Go small and go now?

[Sailing Hanse37]

Originally Posted by jerski

I have given it some thought about osmosis; I am hoping by now, most Nicholson 32 have been treated for the blisters. I am a member of the owner's group and there are some nice looking boats for sale

Unfortunately not. A friend has a Nicholson 32 and the gelcoat literally fell of his boat a few months ago when being hauled out. I mean: they pressure washed his boat and whole sections of gelcoat simply fell off. Expensive experience…
Most of these boats are now derelict. They are still floating till they sink and nobody can predict when they will sink.

[Cheechako]

I had as much fun on my first 30 footer as any. But as I aged I wanted to go faster between ports. Hard to say.

[Don C L]

I think 32 is a good sweet spot too, and I am dating myself when I say 32 still sounds big to me too. There are many good candidates and if I were in your shoes I'd just start by looking for a high quality build boat (there are a few) to start and one that has been maintained and upgraded by someone who was planning to cruise and is "ready to go." It won't be. Then take that boat out for a while for a shake down, come back and get to work on all the projects you'll probably want to take care of before heading out. If you take on more of a project than that you may never go. I say this from watching a a number of people try doing it that way.

But the main thing is, in my humble opinion, how much do you love just being out on the ocean? If you know that to be the place where you find a great deal of peace, and joy, you're on the right path. That's how it is for me, but I'm not in a position to go very far these days. I am thinking of the interview I saw of Cole Brauer and she talked about tearing up thinking how she'd miss the experience of being at sea. I don't know, that's just what I think of when I think of "successful" cruising in any boat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iirUc7sfU-Q

[Don C L]

BTW have you checked CF classifieds?

[wholybee]

30ft is plenty large enough for 2 people. The question is "how many toys do you want to carry?" Kayaks, surfboards, diving tanks and compressor, a dingy, fishing gear, kitesurfing gear, the list doesn't end. That can all quickly add up to take more space than a couple people. If you are planning a simple cruise and won't miss the toys, there really isn't a reason for a large boat, IMHO.

[moonmist]

Hi, Jerski, I owned a MKX 1973 model for 25 years. Limited coastal cruising on the Long Island Sound, East End Long Island and Block Island. Early on it was the favorite boat of the yard workers that hauled it, of all the boats they hauled. It a great sailing boat with very robust rigging. Osmosis was a major issue below the water line I did two extensive bottom jobs. The first filling the yard with fiber glass (one yard worker was not happy, saying I could never do this in any other yard, but I did under the direction of the yard owner who built an Spencer Air Car using wood and West System Epoxy). Taking all the gelcoat and the first layer of glass off revealing many blisters 3" in diameter, all ground out followed with filling and fairing and many coats of West two coats of Inter Protect 2000 three coats of bottom paint. 10 years later the bottom was covered with small blisters. The problem then was to remove all the epoxy coatings. I do not think the 60's Nics have this problem. This past summer I meet a fellow that had a gem of an earlier Nic 32 that had been rebuild by a shipwright on the Chesapeake a real jewel. If you find one I have many parts sails etc. Good luck go now!!!!

[moonmist]

[SomeGuyInaShirt]

Do you have offshore sailing experience? If not, don't even dream of buying a boat yet. You might be the world's biggest introvert and not want to sail with anyone else but getting that experience is worth it. You need to know what it's like to actually sail on different boats especially offshore. Boatyards are full of boats whose owners went now without prior experience and now they lose more time selling their boat because it was wrong for them. Just my 2 cents.

[Bowdrie]

Many times my "stock" answer, (and dodge flak for it,) for someone starting out with aspirations beyond the coastal routes is a Westsail 32.
Why? they made over 800 of them, they're everywhere available at about whatever level and price range you could imagine from the big project in a back yard to a gold-plater.
You can run them aground, bang them against a dock, roll them over 360,,, and they have enough volume to carry lots of stuff.
In short, they will survive the foibles that inexperience often forces a boat to suffer while still retaining a measure of dignity.
Slow? Any boat of that waterline is slow, but you'll ride easy, and you'll sleep easy,,,, and taking a few more days on a long passage isn't so bad as many would like you to think.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by Bowdrie

Many times my "stock" answer, (and dodge flak for it,) for someone starting out with aspirations beyond the coastal routes is a Westsail 32.
Why? they made over 800 of them, they're everywhere available at about whatever level and price range you could imagine from the big project in a back yard to a gold-plater.
You can run them aground, bang them against a dock, roll them over 360,,, and they have enough volume to carry lots of stuff.
In short, they will survive the foibles that inexperience often forces a boat to suffer while still retaining a measure of dignity.
Slow? Any boat of that waterline is slow, but you'll ride easy, and you'll sleep easy,,,, and taking a few more days on a long passage isn't so bad as many would like you to think.

Isn’t a Westsail 32 about 40 feet long overall with bowsprit and booking? Not so small after all.

