35 footer and the caribbean

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

... The E. Caribe is mostly daysails with a few overnighters. People eat there too, albeit not very well I suppose!
...

Depends a lot on where. I got delayed for a couple of weeks on a delivery starting in Martinique recently...think I gained 10 lbs...lots of good french bakeries!

[Suijin]

Whenever someone asks me what I need for my boat I say "a dumpster", and I'm solo on a 40'. But I live aboard so I carry a lot of stuff most people don't.

I'll echo the cautions about a Beneteau. I'm not one of those Beneteau haters, but I've been on more than a few and I've made some hair-raising discoveries on more than a few as well with respect to structural design elements and more importantly, some just plain shoddy workmanship hidden where it's very difficult to see it. If you know your way around boats and fixing stuff you can make your own educated decision, or repairs and modifications. Certainly they are comfortable and have some ingenious design elements, but most of them, particularly the smaller ones, are classed and built as "coastal cruisers" and you should keep that in mind when you consider routes and weather.

[ToddMc]

Originally Posted by Suijin

Whenever someone asks me what I need for my boat I say "a dumpster", and I'm solo on a 40'. But I live aboard so I carry a lot of stuff most people don't.

I'll echo the cautions about a Beneteau. I'm not one of those Beneteau haters, but I've been on more than a few and I've made some hair-raising discoveries on more than a few as well with respect to structural design elements and more importantly, some just plain shoddy workmanship hidden where it's very difficult to see it. If you know your way around boats and fixing stuff you can make your own educated decision, or repairs and modifications. Certainly they are comfortable and have some ingenious design elements, but most of them, particularly the smaller ones, are classed and built as "coastal cruisers" and you should keep that in mind when you consider routes and weather.

I am new to the sailing scene and am just drawn to the new/modern looks (I am sure i will get beat up for that comment)lol and the ease of single handed sailing of the oceanis 35 where it all is at a hands reach. I know there is alot of craftsmanship and history with alot of sailboats and I am not knocking that at all. Some of them are true works of art. I am sure ALL sailboats have their problems, but if they were all serious there wouldnt be that many around or wouldn't stay in business. We are in the position to spend around 150K for a cruiser. Dont want to go above forty ft. (just for ease of sailing). In the looking phase now. IF ANYONE WANTS TO STEER ME IN A CERTAIN DIRECTION THAT WOULD BE GREAT. LOL

I guess Beneteau is the first one that has caught my eye. And really have not heard much bad about them.

Great Forum

Thanks
ToddMc

[UNCIVILIZED]

Originally Posted by ToddMc

I am new to the sailing scene and am just drawn to the new/modern looks (I am sure i will get beat up for that comment)lol and the ease of single handed sailing of the oceanis 35 where it all is at a hands reach. I know there is alot of craftsmanship and history with alot of sailboats and I am not knocking that at all. Some of them are true works of art. I am sure ALL sailboats have their problems, but if they were all serious there wouldnt be that many around or wouldn't stay in business. We are in the position to spend around 150K for a cruiser. Dont want to go above forty ft. (just for ease of sailing). In the looking phase now. IF ANYONE WANTS TO STEER ME IN A CERTAIN DIRECTION THAT WOULD BE GREAT. LOL

I guess Beneteau is the first one that has caught my eye. And really have not heard much bad about them.

If you want guidance, there's enough knowledge in the below post via it's links for you to self-educate so that you can well select the proper boat. Or rather, candidate boats. As you'll wind up generating a list of the criteria that are "Must Haves" in your boat, along with "Nice to Haves", & from there you'll use it to generate your list of candidates. http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post2206710


As I "warned" the couple in the post, it's a LOT of information. But if you're wanting to do diligent research based on expert advice in boat selection, it's more than worth digesting a lot of it. Especially as some of the links are to the websites of experts who specialize in assisting people in choosing boats for cruising.

Also, Ann & Jim Cate recently posted their own (old) "Must Have" boat features list. It's quite good, & is similar to mine. Which, between the 3 of us there's well over a century of sailing experience, so you might take a look at it.


As to Beneteaus, their issues & quality glitches have been well covered here on CF. And a couple of targeted searches will turn up way more than you want to read. Their cousins, the Jeanneaus, seem to be a bit better, knock on wood. Though you'd be wise to do a bit of study on any boat that's a serious candidate for you.

Some of why certain brands are popular has to do with what you get for a price. And they're usually built, or rather styled, towards folks who know less about sailing, & proper boat construction. Plus they're popular with charter fleets for similar reasons, & than many such designs are subsidized. So that they're even cheaper yet for the builders to produce. Which, for example, is why there are so many French catamarans in charter fleets around the world. And why such boats so influence/influenced catamaran development & sales.

Generally such mass production, floating condos (mono & multihull) see structural issues very early in their lives as compared to older designs, & quality built boats. Sometimes starting on day 1, sadly.

[chuckr]

We sailed the Carib a few years ago and saw a number of boats in the 35' range - not a big issue -
But what I would be more concerned is what you put on the boat - the stuff that makes the boat work and what you need to cruise
We sail a Jeanneau DS40 and were very inexperienced when we started so we opted to sail the east coast of the USA a couple of times and the Bahamas. After a while we began to understand what we needed if we wanted to extend our cruising territory and went into Deltaville Boat Yard with a long list of upgrades.
So our only suggestion is do not get in a hurry to make the Caribbean but take your time and do the east coast and the Bahamas and learn a bit about the boat and what you need. Then upgrade the boat and head on down and enjoy the island life.

OH as for storage - a bit of a chuckle here - when we left we had heard as above we need a lof storage for food and stuff. We laugh at that now as there are people all over the world and surprising they eat and you can find stuff throught out the world. Does not mean it is easy or what you want but we are down now to perhaps 1/4 of the food stored as when we left 9 years ago.
What we have more of is boat parts and still want more of those.

[WSMFP]

Originally Posted by ToddMc

I am new to the sailing scene and am just drawn to the new/modern looks (I am sure i will get beat up for that comment)lol and the ease of single handed sailing of the oceanis 35 where it all is at a hands reach. I know there is alot of craftsmanship and history with alot of sailboats and I am not knocking that at all. Some of them are true works of art. I am sure ALL sailboats have their problems, but if they were all serious there wouldnt be that many around or wouldn't stay in business. We are in the position to spend around 150K for a cruiser. Dont want to go above forty ft. (just for ease of sailing). In the looking phase now. IF ANYONE WANTS TO STEER ME IN A CERTAIN DIRECTION THAT WOULD BE GREAT. LOL

I guess Beneteau is the first one that has caught my eye. And really have not heard much bad about them.

Great Forum

Thanks
ToddMc

I am in the same boat as you pardon the pun. You really need to inspect a few Beneteaus side by side on the same day with other boats. I was initially in love with the oceanis until digging around the interior. The interiors look nice but the components are cheap. I'm a big fan of modern over fancy wood everywhere but you can tell the quality is extremely poor. One thing that also stood out was the cabin soles on all of them creaked.