Boat size recommendation. Go large or go home?

[sail sfbay]

I have a 46 foot sailboat that we sail every weekend. We also love to stay on her mid-week and extended weekends and the extra space makes it very comfortable for that. We just sold a 38.5 foot sailboat that we also sailed every weekend and stayed on her mid-week and extended weekends. We also owned a 56 foot motoryacht that we lived on and went on trips with the yacht club every month.

[Sojourner]

Originally Posted by Seymore

Big boats just sit at the dock.

Small boats go out all the time.

Depends. In our biggish boat (53ft), it is I think more pleasurable to be on anchor for long periods of time. We have space to move, space to store all our things, 3 fridges for cooking marathons, entire cupboards devoted to spices, bookshelves by the meter, spaces to get away from each other and chill, tankage, room for a big watermaker and compressor and lots of solar and wind power. In our boat bad weather feels less bad than on a 30 footer, whether sailing or at anchor. Rain shelter and big cockpit extend the season by a lot. Room for big big dinghy lets us anchor and still go very far (did a 10 mile run day before yesterday in 20 knots to get some chandlery stuff, no biggie). In a smaller boat, unless you're really doing the camping thing, weeks on anchor, let alone months, seasons or years, seems like it would get old fast, and marinas seem more essential...even though they are easier and cheaper to get into with a smaller boat, the big one doesn't need them as much.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Seymore

Big boats just sit at the dock.

Small boats go out all the time.

Not necessarily.


Anyway it's not the boats, but the owners, who decide whether or not to go out.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Seymore

Big boats just sit at the dock.

Small boats go out all the time.

I'll add my contrary thoughts here: I dunno if you think 46 feet is a big boat or not, but we've owned Insatiable II for 16 years now and have logged a bit over 64000 miles in that time. In our case, it isn't an issue of "going out"... we almost never "go in"!

I agree that it is the owner that determines usage, not the size of the boat.

Jim

[Sojourner]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

I'll add my contrary thoughts here: I dunno if you think 46 feet is a big boat or not, but we've owned Insatiable II for 16 years now and have logged a bit over 64000 miles in that time. In our case, it isn't an issue of "going out"... we almost never "go in"!

I agree that it is the owner that determines usage, not the size of the boat.

Jim

Of course owner is the final point. But do you think you could stay on anchor as long as I know you do in a 35 footer?

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Sojourner

Of course owner is the final point. But do you think you could stay on anchor as long as I know you do in a 35 footer?

Well, we lived aboard our previous boat, also mostly at anchor, for 17 years whilst logging some 86,000 miles... but she was a massive 36 feet LOA (and a retired race boat at that).

So yeah, I do think I could do it in a 35 footer! But I do like our current ride!

Jim

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by jmh2002

Not sure if you saw my recent thread linking to a great article recently posted by Steve Dashew?

In fact it makes great reading for all cruisers about certain design thoughts and the process of how they arrived at them.

Here is the thread: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ry-223713.html

Thanks for the link. Very interesting reading! I am looking forward to Part II.

I had to smile at this comment made regarding size during Steve and Linda’s early days of “cruising” on Beowulf VI with two daughters aged two and five:

“Her little cabin, six and a half feet square, had two bunks, a porta potty, stove, and ice box. All the comforts of home. She would fly a hull in seven knots of breeze – we never cleated anything – and was a great cruising boat according to our ideas on the subject at that point.”


SWL

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Sojourner

Of course owner is the final point. But do you think you could stay on anchor as long as I know you do in a 35 footer?

I’ll add, we spend most of our time swinging from our own anchor. Not in Jim & Ann’s category yet for time (we just started our cruising life a few years ago), but we have no trouble living well on our 37-footer.

But I agree, which boats stay and which boats go is far more dependent on crew than vessel size.

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

Thanks for the link. Very interesting reading! I am looking forward to Part II.

I had to smile at this comment made regarding size during Steve and Linda’s early days of “cruising” on Beowulf VI with two daughters aged two and five:

“Her little cabin, six and a half feet square, had two bunks, a porta potty, stove, and ice box. All the comforts of home. She would fly a hull in seven knots of breeze – we never cleated anything – and was a great cruising boat according to our ideas on the subject at that point.”


SWL

Yeah, great stuff I'm looking forward to Part 2 as well, because love or loathe Steve Dashew, you always still learn something.

Here is "all the comforts of home" and the "great cruising boat" that he was referring to

[hpeer]

Short on time so didn’t read all posts.

LOD is a poor parameter to use when comparing boats. Especially when looking at something like the interior arrangements. Displacement, how big a hole in the water, is better, more indicative of interior volume.

But then there is also the hull shape and how you intend to use the boat. That can effect the ergonomics of living inside and how the boat performs.

We have an old school 44’ LOD cutter, center cockpit, ( very low profile for a cc), at 40,000 pounds, VERY heavy. She has moderate overhangs and a pinched transom, none of this sugar scoop stuff. My guess is she has the interior volume of a “modern” (fat assed) 40’ CC.

So out of curiosity I started to look at modern boats on about that range and found they had far less tankage and were just not our cup of tea. But that’s just us.

So I would start looking at smaller boats, paying attention to displacement, and then work upward until you find a boat that meets your sailing needs with an interior you like.

2¢.

[B23iL23]

How can heavy boats with pinched bow and sterns be an indicator of interior volume? Doesn't make sense. A modern boat of the same length with a wider stern and higher freeboard would have way more volume.


You may not like the modern designs, but meter for meter they have way more space.

Originally Posted by hpeer

Short on time so didn’t read all posts.

LOD is a poor parameter to use when comparing boats. Especially when looking at something like the interior arrangements. Displacement, how big a hole in the water, is better, more indicative of interior volume.

But then there is also the hull shape and how you intend to use the boat. That can effect the ergonomics of living inside and how the boat performs.

We have an old school 44’ LOD cutter, center cockpit, ( very low profile for a cc), at 40,000 pounds, VERY heavy. She has moderate overhangs and a pinched transom, none of this sugar scoop stuff. My guess is she has the interior volume of a “modern” (fat assed) 40’ CC.

So out of curiosity I started to look at modern boats on about that range and found they had far less tankage and were just not our cup of tea. But that’s just us.

So I would start looking at smaller boats, paying attention to displacement, and then work upward until you find a boat that meets your sailing needs with an interior you like.

2¢.

[hpeer]

Pinched sterns and overhang would indicate LOW volume for the LOD.

High displacement, deep, would indicate low profile.

I noted that our 44’er has the volume of a modern 40’er.

A light displacement CC will have more freeboard, the cockpit will be higher from the water, than on a corresponding heavy CC. The sole of our cockpit is about 4” above Water Line.

Some modern, light CC’s have a much higher profile by comparison.

Not saying what is right or wrong, just pointing out the dependencies and relationships.

[barnakiel]

No. Not true here.


Big and small boats go out at about the same rate. Unless you are talking Optimists and Lasers.


In the Med or West Indies, it is like 100 big boats to each 1 that is small.


Whoever affords a big boat, sails one.


b.

[ogronvaldt]

I can only highly recommend the Beneteau Oceanis 38.1 - not a center cockpit, but still very large and comfy, and the V-berth outmatches anything in the 38 category. So you will still have very handable boat with great comfort! Just saying..

[wb.andrews]

We are looping in a 55 custom power cat. Home comforts, few stairs, efficient and stable. Beam is 22, draft 4 and range over 1000nm at 8+ knots. 3 queen beds, 3 heads - lots of room for friends. Enclosed bridge that seats 10 plus. Up for sale in January.