Choosing a boat for a Lifetime of Cruising..

[neilpride]

In 92 i cruise sail as a skipper in a 62 ft cutter almost full time, Caribbean, Med, North Atlantic regions, South America and US east coast, we just stop sailing when the boat need a haul out , the rest we keep moving the boat from location to location, basically what the owner want with this boat is to be able to be at sea for longs periods of time,
i never be in a boat with so much equipment and stuff to be self-sufficient, large tanks, watermaker, 2 AP`S, a wide sail inventory, 4 anchors, strong Steel construction , a dream nav station, genset, etc etc... and spares parts for almost everything,,, a dream come true for me and the crew.... we rarely visit a dock or marina in 6 years , for fuel or load groceries or parts .
Cheers.

This is Angantyr , Abeking &Rassmusen 62 ft Steel cutter featured in Arthur Beiser The Proper Yacht book.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Mark
I have no intention of turning this thread into a pissing match. I have met several voyagers over the years and based on the feedback I have gotten from them they often do things differently. I am not trying to exclude people nor narrow the field down as this is already a small group. Please quit taking this personally, I'm sure you are a good and knowledgeable sailor.
As to the wind and seas off the Wash and Oregon coast I can tell you that in all the sailing I have done over the years this area was the biggest seas I have ever sailed in followed by the seas around New Zealand which were a very close second.

Oh, I have no personal feelings in this - we do what we want without regards to how others think.

Your original post certainly reads exclusive and narrow - and with other undercurrents as well. Besides Evans, have you ever seen any other contributors to CF who fit your original description? Lin Pardey hardly counts since almost all of her few posts were commercial in nature.

It isn't the size of the seas - it is the shape and period. 8-10' square seas with a 5sec period are brutal compared to 30' swells/waves with 20sec periods. Perhaps Oregon and NZ are the same - I haven't sailed there.

Mark

[colemj]

Originally Posted by neilpride

we just stop sailing when the boat need a haul out , the rest we keep moving the boat from location to location, basically what the owner want with this boat is to be able to be at sea for longs periods of time

Robert, is this the type you are looking for? If so, I don't think there are really any of these existing anymore. Not even the Pardeys, Evans/Beth or others like them really fit this example. Maybe Web Chiles, but he has an old IOR boat - hardly a popular choice for this kind of sailing.

BTW, all of these people have written books - perhaps start there for answers?



Mark

[scuba0_1]

One that stays on top of the water. Other then that is all subjective..

Sent from my SM-N910V using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[sailorboy1]

I feel I already have chosen a boat that meets the question as I understand it.

If I just wanted a boat to live on I would have a house boat.
If I just wanted a boat for passage making I would have some tank boat with only sea berths for sleeping and 12 different sails in storage taking up the rest of the space.

So instead I have a modern cruiser that will get me anywhere as long as I'm not being an idiot and is comfortable to be/live on once I get there.

[Jim Cate]

Maybe Web Chiles, but he has an old IOR boat - hardly a popular choice for this kind of sailing.

Mark, I believe that Webb is sailing in a Moore 24 which is a Santa Cruz designed ULDB, far from an IOR design. But then Webb stands out as marching to a very different drummer!

And for the OP, I dunno if Ann and I meet your definition... we've been full time cruisers since 1986, logged around 135,000 miles since then, all in the Pacific. we've done a lot of longer passages in the past but are slowing down as we get older.

OUr boat choices: Insatiable (teh first) was an early IOR one-tonner, 36 feet LOA 29 feet LWL, flush deck, foam cored hull (but quite heavy), fin keel, partial skeg rudder, no refrigeration to start, later a small Adler Barbour conversion, no gen set, small (175 liter) fuel and water tanks, 35 hp engine,no solar to start, then 80 watts, home made wind/trolling generator, home made wind vane, wheel pilot. Lived aboard full time for 17 years, logged almost 80K miles.

Insatiable II is a more modern vessel, launched in 1990. Strip planked in Western Red Cedar, light (9 1/2 tonnes launch weight), 46 ft LOA 44'8" LWL, fin keel and partial skeg rudder, modest beam (13'10") carried fairly far aft, big fractional rig, small electric fridge, no gen set, 240 W solar, Air-X wind generator, 800 L water, ~600 L fuel, 43 HP engine, two a/p, no vane, no water maker, no TV. We've lived aboard and cruised full time now for almost 12 years in this boat, leaving her only for medical reasons.

I'm not sure if this answers your questions, but those were our choices, the first made with no long term cruising experience (six week SF-Hawaii-SF and some coastal trips from SF to Socal), the second made with lots of experience and a bit more money.

Cheers,

Jim

[JPA Cate]

robertsailor,

Wow, you sure took a lot of flak for a fairly simple question.

Suijin got it right, IMO, the choices we make are based on both our preferences and our pocketbook, with a healthy dash of expectations built in.

Of two boats we bought for cruising, Jim chose the first Insatiable, a Palmer Johnson built Standfast 36, because she sailed well and was built very strong, for ocean racing. We kept her for 18 yrs., as full time liveaboards. I think the wealthier represented on this forum would have thought we were "camping out". We only sun showered in the cockpit. Didn't bother me, there are ways to make it private and mostly comfortable. For you, a lot would depend on what Mrs. robertsailor could be happy with.

