Which boat? (O45, SW 1260, ORC 42, others?)

[MillisDean]

Hi all

I'm looking for your thoughts on a few different boats. We're located on the Prairies in Canada so it isn't easy for us to view boats and requires quite a bit of travel, which we want to focus and make the most of.

We are getting more serious about buying a boat as we are planning on setting sail in about 3 years. The plan is to buy a boat in about 1.5 years, sail part time for 6-12 months then go full time for an unknown period. We are a family of four and our kids will be 6.5 and 5 in 3 years time.

Our budget will allow for a max of $700k USD, so we are looking for a 2-7 year old boat in the 45ish foot range, and more performance oriented, outfitted for water sailing">blue water sailing.

Currently we are leaning towards an Outremer 45, Seawind 1260, or ORC42 as I think these fall within our budget and are an OK mix between performance and comfort for us.

What are your thoughts on these boats for crossing oceans ( safety, comfort, ability) and full time cruising with a small family (size, layout, payload), within our budget (quality, cost to maintain). And any other thoughts that we should have.

Thank you!

[MillisDean]

Edit: I should include the Nauti 44/46 open and admitedly the ORC 42 is probably too much performance and not enough comfort.

[chubby]

#1

i have no kids (i believe i'm allergic to them)... so maybe i'm 100% off here



but if planning to sail/win the regattas i can understand wanting hull flyers like the ORC 42... but with a goal of setting sail for an undetermined period..odds are that it will be perpetually overloaded


so why?



putting a family of 4 on that ultralight/overcanvased boat is....(to me) it's the guy trying to fit the baby seats into a dodge viper...
(meaning.. just let it go dude...accept the mini van life)


personally(again) i appreciate the marketing...but also don't really understand this new attraction to "performance oriented" branding.
good at nothing

but really... mediocre at everything.


"overloaded" = the single dude in that lightly loaded fat cat will still beat you to anchorage(and he will let you know about it too)


just a few (barely coherent) thoughts

[boatman61]

To be honest I would say the Seawind 1260 is likely the best bet for what you plan.. frankly the other two do not lend themselves favourably to shorthanded Mom and Pop + 2 minors doing long distance cruising.
But that's just my 0.0000001 cents worth.

[MillisDean]

I agree the orc is a bit of a dream and unrealistic, but I'm not sure I would put the other boats in the same category. Part of our reasoning for these boats is also the perceived higher build quality that we don't hear about in the typical charter boats. We are definitely open to other options in this price range and size category.

We haven't embraced the mini van life yet and never will!

[ozolli]

We are also a family of 4 and have really considered the ORC42, sailed this boat, very easy and fun to handle with small sails. BUT it is way too skinny for the program.
On the other hand, the Outremer 45 is spacious enough for 4 like us, i.e. frugal sailors.

[c.K.]

Originally Posted by MillisDean

Hi all

I'm looking for your thoughts on a few different boats. We're located on the Prairies in Canada so it isn't easy for us to view boats and requires quite a bit of travel, which we want to focus and make the most of.

We are getting more serious about buying a boat as we are planning on setting sail in about 3 years. The plan is to buy a boat in about 1.5 years, sail part time for 6-12 months then go full time for an unknown period. We are a family of four and our kids will be 6.5 and 5 in 3 years time.

Our budget will allow for a max of $700k USD, so we are looking for a 2-7 year old boat in the 45ish foot range, and more performance oriented, outfitted for blue water sailing.

Currently we are leaning towards an Outremer 45, Seawind 1260, or ORC42 as I think these fall within our budget and are an OK mix between performance and comfort for us.

What are your thoughts on these boats for crossing oceans ( safety, comfort, ability) and full time cruising with a small family (size, layout, payload), within our budget (quality, cost to maintain). And any other thoughts that we should have.

Thank you!

Hey Millis Dean
This is a huge life changing choice, guess there is not much sailing to do on the prairies!
Any sailing experience? it may all look very tempting rent something first to get a feel for things
Good luck anyways

[Matt Johnson]

Third or fourth on the ORC not being suited for this task. Way too far down the pure performance path for what you're looking for.

