Pushing the budget

[bccoast]

also check out the Nautitech 46 open, a few around and decent prices.

https://www.yachtworld.com/yacht/201...-open-9049975/

[chris.burcher]

Been on the Nautitechs 40, 44, and 46 opens. Not in love with the helms. Otherwise, yeah, I've seen some that are definitely in the budget.

[bccoast]

Originally Posted by chris.burcher

Been on the Nautitechs 40, 44, and 46 opens. Not in love with the helms. Otherwise, yeah, I've seen some that are definitely in the budget.

How was the feel of the wheel/rudder on the nautitechs?

I have only been at the helm on a couple lagoons and really didnt like the lack of rudder response or feel. On my Jeanneau, I find that feedback is really important in how I sail. While I like the split level helms the best, and love the sky bridge on FP, I worry that I will not like driving and miss the feel.

[ohdrinkboy]

I am of the mindset to go less expensive. Spend money on outfitting the boat well. I'm likely 4 years away from my retirement boat purchase. My boat budget is less than 5% of liquid assets. I don't want to be boat poor, or stress about money. I figure the best way to do that is go lower end, but well equipped.

Resale will also be big in my plans. I'll likely sell 5-7 years after buying, and I want to sell it relatively easily.

[chris.burcher]

Christopher - didn't have the chance to sail any of the Nautitechs so can't say

ohdrink - that's what I just said to my wife, don't want to be boat poor. And as to resale, that is part of the appeal of the Antares. They seem to hold their value better than the others on our list.

[JPA Cate]

My attention was captured by Chris saying that his wife thinks they need more room aboard than a 40 footer has to offer.

Unless Chris plans to share the "housework" portion of living aboard, she will likely bear the whole responsibility for what really is a large boat. With boats, you gotta TRY to keep them light, and every single thing you think you need has weight, and some of it is really heavy.

I would say, start out with a small, older cat and do it with the idea of owning it and using it for 18 months, or so. Deal with fixing what must be fixed, but live on it and sail the heck out of it. See if it really is the fun you hope it will be. See, especially, what you thought you would like about it and didn't; and vice versa.

Jim and I lived aboard a 36 ft. monohull and cruised her offshore for 18 yrs. Accommodations for guestss were sketchy, but we who had lived in houses separately learned to live in the space we had. Later, we did decide to move up to this boat; at 46 ft., quite a lot more space, and two aft cabins, as well as the forward one. Aboard this since 2003.

If you choose wisely, you'll have some fun, you'll learn about maintenance and how often you need marinas, and if you pay attention, you'll learn how much more berthing costs as the pens for the boats get bigger, like boatyard space. Berthing spaces for catamarans keep getting harder to fine. Don't tell yourself you'll all be free of mal de mer. Some people's bodies don't like the "twitchy" motion of catamarans. Mine has a lot of difficulty with lurchy situations.

If you then want to go ahead, you will at least have some experience to base your choices on, which is one cause we've seen of short cruising lives.

In terms of bad stuff happening in the future, check out the costs for 3 weeks hospitalization, and see what that could do to your "cushion". If you're comfortable with that, then do, go ahead and treat yourself. You've worked hard for it. But do it after you know for sure that the choice will give you good bang for your buck. And see about the differences between respected private hospitals and public hospitals are. You're young and in good health. Spend the time now, and make better choices for you and the family.

Ann

[chris.burcher]

Wow, Ann your post is very helpful. While my wife and I don't subscribe to very traditional roles at home (I'm a stay-at-home dad, for example) I imagine the boat might be more pink and blue. I will have her read your post.

I really appreciate your words here and your sharing with me.

Chris

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by chris.burcher

Wow, Ann your post is very helpful. While my wife and I don't subscribe to very traditional roles at home (I'm a stay-at-home dad, for example) I imagine the boat might be more pink and blue. I will have her read your post.

I really appreciate your words here and your sharing with me.

Chris

Thank you for the kind words, Chris.

