should I pay attention to when buying a boat to do a circumnavigation? Is there any must-haves and no-goes?
I don't have any experience with boats, but I would love to hear some advice regarding boat specifications, equipment etc. should it be experience from you or from articles I can read on the internet. I am looking for a more affordable boat 30 feet and below. Every answer is very helpful.
- Nikolaj from Denmark

[crankysailor]

to be honest if you don't have any experience with boats.. just get one first..get some experience and see what is important to you. That is a very personal question. One puts a large displacement tank of a hull at the top of their must have list...others prefer the fastest boat they can find.

What am trying to say is..don't sweat it so much. Just get the best maintained boat you can afford. and then get out there. Whatever you buy will likely not be your forever boat. Think of her as your first girlfriend.. you are likely not going to marry her [emoji51]

The most important thing IMHO is a boat that is well maintained and is ready to sail. The rest will take care of itself...

Good luck!

[john61ct]

Relevant thread

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ts-193354.html

my upper limit for beam (width) of 2.6m (8.5') corresponds to under 30' 99% of the time.

Many suggestions there exceed that limit even if just by a few inches, and may be suitable for your consideration.

Your browsing these previous threads
https://www.google.com/search?q=site...igation+OR+RTW

will save us all from re-hashing the "how to define a bluewater boat?" discussion for the 89th time in the last three months.

There is a near consensus that wrt safety, the skills and experience of the crew is far more important than any one quality of the boat or its hardware.

[Kenomac]

No sailing experience and the words buying a boat to do a circumnavigation don’t belong in the same thought. Dreamer... please do some searches on your own, then get back to us.

Must haves: Experience

No goes: No sailing experience.

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by NikolajAM

Hi,
Which things should I pay attention to when buying a boat to do a circumnavigation? Is there any must-haves and no-goes?
I don't have any experience with boats, but I would love to hear some advice regarding boat specifications, equipment etc. should it be experience from you or from articles I can read on the internet. I am looking for a more affordable boat 30 feet and below. Every answer is very helpful.
- Nikolaj from Denmark

Welcome to CF Nikolai and please ignore the cranky sailors who forgot how they got started.[emoji4]

I would start today with sailing videos and blogs from people with similar sized boats who are sailing to different countries .

Some who started with little or no sailing experience will say that knowing "WHEN" to make a voyage is probably the most important thing they learned.

Regardless of the boat you buy, learning to do your own maintenance and repairs at sea will be necessary.

The sailing part is easy to.learn.

Why not start by spending time at yacht repair facilities or large yacht charter companies, learning which parts break often and why?.
Learn how to prevent that and how fix them.

I remember chartering a boat from Kolding that was well used and showed its weakness's.

If practical, try and get a job around boats where you can learn to see the features that appeal to you and what the pros and Cons are.

Learn by doing and the boat will find you.
best of luck!

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Welcome to CF Nikolai and please ignore the cranky sailors who forgot how they got started.[emoji4]

I would start today with sailing videos and blogs from people with similar sized boats who are sailing to different countries .

Some who started with little or no sailing experience will say that knowing "WHEN" to make a voyage is probably the most important thing they learned.

Regardless of the boat you buy, learning to do your own maintenance and repairs at sea will be necessary.

The sailing part is easy to.learn.

Why not start by spending time at yacht repair facilities or large yacht charter companies, learning which parts break often and why?.
Learn how to prevent that and how fix them.

I remember chartering a boat from Kolding that was well used and showed its weakness's.

If practical, try and get a job around boats where you can learn to see the features that appeal to you and what the pros and Cons are.

Learn by doing and the boat will find you.
best of luck!

I didn’t forget, I started at 13 years of age while attending a Boy Scout camp. I learned the basics first in a sailing dinghy... not by going onto an internet forum and asking which boat to buy to sail around the world.

The OP is basically doing the exact opposite to what I did.

