name a affordable blue water manufacturer!

[Terra Nova]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

..If you read the stats in the back of "Fastnet, Force 10" you'll see that boats under 33' OAL took a heavier beating, with greater losses, than the 34-38' group, which still took more damage than the larger boats.

Nothing against a well-founded small craft--I'd just say the extra ten feet give you a much wider comfort/safety zone.

Yo Hello,

well put. The larger boat usually comes with a bigger price tag, hence "affordable" for whom?

Still there will be a practical size range which each of us will feel comfortable with. Within that range we must find an affordable basic boat to begin with.

Necessarily some of us will be compelled to buy a "project boat" to obtain enough size for our budget. A project boat is one needing more work than the average buyer is smart enough to avoid. Those who are very handy with their hands may succeed, but will still need to make the time available, and buy materials. Buying someone else's project should be undertaken only when one has no choice financially. It is actually possible to find FREE boats, but the average sailor might not have enough time or money to make it seaworthy.

best, andy

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by bigwhyte
.. so what do i look for. every other add says blue water how do u realy tell ?

I am dreaming of the future and maybe living aboard at some point or extended cruising. I am clueless about boat types but am learning.

I am a complete novice at this but if the idea is extended on-board time what I am noticing is that suitable boats have significant storage for ship's stores.

How do you tell if there is sufficient storage for ship's stores? It seems to correlate with water storage and fuel tankage.

As I browse boats.com listings I am making a list of boats with higher fuel and water tankages and these seem to be a good basis for developing a list.

Along with these parameters I am selecting my LOA and boat configuration. This being a realistic expectation of what I can afford and what I can handle short handed or single handed. 65 feet and 5 sails is out of my price range and too much work for two people or single handed. I am working to a maximum of 36 or 37 feet.

Equipment like furling sails, autopilots and so forth can help.

The next parameter, and I think the last thing to investigate it handling and sailability. Most would argue this comes first but in my mind you can have a great sailing boat but if it holds 12 gallons of water and 15 gallons of diesel, you won't be going to far in it. Sailability and handling become the discriminating factor.

Our club has "round the world" visitors almost every week. I make it a point to talk to them about their boat, what makes it suitable, what they wished more of, and what bugs them.

Most are happy with their choice but none so far wished they had less fuel, water or storage space.

2 cents worth from a newbie...

[hellosailor]

Andy-
"The larger boat usually comes with a bigger price tag, hence "affordable" for whom?" Ah, but I didn't say anything about affordable. It is possible that reasonable minds could conclude the minimum price for a "bluewater" boat is simply more than many can afford, period.
Free boats? Sure, they are out there. For every one that gets rebuilt and launched, ten more become yard queens that burn their owners out, emotionally and financially.
Everyone who decides to sail has to make their own decisions about the compromises they will make--even if they are on the Fortune400 list and the only compromise is whether to do the aft head in pickled oak, or marble.<G>

Heck, I'd like a Lamborghini, but once I found out the price, I decided that wasn't going to happen, even if I did try to buy a wrecked one and spend time rebuilding it. "Affordable" and "Bluewater" are both very subjective decisions to make, with the most subjective part of the latter being "Do ya feel lucky today?"