Crowther spindrift 48

The standard gypsy cuddy is much bigger than Saturn's. It is about the same size as Romany. Mr Woods had a bigger 40' cuddy boat on his website but the last site mods removed his larger designs. I am sure he would still provide them on request..

So if we look at the boats first the cuddy then the hulls:

Even Sango has a bigger cuddy than I want. I only want to fit a full size queen mattress in it, 5' x 6'6". If there was room for a half dinette without compromising the bed I'd be interested in that but none of these will accommodate that. I don't need standing headroom over the bed. The Saturn cuddy is shorter than 6'6", both Sango and gypsy are long enough. They are all wider than I need. If I stretch Saturn 12.5% the cuddy is long enough.

I am 5'6" and Elizabeth is 5'2". Gypsy has 6' headroom, a nice luxury. Saturn is 5'2" which I could put up with. The other issue with hulls is the build method. I am sure if I grit my teeth I could build a mold and cast a round bottom hull in either solid glass or foam, or strip for that matter ($$$) but for me it's the most intimidating part of the build. I am sure the dory hulls work just fine but I've always thought them a bit ugly. The chined hulls of Saturn are a half way house that I quite like. Romany has a multi chine option, Gypsy does not. I was thinking of going Romany and shrinking the hulls to 10 meters, or perhapse substituting Tamar hulls. Both those options yield a much bigger boat than I need, which wouldn't be a problem but all that adds $$$. (Romany and Tamar hulls are both a lot wider than Gypsy and Saturn which contributes to the cost). Stretching Saturn 12.5% length and height gives a tad over 5'7" headroom.

Even before my strokes I was thinking about going bigger. The extra carrying opens up the possibility of carrying a small twin tub washing machine and enough water to run it. Now I'm unable to drive I'll either need to hire someone or rope in a friend to help launch and recover the boat, or I put it on a mooring. Hardstand is both very expensive and scarce here.

Going over 10 meters means about $200/yr more in registration and I'd put a boat that size on a mooring. Moorings are cheap enough but finding a location isn't simple and of course maintenance becomes harder. The size and capacity of the larger boat would part compensate for that. That Waller 12 meter stretched 20% with a part enclosed bridgedeck cabin would be a very nice thing, but I'd have to re-engineer the whole boat in foam which isn't trivial... Registration here is teh same from 10 meters to 15 meters. The bracket below that is 6 - 10 meters.

Anyway I've got a pretty full dance card at the moment adjusting to my new life so unless something attractive appears on the second hand market I'll keep focusing on re arranging my life.. Thank you all for the thoughts.

 

Good luck. A "new" life is tough.