bareboat charter advice - family of 7

[Erikh]

Hi All

We are a family of 7 planning our first week long trip to the Tuscan islands in June 2013 and would very much appreciate some advice.

The two options we are considering as bareboat charters at the moment are either a 44ft or 49ft boat? Specifically a sun odyssey 44i or 49i. There is quite a price difference between the two (the 49i is 600 pounds more for the week). Would anyone recommend one or the other? Also would there be a big difference in terms of cockpit space and cabin size? Both boats would have a 4 cabin configuration and be approximately the same age (2008/2009), but the 44i has 2 heads and the 49i 4 heads. We're not much worried about the heads, but would place some value on extra space as we'll be 7.

By way of background, we would have 2 skippers with some but fairly limited experience on our first bareboat charter. So if the 49i would be a lot more difficult to manoeuver than the 44i, it would definitely be taken into consideration.

Any views on the above would be great.

Many thanks!

Erik

[Saline Canine]

Looks like the 44 is the way to go. It really looks like your essentially getting two more heads and that's about it. Save the 600 pounds and put it towards something else.

[Quirocat]

The 44 is probably your best bet. You need to look at whether you´ll be mooring or in marinas. Being June, the Tuscan islands shouldn´t be too crowded, so both options are viable. Maneuvering a big boat in tight marinas is probably the biggest stress of sailing, so 5 less feet will be less stressful to berth. I´ve been on the 49 with as many as 13 people, and she is very spacious and really fast. If you plan on mooring, it might be worth the extra cash to have a bigger and faster boat.

[Erikh]

Many thanks for your responses, much appreciated! From a cost perspective, we have decided that a 44ft as opposed to a 49ft boat is the way to go.

Its basically come down to either a Sun Odyssey 44i or a Bavaria 45 Cruiser. The boats seem quite similar in specification. Would anyone recommend the one over the other or is there not much of a difference.

The Bavaria does have a substantially smaller water tank 350lt (versus the Sun Odyssey's 615lt). Is this something to take into consideration given we will probably be doing a mix of marinas and moorings (hopefully more moorings) and there will be 7 onboard?

[Quirocat]

The Bavaria will be more spacious and with better overall layout. The S.O. Will be a lot more fun to sail.

[PapaBruce]

Water tends to disappear quickly on bareboat charters. Our last charter with 4 adults went thru 200 us gallons in 7 days. We wanted to shower when we wanted to as we were not cruising to a faraway destination. Go for the bigger water tank.

[Erikh]

Many thanks for the advice!

It seems the S.O. 44i with a 615lt tank is the one to go for then, it doesnt strike me as much fun constantly worrying about water consumption if the intention is to cruise and do some relaxed island hoping. It would also give added flexibility to moor as opposed to finding a marina. The Bavaria 45 crusier did seem to have a great layout, including a swim platform and the back and very light and open aft cabins.