Light, seaworthy + (often) cost effective.
A light boat (DL under 180) Can be very seaworthy. It can right itself (if properly designed) from 180 deg capsize. It can also be faster. What it can't be is more comfortable at sea. A light boat of the usual proportions (L/B of 3.0 to 3.5) will usually have a jerkier motion than a heavier boat. Kind of like driving a Camry rather than a Ford Explorer over a rough dirt road. The Camry can make it, but you will feel every bump.
Boats usually cost by the pound. So a heavier boat of the same length is going to cost more than a lighter one, as a general rule. But I will say this, the heavier boat will probably be cheaper per pound, but maye only slightly so. And only when it's new.
A heavier boat can be made of heavy matterials such as steel and ferrocement that are usually less expensive than lighter matterials, such as aluminum and foam core fiberglass. I think the reason heavier boats have such a reputation for being much more costly than lighter boats is that they are usually not only built in much smaller numbers (less amortizement of molds and other tooling) and are usually built to much more rugged standards. Most I have heard of are intended for offshore sailing. Wheras most lighter boats (even though they may end up there) are usually not.
Heavier boats tend to hold their value better than lighter ones too. And, when I say this, I am only refering to boats that are still in sound condition. So, if you want to go cruising and your bill fold is limited (as it usually is for most blue water cruisers who actually want to sail accross oceans rather than pay boat mortgages and dream of it) you're going to have to find yourself a nautical bargan. More often than not, that is going to mean buying a used boat that was once popular but is now out of fasion (such as an old IOR boat) and fit it out as best you can. With reasonable luck, you can pay off its boat mortgage while you're still young enough to do it. Hopefully, by then, you will have learned its ways well enough to know when you are really in a dangerous situation rather than merely a frightening one.
I know all this not from experience, but from reading hundreds of accounts of blue water voyages. Almost always, they happened in boats that were seen as unsuitable to the task, even by their owners. But they set out anyway. They knew that it was either less than ideal or not at all. And, over the many sea miles, they seemed to get so accustomed to their boat that they would defend to the death its virtues.
Now this wild generalization does not include those nautical craftsmen, such as the Pardy's who have the skill and the willingness to build thier whole boat themselves. (and a very conveniet way to recharge their cruising kitty as well). either Seraffyn or the later Tailism would have bankrupted the Pardy's had they had to purchase them rather than build them.
Trust me. Before long we will be hearing about ocean passages in the much maligned (and in my opinion, unjustly so) Mac 26. And it won't be because its the best boat for the job. But merely because it is the only boat available to that person at the time.
When you see me griping in other threads about 'unsafe' and 'unwholesome' off shore racing trends, you now should know the reason why.
I think the most poisonous myth of our times is; that our actions don't effect others.
Bob
BTW the idea that a heavier boat (in smaller sizes) will be significantly different from a lighter one may turn out to be a myth. The reason being that boats of similer LB dimensions have similer pounds per inch rates. For instance: Take two 24 by 8ft boats with one having a light ship displacement that is twice that of the other (one, say, 3,000lbs and the other 6,000lbs light ship), load them both down with 2000lbs of cruising gear and supplies and see what happens. The lighter boat now displaces 5,000lbs and the heavier one 8,000. Both will sink down by about the same amount, but now the heavier one is only 60% heavier than the lighter one.
Not only that, but the lighter boat may actually experience less strain in its loaded condition than it would in its lighter condition. Its pitch and roll will be less sharp and its initial stability will not change that much. (don't try this with multi's, however. With them, twice the displacement does mean twice the initial stability and therfore twice the strain.)
. Just normal bunks. I've personally done some pretty extensive cruising in a Puma 23, with my father and two brothers of mine, when I was young.
