Planning "the Big Trip"

Hi all,

Another new member. I'm presently land-based in Melbourne Australia, and am planning to "sell up" and sail in 12 months. During the next 12 months I want to prepare by saving a bit more cash, do some more courses - Yachtmaster Skipper etc, scuba diving, and get a few more weeks of sailing experience under my belt.

The cruise 'plans' are still pretty vague at present, but I'll do a lot of reading during the year. I plan to travel to the USA to buy a boat as they seem to be a lot more plentiful and cheaper than in Australia. Presently, I'm thinking of either a serious blue-water boat (favourite right now is a Vagabond 47 ketch) or a catararan (favourite in those is a Manta). I know these seems poles apart, but both seem to have their advantages and disadvantages. About the only option I've ruled out at this stage is one of the production monohull boats (like Beneteau, Catalina etc.) I have a Beneteau at present and love the boat for what I bought it for - getting some experience with coastal cruising, but I don't believe them to be a great option for ocean cruising.

I'd live to hear from any other stories of suggestions or advice - not only about boat choice but things like good places to buy, itinerary for travel etc.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

[Lighthouse]

Welcome aboard - good to have you here. I'm sure others will be along shortly to help in regard to your questions.

I'm sure you'll learn as much here as I do every day.

[Nausikaa]

Let me also wish you a warm welcome to our friendly forum. It is good to have you here and it is especiall good to find new friends at this time of year. Welcome.

// Stephen

[imagine2frolic]

Sounds like a great plan. If you are going all the way to the states. Then maybe you should look into the Caribbean, and especially St. Maarten. A lot of people finish their cruises there, and sell cheap. Also another place is Puerto Vallarta Mexico. All of these can be found at Yachtworld.com.............GOOD HUNTING!!!!!!

[JeanneP]

I second/third (?) the suggestion to look for a "broken dreams" boat in either the Caribbean or Mexico. One warning, however, is that it might be difficult to find a good surveyor in these locations, and boats left to languish in these spots might need more work and care than first looks would indicate.

Some "conventional wisdom" regarding buying a boat in the US. Northeast coast boats are considered the best buy for the money since the boats have such a short sailing season and are stored out of the water for about 2/3rds of the year. Florida probably has the most boats, and right now, with the massive insurance increases for boats kept in Florida, might possibly give you the best value for your money.

This is winter, so you would already be able to see the boat on the hard in the Northeast (a good thing if you worry about whether the boat was properly winterized!).

Everybody wants to do it himself as far as looking for a boat, and checking out the on line sites is worthwhile. However, if you have a good idea of what boat you want, a good yacht broker can be a tremendous help to you in looking for the boats that are not yet posted on line.

I think that the Manta is a lovely cat, but do you think that it is a serious "blue water" boat? Just asking, but I find it interesting that people will reject the many production boats in favor of a "blue water" monohull, and then consider as an alternative a production catamaran.

Good luck in your search.

[Anosha]

Hi

From my Canadian friends' experience, Florida is a good place to look for a cheap boat. Also you can get a lot of work done cheaply in Trinidad, especially for the hull and also any renewing furnishings of salon, bunks, etc. We had the hull repainted there with some super strong antifoul.

I crossed the Atlantic two up in a 42ft ketch which was 20 years old, sailed stiff and handled well but leaked like a sieve in bad weather (teak decks look nice but arent always weatherproof).

Hope you find a great boat and am sure you will have a great sailing trip. It certainly beats life on shore! She said wistfully!

Good luck

Anosha

[maxingout]

For sailing back to Australia, it's hard to beat a catamaran for running downwind in the trades. You won't need to raise your mainsail for thousands of miles; your headsails will carry you most of the way back to Australia. A catamaran also won't roll like a monohull as you sail downwind.

If you are going to do predominately low lattitude sailing in the tropics and trade winds, I would choose a catamaran.

If you are going to do high latitude sailing in South Australia and in the southern ocean, I think a monohull would do a better job.

It's hard to get the bridge deck high enough in a small catamaran to be a good high lattitude sailing cat. You will get too much pounding of the bridge deck in a small cat because you have serious sailing to windward in higher latitudes. If you sail off the wind in the trades, the same catamaran will be just fine. You will spend most of your time reaching and running in the trades and a smaller catamaran will move nicely without pounding of the bridgedeck.

For a tradewind sail around the world - consider a catamaran.

For a high latitude circumnavigation - consider a monohull.

[cartooncorpse]

Originally Posted by maxingout

For sailing back to Australia, it's hard to beat a catamaran for running downwind in the trades. You won't need to raise your mainsail for thousands of miles; your headsails will carry you most of the way back to Australia. A catamaran also won't roll like a monohull as you sail downwind.

If you are going to do predominately low lattitude sailing in the tropics and trade winds, I would choose a catamaran.

If you are going to do high latitude sailing in South Australia and in the southern ocean, I think a monohull would do a better job.

It's hard to get the bridge deck high enough in a small catamaran to be a good high lattitude sailing cat. You will get too much pounding of the bridge deck in a small cat because you have serious sailing to windward in higher latitudes. If you sail off the wind in the trades, the same catamaran will be just fine. You will spend most of your time reaching and running in the trades and a smaller catamaran will move nicely without pounding of the bridgedeck.

For a tradewind sail around the world - consider a catamaran.

For a high latitude circumnavigation - consider a monohull.

Thanks for that advice! i've been wrestling with my desire for beam, yet don't have enough knowledge to move much further along the choice path at this point. this is new stuff for me!