Starter Boats Circa £15k

[McSwerve II]

Hi all.

Although we live as far away from the coast as possible, i've always liked messing about on the water, doing canoe slaloms and lots of windsurfing as a kid.

Although my yachting experience is limited to a few weekends on my brother in laws 28" Trapper and my dads mates Oyster, I quite fancy a family boat when the kids get a bit older. Not really for long passages, more out of Poole turn right and drop the anchor off studland for swimming and ice cream. A coastal holiday home of sorts.

To start the man maths, I'm looking for recommendations for a 28-32" ish cruiser, budget circa £12-28k, that doesn't look too dated.

I was lthinking of Beneteau First's or Jeanneau Arcadia's but would appreciate some thoughts.

Cheers


McSwerve

[Fittster]

Do you want the ability to stay overnight in it or would a day boat work for you?

[McSwerve II]

Overnight on the boat would be a requirement due to proximity to the coast.

[Simpo Two]

McSwerve II said:

To start the man maths, I'm looking for recommendations for a 28-32" ish cruiser, budget circa £12-28k, that doesn't look too dated.

I was lthinking of Beneteau First's or Jeanneau Arcadia's but would appreciate some thoughts.

Cruisers don't have pointy bits sticking out the top.

[mickrick]

McSwerve II said:

Hi all.

Although we live as far away from the coast as possible, i've always liked messing about on the water, doing canoe slaloms and lots of windsurfing as a kid.

Although my yachting experience is limited to a few weekends on my brother in laws 28" Trapper and my dads mates Oyster, I quite fancy a family boat when the kids get a bit older. Not really for long passages, more out of Poole turn right and drop the anchor off studland for swimming and ice cream. A coastal holiday home of sorts.

To start the man maths, I'm looking for recommendations for a 28-32" ish cruiser, budget circa £12-28k, that doesn't look too dated.

I was lthinking of Beneteau First's or Jeanneau Arcadia's but would appreciate some thoughts.

Cheers
McSwerve

My thoughts are, buy something with some bilges, a keel, and a rudder with a skeg in front of it. A nice old sailboat will never look dated.
Beneteau´s and Jeanneau´s are nasty twitchy, skinny keeled, spade ruddered, round bottomed, mass produced throw away horrors that I wouldn't sail out of a bay with.
Get something seaworthy to take your kids out in.

Just my thoughts.

[ClaphamGT3]

You may get a Contessa 26 for that - the 32s have gone mad price wise.

Old fashioned and not too spacious by modern standards but very, very sea-worthy and fun to sail. You'd also get a good nordic Folkboat for that. Both would need a fair bit of looking after and a proper mooring.

For something much more easy to use but smaller and less weatherly you might want to think about a Cape Cutter

[Huntsman]

In and around Poole and the Solent a bilge keel job would be handy for drying out, inboard diesel on a shaft and a proper sea toilet, two gas rings. Sorted.

[Fittster]

I've always fancied one of these: http://yachts.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=31...

[AnotherClarkey]

Simpo Two said:

McSwerve II said:

To start the man maths, I'm looking for recommendations for a 28-32" ish cruiser, budget circa £12-28k, that doesn't look too dated.

I was lthinking of Beneteau First's or Jeanneau Arcadia's but would appreciate some thoughts.

Cruisers don't have pointy bits sticking out the top.

Eh?

[maser_spyder]

mickrick said:

McSwerve II said:

Hi all.

Although we live as far away from the coast as possible, i've always liked messing about on the water, doing canoe slaloms and lots of windsurfing as a kid.

Although my yachting experience is limited to a few weekends on my brother in laws 28" Trapper and my dads mates Oyster, I quite fancy a family boat when the kids get a bit older. Not really for long passages, more out of Poole turn right and drop the anchor off studland for swimming and ice cream. A coastal holiday home of sorts.

To start the man maths, I'm looking for recommendations for a 28-32" ish cruiser, budget circa £12-28k, that doesn't look too dated.

I was lthinking of Beneteau First's or Jeanneau Arcadia's but would appreciate some thoughts.