I was a divorcee when I met Jim, and already a sailor. I finished raising 3 kids, worked on my own car, and worked full time and finished university, so, moderately independent. Because he had more sailing experience than me, I gave up a lot of my independence to be "crew". And it right pinkified my life, too. I really enjoyed my periods on watch partly because then, just for a while, I was in charge of everything again, and able to give him long off watches, because I could do everything, and he didn't worry about my competence, by the time we left the US.

Good luck to you both, and good on you for being a stay at home Dad. My middle son was, also. With all choices, you un-choose some other things, that you might not have considered. Having more funds in reserve than you think you need lends a confidence as the future becomes the present over and over again.

Ann

[Sailing Seas]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

lissen....I'm at "retirement age" and I can personally attest to the fact that things I did in my 20's takes 2-3 times longer now....maybe 5-6 times...I forget...oh yeah....that too...
whereas there was a time I could leap tall buildings in a single bound, these days, just jumping over a small puddle is enuff to try my nerves...
'jes sayin'....

[bccoast]

Originally Posted by chris.burcher

Christopher - didn't have the chance to sail any of the Nautitechs so can't say.

I noticed that there is a 2017 46 open in Virgina, not sure if you are close. Looks decent. I am on the fence on helm position too but I think you get a lot of bang for your buck in Nautitech. I would like to get out and sail one but a contender for me. Maybe you can get out on the water with it.

[OldManMirage]

Ann said pretty much the same thing I did, save that it was a focused response to a woman's point of view.

Which in your case I would think is highly important !

But yes, buy something smaller and try it out.

An even better idea might be to do an extended charter, say 3 months. This way if either of you decide it's not to be, there's no hassle of selling.

And if you both decide you like it you'll have a much better idea of what to look for when you buy.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by OldManMirage

An even better idea might be to do an extended charter, say 3 months. This way if either of you decide it's not to be, there's no hassle of selling.

I would second the charter idea, even a fortnight.

We did for a long weekend. Dau was nonplussed, son didn't like it as the yacht was too slow. Mrs and I liked it as stable, had a loo, beds in 3 cabins and a gimballed cooker. With the thumbs up from the Mrs, off we went to a second hand boat show 15 miles away and looked at 5 identical models, buying the nicest. That was 17 years ago and we still own her. Kids long flown the nest and at 31ft perfect for just the two of us plus dog to sail her easily.

Pete

[Kinkircating]

We’ve done an inordinate amount of sailing over the past few years as we prep for the same thing you plan to do. My advice is don’t put yourself under financial stress where every time a $10k unexpected expense pops up you feel it like a gut punch.

This is supposed to be the fun happy go lucky phase of life and cruising is already full of enough stress I wouldn’t add to it. Also I’ve noticed that all the little stuff just sort of fades away that you thought was mission critical, just get out there and start experiencing life.

[Cheyne]

We started with a Lagoon 380 that had just come off a circumnavigation four years ago. We are getting ready to list it for sale so we can upgrade to something larger. We are looking at going to mid to upper 40's. Our 380 was a great training wheels cat. We did quite a bit of work on it over the last 4 years, but she was pretty tired after the circumnavigation. We learned a ton, but the biggest thing we learned is we want more space. We like to have guests and entertain and the 380 is smaller than we would like. Plus have sailed several bigger boat now and found them easier than our 380.

We have a neighbor in Urbanna, VA with a Nautitech Open 46 which after going out on it we found the helm isn't horrible. We also got to delievered a FP 47 for some friends and liked it alot. We are avoiding the Lagoon's for the most part since we don't like the fly bridge, but if we found the right 450S it could work. Right now we are in a great show room for Cats. George Town, Exumas.

Cheyne

[SailingHarmonie]

I’m going back to the original question here, with no opinion at all of the different boats mentioned, just a way of looking at maintenance costs for different boats.

Keeping a boat in Bristol and seaworthy condition is a simple function of the cost of the boat as if it was new. It has nothing to do with what you paid for it. If a boat is in poor condition, it takes a lot to bring it up to good shape. Lots of data resulted in these thoughts: https://fetchinketch.net/boat_though...-should-i-buy/

If the boat is well maintained, the actual age doesn’t matter much. You just spend the money on different things. There certainly are cases where people buy new boats and spend little money on maintenance. Their boats very quickly show that lack of care.