What happened to the "small" "Affordable" cruisers?

[eastendsailor]

When searching for a boat four years ago, I set search parameters of 32-40ft. There were plenty of boats in my price range, i.e., less than 40K, but none that struck my fancy. First boat I looked at was an Endeavor 37. Although the boat was well set up for singlehanding, it was immediately clear to me that it was too much boat.



I reset my parameters to 28-35ft and quickly discovered a number of boats that would meet my current and future needs (initially coastal cruising, perhaps longer voyages in a few years).


As soon as I laid eyes on the '86 Bristol 31.1, I knew it was my boat. It has big boat features -- nav station, Frigoboat fridge w freezer, hot water heater, three-burner stove w oven; I added 150W solar -- in a relatively small package. Also, Bristols of that era are known for being solidly built. The scale is perfect for solo sailing. With another person aboard, there is still plenty of room. There is also the cost savings in having less LOA.



Now in fourth season, I couldn't be happier with the choice. Continuing to update and replace various items like the antique electronics. In a couple of years, I'll have the boat ready to go almost anywhere.



As for the trend toward larger boats, I don't have much to add to what's been said already. Suppose if I won the lottery a bigger boat might be appealing, but absent that, I'm quite content.

[BlackHeron]

People the with money for a new boat of any size want something big and fancy, they aren't really looking for a budget boat. There is really only so much money that can be shaved by making a boat smaller or simplified with fewer features. Even a 27-footer with bare-bones options is going to cost more new than most "budget" buyers are willing or able to spend. If you have the cash then why not just get something big and fancy?

If you are on a limited budget there are tons of used boats out there for a tiny fraction of the cost of any new production boat. There are more used boats out there than people who want to own them, so prices are low -sometimes even free. It is really, really hard for a new boat builder to compete with free.

Unless someone is constrained by size because their home dock or marina can't accommodate a larger boat there really isn't much demand for smaller boats in the new market.

[Squanderbucks]

I’m a power boater that has owned a 1965 38 ft powerboat since 1990. When this boat was brand new it sold for $30,000. Part of what we feel is influenced by how old we are and what is used to be when we got the bug fir boats.
To get a new 38 ft boat that would be a similar replacement today it would be hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Also if you look at what a “fully equipped” boat came with back in the day was maybe a list of 6-12 items. Today it goes on for a page.
So as an experiment you could buy a prebuilt hull and cabin and build it out to what you consider a basic cruiser and I think you would be surprised how much it cost today. Then add on what you really want or what you would need to have your family get on board and I think you would see why the numbers are so big today. A lot is inflation.

[roland stockham]

Just anecdotally I have noticed that when talking to cruiser most of the people that make me go 'wow you have done loads are in smaller boats which the ones in big boat always seem to be tied to the marina. May be just that bigger boats take more maintenance but I think another factor is that more adventurous people are happy with less support and backup so will get out there with a smaller simpler boat whereas people who feel the need for 'all the comforts of home' and the security of a big boat with all the safety features still feel apprehensive about being away from the heard.

[Ranger58]

Originally Posted by Phantom Jim

I will state, without any proof or evidence whatever, that our 1981 36 foot Pearson 365 ketch is most likely a stronger boat today than many brand new boats for sale. I also suspect she will be around long after these newer boats are landfill.

I will also state they will not have more serenity than we had either!

God love the Good Old Days!

I grew up on a Pearson 365 Ketch Hull#78. 1976 Build. That was the best boat and very much appropriate for a family of four. We cruised the East Coast and 4 out of five Great Lakes on her. What a strong, dependable, fun yacht! I envy you for your proud ownership! Just a beautiful boat.

[clakiep]

Originally Posted by Little Otter

So I was thinking about this the other day. Some of my older sailing friends remember a time when anything over 35' was considered a big boat and between 30' and 35' considered normal for a cruising boat, but 20'-30' boats were regularly cruised. By today's standards these (30'-35') are considered by many to be too small to cruise or cross oceans, and cruising in anything under 30' is considered nuts.

My question is what changed?

We know that boats under 40' are more than capable of circumnavigating (not necessarily comfortably) and that at one point the 26'-36' cruising boat was popular due to the number built. Clearly these boats are seaworthy, Jim Brown cruised his 31' boat "Scrimshaw" for nearly 4 decades, the Pardeys boat was 24', Matt Rutherford did the northwest passage and the horn nonstop in a 27' Albin Vega, countless others have sailed around the world in what is considered today a "Small Boat". Was it just "keeping up with the Jones's" and "I want a bigger boat syndrome" that made everyone want these 40'+ behemoths? Or was there some other more "Scientific" reason behind it?

I'm just curious what everyone thinks. I know the drive towards bigger boats has led to a corresponding increase in price for new boats and thus, a more expensive cost for entry into sailing. I understand wanting a huge boat, but what happened to the "small", capable, AFFORDABLE cruiser that was so popular in the days of yore? Surely a small, capable cruiser would be more profitable to the companies if more people could buy them. and if more people were out sailing wouldn't that be a good thing?

Much more 'screw ons', mostly for domestic comfort as longer stays at anchor and marinas are anticipated. When I finished my 44" catamaran, which was a development of a 1952 design, the original designer came on board and asked me what all this comfort was for. He said 'comfort You have on shore'. Well, in his time, a sailor coming from overseas was generally welcomed by locals and frequently invited to stay at their homes. No marinas , no fees, no burocracies what so ever. I had to explain him how much things had changed !

