Ahhh, standing headroom. As a cruiser, as opposed to a daysailor, the
luxury of getting out of 'bed' and standing (stretching) inside the
boat was a great feeling when I moved up from the Mac.

Scotty

"Scout" wrote in message
...

"DSK" wrote in message
. ..
Scout wrote:
I'm on recon now, keeping an open mind. I know I want something
big
enough to be comfortable for a week, small enough to single hand,
and
sturdy enough to sail the coastline.

I thought you already had one like that, the Starwind 19?

Wellllll, the single-hand part is true. "Charged-With-Gold" was easy
enough
to sail solo. But comfort wasn't a strong point, sleeping was
uncomfortably
tight and there was not much room for provisions, and as Bart
described a
few weeks back, sailing for more than a few hours with mixed company
is
awkward at best.
I did sail "Charged" off the Jersey shore from time to time, but I
never
felt all that comfortable with a swing keel in ocean water. It was
ok to
dart outsidefor a few hours but I wouldn't want to sail to Nantucket
with
her.

... Ulterior motive at the moment is to get wifey to see how nice
a
bigger boat interior would be. Would be nice to stand in the
cabin (at
least for her, she's 5'4", I'm 6'4", but don't mind ducking), a
head with
a door, a real galley, yadda yadda.

There's a lot of nice boats out there. THe important thing is to
get one
that your wife will like to sail & cruise on, but that also
satisfies all
the practical (or impractical) demands you both have.

What size & price range do you have in mind?
26' - 32' or thereabouts. Price range would be as little as I can
get away
with. I'm going to the boat show to get a feel for different boats,
I'm
quite sure I won't be buying a new boat there. At least I'll have a
feel for
what I want when I hit the used market.

I feel I've been quite lucky in the boats my wife & I have saied &
cruised. It's been a lot of great time together.
Good stuff!

"Bobsprit" wrote

Oh, so now Scotty Potti is "stretching" inside his boat.
Some sailor!!!

Huh?

Some sailor!!!

Huh?


There ya have it!

RB

I thought you already had one like that, the Starwind 19?


Scout wrote:
Wellllll, the single-hand part is true. "Charged-With-Gold" was easy enough
to sail solo. But comfort wasn't a strong point, sleeping was uncomfortably
tight and there was not much room for provisions, and as Bart described a
few weeks back, sailing for more than a few hours with mixed company is
awkward at best.

Yeah it's more like camping, except you don't have to actually carry
stuff on your back and no snakes. We went on a dozen or so week-long
cruises on our 19-footer, it wasn't like being on the QE2 but with
careful prep it was a lot of fun...

I did sail "Charged" off the Jersey shore from time to time, but I never
felt all that comfortable with a swing keel in ocean water. It was ok to
dart outsidefor a few hours but I wouldn't want to sail to Nantucket with
her.

It's what you're comfortable with. We sailed the water ballasted boat
offshore, longest distance would have been about 35 miles. Not a boat to
take from Cape May to Nantucket, though. And I did back down from taking
it through inlets with solid breakers. The Starwind, with a real
ballast keel, would be a bit more capable... a South African boat that's
not dissimilar has circumnavigated.

I like small boats a lot, they're far less work & money than a big boat.
OTOH when you're bringing other people along, a little more elbow room
is the greatest luxury.


What size & price range do you have in mind?

26' - 32' or thereabouts. Price range would be as little as I can get away
with. I'm going to the boat show to get a feel for different boats, I'm
quite sure I won't be buying a new boat there. At least I'll have a feel for
what I want when I hit the used market.

That Sabre is worth taking a look at. They're good boats, well built,
upper range of performance for their size & accomodation, hold their
value well. But there's a lot of boats out there. AFAIK the Gulf 32 is
rather pricey but there are some other pilothouse boats worth looking
at. Another option is a center cockpit with a hard dodger... for that
matter, you can put a hard dodger on an aft-cockpit boat...

Fresh Breezes- Doug King