Which 28' Boat Is the Best Option ?

[dofthesea]

Hello all I shave been reading the forums like crazy and plowing through many sailing books to get my feet wet shall we say. The area I live is Honolulu and only has 28' slips available at this time. I had hoped to get a 32-36' for live aboard just do not want to wait for 3-4 years to start the process. If you could please suggest a 28' which has the best liveaboard capability. I will also be doing most of my learning on this boat. Would like to be able to take short extended trips as experience allows with out having to upgrade in 1 year. Inter island and the the West Coast of CA........
Aloha

[dofthesea]

Forgot to mention my budget range is $10-20k and would prefer something very seaworthy.

[capt.bobfm]

Sounds to me like youre not overly experianced in sailing. Look in your local craigs list and want adds. Find some old guy at the marina to advise you as to what might be a good boat for your intended use and is a good seaworthy boat. Something that sails well might be nice too. Maybe a pacific seacraft or a baba or maybe a choi-lee. A cape dory would probably do very well but I dont know how big you are or your living habits. You will most likely need to practice living in your bathroom,because that is about all the space you have in a 28ft er.

[David_Old_Jersey]

No idea on Hawaii - but coming from another island I would say that the most important thing to consider (especially on a tight budget) is............what's available locally. Kinda restricts choices to what is for sale at the time you want in the budget / condition you are after. But boats are all about compromise

A tendency (but not a guarantee!) that what others are using is what is suitable for use in the area - and for the liveaboard thing, that will largely depend on personal space needs and intended use. The trade off will (usually) be the bigger the accomadation the less sailing / seaworthiness (not neccessarily an automatic thing just that in practice - in your budget - for max accomadation will likely be looking at boats designed for local / coastal / weekend use and these likely to have majored on accomadation plan, and possibly also at the expense of long term build quality. For going to distant shores - on your budget - probably looking older when boats were designed a bit narrower and less roomy for length than modern times.......not to say that they are always "better" than modern more roomy vessels, just that in your budget unlikely to get both.........

Have a look around in your intended docking area and see what takes your fancy accomadation and budget wise. and ideally pick a few brains onshore. If you can come up with some boat models I am sure folks here will be only too willing to mention their pros and cons

BTW welcome to CF

[Doodles]

As DOJ says, availability in Hawaii will be a big factor but here is one that may fit your criteria .....1985 Jeanneau Fantasia Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

[Doodles]

Here's another in your area ...1969 Marieholm International Folkboat sailboat for sale in Hawaii

May be tight for living aboard, but otherwise a GREAT boat, well equipped and what a price! Plus offshore ready. Just needs an outboard.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Dof,
Na Hoa Holomoku of Hawaii Yacht Club has a newsletter section about a Columbia 28 sail I helped crew aboard. Great little boat and surprisingly seaworthy. I believe it is for sale now on the Big Island. It has changed hands to Jake (the guy pictured with the big fish) since I was aboard but was in pretty good shape last year. I think $7K is his asking price.
On the other hand, Newports are the largest interior designed boats I've been aboard and I think they make a 27. The 26 ft International Folkboat is about the same interior size as a Catalina 22. Very, very small but by far the best sailer. Catalina 27 would be a good choice.
By all means look at craigslist and keep checking the newspaper ads and walk the docks.
Good luck.
regards,

[Drew13440]

Geez the bottom of that Jeanneau is as flat as a frying pan. Will not be a comfortable sailer in any kind of chop. With the specified budget, I would look at Cape Dory 28 and Tartan 28.

[dofthesea]

capt.bob
How could you ever make the assumption that I am not experienced from my posting. gasp..... I think I have read about 20 sailing related books in about twenty days. So doesn't that make me an expert armchair sailor?

DOJ

I have been watching Cl religiously. I have the book Twenty small Sailboats to take you anywhere and have been looking for the models listed in book. Then I realized that one of the boats is a a Bristol Channel Cutter and thought gee wouldn't that be a nice boat its only in the $125k range booohoo

Doodles thanks for posting the links they both look like great boats just not to fit my needs. Really would like something 28 feet as thats the max I can go. Anything less then 28" might be too small. Since I'll be living about part time. Now that I can only get 28' or smaller I have scratched the full time time liveaboard plan. Besides from reading everyones posts it seems as if smaller is better especially for a first boat. Cost wise and learning wise.

SkprJohn
Thanks for the link. Found the newsletter don't see the boat info. I'll try to find out about Newport's haven't looked at that model yet. I would really like a large interior layout. I have read a bunch about boats that are larger then 30-35 and seem rerally bad due to layout and design. So i guess a spacious design for a 28' might be good? Still trying understand the beam to length ratio pertaining to performance? At one point the techniqual stuff gets confusing.

Thanks a bunch for everyones response very helpful.
Pura Vida my friends.

[dofthesea]

Doodles upon second look at the Jeanneau Fantasia it does look pretty good. has anyone from his forum actually seen this boat? Have experience with one? Time to google away.

[Drew13440]

dofthesea - hint: vessels beam will have dramatic impact on available space below. There's a trade off, hopefully you found it in one of your 20 books

[dofthesea]

Drew

You suggest with a flat bottom that chop is no good. Does this mean this might be a bad choice for the area of Hawaii?

[Drew13440]

Well, that depends. You said in your initial post you wanted to do inter island sailing and perhaps to the mainland. The latter is a significant undertaking. Boats with flat bottoms will pound in choppy seas - uncomfortable to say the least, but they're fun and fast in calmer conditions. Trade offs, trade offs.....

[dofthesea]

drew I understand that the bigger the beam the more space is available...... however this also depends on design as well..... I haven't read about a flat bottoms being uncomfortable in chop. Is this all flat bottoms or this paticular boat?

[dofthesea]

Drew the Interisland would be sooner..... the West Coast is a long ways off.