[gmakhs]

I have been circunavigating on my 26 footer for 3 years now , I will tell you things I miss and I like .
1)the optimum size for a couple or solo is 30 to 34
2) you can do it with a smaller boat like.mine (26 foot ) but you lack few important things :
3) water capacity ( I do have 250 litters I would like 1000) it give you the ability to live out of rain or provision water rarely .
4) standing room , my boat has 1.75 standing room fine for me but.my girlfriend who is 1.77 suffers .
5)food capacity , we can store for up to 3 months I would like to have 6 or more
6 ) all lines Lead aft if you are to people better go without roller furler , we do have a reliable furler but on small boats is very important to keep the sails flat a impossible thing with roller
7) get the electronics you can afford only VHF , ssb for weather , depth sounder and if you can afford radar and ais
8) don't look for.luxury alway see your boat as camping it will make everything easier .
9) keep the boat light .
10) full keel or twin keel . I do like the performance our fin keel and it feels safe but we lose the benefit to dry outr boat using the tides and antifoul for free this is a serious money saver .
11 and most important , this is not a house is a boat and trying to put the same amenities will cost so keep it simple .
12 we do have no refrigerator but since.my girlfriend is a mixologist so we need ice I will add an ice cube maker

[skipmac]

Hi NikolajAM and welcome.


If I may be a little negative, your question is extremely broad and if answered in full very advanced. Kind of like asking someone to explain an advanced college Calculus class in a few sentences on the internet before you had taken Algebra I in high school. This is a subject that people write whole books about so trying to get it all in a short post is not realistic.



Also, what things are must have and no go can vary a LOT from one sailor to the another. It will also depend on how you want to circumnavigate. The boat suitable for a 3 year, slow trip across the tropics is not the same boat you would want for a solo, non-stop circumnavigation around the southern ocean.


If I may suggest it, do a little basic study. Read the previous discussions on this forum, browse the different topics and study everything that seems interesting and relevant. Learn some of the basics and you will get a lot more out of asking the advanced questions.

[Pegu Club]

Hello NikolajAM,

I might add that if in fact you have no sailing experience that would be a good place to start. Find a sailing club nearby and get yourself on board any boat that is going out for a sail, do that a lot. Finding a quality boat is not that hard if you do a fair bit of reading, listening, and looking first. After all there is nothing so worth while as messing around on boats. Good hunting, and keep it fun.

Fair winds,

[Kenomac]

This is how the OP should get started IMHO: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ok-222153.html

[Tillsbury]

1) do some sailing courses near where you are
2) walk the marinas, put up signs, make some friends, go sailing on a few of their boats even if just for a few hours at a time.
3) buy a cheap well-known boat to get some experience in both sailing and fixing boats, intending to sell it in a couple of years

Once you've done these three things, you will be much better prepared to go looking for a boat to go serious sailing in, and you will know not only what you're looking for but also what you want specifically rather than what someone else would want.

[Pegu Club]

If you should feel so inclined to do so, not knowing if you would want to, you could look at our blog, it chronicles our boating adventures from where we started, through our first year cruising full time, and continuing on at present as we start our second year living aboard the sailing vessel Pegu Club. It’s not all cocktails and sunsets, we tell it like it is, worts and all. ( oh, and yes there are cocktails ��)

Fair winds,

[StuM]

Originally Posted by NikolajAM

Hi,
Which things should I pay attention to when buying a boat to do a circumnavigation? Is there any must-haves and no-goes?
I don't have any experience with boats, but I would love to hear some advice regarding boat specifications, equipment etc. should it be experience from you or from articles I can read on the internet. I am looking for a more affordable boat 30 feet and below. Every answer is very helpful.
- Nikolaj from Denmark

Suggest you ask this question at Sailing Anarchy.

[Pegu Club]

StuM, what are ya doin man? Leading lambs to the slaughter...

Fair winds,

[Fore and Aft]

NikolaJam If you are good at reading English there are plenty of good Sailing books on ABE books about small boat circumnavigation.
Maiden Voyage by Tania Aebi (26 feet), Trekka by John Guzzwell (21 feet) and the craziest one 500 Days by Serge Testa (12 foot). These voyages were all done pre GPS and anything fancy.
What about the blog https://schourup.net/2019/08/08/back...-in-itaparica/
They are sailing on a 28’ Great Dane and having a ball doing it.
Where’s GordMay?
Cheers