Cheers
McSwerve

My thoughts are, buy something with some bilges, a keel, and a rudder with a skeg in front of it. A nice old sailboat will never look dated.
Beneteau´s and Jeanneau´s are nasty twitchy, skinny keeled, spade ruddered, round bottomed, mass produced throw away horrors that I wouldn't sail out of a bay with.
Get something seaworthy to take your kids out in.

Just my thoughts.

Have you thought this through? The man lives miles from the coast. He'll spend four weekends a year at his new boat. Every single one of those will be spent fixing the bits that went wrong last year!

Seriously though, that happens with new boats too, so you'll need at least a week every year to do the maintenance (fouling, polishing and fixing), unless you spend an arm and a leg getting somebody to do it for you. I expect, after you've paid for the mooring in Poole, you'll be more inclined to cut back on expenditure. Cheap, it is not.

Great fun though, worth all the stress, scraped fingers, worn out arm muscles from polishing and painting upside down to get out on the water on a sunny day.

You WILL want to end up going further afield though, channel isles, France, etc. and LOA helps here, so look for the biggest boat you can reasonably afford to purchase, maintain, and buy a parking space.

[Riff Raff]

maser_spyder said:

mickrick said:

McSwerve II said:

Hi all.

Although we live as far away from the coast as possible, i've always liked messing about on the water, doing canoe slaloms and lots of windsurfing as a kid.

Although my yachting experience is limited to a few weekends on my brother in laws 28" Trapper and my dads mates Oyster, I quite fancy a family boat when the kids get a bit older. Not really for long passages, more out of Poole turn right and drop the anchor off studland for swimming and ice cream. A coastal holiday home of sorts.

To start the man maths, I'm looking for recommendations for a 28-32" ish cruiser, budget circa £12-28k, that doesn't look too dated.

I was lthinking of Beneteau First's or Jeanneau Arcadia's but would appreciate some thoughts.

Cheers
McSwerve

My thoughts are, buy something with some bilges, a keel, and a rudder with a skeg in front of it. A nice old sailboat will never look dated.
Beneteau´s and Jeanneau´s are nasty twitchy, skinny keeled, spade ruddered, round bottomed, mass produced throw away horrors that I wouldn't sail out of a bay with.
Get something seaworthy to take your kids out in.

Just my thoughts.

Have you thought this through? The man lives miles from the coast. He'll spend four weekends a year at his new boat. Every single one of those will be spent fixing the bits that went wrong last year!

Seriously though, that happens with new boats too, so you'll need at least a week every year to do the maintenance (fouling, polishing and fixing), unless you spend an arm and a leg getting somebody to do it for you. I expect, after you've paid for the mooring in Poole, you'll be more inclined to cut back on expenditure. Cheap, it is not.

Great fun though, worth all the stress, scraped fingers, worn out arm muscles from polishing and painting upside down to get out on the water on a sunny day.

You WILL want to end up going further afield though, channel isles, France, etc. and LOA helps here, so look for the biggest boat you can reasonably afford to purchase, maintain, and buy a parking space.

One advantage to nasty twitchy, skinny keeled, spade ruddered, round bottomed, mass produced throw away horrors, at least for someone who hasn't got a lot of experience, is that when going astern they go where you steer. Unlike long keelers, which go wherever the hell they want, 9 times out of 10.

Which isn't a problem if you have a swinging mooring, but is a bit more problematical in most of the marinas on the south coast.

And I'd agree with Maser that time spent on maintenance chores outweighs the time spent on the water, if you do it yourself. And, at least I have the advantage that when I've got the engine in pieces on the cabin floor, I don't have a load of bored kids asking me if I've fixed it yet......

The solution for the OP might be a share in a charter boat perhaps?

[Bonefish Blues]

Riff Raff said:

The solution for the OP might be a share in a charter boat perhaps?

As a non-sailer, almost entirely ignorant of the subject I was sitting here thinking why would OP want to own a boat when there must be better options available, shirley?

[alfaman]

I race on a benetau first 40 - excellent boat / have won several races / series.

