BLUEMOMENT

Hello

I'm interested in buying a smallish sailboat to be sailed mostly single handed. After spending some years sailing around Med, I want to cross Atlantic to the Caribbean and sail around for a year, then back to Med. The price for the boat that I can afford is highest €15.000. What I have read in internet, I came to an understanding that a Beneteau First 30, Jeanneau Rush 30, Dufour Arpege or a She 31 can be the boat I am looking for. What do you think of these boats? Any better yet suitably priced boats out there? What are the pros and cons of these two? Where would you suggest me to search for boats that are reasonably priced?
Thanks all in advance

Hmm wrote:Hello

I'm interested in buying a smallish sailboat to be sailed mostly single handed. After spending some years sailing around Med, I want to cross Atlantic to the Caribbean and sail around for a year, then back to Med. The price for the boat that I can afford is highest €15.000. What I have read in internet, I came to an understanding that a Beneteau First 30, Jeanneau Rush 30, Dufour Arpege or a She 31 can be the boat I am looking for. What do you think of these boats? Any better yet suitably priced boats out there? What are the pros and cons of these two? Where would you suggest me to search for boats that are reasonably priced?
Thanks all in advance

I know nothing about ocean crossing or long distance cruising so please ignore me and wait for someone who knows what they're talking about.

In the mean time:

Nicholson 32? Contessa 32? Sadler 32? Sigma 33?

15k seems quite a tight budget to get a boat in a suitable state to last two Transats and a year of sailing. I'd imagine windvane steering gear would be a couple of grand and you'd probably need new sails at some point during the trip plus a myriad of other stuff.

Or do a Ming Ming - get a Coribee for £3000 and spend 12k on making every aspect of it bullet proof.

I know nothing about ocean crossing or long distance cruising so please ignore me and wait for someone who knows what they're talking about.

In the mean time:

Nicholson 32? Contessa 32? Sadler 32? Sigma 33?

15k seems quite a tight budget to get a boat in a suitable state to last two Transats and a year of sailing. I'd imagine windvane steering gear would be a couple of grand and you'd probably need new sails at some point during the trip plus a myriad of other stuff.

Or do a Ming Ming - get a Coribee for £3000 and spend 12k on making every aspect of it bullet proof.[/quote]

Hi Markie,
Contessa 32 is a very good boat I know, but way out of my budget. Others I will check; thanks And I guess I need to explain about my €15.000 budget a bit... Well, I know a boat around that price range will need lots of refitting and repairing. During my first few years of use, I'll try to find out what is needed to be replaced and fixed and will do that. I mean I will be spending more to make it ready and I certainly will take my time to make it a sound boat...

.
If E15,000 really is your budget then you can forget any of the boats you have mentioned. If you found one within budget it would undoubtedly need a lot more spent on it to bring it up to ocean voyaging spec. The boats Markie mentions are even further outwith your range.

You should IMO be looking at old 27-29 footers like the Albin Vega, Halcyon 27, Elizabethan 29 - you will find examples of all these within your price range and all have proven themselves to be capable ocean crossers.

You are better buying one with a load of good gear for more money than buying a 'bare' boat and adding the necessary goodies later. You will need to budget for a windvane - we got a Navik second hand for £600 which has steerd our Vega for several thousand miles without any bother. You may need new sails, you must renew the rigging if its age is uncertain or if it is more than 10 years old, you will need a liferaft - you will need to keep several thousand in reserve after purchase.

We bought a Vega for £11,000 and spent maybe another £9,000 adding gear and bringing her up to spec for long distance cruising. This included a new engine though, and if we were buying again I would in prepference spend a bit more on a boat where someone else had gone to the hassle of fitting a new engine. Stuff we added included but was not limited to:

New engine
New standing rigging
New mainsail and genoa
EPIRB
4-man liferaft
Series drogue (home made)
Navik windvane (second hand)
Simrad TP1 Autohelm (second hand)
New batteries

We didn't cross the Atlantic but we did get to the Canaries and back to Scotland via the Azores, 6,000 miles with no major repairs or breakages.

Hope this helps,

Hmm wrote:Contessa 32 is a very good boat I know, but way out of my budget. Others I will check; thanks And I guess I need to explain about my €15.000 budget a bit... Well, I know a boat around that price range will need lots of refitting and repairing. During my first few years of use, I'll try to find out what is needed to be replaced and fixed and will do that. I mean I will be spending more to make it ready and I certainly will take my time to make it a sound boat...

That makes a big difference. A mate bought a Sigma 33 for £7000 and won the OSTAR in it. Another mate recently sold a Nicholson 32 for £8000. The sigma was floating and sailable but a wreck and took much work but the Nick 32 surveyed fine and needed nothing but the kind of work it sounds like you're expecting to do. (Also had a brand new main.)

Having said all that Nick's suggestions seem more likely candidates.

Hi Nick,
Thank you for advice and info
I will certainly look at the boats you mention. I just don't want to have too tight space under the deck but since I will be mostly sailing alone, that can be okay.
I found a She 31 (which is sold already ) and a Dufour Arpege for under £ 10k. That's why I was thinking those boats are within my price range.
I hope to have a boat with a strong hull and deck and a fine engine. The rest, like rigging, canvas and small rearranging inside could be done by time and by working harder to get more money to spend on the boat

That makes a big difference. A mate bought a Sigma 33 for £7000 and won the OSTAR in it. Another mate recently sold a Nicholson 32 for £8000. The sigma was floating and sailable but a wreck and took much work but the Nick 32 surveyed fine and needed nothing but the kind of work it sounds like you're expecting to do. (Also had a brand new main.)

Having said all that Nick's suggestions seem more likely candidates.[/quote]

I am not in any hurry to buy one and am trying to learn as much as possible to buy the right one for me and for the voyage so all the income from you is very welcome. I will chech all the boats suggested and read everything I find about them. So, I might find a very good boat (not necessarily in very good condition) for a very reasonable price. Then I have more to spend for refitting her...

Hmm

Don't know anything about any of the other boats, but our previous boat was a Jeanneau Rush. Not the boat for the job I'm afraid.

Regards
Donald

Good advice from Nick. Personally, I like the design lines of the She 32 that you mentioned, but I wonder if she might be a bit racy for single handed ocean passages. The budget means that access to the likes of Nicholson, Contessa, and Sadler 32s, may be limited, but there are other early 70s "lookalikes" like the Roberts34/Norwest 34 which can usually be bought quite a bit more cheaply.

Many of them had self-built interiors, so even the best are "non-standard" which is reflected in the price. On the other hand, they are very seaworthy rock solid bombproof boats that handle well in bad weather. Ours is a pleasure to sail single handed (errmm, no reflection on anyone else... ).

The Roberts 34, and similar boats of the period, has a fin keel, but it's a fairly long one with the propellor enclosed in the skeg rudder. This I think gives good stability, no slamming in rough weather, and the skeg protects the propellor from having rope caught in it. We haven't sailed ours further than going round Ireland, but I know that one of the original owners singlehanded to Israel and back in her.

Shard, thank you for a new boat name I will check it right away...

Aja, thank you for the info; rush is gone outta list