Pilothouse Love em or Hate em

[passage_paul]

Ya.. you read me exact.. basically zero sailing xp.. plenty of time in the bering sea longlining black cod for a couple years.. but ya.. new as new.

I am enrolled in the marine systems program of the nwswb.edu so I can at least have solid systems knowledge... I will be doing the liveaboard life during that time.. tha marina is walking distance to the classroom.. and I will spend all my time sailing about puget sound while in class to develop basic seamanship and ofc plan to do the ASA courses prior to leaving spring/summer of 2021...

I was actually just looking at that boat the other day.. I think it also listed here on CF...

speed is very low on my list...I understand how it helps to be able to get out of the way faster of bad weather.. but I figure I would rather endure than hope to escape... and if I am at all fussing about time when I finally head out.. I am doing it all wrong.

Safe "comfort" is my main concern.

[GRIT]

Safe and comfortable... hard to argue with that.

There are a lot of full keel boats, and pilothouse boats, where you are. The west coast seems the best place to find both of those features.

Look all you can, and one of them will catch your eye. Buying your first boat is really exciting, like your first girlfriend...

Enjoy your search, and good luck. You'll find her.

Cheers.
Paul.

[passage_paul]

Thanks Ann.

Ya..being trapped below would be terrifying..

Im wondering if you ever have scary story night while out sailing?....I bet you can put some real spooky ones together.

My ex and I used to do that ..especially on a stormy evening... grasping onto each other (not cuddling) all night long...lol

So far the few boats I have checked do not have an outside helm.. at least those in my budget. Nauticats in my budget do have an outdoor helm.. and I really like that.. I also want to be outside while in good weather sailing about and would enjoy the "oneness"..but maybe not in a bad blow so much coming off the Aleutians..^^

I see several that are within my budget.. and I do like the sectioned vibe quite a bit. and really like a wheelhouse sitting area. I was concerned about visibility from behind.. but I am 6'2...maybe I can put a little raised area if needed..LOL... the whole keel ,rudder, prop set up is my biggest issue now it seems...many I see have near zero protection to the prop..not so sure about that.. I have no idea how typical that is on other vessels.. yachtworld.com/boats/1988/nauticat-35-3526854/

So when can we expect so see.. "Scary Sea Stories" by Ann of Oz...??

[basssears]

Two thoughts, somewhat tangential, since you've admitted you're new to this (no judgement, we were all there, and we're all newer than we think we are, at least you know enough that you don't know!).


1) When you're thinking "budget", keep in mind a general rule of thumb is you'll spend 30% or more on the boat as soon as you buy it. We bought a pretty well found 32' (surveyed very well) and we still spent a quick 30% on it, and that wasn't even fancy gee-gaws like electronics etc, that was basics (hoses, through hulls, rudder foot, heat, etc etc). So if you have $50k to spend be leery of buying a boat for $49,900 as you won't have anything left to spend to fix / upgrade / customize to your liking.


2) All boats are compromises as others have noted, it's hard but try not to be TOO set on a whole bunch of things... for example, if you decide pilothouse is for you for sure then realize you have just eliminated a lot of boats from contention (a good thing IMO) so you might have to be prepared to be flexible on the other things that are important but not a HAVE TO HAVE, so you might have to assess different keel setups / different power drive setups etc.


Sounds like you have spent time in Alaska, not sure where you are now, but if you're on the west coast I would suggest you check out a nearby Gulf 32 (usually plenty of them for sale)... plastic classic pilothouse, full keel, pretty well built, not very fast, backs like a drunken elephant (actually that's an insult to drunken elephants) but can be had for good prices. Here's Cruising World write up on them:
https://www.cruisingworld.com/classic-plastic-gulf-32
... checks a lot of your boxes.

[Huskybeer]

Originally Posted by Brendan

I've been interested in a pilothouse for about 5 years, but when I did the 2017 Fastnet on a Farr 65 without any kind of protection and froze while on watch in August in the Irish Sea, even wearing everything I had with me, it drove home my desire for a pilothouse. A 5 hour watch in a tropical rain storm in Thailand last year also reinforced this desire - even for tropical conditions. There is something to be said for being able to get out of the wind and rain to look at a chart, talk on the radio, wipe the salt out of your eyes, all without losing visibility of what's out there around you. This helps reduce fatigue and hence poor decision making - so is a safety factor.

I'm very pleased to have now exchanged contracts for a 49' centre cockpit pilothouse yacht. After looking at many with poor visibility from the outside helm, I love this one as you don't feel like you are sailing a pilothouse when you are outside. Sea trial and survey in May - fingers crossed! Can't wait!

