Aventura 34 brandnew VS 40ft' excharter 10yo

[boatpoker]

There is another aspect to cruising that has not been discussed.
Does the OP know what to do when ....

- his batteries smell like hydrogen sulphide.
- the engine turns over but won't start
- white smoke is blowing out the exhaust
- black smoke is blowing out the exhaust
- grey smoke is blowing out the exhaust
- the engine surges
- a motor mount breaks
- the engine runs but the prop won't turn
- turning the key induces nothing but a "click"

... ad infinitum.

[Piscis]

Originally Posted by Grasshopper1234

axiomoixa,

I appreciate that this is probably a very touchy subject, but could you maybe write a this-is-what-happened-to-me to end this thread? I'm asking because your last post was absolutely heartbreaking, and I sincerely hope you and your family are okay. Authors like Rick Page, Mark Nicholas, and Beth Leonard all tell similar tales, but they lack the gut-wrenching emotions that go along with the first-person perspective (even though they all have at least some first-hand knowledge). Not that it's any failing on their part or a knock against their abilities as authors. Rather I think they have the survivor's perspective because they made it through their trials and landed on their feet. I'm much more interested in the folks who didn't. There's something parental about their advice that makes it less impactful... it's probably their wisdom.

Also, I feel your pain in looking at lower-cost boats right next to newer, prettier, cleaner, and more luxurious ones. I'm selling my house to try my hand at the liveaboard life, and I'm trying to heed the wisdom on the Rick Pages, and Rabbi's of the sailing world. Boats are easy to get emotional over and lose perspective. It's hard, but threads like this are real-world, first-person gut-punches that can help a lot of people like you and me. If your last post was to be taken seriously, and that's exactly how I took it, your experience could well benefit others, and maybe keep someone from repeating the same mistakes.

The thread played out exactly like what my mind does when I look at how to approach the transition, what type of boat I'm going to buy, and how much I'm going to spend on it. There's the tug of war between my dreams and what is sailing reality. This thread is beautiful and tragic.

Looks like Elvis has left the building... half year ago...

[Grasshopper1234]

Originally Posted by Piscis

Looks like Elvis has left the building... half year ago...

Yeah, I figured it was a long shot. But he did respond to Rabbi after an 8 month gap, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Too bad, I really wanted to see how this played out and if he and his family were able to land on their feet.

[rabbi]

well, if he really followed his plan he is in really deep trouble now.
Or maybe he is just locked up in a nice marina in Spain - who knows?

[svtickles]

I came here for the Aventura review...

[seanallen]

Well so did I.. Was a great thread to read through though. Nearer the end I felt that the OP was having everyone one, especially Rabbi who made a major effort to save this guy and his family. Frustrating to not know if it worked out well or if we have the opportunity to say “told you so”.

[axiomoixa]

My apology for having left the audience up in the air for so long without an update.
After a series of events, I managed to have forgotten about the post here.
Thanks for one of you having found me in another world and reminded me of this post and its apparent interests of some sailors.
I will try to wrap up what has happened to us and the boat below.

Boat
We ended up ordering a Hanse 348 brand new. We were shopping through various dealers to try to get the best deal we could and timed the order so that the boat should be finished by April/May when the season starts. After 1 or 2 down payments or so, Corona came to Europe. The whole world did not know how the react. Our dealer reassured us that production was going, but there could be part shortage. We were in panic at that point. If the boat commissioning would miss the season, our entire plan of using our parental leave for a boat trip wouldn't work. In the end, our boat was finished by the end of June. The nearly 2-months of delay wasn't devastating, but it did influence our journey in the end. For where we sailed, the chill wind made water sports less enjoyable already in mid-September, so we ended our journey a month earlier than planned. At that point, we were trying to decide what to do with the boat, with options being selling her or putting her in a chartering-fleet.
The 10-meter hull of the Hanse offers a lot of space in its class, but it isn't really meant for long-term live-aboard for a family of 5. Our kids shall go to school. We'd have liked to focus on our career from that point on. Chances of us using the boat again are low. Numerous people we talked to along the journey, including somebody from a charter office, advised us against putting our boat into chartering. So we decided to try to sell the boat with a loss that we could accept. If she isn't sold before next season starts, she joins a chartering fleet next door. That was the time when shipyards were struggling to meet demands and boats were sought after. Ours was sold toward the end of the year. I prep'd her once more in Spring next year for the handover and bade farewell to her with a sore heart. But at least we are string-free now and can start something new when the time comes
Why we decided on a new boat?
With all things being relative, the life-cycle of a newly commissioned boat is more predictable, such as its demand in 2nd-hand/chartering market, how much depreciation, what warranty doesn't cover.
Why Hanse?
It is a pretty good bang for the bucks, compared to other big shipyards.
I could start a Hanse/Judel-Vrolijk review on it, but I don't know if I should.

