What Is The Best Liveaboard For Starting Tall Sailor 6ft8

[newsailor]

Hi sailors!!!!!

I will be going to the east coast and am a very tall guy 2.03m / 6'8ft. I would like to buy

a sail boat ( as cheap and simple as possible and easy to handle). I want to use this as a liveaboard

while I will take sail lessons and prep myself for long term cruising to panama. I know I have

a lot to learn, but I also know there are a lot of good people here with a lot of experience.

So couple of questions for you.

1. What would be a good boat for a tall guy like me willing to cruise for about 3/4 years. Boat needs

to be easy to handle and cheap to maintain. Only electric items I would like to have is my laptop

gps, 12v fridge and some lighting. (any suggestions on running laptop on batteries???) Would be nice

to have a complete DC electrical system 12v .

2. What would be a good system to buy that incl. gps/radar/depth/and weather forecasting without paying a monthly fee. I would like to have these services free because I dont have a way to pay my bills

while on the road.

3. Any websites that advertise "Crew Wanted". I would like to see if I like this way of living first by trying it out on someones boat and accompany him/her on like a 3 month trip.

Thx so much for reading and any info will help. Cheers

[Lighthouse]

Originally Posted by newsailor

3. Any websites that advertise "Crew Wanted".

As we run our own crewfinder section on this forum we are unlikely to suggest others here but do a Google search for "crewfinder" - just be careful what you use.

Good luck with your plans.

[redbopeep]

Suggest you read the Pardey's The Cost Conscious Cruiser as well as Annie Hill's Voyaging on a Small Income. There are very few small boats with more than 6' headroom. After reading up on what you're looking for, you'll likely just have to go down the list of available boats and see what might work for you.

Some older (but costly to maintain) boats with deep draft also happen to have quite a bit of headroom but typically they are race boats and not really built for cruising. Else, you would typically end up getting into a very large boat to get more than 6'8" headroom.

Our boat was originally custom built for a guy who was 6'4" and he had it built with 6'5" headroom in the main part of the boat. The naval architect worked out the numbers and...it ended up being 54' on deck to accommodate the required headroom AND have a fairly shallow draft of between 6' and 6'6" depending on how it is loaded.

Best of luck

[MMNETSEA]

One of the best cruising adventures I have ever enjoyed was when a very good friend lent me his 30ft long Pontoon boat from Homassassa Springs on the west coast of Florida - It had an aluminium roof, a forty hp outboard which also charged a battery, 2 cabin lights - some nav lights, a rudimentary head , an ice box. I had one chart, an held GPS, an held VHF and a personal digital compass. Fishing rods and bait (and a licence to fish)

3 weeks later returned convinced that simple is the way cruise nooks and crannies.