Buying a yacht to sail around england

[willfox]

Hi there,

I am currently researching a suitable used yacht to buy to sail around England. My Mum and Dad will be doing this trip in a couple of years and have around 70 to 90 grand (GBP) to spend. The budget is not too critical for the right boat.

They would like it to be roughly 35 feet, preferably with 2 cabins to maximise comfort. It will need to be easily handled by 2 people so maybe an asymmetric would be preferable. Although comfort is a preference, they are happy to sacrifice interior volume for a capable yacht. I don't think they are that keen on Najad or Rassy style yachts as they feel this is a bit too comfortable.


We had thought about a Beneteau First 35.7? J - 109?

Any recommendations would be hugely appreciated. I thought I would ask on this forum as the community here will have a greater appreciation of good design. Thanks for your help.

Will

[philSweet]

I'd suggest you hire a broker to locate, inspect, and negotiate the purchase for you if you want to maintain sellability and minimise the round trip cost. Pacific Seacraft 37, Island Packet, Sabre 38 would be more my style, unless they are planning on sailing from one race to the next one.

[viking north]

That could entail some rought water, my preference would be a displacement more on the heavier side. A motorsailer would be included on my shortlist.

[michael pierzga]

Plenty of cold rain up your way. Choose a boat with very good cockpit protection.

[FAST FRED]

I would be happy to sell you my Beneteau First 32 for $20K US

She sailed over here (USA) on her own bottom , so should be fine for a Round Brittan cruise. Fully found , ready to go.

Do the States and Bahamas , and Carib on vacations , then sail/ship her back for British adventures.

FF

[viking north]

My thinking exactly Michael- thus the wheelhouse protection of a motorsailer. Having said that if the folks are into sailing(which I am) a qualifier here would be a motorsailer that has reasonable windward sailing ability.

[Nick.K]

What style of sailing are your parents in to?
Both the Beneteau and the J are quite light displacement and not atall "comfortable" upwind. I sailed from Srilanka to Holland on a First 456, I liked the boat but it did tend to slam. I have charter skippered in Greece and Ireland on smaller Beneteaus and I would not relish the idea of bobbing around Britain on one, much too light in my oppinion. I also sailed from Spain, around the Canaries and eventually to Holland again on a J 46, it was an absolute dream to sail, flew up wind with finger-light wheel and would surf at up to 18kn down wind and this often with only two on board. But I would imagine the smaller J's would be too light for comfortable cruising. Bear in mind that with any finkeeled frp boat a grounding at more than a few kn can do a lot of hull damage at the aft edge of the keel.
If as I imagine your parents are more in to cruising I would look at a metal hulled boat and I would not necessarly be put off by an amateur built one it will probably have been built by someone putting strength and comfort ahead of everything else. True the weight will have a performance cost, but it will produce a more comfortable motion and a greater margin of safety if it all goes wrong. My steel 27 ft can go out comfortably when many others stay at home.
Nick.

[Nick.K]

My ideal boat for that trip would be around 40ft, steel or alloy with medium or long keel, aft cockpit with large spray shelter, wheel steering, and good wide sidedecks and clear foredeck. Have a look at some Koopmans designs to see what I mean. http://www.dickkoopmans.nl/uk/rompen.htm#LANGKIELERS
Nick.

[murdomack]

When you say you plan to sail around England, I presume that means that you will sail around Scotland as well.

On the Scottish West Coast there are many channels between islands and this will mean your vessel will need a good windward performance if you do not mind motoring / motor sailing for a couple of days.

Motor sailers are popular in this area but if you plan to do the trip in the long summer days, then I would go with a sailing yacht like you mention in your post. Motor sailers are slow down wind as well.

The weather and daylight is generally ideal from May to August and there are lots of harbours, marinas and maintained moorings. Thirty years ago a motor sailer would have been better but not nowadays.

[Nick.K]

Murdomack. The Western isles are a truly beautiful cruising ground, how lucky you are to have them on your doorstep! I will never forget anchoring in Loch Scavaig. We did do a lot of tacking on that trip.
Nick.

[michael pierzga]

The English are " funny ". If your folks are the sportsmen types who wear their wellies to the pub , you might check out a Pogo 4O.

These are the most "bad ass" production sailing yachts that pedestrians can purchase. When Pogo programs go belly up they are available for peanuts.

Check out the class 40 website and follow the Global Ocean Race. YOU WANT TO OWN ONE............Trust me.

[viking north]

A quick search resulted in they are for sale in mosquito swarms--Michael not likely this thing is going to appeal to any but the few dire hard racers. Lets see now modifications to convert it into a proper yacht-- Buy a second one and join it stern to stern making a nice double ender. Cut off the fin keels and add a deadrise section the entire length of the underbody to which one would attach a long foil/skeg/skeg attached rudder. . Buy a third one (lots available used) strip it and attach it inverted to make a nice trunk cabin and attach to this a nice custom built wheelhouse Ya that'll work, now for a name and a class. --Ohh got it, Reclamation --- Tour De ReCycle class --
Happy New Year All-- Geo.

[michael pierzga]

Originally Posted by viking north

A quick search resulted in they are for sale in mosquito swarms--Michael not likely this thing is going to appeal to any but the few dire hard racers. Lets see now modifications to convert it into a proper yacht-- Buy a second one and join it stern to stern making a nice double ender. Cut off the fin keels and add a deadrise section the entire length of the underbody to which one would attach a long foil/skeg/skeg attached rudder. . Buy a third one (lots available used) strip it and attach it inverted to make a nice trunk cabin and attach to this a nice custom built wheelhouse Ya that'll work, now for a name and a class. --Ohh got it, Reclamation --- Tour De ReCycle class --
Happy New Year All-- Geo.

Never underestimate how truly eccentric the English are...they actually pay good money for berths on racing yacht that bash upwind around the world.

[murdomack]

If it is going to be a couple cruising, how about a Vancouver 28. There are other nice boats on this site as well.


www.northshore.co.uk/NSHtml/Van28.htm

[viking north]

Nice piece of kit that Vancouver--