Van de Stadt 34: what is your opinion ?

Hi,
I live in Switzerland and I'm looking to build a sailboat (or buy a hull) to take a cruise around the world, eventually in Patagonia.
Requirements are:
_ must be a boat for sailing solo
_ not too big to transport via road to the sea (probably in Genova)
_ solid construction, Class A (safety!)
_ good quality marine, even under challenging sea
_ discrete-good sailing performance in light winds

I saw the Van de Stadt 34: this frameless project, in aluminum, could meet my requirements in safety and quality marine ?
Normally the Van de Stadt project have a good reputation...

Personal experiences-advices are appreciated, thank you!

Cheers
Luca

 

Do you need to have it built in Switzerland?

 

Yes, I live in Switzerland and would like to build it here in order to bring forward the building in my spare time (in the evenings and at weekends). Build it near the sea is unthinkable for me, it takes 4 hours by car...

Meanwhile I am also considering the Reinke 10M: seems to correspond better to my requirements ...
http://www.reinke-yacht.de/

 

Welcome to the forum.

Both yachts would be transportable, but not easily. You'd need a marine hauler and the associated special permitting and route refinement.

A new build would be much more costly, then purchasing a used yacht and having it upgraded, to suit your blue water requirements. A quick search netted many very suitable yachts at reasonable prices.

 

Hi PAR,
thank you for your advice !

Do you mean to buy a used yacht already at sea and do upgrade it?
I know that buying a used yacht and upgraded it is more cheaper than building it, but if I buy one near the sea and then I have to take trips to working for the upgrade it, probably costs more to build it here to me. To go into an area close to the sea, round trip costs me around 120 Euro each time (more than eight hours of travel lost each week ends).

Also I could only work on the weekends and not in the evenings during the week.

But if you mean to buy a used yacht and take it in Switzerland, this could be certainly interesting and I'm already looking...

The Reinke 10m seems to be the ideal boat for me, because:
_ corresponds to my requirements
_ I do not need a special transport, because the maximum beam is 3 meters and does not exceed a height of 4 meters. Above these measures becomes an exceptional transport that require the authorization, with higher costs for transport.

Sorry for my bad english...

 

Hi lluca, both boats look great, I have no experience of the Reinke but should be spacious with the raised deck profile & house arrangement. The Van de Stadt is a lovely boat, my first larger boat build was a steel VDS 34 around 30 years ago for my own use at 20 years old. Fabrication was quite quick with some supervision from Dad, I sold her for a tidy profit & moved to the next. Moving smaller metal vessels is not a big deal, consider building the fit out cradle strong enough for a transport cradle, then a low loader like for earth moving equip or such can be used for transport.
Buying is cheaper.... if you build & fit out yourself that's a great qualification for owning & operating.
All the best from Jeff.