Our second Insatiable is a one-off built by a shipwright and his wife, working together. She is also a performance oriented boat. When we started the process of looking, we had a list of 29 criteria of what we wanted, and a few deal stoppers, no ketches, no Volvos, no saildrives. Tried some brokers with our list. One said such a boat didn't exist, --good to lose him right away, eh?--but we did find one who "got it", and was helpful. We actually found the boat through friends, who knew it was going to have to be sold.

So, for us, it has been previously owned boats only. We work with what we have and adapt to it. But the choice for us is based on our pocketbook and our preferences.

Ann

PS on edit: I just read Jim's post, and this boat also does not have a washing machine, either. I no longer use buckets on the dock for laundry, mainly using laundromats, or washing by the stream with the other women.

Your intended cruising areas will have different challenges that way, the Pacific is way different from Europe!

[19 and counting]

Oh my goodness it all depends on your willingness to compromise as all of the 19 boats we have had were better and worse than others in many different ways. I will tell you we both agree that it takes two years to know what you really have when you do buy a boat. Even a brand new one. Boats are full of surprises!

[nimblemotors]

I think this question could be better asked as what is a good boat for
an older person. When young and spry, you can put up with a lot.
Now don't start with your 70, but feel like 40 nonsense.
and its not your age but your attitude, blah blah
Eventually you will feel like you are 70, and then what boat do you prefer?

[robert sailor]

Thanks for the feedback. One thing I notice with many voyagers is that they start with one boat and then sometime later get a second boat. Evans, Jim Cate and the Pardey's are good examples. They sail all over the place and then decide that they want something else and based on that experience they choose the second boat. That choice comes from years of experience after a less than stellar choice to begin with. Some folks might have gotten lucky when they made their first choice but my guess is very very few.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by nimblemotors

I think this question could be better asked as what is a good boat for
an older person. When young and spry, you can put up with a lot.
Now don't start with your 70, but feel like 40 nonsense.
and its not your age but your attitude, blah blah
Eventually you will feel like you are 70, and then what boat do you prefer?

Jim and I are both over 70, now, no plans to change boats. One's body becomes accustomed to doing what is asked of it every day. Admittedly there is great variation in the health and capabilities of people over 70, as there is for the under 70 crowd, as well.

My advice is to get what you like now, and then if you no longer like it, for whatever reason, change it. None of us knows what the future holds for us, so why not behave as if you are an optimist?

Ann

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Thanks for the feedback. One thing I notice with many voyagers is that they start with one boat and then sometime later get a second boat. Evans, Jim Cate and the Pardey's are good examples. They sail all over the place and then decide that they want something else and based on that experience they choose the second boat. That choice comes from years of experience after a less than stellar choice to begin with. Some folks might have gotten lucky when they made their first choice but my guess is very very few.

Well what's telling is that they all chose very different boats. Taleisin and Hawk share premeditated simplicity and that's about it. That's a generalization, of course, but they are miles apart in many different ways.

[rockDAWG]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

No matter our age there are many sailors out there right now that are committed to sailing/living aboard full time until they no longer can or no longer want to.
We have debated different construction methods from the tried and true solid hulls with stringers and tabbed bulkheads to mass produced full liner boats with plexus glue holding things together. We have talked about spade rudders and fin keel boats all the way to full keel boats with barn door rudders and the in between choice of skeg hung rudders and modified fin keels. We have discussed buying a newer production boat and outfitting it and we have talked about buying an older boat and refitting it.


So my question is this: what choices have the “voyagers” made and by that I mean sailors that are living on their boats 24/7 and cruising full time and crossing oceans as a regular part of their lifestyle.


I’m less interested in choices made for local sailing in Mexico/Med/ Caribbean or boats that have done an ARC, I’m much more interested in hearing about choices made by long term cruisers who have owned their boats for many years and expose them to offshore conditions over a long period of time as well living on them and maintaining them over a number of years.
Drawing on the experience of these sailors will hopefully give us a real life testament of the choices they made and why and how these choices have been working out over the years. Google sailors need not apply.

You have over 2000 posts here since 2012, I am sure you must know what boats you want for your cruising need. I assume you must have sailing experiences. If not, go out to sail more on other people's boat. By the time you have logged in 10 to 15K sea miles, you don't need to say the question. Besides, no one knows your needs and style than yourself.

I found this type of question goes nowhere, just like the question of choosing a wife for a life long living.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Thanks for the feedback. One thing I notice with many voyagers is that they start with one boat and then sometime later get a second boat. Evans, Jim Cate and the Pardey's are good examples. They sail all over the place and then decide that they want something else and based on that experience they choose the second boat. That choice comes from years of experience after a less than stellar choice to begin with. Some folks might have gotten lucky when they made their first choice but my guess is very very few.

Well, Robert, I don't think that your final comment about "less than stellar" is appropriate at all. Our decision to change boats wasn't due to our dissatisfaction with I-one, but due to a somewhat improved fiscal situation and the desire for enough room for kids and grandkids to visit. The latter hasn't proven to be a real factor, BTW... while some have visited, it is just too big a trip for busy families to make very often.

I will admit that the larger boat has meant an improvement in many aspect of our cruising and we feel very good about her, but don't feel that I-one was a bad choice at all. And I don't think that attributing it to luck is right either...

Jim

[colemj]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Mark, I believe that Webb is sailing in a Moore 24 which is a Santa Cruz designed ULDB, far from an IOR design. But then Webb stands out as marching to a very different drummer!

I think his boat Hawke of Tuenello (sp?) is an old IOR racer. Heritage One Ton?

Mark