Looking to try any center cockpit around 36-40 feet long

[Fidar]

Hello, fellow boaters!
I am looking to buy my first sailboat this spring (budget allows only previously owned for now), considered few options and somehow had my mind set on center cockpits. O'Day 37-CC being one of the top choices. The problem is - I sailed few boats and none of them was center cockpit, so, the idea is to find here someone who does have it (not necessarily O'Days) and try to charter it for few hours or a full day (with captain and payment, of course). I am in New Jersey, but ready to drive to New York or Connecticut for an opportunity to experience center cockpit firsthand before making final decision on what to be looking for. I read some reviews and opinions on comparison between rear cockpit boats and center cockpit and realized that most of them are subjective and I must try both on my own.
So, any suggestions and offers will be greatly appreciated!
Fidar 973-222-8320 (cell)

[jseas]

Well if you want to come down south, You can charter on my oday 37. www.sailinglakenorman.com

[SkiprJohn]

This is a great idea and I hope you find one to charter. Make certain you compare usable interior space to what you've sailed before and also visibility while sailing from the center cockpit.

[Fidar]

Originally Posted by jseas

Well if you want to come down south, You can charter on my oday 37. www.sailinglakenorman.com

Thanks for invitation, Captain Jay! I will see if I can find time to go to NC. Too bad I did not post my message three weeks earlier. I just returned with my family a week ago from 10-day stay at Hilton Head in SC.
I will try to make it in early spring. Nice boat, BTW!

[jseas]

Hey did you check out any marinas in Hilton Head? I'm planning to move back to the coast and HH is in my short list to go visit.

[Fidar]

Originally Posted by jseas

Hey did you check out any marinas in Hilton Head? I'm planning to move back to the coast and HH is in my short list to go visit.

I stayed at Bluewater Resort near Boathouse Marina. I bought timeshare in that resort for one reason - they are the only resort in Hilton Head, if not whole SC, which has its own marina and resort members can use it for free for a short period ( a week or two) and use as permanent home for the boat all year round at a very low cost. This may change in the future, of course. So, I do not have a boat yet, but I already have where to put it in SC, when I will buy it.
Still looking for center cockpit owners in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut areas. I do not know why I am so leaned towards CC boats...

[jseas]

I didn't know that about the marina. That would be worth looking into.

I had specific reasons for looking at cc boats when I started. Price, size, storage, tankage, and sleeping arrangements. We had two kids so the sleeping arrangements worked out for us. Now my wife and I plan to move aboard in a few years and go cruising. We have been refitting for 8 years! Of course if I had more money I would buy something bigger but for us the oday 37 is this best bang for the buck.

[jseas]

I know someone in your area that has an oday 37. I'll find his info.

[Vasco]

Center cockpits seem roomier down below. They may in fact so be. I prefer aft cockpits, as I began sailing on them. Have sailed a few cc, Morgans, Brewers etc. of cc's I much prefer the Moodys. The 41 or even the 37. But the proportions of the 41 look much better. They are easier to bring alongside as long as you remember you have as much behind you as in front of you.

[FlightPlan]

When I was looking for my boat, I was concerned as well having raced J-24's and other one design boats on the Midwest lakes. I posted a request to the Little Harbor website to get drawings and details on the boat. A day later, Ted Hood called me and wanted to know what my concerns were about the boat I was looking to buy. I told him I had three: 1. Center cockpit. 2. Center board. 3. Windows in the hull. He was a very direct and concise speaker and said: "the center cockpit will keep you dry, the centerboard will get you into the Bahamas nicely so you can look at the lobsters crawling on the bottom when your healed at 20 degrees. I bought it, like it and still have it. No regrets. You adapt quickly to steering with the stern behind you, but it is different for a while.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Vasco

Center cockpits seem roomier down below. They may in fact so be.

INteresting! For me, it is exactly the opposite. For a given length, the c/c saloon, where one spends most of one's waking and below deck hours, is much smaller. The galley,if placed in the walkthrough as many are, is cramped and isolated from everyone in the saloon. I have never understood the obsession with the giant aft cabin... a place where you spend 8 hours a day, unconscious!

Anyhow, I never really want to criticize another's choice of boats, but I'd like to understand the c/c issue better. Oh... for really big boats, say 55 ft+, the issues diminish in my mind, for everything is adequately sized no matter where the bloody cockpit is!

Cheers,

Jim

[robert sailor]

Jim,
I faced the same issues you mention when my wife expressed an interest in a Moody CC. She was expecting guests and wanted as much separation in sleeping quarters as possible so this is where we ended up. I have sailed 3 aft cockpits offshore and prefer them myself but I have to admit that I have gotten used to this CC and now quite like it. Bill Dixon did a wonderful job on the design and got the galley layout to be very similar to what I'm used to in an aft cockpit. I get up more than once at night and when we slept in a V berth I would wake up my wife so having a large walk around bed is important to my wife. It is a dry boat and a decent sailor so I'm happy enough but for me personally I like aft cock pits.

[Fidar]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

INteresting! For me, it is exactly the opposite. For a given length, the c/c saloon, where one spends most of one's waking and below deck hours, is much smaller. The galley,if placed in the walkthrough as many are, is cramped and isolated from everyone in the saloon. I have never understood the obsession with the giant aft cabin... a place where you spend 8 hours a day, unconscious!

Jim, I am of different opinion on the topic of sleep and would not call this state "unconscious", but this is completely different theme. I can see how CC boats can be attractive. Though, I have to agree with you-37' boat is a 37' boat and CC will not make it any larger. In architecture and interior design it is called perceived illusion. Which is often used in small spaces. You simply evaluate which factors have highest value for consumer and look for solutions either to create these or create illusion of them, which often can be ad good as real factor/feature. Say, darker walls and white ceilings create illusion of space with more vertical room than it really is. Mirrors create illusion of wider spaces than really are. Red packaging sells 15% more product than same package for same product in blue or green or yellow tints... We are creatures, who can easily fool ourselves... Or others.:-)