Claus Kiep - ocean tramp of the 80ties.

[Marathon1150]

Originally Posted by Davy J

I'll just add this...........

My first house, built in the 50's, had three bedrooms, one bath and a kitchen the size of a postage stamp and detached single car garage.........

Probably 1100 sq ft or less.....

Today's new homes have to have at least three baths, a great room, three car garage, a kitchen with two ovens, 5000 sq ft and a homeowners association.......

Boats are not much different.

I agree. Houses back in the 60's were typically as noted above. Now, they are also typically as noted above. Did we have less fun in small houses than big ones? We recently downsized from a house (3200 sq ft) to a 1200 sq ft condo. We are still having just as much fun and if we want to go sailing for a day or a year we just lock the door and leave.

Moving from a 28' boat to a 38' boat did provide more space but as with bigger houses we soon filled it up with all kinds of stuff, as others have noted. Painting the bottom and fixing all of the additional things that break is much more difficult and expensive on a bigger, more complicated boat.

I recall reading a letter to the editor of sailing magazine back in the 70's when my boat was a 13.5' dinghy asking the same question as the OP in this thread. Where are all the San Juan's and Thunderbird's that used to be in the anchorages on BC's west coast? When cruising in a small boat, "small" was an important part of the adventure. It seems that comfort is displacing adventure, or perhaps it is making it more accessible. Bob Bitchin's (Lattitudes and Attitudes) motto was/is "the difference between an ordeal and an adventure is attitude". And there is no doubt that comfort can affect attitude.

[Little Otter]

She sure is pretty! But I don't think I could deal with the pink hull

[Little Otter]

Thanks Enfant, I live near Augusta now so I'm slowly making my way to the coast. I fully intend to convince her to go cruising on vacations when i have a suitable boat. Unfortunately I still have 20+ years before I can retire, but I reckon that just means I have more time to plan my trip

[Secondshift]

I see it as the culmination of a multitude of factors.

But majorly I see a few factors.

Firstly, there are sooooo many awesome boats out there now that it kinda kills their market.

Advancements in powered equipment and power generation have made larger boat operation with few crew a reality.

Manufacturing vs profit of the Builders. As mentioned the added production cost vs profit. Even the small boat heroes eventually size up. Catalina, Macgregor, Hake yachts (Seaward) all started small.

And sadly ... wage disparity . The salary increases of the middle class have been sucked up by inflation. The relative cost of a house, a car, a college education, health insurance has increased disproportionately causing a need for additional debt for the basics. If you can finance 50 -70k well why not 150-200k and will let you pay it off in twice the time at 3x the interest.
( hyperbole )

Best Regards,

[Stu Jackson]

Very interesting thread, with tons of great observations.

To add: Where you sail (other than "real" full time cruisers) may have something to do with what you say you're seeing.

We lived in San Francisco from 1978 to 2016. Even when we left The Bay Area our boat was still a large one. We bought her in 1998, when she was 12 years old.

Moving to B.C. really opened my eyes to the necessities of serious seamanship simply because the waters here are significantly more challenging than my "postage stamp" that was SF Bay, and I say that with good-natured respect and humor.

We kept her in a nice marina on Alameda, and there was only one other dock among the 7 or 8 that had bigger boats.

Here, in a much smaller marina, the boats are simply bigger. Yes, for all the different reasons included in the comments.

My "big" boat in SF has gone to a "medium" here in BC.

Now if I could only do that with my clothes!

Still lots of fun though, and certainly pleased we brought the boat up shortly after we moved here. My original plan to go visit the boat back in California wouldn't be such a good idea these days...

[Cpt Mark]

Originally Posted by Davy J

It's a matter of economics..........

It probably costs about the same to produce a 35' boat as a 45' boat......

Absolutely so far from wrong as being ridiculous.

[daletournier]

I was at Fakarava French polynesia a couple of weeks back. Not only did I not notice any small cruisers i noticed there were very view "classic" older cruisers.

I was thinking "what boats would of been here 10-20years back, 40ft would of possibly been a biggish boat and we would of probably seen more Bob Perry style boats..

The reality now was my 47ft boat in absolutely no way stood out, there was many ,many boats bigger than Sukha . The two small boats were one Cabo Rico 38 and a Tayana 42, everything else was more modern and bigger.

Definitely a large percentage of cats than I've noticed before and some very expensive ones as well.

[AJ_n_Audrey]

Having recently decided to stick with my 36 foot Pearson 367, I have personally concluded she is a hell of a strong boat, and as much I need for cruising. I was thinking about upgrading to a 40+ foot boat, but then I looked at purchase cost and ongoing maintenance compared my current boat, and decided that would be a dumb decision. I can singlehand her, and I'm a minimalist by nature, so I'm quite happy, as long as I can replace the windlass and get a roller furler for the staysail. And a new compressor for the fridge. And an inverter. And radar. And a feathering prop. And doing all that is waaaay less than getting a 40+ foot boat.

[Little Otter]

AJ, I came to the same conclusion as well. I recently sailed with some friends on their 43' ketch and they let me try to "singlehand" it. it was a lot of work and decreased the entertainment immensely. On top of that it just seemed so big that I wouldn't know what to do with all the space. it felt like I was "In the boat" rather than "Part of the boat"