A good sailboat for East coastal sailing?

Question

I'm just looking for a starting point. I would not attempt any deep blue water travel without a few YEARS of training and back harbor/coastal trials.

I just looking for the right size sailboat to grow with and use for future (5 yr's) coastal and gulf travel.

Would a 27-30ft work well?

Thanks

Shane

Answer 1

Yes a boat of that size would work very well.  I know couples who live aboard boats of that size, and cruise the Caribbean and to South America.  It is very doable.  The other advantage to a smaller boat is that transient marina fees will be less.  

O'Dea makes a nice 28 foot boat, easily managed single handed, good cabin space and standing head room, easy to maintain, quite affordable especially if you buy one that is a few years old (I know of a very well maintained 10 year old one that was for sale for under $18,000 last fall), and can sleep 4 without too much trouble, but could not sleep 4 happily on a regular basis.  The V-berth is not very big.  If you plan to do the ICW pay attention to the draft and the height of the mast of any boat you consider.  With the draft particlarly I understand some parts of the ICW are becoming quite shallow, so you don't want a draft of 5 feet.  Four would be good.  There are a few places where you need to know the height of the mast, particularly for one of the fixed bridges on the Okeechobee.  (We got under it once by slinging barrels from our mast to heel us over - our mast was about 44 feet above the waterline.)  Start small and cheap - it is easier to scale up than scale down. Talk to people in boatyards and marinas in your area to get good local information.  Go to www.sailnet.com and begin corresponding with people there and you will get lots of information.  I hope this is of some help.  Best of luck with your plans.

Answer 2

Smaller boats do more miles.  

Because... it takes less effort to get them off the dock, takes less crew to man and the parts all cost a lot less.

It does help to have enough space to stand up straight.  If you cant stand up without banging your head the boat will start to feel a little cramped.

Just make sure your boat sails well.   Look for a boat that has a good reputation as a swift sailing boat that is easy to handle without having six guys acting as ballast on the windward rail.  There is nothing more frustrating than going nowhere fast in a boat that can't go anywhere well.

Answer 3

I have added a link that will give you info and sources which will lead to others. There may be hundreds of books on this subject. My personal opinion is that the right 27-30 will work well, especially if you plan to solo. Certainly many are coastal capable and some have good blue water records. You will find a lot of advise and opinion in the sources I mention and be honest with yourself as to where you will sail, how comfortable you need to be, and what you can afford, before and after buying. Another important source of info is "local knowledge." Go to the places you want to sail and haunt marinas and such. Sailors will talk, add a beer and they won't shut up, then match what they say with your own eyes. Look at the local boats, the ones that actually are taken out sailing. Note the ones that have survived 30 years or more. Offer to crew and try out different boats. In about three seasons you will have some definite opinions about the RIGHT boat. Good Luck, Good Sailing, and keep the slimey side down.

Answer 4

The first poster gave you some very good advice.  To that I would add:

1. Take your time buying a boat.  There are lots of good old boats out there.  Don't be in a rush to buy the first thing you see.

2. Asking prices are always optimistically inflated.  For example 18 grand for an O'Day 28 - well I dunno, I would have to be the best such boat out there.

3. I don't want to start a flame war on which boat is better than others.  All boats commodity boats are compromises - only you can decide what's best for you.  To do this, I echo: be honest with yourself.

4. Buy the boat you need, not the boat you want.

5. 5 years may or may not be how long you keep that first boat.  Unless you are very lucky in hitting the right boat first off, if you fall in love with sailing, you will probably want to get a different boat in 2 to 3 years.  You also may end up deciding that sailing is not for you.  In either case, remember that selling a boat for anything like what you paid for it is not very likely to happen.  So set a price range accordingly.  For a first 27-30 foot boat, you can find some very worthwhile non-project boats for under 10 grand.

Answer 5

If you stay with some of the older Cals or Ericsons with poared keils, not boult ons you will end up with good coastal  cruisers in the 28-30 range. They were built like tanks, are easy to sail, comfortable , have head room and are still in demand when you get ready to move up and most sleep 4 in comfort and most are inboard powered which you will want, nothing worse than having an outboard that lifts out of the water when you most need power and the standing rigs on old Cals were always over built and you can go all the way back to the 69or 70s  as long as they are fresh water boats and get good ones for $10 to$15K.