The Max Cruise 44' would fall into that price range brand new with standard diesels and mini keels.

[MillisDean]

Thanks for the input, and I will look more into the max cruise as well.

For those that have been on the 1260 and the Outremer 45, how do they compare in interior size and storage? The 1260 looks like it might feel too cramped in the hulls, but the saloon and cockpit look great.

I know I can charter a 1260 and will start looking for an O45 charter.

[MTJon]

I am with the "CK" post on this important issue. We do not know your experience level and often see similar posts. With all humble pie aside; I wish someone had suggested this to me on the two occasions I purchased (mono) sailboats for cruising:

A certain bareboat charter company allows "owners" the opportunity to place almost any brand of new catamaran into service and the advantages are quite good. This "certain" company allows owners (in addition to 12 weeks use per year world wide at various bases "sabbatical sailing for six months to a year. Many pro's / con's but in (my) situation the tax write off alone would have benefited greatly and completely off set the expected wear and tear.

Our last sailboat (a 43' blue water cruiser) was the biggest heart ache of all. I had retired, outfitted the vessel for the "world cruise" the kids were ready (home school arranged by the wife - a high school teacher.)

In the end, the wife confronted me: "Let's see, you want me to quit my career, move out of our 5000 sq ft house over looking the lake and move into a floating home - smaller than our master bedroom for five years?" She always could outsmart me in discussions. . . I replied; yeah. That's about the size of it - pun intended. I even offered to airline her to destination ports but her mind had changed and there was nothing for it.

In the two years we owned that particular vessel, we had 2 week long vacations in the Channel Islands of So Cal, and about 50 day sails. And finally sold (at a loss - of course) it as I started on a new career - since I had so much time on my hands. Sorry to burden the 'community' with so much personal stuff but I thought this was the best way to present this kind of info. Hope it is of some value.

[GinoDelG]

We have a 1260 being built in Vietnam and scheduled to be finished in June. We have five years experience cruising full time on a 44 foot monohull. We looked at a lot of cats and decided the 1260 is the right boat for us. It's faster than a Lagoon or Leopard but not a sports car like an Outremer or OCR. I would definitely consider it for a family of four, and a new one is in your price range. The new 1370 provides even more room but you won't be able to find a used one and the new price is way out of your range. Also be careful of used cats, many have been beaten up in the charter trade and most begin to have major issues when they reach the six year mark, or at least that's what I've been told by some reliable

[Double-Wide]

We lived aboard a Seawind 1160 for 4 years with winters in the Bahamas and summers on the Chesapeake bay. We really enjoyed the performance of the Seawind. While cruising amongst the islands with other boats we normally were the 1st one to the new anchorage. We won the Georgetown, Great Exuma regatta week around the island race beating all the cats in our class and did really well in their annual race from Georgetown to Salt Pond on Long Island.

Best of all were the comforts built into the Seawind like two really deep freezers that allowed us to store plenty of freshly caught fish & lobsters and good meat we brought from the states. Compare the nice 3 burner stove and good size oven on the Seawind to the 2 burner with no oven on The O45. You will find that you spend more time on the anchor enjoying the great places that you travel to, so creature comforts are really important.
We found that the support from Seawind was outstanding. On several occasions they sent replacement parts from the factory at very reasonable costs.

[ralphmarx]

Hello,....

-The ORC42 is a wonderfully fast cat but minimalist. Not really great for distance sailing with a full family.

-The O45 is a great blend of good speed, ease of sailing, and well thought out layout for long distance sailing. Check out Sailing La Vagabonde has they have cruised an O45 for several years with 2 small children. The kids were raised from birth onboard. The last year they have been waiting for their new boat but if you go back a bit in time you will see how they handled all their adventures with the O45 from launching new. Their boat can be chartered if you wanted to go get a feel for sailing such a boat.

-The SW1260 is also a nice cat but not in the same class as the Outremer in terms of speed and accommodations.

[SoPacBound]

Another option to consider, how about a non production model such as the Schionning 1490. With your timeline you could have it built at any number of yards. Probably well within your budget and performance requirements.

https://schionningdesign.com/designs...amaran-series/