Have also spent 2 weeks cruising on a benetau 345 from the 1980s ... Was fine for cruising.

have a look at an old 345 or similar - not sure what they go for in the UK these days. Would guess u can get a 32-34 foot ish cruiser close to your budget.

Remember that older well cared for boats in the price range have pretty much bottomed out depreciation - wise

[alfaman]

Think you'd be needing 30k ish for something decent - not 15k . But you'd hopefully be getting a boat you could cruise and sleep on , not a dinghy or something needing 20k of refurb work

[Fishtigua]

ClaphamGT3 said:

You may get a Contessa 26 for that - the 32s have gone mad price wise.

We had a 26 for about 8 years. It sailed so well, I don't think we ever turned the engine on in all that time other than to service it. (Antigua)

Our mates next door have a 32, they did the ARC with it and back again, they're not selling. Ever.

[Fishtigua]

For 2k, this puppy is available.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/sailing-yacht-/200944436...

There is some good stuff out there at under 15k that are very useable and liveable.

[Benjaminpalma]

This has to be a contender - the engine's an outboard for easy maintenance. It's trailerable so you can keep it on the hard and not have to worry about not being close to keep an eye on her, or worry about antifoul, hauling our for winter, etc.

And she'll plane!

http://www.macgregor26.com/

http://yachts.apolloduck.co.uk/boats.phtml?id=1482

[McSwerve II]

Some great opinions and all gratefully appreciated.

Point taken on maintenance. My Brother in law usually has a few weekends on the coast during the winter, making sure everything is ship shape for the season.

I've thought about chartering or a part share, but we like the idea of reacting quickly, and taking full advantage of the good weekends.

Regarding mooring, it's unlikely the home port would be Poole. The brother in law has a great deal with one of the large marina chains, where you can use any of their marinas for up to 30 days. So it's based in one of the cheap places on the south coast, but you can go where you like.

Hope anyone on the water this weekend had a great time!

[Riff Raff]

McSwerve II said:

Regarding mooring, it's unlikely the home port would be Poole. The brother in law has a great deal with one of the large marina chains, where you can use any of their marinas for up to 30 days. So it's based in one of the cheap places on the south coast, but you can go where you like.

Which is all very well, but you have to park the boat somewhere for 335 days somewhere else.

And speaking from experience, leaving a boat somewhere other than your home port is a pain in the bum. It's happened to me on occasion if something major went twang, or I got weathered in and I had to be back at work next day.

You end up paying for berthing twice, and your car to get you home is in the wrong place.

Best to pick a home port and stick with it, IMVHO.

[maser_spyder]

McSwerve II said:

Some great opinions and all gratefully appreciated.

Point taken on maintenance. My Brother in law usually has a few weekends on the coast during the winter, making sure everything is ship shape for the season.

I've thought about chartering or a part share, but we like the idea of reacting quickly, and taking full advantage of the good weekends.

Regarding mooring, it's unlikely the home port would be Poole. The brother in law has a great deal with one of the large marina chains, where you can use any of their marinas for up to 30 days. So it's based in one of the cheap places on the south coast, but you can go where you like.

Hope anyone on the water this weekend had a great time!

I've lived on my boat for four weeks now, and I'd guess I'm half way through the maintenance. Haven't even looked at the engine or polishing the hull yet, this is just the usual bulbs, pumps, blocked pipes, tight running rigging, jammed blocks, loose steering and stuff like that. Replacing the plotter that popped last month (£2k) tomorrow. Engine should be ok, but the drive is a little rattly so that needs a look for next year, £4k for a new one. Just spent £2k on a new kedge and safety gear (jackets, epirb, danbouy, MOB sling.....).

Ok, this is running repairs, the boat is moving all the time and things are fixed on the go, but it's never ending! A couple of weekends a year won't even come close.

Ok, I'll admit I wouldn't expect to spend this much every year (a lot of this new kit has long warranties, at least), but there is the odd howler of a year, just like cars.

Get some deep pockets before you think about purchasing, and don't spend all your cash up front!

Totally agree about purchasing compared to a boat share though, I've been out on beautiful weekends right up to the week before Christmas, perfect sunny days and ten degrees, with the sea to myself. Well worth being able to do that.