Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Lucas
if the only consideration was comfort at size matters and bigger is better.
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The real question I was trying to raise (and discuss and get input on!
) was to put a finger on how things are connected when it comes to us moving around at sea.
There are so many factors to consider, and they somehow seem to be tied into each other somehow.
i.e. with your look at the comfort aspect, I am inclined to say that comfort =
safety = survival of ship and crew = .........
What would rightfully come into play at this point would be the question about the intended use!
It's a totally different story if someone would be living landlocked, i.e. at some rugged UK shore, and would go out sailing at the odd weekend - versus - someone using his
boat for the occasional
vacation in the
med with friends and
family during "season" - versus - someone doing the
Caribbean or even the coconat-milk run around the globe - versus someone planing to stray aways from the beaten path at least every now and then anticipating conditions which resemble more the "sh*t hits the fan" type of scenario - versus someone drooling over the idea to beat some round-the records staying as long as possible in them roaring fourties.... (etc.)
So I really wanted to find out how "use / purpose / intention" is set into correlation with "experience" and - here we go: "size".
I only choose the title "Does Size Matter" because it seemed so nicely catchy at the time, *grin* but my intentions behind the question are rather serious and I REALLY liked the input so far!
Of particular interest I find the reasoning that "bigger = expensive" which most probably is true if you'd buy new, but (at least as far as
purchase cost of the vessel is concerned) not when one buys used. You can get loads of greatly equipped and proven boats a couple of sizes larger and still cheaper than small ones (OK, even given the old truth that there is no such thing like a
cheap boat)
Size also most certainly is a cost-factor if one does keep his
boat - at least most of the time - at a marina, but quite honestly I find an excessively traveling larger boat (where site also aids to the increased amount of time spent under way!) cheaper to maintain than one of these constant marina - & anchorage sitting dink-sized ones.
As someone pointed out in an earlier
posting, he enjoys paddling over to the big neighbors to loan the fancy tools they carry - which is exactly the point: Bigger size also allows for bigger "payload", so more spares, more tools, more possibilities to help yourself ... and there are no "big neighbors" around at many
anchorages.. (etc.)
And I am not suggesting that I would ever mind to help someone on a smaller (cruising - I am ashamed to say: Not charter-) boat in anyway I can, and while I still had my last boat it was a common site at
anchorages to have a bunch of "shore-power-cables" protruding from the porthole of my
engine room. Any why not? With a 15KW Genset the difference in
consumption was marginal whether I'd run it only for our own needs or for a bunch of neighbors as well.
But in the end it all boils down to "compromises" ... and this thread here basically is about the kind of compromises you, my fellow sailing-nutties *grin* are willing to make (and why!)