Which one are you looking at?

[Huskybeer]

Guess I got that one before you. This one has a raised setting. And about 27-30 were made. Apparently one is available in Sardinia good luck

[Muaddib1116]

There are two Oyster 49's that I know of. The Holman & Pye Oyster HP49 built in the 90's, which was a true raised seating pilothouse and the Rob Humphreys Oyster 49 built in the early 2000's that is no different than the rest of their deck saloon lineup.

https://oysteryachts.com/heritage-ya...9-pilot-house/

https://oysteryachts.com/heritage-yachts/oyster-49/

According to Oyster's website, there 9 of the HP49 launched and 15 49's.

There was a dark blue HP49 on yachtworld a year or a year and a half ago. Did you buy that one? It was a really nice looking boat.

The only listing I can find for an HP49 in Sardinia is an expired one on inautia.

[basssears]

Traded a few PM's with the OP (oh the acronyms!), here are a few others I suggested he consider (these were on my list when I was looking for coastal cruiser pilothouse in the size range he discussed, no real knowledge how appropriate these are as far as watertight design / build quality):


* Saturna 33
* Truant 33
* Cooper 353
* Rawson 30
* Gulf 39 (only 7 of these made, my current "dream" boat)

[Huskybeer]

Originally Posted by Muaddib1116

There are two Oyster 49's that I know of. The Holman & Pye Oyster HP49 built in the 90's, which was a true raised seating pilothouse and the Rob Humphreys Oyster 49 built in the early 2000's that is no different than the rest of their deck saloon lineup.

https://oysteryachts.com/heritage-ya...9-pilot-house/

https://oysteryachts.com/heritage-yachts/oyster-49/

According to Oyster's website, there 9 of the HP49 launched and 15 49's.

There was a dark blue HP49 on yachtworld a year or a year and a half ago. Did you buy that one? It was a really nice looking boat.

The only listing I can find for an HP49 in Sardinia is an expired one on inautia.

Yes I did. And it is a splendid boat. The previous owner left so many spares I could almost build a second one. Keep me posted

[Brendan]

Originally Posted by Muaddib1116

Do you mind sharing what the boat is?

Sure, it is a Taswell 49 All Seasons.

[Brendan]

Originally Posted by Muaddib1116

Those are gorgeous boats, but pretty rare. I think less than ten were ever made. Pretty much every other oyster design, pilothouse or deck salon, has the almost ubiquitous sunken settee and nav desk, which makes very little sense to me. If Discovery 55's were in my price range, that would be close to my perfect layout. There was a Oyster 49ph for sale somewhere in Europe last year, but that was before I decided to pull the trigger on things, and I lament that I wasn't ready then.

I flew down to Spain with the owner and looked at that Oyster Pilothouse, was beautiful. Only reason I didn’t offer was uncertainty at work, and now I regret it. But happy to have found one very similar, and in some respects better (no iron keel, for starters).

[369thegoose]

Originally Posted by Sojourner

I love the ones I go over and visit, in particular a gorgeous boreal and a big nauticat. I've always loved the idea of hunkering. But the split reduces usable space in both areas, neither would make a good saloon or galley; i hate cooking in a nook where i can't interact with my friends, etc. If you are planning high latitude work, I would certainly think of one. But for anything else, I think it would be stifling.

Most on here know I'm rabid about our boat, but if you are looking for a strong boat that can handle cold weather sailing, look at the amels. We delivered our supermaramu in the middle of february across the gulf of lyon, through bonifacio and up corsica. 8 days of nothing but storms and rain. And we did it wearing sweatpants and light hoodies the whole way because the center cockpit (with full enclosure) and the heat coming up from below was more than comfy. Yet in the med summer (100 degrees all day long), it's cool and shady. And below you get a large contiguous space to relax, cook, watch netflix and hangout.....

Amers are great but worthwhile mentioning that they are v expensive whereas Pilot houses are cheaper

[Mauruuru]

You might be surprised how many times I wished I had a pilot house at 2 am in 25 knots and ten foot seas flying over the dodger

[Mauruuru]

Oh yes in the Carribean sea

[Muaddib1116]

Originally Posted by 369thegoose

Amers are great but worthwhile mentioning that they are v expensive whereas Pilot houses are cheaper

What a strange thing to say. There are cheap pilothouses and expensive ones, to whatever price you can imagine. There are cheap old Amels and expensive new ones.