new to sailing and new to the board

[Linda]

[SIZE=3]Hi, am excited to hear fellow cruising stories. My husband and I sail in the British Virgins. We have a 38' catamaran. Athena. We plan to live aboard in a couple of years. Trying to decide if this is the right boat for ocean voyage. Any input would be much appreciated. Look forward to hearing from you.

[GordMay]

A charter layout, isn't really optimized for a cruising-liveaboard couple (eg: 4 berths + 2 heads). I’ve never seen an “owners version” of the Athena 38 . I understand that most Fountaine Pajots cross the Atlantic on their own bottoms, and the company has a reasonably good reputation for quality, though I’m not specifically familiar with the Athena 38.

[Linda]

Thanks for writting. We have toyed with the idea of sleeping in one of the aft cabins and gutting the forward births to use for office, storage etc....

The boat sails great.... and she is paid for. We do have another couple that may join us. So there will be 4 live aboards.

any input?

[Strygaldwir]

38 foot seems a little small for 4 people for an extended period of time. We have had a 3rd person aboard for 2 weeks, a couple for 1 week. That was fine, but for several months??? Starts to get tight I'd think.

You have the ideal situation, you can simply try living on your boat for a month. You'll find out a whole lot by just living on it a bit. Something you'll care about, some you won't. Somethings you'll just learn to live with.

Good luck.

Keith

[exposure]

Welcome,

I own a 37 foot Prout catamaran and eventually will be aboard with a family of four. This will no doubt be close quaters for four, buit we are family and that makes it less of an issue (most of the time ).

When I first looked at cats I had the same concerns as you about the Athena. However, I have seen a couple of ex charter cats where owners have done just what you are contemplating and rebuilt a cabin as storage space with pantry type cabinets and lockers. You will also want to take a good look at the rigging and decide what upgrades you want to make for long term cruising.

Sonosailor here on the board has an Athena and has sailed her from the Caribbean to canada and back again. He should be able to give you good insight on the pros and cons of the boat.

[Harriet]

From personal experience, I think the only way to know whether the boat is right for you under the circumstances is to give it a trial run. We bought a 36' cat several years ago with the idea that we would move aboard and cruise full time. We enjoyed the boat for multi-week vacations but discovered that it did not meet our needs as full time liveaboards. For example, the fridge was poorly designed, but I could live with it for a few weeks at a time. After 6 months of living with it 24/7, I was ready to mutiny!

We ultimately sold it and bought a 42' cat, not so much for the extra room as for particular features that we discovered we wanted/needed. We actually did an evaluation of the entire liveaboard thing at the end of the first year. We initially discussed whether we enjoyed the lifestyle, and if so (we did), whether we were on the right boat to continue (no), and if not, what is the right boat. We did lots of research and came up with our Manta 42. It works well for us.

I'm not suggesting that the Athena will not work for you. I am only encouraging you to spend enough time on her to help you determine whether or not she will meet your needs as full time liveaboard cruisers.

Fair winds,

Harriet
s/v Perseverance

[sv_makai]

This generally applies the any boat. Before you make major changes you need to be sure that 1) this is the boat you are going to keep 2) there is another boat out there that fits your needs.

We have the owners version of the Voyage 380. Even though we had expeinrece before moving on board we have decided a change is in order. Rather than spend the money on changing our boat which may reduce our abiltiy sell the boat in the future we will purchase a different one closer to our need.

Just something to think about