New to sailing.Live aboard advice? :)

[Franst8]

I have a friend here in Berkeley who lives on and sails a Pacific Seacrest Dana 24. He raced the single handed Transac to Hawaii and loved her performance. That would be a bit small for your needs but Pac.Sea. are very good strong Bluewater cruisers and make wonderful liveaboards.

[latka]

As a Cape Dory 36 owner I just have to have to tell how good these boats are! Very well build with nice traditional lines and reasonably fast. The cutter rig is so easy to manage for a solo sailor (like me). Plus I love the cozy,roomy interior with lot of wood.
There is a nice,be it a bit dated, promotional video on youtube.

[sailorman7225]

Endorse the IP 35 or 320. The builder is still in business; there are 2 robust owner websites; I've owned 2. Check out ipyoa.com. the PSC 34 or 31 is an excellent choice as well. The 2 manufacturers share some similarities; I.E., heavey displacement, keel/rudder configuration, etc. Good luck.

[a64pilot]

I'd say an IP too, as I have one and of course the best boat is the one you have.
But the IP's with a 0 at the end 380 for instance are newer, but smaller than the ones without the 0 , reason is that sort of sugar scoop stern counts in the length, so a 380 and a 35 interior wise are the same boat.

I like the looks of a PSC myself, maybe even better than an IP.

I'd look just as hard at condition and price as I would the builder though, example if you found a real deal on within IP or a PSC, I'd go with the best deal. Condition being more important in my opinion.


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[TheThunderbird]

As a European with an eye to classic designs, I by and far prefer a PSC to an IP

Elegance is much needed on a boat... as an incentive to properly care for it ...:-)

Happy breeze! (And make someone happy too .. why solo-sailing!? There is time for everything, and you sail alone when the sailmate is sleeping)

[jhstacy]

Absolutely the IP35. But I might be a bit prejudice I bought my IP35 last year, love it and it's only problem is it is not an IP44

[IolantheSF]

Move aboard and figure it out. Bring nothing on which you cannot stow. Tolerate nothing without a purpose. Sail it regularly and it will teach you what you need. Be sure to have luxuries like a working head, refrigeration, stove, and ideally a shower. We have a washing machine and that is a real luxury. We found a 32 footer too small, but our 43 footer just right.

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by NikiRice

Thank you for your response! Jeanneau is still on my list... Beautiful boats, do you recommend a certain model? 😃

We sail a 2001/launched2003 Jeanneau DS 40 with the helm on the starboard bulkhead - probably only boat you will find like that - pull up the floor boards and you see why she is built so well and you can touch the keel bolts - no liners - have not been in the USA in a while so no real idea of the newer Jeanneaus

[HappyMdRSailor]

Welcome to CF Niki...

Some very good intent on advice here... Your budget allows almost unlimited possibilities... So... Take your time to find the right boat for you...

[MichaelMaunsell]

Originally Posted by Eleuthera 2014

Hi Niki,

Welcome. I like Nonsuch but an unstayed rig for ocean passage is not appropriate, (did I say crazy?)

Do you have any personal experience, supporting facts or engineering qualification to back up this bizarre statement? I bet you don't.

I have about 35000 NM at sea with a completely unstayed rig including a 5 year circumnavigation and never had cause to regret my choice at sea.

I'm not exactly alone either. To pick just one extreme example of how seaworthy unstayed rigs can be, take a look at Paratii 2, Amyr Klink's Antartic exploration vessel.



If you are interested in some well informed discussion on unstayed rigs of different kinds and their pros and cons, there is an excellent thread here:
[URL="http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f47/sailboats-with-free-standing-masts-150283-1.html" [/URL]

My advice to Niki is to research different options that appeal thoroughly and then try to get to sail on the ones that still interest you. In my experience, most owners are enthusiasts for their own vessel. If you can spot one in a marina with the owner on board, go up and say hello. Tell them you're about to buy a boat and are thinking about whatever their boat is. Could you ask them a few questions? Offer to help out scrubbing the deck or cleaning the stainless while you chat. Be friendly and useful. I bet you end up going sailing on her.