And boy, living in a cave. But oodles of space for stores, which if you’re heading for the Beagle Channel you need as provisioning spots are few and far between.

There’s another currently active thread on CF regarding a guy in Perth and there are some powerful arguments for extended cruising in 8.5m (26’) trailer sailors. But coastal, not Beagle Channel.

[bergius]

Originally Posted by fxykty

And boy, living in a cave. But oodles of space for stores, which if you’re heading for the Beagle Channel you need as provisioning spots are few and far between.

Your ancestors were happy living in a cave for millenia, don't diss it until you've tried it!

There are various reasons to carry a lot of provisions. Sure, people eat food everywhere, and hence it is available pretty much everywhere. But for instance now that we're heading to Norway in a couple of weeks, we'll do a full provisioning round here in Germany, as nobody can afford to buy things in Norway unless they earn a Norwegian salary.

Similarly last spring, not quite the Beagle Channel, but when we were up in the northern Baltic, we went without a good shopping opportunity for a month. It was still so early in the season that guest harbours were closed and all shops would've been a 10-20km hike away from the anchorages. Otherwise a lovely time of the year to sail there. Cold but sunny (for 22h per day!), great stable wind conditions, and you had the sea for yourself.

Our "bilge full of beer" strategy worked out as well. We left Berlin in beginning of April, and only ran out in early July - just in time for a quick provisioning run to the much-cheaper-than-Finland Estonia. A traditional full keel boat can carry a lot.

I suppose the northern European answer to the Westsail 32 recommendation would be a Hallberg-Rassy Monsun 31. Well-built long-keeler that tons were made of. At any given moment a dozen or so are for sale in Sweden, Finland, or Denmark. And if you're looking to go a step bigger, there's the Rasmus 35 with the center cockpit.

[fxykty]

I sailed with my parents as a kid and we crossed the Pacific to Hawaii and back in a 28’ full keel boat and a few years later spent 3 years in the South Pacific in a 32’ steel fin keel boat. We weren’t the smallest boat around back then, while 40’ was huge! We buddy boated, because one of their kids was my age, with a family on a 44’ Swan. That boat’s greatest asset was their fridge and freezer - our boat had an ice box (and no ice). Of course, they always had a few more days at every port in the South Pacific than we did. But we still had the same views!

One of the realities of smaller boats is slower speeds and much less comfort in any kind of seas. We were thrilled if we attained a 100 mile day!

Now, you can say that a few extra days, or extra weeks for the long passages, is no big deal. That’s generally true, but not for passages that are weather bracketed, such as South Pacific to NZ. And a faster boat sure does open up more options for coastal day sailing. Depending on where you are cruising there simply may not be safe harbours every 10 or 20 miles.

But for the OP and others like him/her, go now is almost always better than go later, and if that means a smaller boat then that’s just fine. Especially once you reach mid-life: there’s just too many stories and experiences of people getting medically disabled or dead out of the blue. Go now and remove regrets from your future.

[thomm225]

You can make a smaller boat work for you coastal sailing, but it helps if the wind and tide are right.

I was headed home one morning about 35 miles out and got in such a hurry I didn't free up some halyards that had tangled etc. so I used the jib only. Furler jammed also so I sailed with partial jib.

The wind was pretty strong gusting up to about 28-29 knots which on my boat would have been very hard to sail against.

On the way back, I sailed between two boats sailing North into the wind. One was an old school full keel boat that was sailing more off the wind, but the other was a fin keel boat that looked like it was sailing on rails.

Heeled over a bit but also sailing quite close to the wind and basically blasting upwind.

It was impressive to see.

Both boats were around 40'-45'.

Here is the day, but I missed recording those two boats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agtdrmAqojs

[Selkie Sailing]

Echoing many...Go Now. Save the money for upgrades, maintenance and other unavoidable surprises or luxury wishes...

I have had boats up to 44 foot: modern, spacy, bright white, light 'IKEA type' interiors etc. (btw also money pits with everything from new sails to maintenance to berthing, lots of stuff that I even didnt used still got broken).

Sometimes I joined friends on their -smaller and often older but quality all over- boats and I started to experience something I had lost over the years since I started sailing. With my large yachts (CF: this is my opinion so no judgement to anyone): the fun factor, the quality feeling, the handmade interiors, the real 'yacht feeling', in essence the soul of sailing.

When our kids grew older and werent really interested in sailing I decided to scale 'down' -in my opinion- after decades, and went on purpose for a classic built Swedish tough design. And yes I found out I made a common mistake that many have experienced...thinking that bigger is better.
My experience in sailing -primarily- the mediterranean for years now on a 31 foot classic, heavy built yacht has never been more satisfying. Yes I do keep her in mint condition, she is 35 years old, which sometimes means some investments but also this is really a fraction of a large boat. Go Now.