Family oriented cruising monohull SVs, 40 - 60 feet, <$200k Canadian

[coldcanadian]

Partner and I have had our first sailboat, a 1980 C&C 32 for 1.5 years. Done a ton of upgrades and had a great time learning and making mistakes while doing some multi-week trips. Based on southern Vancouver island. The biggest thing we've learned is we love the lifestyle and only want to embrace it more so. I have been transitioning to more and more remote work to make this happen.

We are looking at 2025 for doing some extended full-time cruising in the PNW. Tentative plan is work our way north for 3 months, and then come back over 3 months, with the mindset that if we continue to love it, we'll go further afield for more of a multi-year or indefinite adventure, with kids being a possibility and the desire to bring them along.

We want a blue water capable sailboat in the 40 - 60 foot range that is more family oriented (2 kids, 2 adults), and ideally less than $200,000. Loosely we are thinking of owning this boat for around 10 years before moving on. I have a bit of a dream of high latitude sailing and so am drawn to shallow draft steel and aluminum hulls but that's not a priority and most of those are beyond our price range if they're well equipped. We don't necessarily want a project boat, but have the skills and support to take on almost any project, especially in wood or fibreglass (partner's father is a shipwright with his own shop). What are some sailboat models to keep an eye out for? We are searching up and down the western seaboard of North America, but there is the small possibility we'd consider something on the East coast too - and if we did that we'd be aiming to bring the boat back to the PNW over 2 years.

Thanks.

[Nekton73]

Early 2000's Hanse 411 might be worth a look. I crewed on one for a roughly 600 mile delivery a while back and really liked it. Took some pretty heavy spring weather in the Med. well in stride.

[daniTS]

If you're not working with a yacht broker already and want to do so, Max Shaw at Yacht Sales West (Port Sidney) sailed offshore with his wife and three kids for 7 years so he would have a good idea what you're looking for. Their personal blog is https://sv-fluenta.blogspot.com/


I know him a little bit through the Bluewater Cruising Association and if you aren't already a member of that I'd highly recommend joining--an absolute pleathora of offshore experience in that group and they're really friendly. bluewatercruising.org. We have a club night coming up on November 21 if you wanted to get a taste for it. There are lots of education opportunities and it's a lovely group for all stages of cruisers!