Good luck!

[NikiRice]

Originally Posted by MichaelMaunsell

Do you have any personal experience, supporting facts or engineering qualification to back up this bizarre statement? I bet you don't.

I have about 35000 NM at sea with a completely unstayed rig including a 5 year circumnavigation and never had cause to regret my choice at sea.

I'm not exactly alone either. To pick just one extreme example of how seaworthy unstayed rigs can be, take a look at Paratii 2, Amyr Klink's Antartic exploration vessel.

Attachment 115572

If you are interested in some well informed discussion on unstayed rigs of different kinds and their pros and cons, there is an excellent thread here:
[URL="http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f47/sailboats-with-free-standing-masts-150283-1.html" [/URL]

My advice to Niki is to research different options that appeal thoroughly and then try to get to sail on the ones that still interest you. In my experience, most owners are enthusiasts for their own vessel. If you can spot one in a marina with the owner on board, go up and say hello. Tell them you're about to buy a boat and are thinking about whatever their boat is. Could you ask them a few questions? Offer to help out scrubbing the deck or cleaning the stainless while you chat. Be friendly and useful. I bet you end up going sailing on her.

Good luck!

Thank you so much for your reply! Really good advice. Definitely checking out the thread! cheers

[Scout 30]

We had a cat-ketch with an unstayed rig for about 10 years & I think unstayed masts have proven themselves to be reliable. However, while to the novice it would appear that this is a good rig for a beginner, the fundamentals of sailing are still the same & need to be learned. Pretty much any boat can be set up for single handing. The boats you are considering have very different hull designs which indicates to me that you need to learn a lot more about sailing before you settle on a specific boat. You can get a lot of information from forums like this but when it comes to choosing a design pretty much any boat you mention will get defended here so that might be more confusing than helpful. There are a lot of great sailing/cruising books & I recommend reading as many as possible. I also recommend looking at as many boats as possible &, of course, sailing as much as possible.

[deluxe68]

The PSC 34 for $55k would be a great boat at a great price.

[Sandero]

I delivered a Nonsuch 34 (if I recall) from Bermuda to Antigua. It was very comfy and roomy and easy to sail. Conditions were mostly aft of the beam so the point of sail seemed to work well for that rig. Good boat... well built.

The cockpit was large too and that handy. You spend a lot of time in the cockpit and want to have a sheltered comfy one. My own boat has a large cockpit which is brilliant. I see many larger boats with not very comfy cockpits. I am referring to not only sea kindly but for just hanging about on the hook.

The other things are a robust below decks auto pilot, and control lines led aft... and a windlass with chain.

[sailorchic34]

One thing to think about is getting the sail reefed or down and tied up, while single handed. A cat rigged sail has a huge sail area and that might be tough to reef in some conditions. It also depends on how tall and strong you are. That is can you attach and detach the main halyard to the sailboard. If your tall (I am) then it's less of a problem. If your 5'-2" you may need a step or two depending on the boom height.

Myself, I single hand a Islander 34 which is a old boat with a very simple rig. Main sail area is low (240 ish SF) which makes for easy reefing or taking down.

I love the look of the freedom cat rig, but I think it might be a bear to reef in bigger seas. I would not want to deal with that myself. Probably OK for coastal and Mexico.

I and I do almost exclusive single handing for over 10 years would recommend a traditional Jib and main. Mainly as the total sail area is split between two sails. For a woman, it is easier to deal with the smaller sail area, when the boat is heeled over and bashing. My dinky 240 SF main is enough to deal with when the winds are up.

If I had the money, a furling main and of course a furling jib, would be nice. Though there are con's to furling mains too.

Also watch the freeboard (side height) of the boat, when single handing docking. Some sailboats with a high freeboard is going to be harder to get on and off of, which you must do quickly and easily, while docking.

Good luck with the hunt.