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georgetheleo · 22-06-2014, 17:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by JRM

I'm not sure this is the right place for this, but since it is a monohull sailboat, I'll drop it here. If it fits someplace better, mods please feel free to move it...

I've been working on selling the idea of long range cruising to my better half for a while now. We have a Catalina 30 that we take out to the islands for trips (so far) up to three days. So far, so good.

I've been thinking along the lines of a Tayana 37, Pacific Seacraft 37, Cabo Rico 34 (and for something completely different there's a Cheoy Lee Pedrick with a lot of potential close to me). Standard "traditional" American style cruisers. There are a couple of Beneteaus near us, and she has expressed on multiple occasions how much she likes the look. I also picked up a gig crewing with a rather serious bunch on a First 40.7, which has elicited more positive comments from her than the rest of them combined.

So, on a lark I went and looked at a 45f5. It seemed like something she would like, so I took her down to have a look (at the start of a five hour car trip). During the ensuing discussion, she stated that, "of all the boats you've shown me, this was the first one I could really see myself living on." It's certainly progress.

So, I guess I'm not sure whether I'm looking for validation on the boat itself, or the concept of going with a more modern style vessel. I've done as much research as I can, and talked to a couple of cruisers (and the race guys) that I trust. They all had good things to say about that model in particular (the rest of the guys had chartered one for a race a few years back and won first place overall in it, so they couldn't say enough good things about it).

I don't really see us going around, but spend a summer cruising Hawaii, and then perhaps a year or 14 months in the south Pacific to start. It's a bit spendy for my financial planning, but certainly not out of reach.

So what I'm wondering is... if you were in my shoes, would you run with the wife's penchant for things French and adjust, or keep trying to wear her down with a more traditional plan? I realize that a lot of this depends on the personalities involved, but I'm kind of at a crossroads here. I recently finished reading Cantrell's "Changing Course" and am trying to make this an equal partnership rather than just my dream that I drag her along for. I think the Bene gives me a much better chance to not only get her on board, but to really increase her enjoyment.

Thoughts? Alternate boats that might catch her fancy that we haven't considered?

Thanks,

JRM

SHOW HER CATS

georgetheleo · 22-06-2014, 17:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bash

Be careful, you might actually fall in love with one of those boats.

When we bought our first liveaboard boat, I thought I had made the mental transition from racer to cruiser, but I really hadn't. I wanted to buy a used Swan 40. This boat had at least a dozen winches, two spinnaker poles, and a garage full of sails. Wonderblond barely made it to the bottom of the companionway before she vetoed the deal. It was too dark, too smelly, too much of a guy boat.

Quite by accident, she went below on a 41-foot Hunter and said, "I could live on something like this." We bought that boat, lived on it for eight years, and loved it so much we ultimately traded it in on a 46-foot Hunter.

The most shocking thing about our original Hunter is that we sold it for the price we'd paid for it. Yes. After eight years living aboard, and after having logged 10,000 nm on the keel. Sure, we'd put a lot of additional money into the boat, upgrading cushions, plumbing, electronics, et cetera. And although we didn't get the money for the extras back, we basically learned the art of living aboard on that boat without paying an arm and a leg to do so.

The first thing you've got to learn to do is stop listening to the naysayers. When they tell you that your boat is nothing more than a floating condominium, you will know in your heart of hearts that your boat is far nicer than any condominium you've ever seen. When some fellow in a tiny, 30 year old, gas-powered Pearson Triton objects that some boat salesguy suggested your boat wasn't a true "bluewater" boat, you'll just smile and know that with twice his waterline and three times his freeboard, you're not even going to feel the chop that slams him with greenwater and stops him dead in the water.

When we first bought our H46LE, we entered her in the Beer Can races at our former yacht club just to see how she performed in a fleet that turned out every Wednesday with 25-30 boats. Of the five races we entered, we won three. Back in the club after one of those races, a buddy of mine claimed that I kept winning because I only brought the boat out when the wind was howling and the chop was too steep for the smaller boats to handle. I replied, "Oh. Was there chop tonight? We didn't notice it."

A Hunter?-- I thought those were RV s.