Quote: "...my main concern is what is the minimum crew it would require? "
The specific answer is "one". One person is all that is required.
However, your asking the question, as you do, reveals that it will be a good long time before you'd be able to handle the boat (either of them) alone on any significant voyage.
There are two discrete aspects to "cruising" - whatever you mean by that term. There is a) boat handling, and b) skippering. The former I can teach you in a week-end - in either of these two boats, or in any other for that matter. The latter takes a lifetime to learn and the people who have given you good
advice above will bear that out.
There is a third aspect to "cruising" in the sense that you seem to mean the word: The art of
living aboard, living small, living without the conveniences landlubbers seem to have difficulty living without.
Men who make their living on the sea are acutely aware of what it takes not only in terms of material minimalism but also in terms of attitude adjustment because "cabin fever" is not a rare occurrence.
Quote: "... and appears to be quite manual..."
Good! That is exactly what you want. Complexities are not necessary, and can only detract not only from the pleasure of cruising, but more particularly from the time spent cruising rather than repairing, and from the cruising funds that remain available to buy the pleasures of cruising because complexities gobble up
repair funds at a rate that landlubbers rarely have any idea of.
You may WANT a
watermaker, you may WANT a
generator. That doesn't mean that you NEED them. What may serve you even better, if you want them, is an attitude adjustment. You may WANT a
chartplotter, but you don't need one. What you absolutely need to learn to become a
skipper, is to navigate. For that, all you need is paper
charts, a sharp pencil, two draftsman's triangles, a
cheap wristwatch from Walmart, and your wits about you. In slow moving boats you don't even need a bearing
compass. Your
steering compass will do the job.
As for minimizing the crew, being able to singlehand the boat, even when there are other people aboard, which is a situation many
men find themselves in, it all depends on how your running
rigging is set up, principally in regard to the ease of making, reefing and striking sail. Performing those functions with ease - i.e. by yourself - relies on having OLD-FASHIONED
gear. Eschew, until you have a LOT of experience in
MAINTENANCE, all the fancy
gear that is promoted by the glossy
boating mags.
As for how boats compare against each other, that question is not really of any importance. There are very few out'n'out
dogs, and it will be quite a while before you, at the
helm, will be able to discern the differences. Almost any boat can be made to do the job you want to have it do for you. What matters is YOUR knowledge of how to set it up. As for the below-decks arrangements they don't matter much. In a week of living in any given boat you adjust yourself to what the arrangements are.
Reading between the lines I would think that the biggest favour you can do yourself at this time is to go and join a sailing club. Any respectable club, of which there must be many in the Tampa area, will offer courses where novices will be "shown the ropes" by experienced people. A major benefit of belonging to a club, and taking courses there, is that you will have the opportunity to test the waters and determine if sailing really IS for you before you commit funds to something that for a great many people turns out to be a disappointment.
All the best,
TrentePieds
Our first boat please provide input.
Bill
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