Journey
We first wanted to bring the boat to Mediterranean. For various reasons, we decided to stay up north and to go through Göta canal. We left Greifswald harbour early July and started our journey up east coast of Sweden. We kept having good wind and went at a decent pace. It still took us about 3-weeks to go up to canal entrance. From there on, we spent the next 3-weeks motoring (and short sailing in the lakes in between). The lock-guards told us; they were getting only a fraction of boats than they used to due to Corona. So, while Germany was high on lockdown, we were having a full blast up-north with no reminiscent of Corona and a canal well spared from crowds (except that reduced ship traffic caused excessive seagrass). The canal was a wonderful life-time experience to us. Could you imagine your little kids could climb up and down and help locking? We exited the canal at the end of August and wanted to go further up north to Norway, to at least one fjord. However, local sailors advised us that the season for Norway was already over. With a feeling of sorrow and pity that the boat delivery slipped by 6-weeks or so, we went south to Denmark, glided through the Little Belt and returned to Germany. The mid-September weather wasn’t as kids friendly as we’d hoped, so our journey has ended there.


My wife keeps a travel blog for our journeys. For those of you who are interested, show us your real name. I'll be happy to share with you the blog


Resume
We lucked out, with everything in regards to finance, boat, kids, Corona, time, and many times of friendly sailor support. Were there one thing to go wrong, our journey could become a catastrophe.
We dare not compare what we have learned to what others are already familiar with or to the vast knowledge out there. But our experience has taught us a lot!
We, human civilization, are very used to passing knowledge through reading or hearing. However, nothing beats experiencing things with your own soul. You learn not by extracting key points in literature, but by building up intuition and feeling. These form the foundation of going forwards, be it sailing further or planning your next boat.
To save for our next dream boat, I don’t think we will be dinning out for the next 10 years.

[rabbi]

Cool, thanks for getting back and taking the time to post.

Good that it all turned out OK in the end.

[svtickles]

Someone else bought a Hanse in 2020 and paid 180k for it. They now want 225k. It's a crazy world.

If the Op had kept their boat a little longer, they would have made a handsome profit!

[cdreid]

Originally Posted by axiomoixa

Sorry for the late update.

The bank has approved our 6-digit loan.
Now we are think what our options are...
leaning toward something new or relatively so to not have any unexpected repair bills.

I hope you go for your dream!

Having said that.. while being negative as hell theyre trying to give you good advice.
For 60k you can get a good sized used monohull. There are used Beneteau Oceanis and even Juneau's out there in the 40-50 foot range that will give you as much or more room than any new cat that you can afford and pay CASH. A 34 cat is going to have a big salon with just enough room for you to all eat together and tiny bunks in the hulls. Im going with 3 dogs when i go and that isnt enough room... and theyre lazy af.

For 200k for a used mono you can get any thing you want (longer boats cost more money to maintain). And you have monthly costs that wont go away. Marinas arent free. Especially for cats.

Your smartest move here is to continue saving and keep an eye out for large monohulls. Plan on spending a couple thousand for sailing lessons etc. Hopefully some extra money for refits etc.

You can absolutely do this. But boats arent apartments. 3 kids.. one a baby.. you should consider that maybe youre just freaking out a little bit and wanting an escape... think of a 40' boat as a tiny 1br apartment. With 3 kids..

[rabbi]

Check the timeline of this thread.
He has already finished the trip, and actually survived to tell the tale.


Btw:
40ft doesnt mean 1 bedroom. In a modern cat it's 4 bedrooms and 2-4 heads, sometimes with separate showers.

[cdreid]

Im talking about a bedroom in a house. You dont have nearly as much room on a 40' cat as you do in a 1 br apartment. The eauivalwnt would be stuffing a sleeping bed in a closet and a couple cabinets and calling them bedrooms

[rabbi]

That's a huge difference IMO
We can easily live on a 38ft cat as a family of 4. But we could not live in a 1 bedroom apartment

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by cdreid

Im talking about a bedroom in a house.

Is that cruising house ?

[cdreid]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

Is that cruising house ?

You guys have all sailed and lived on boats for years or decades. You have a sailors perspective. To you a 2br apartment has ludicrous amounts of room. One of the first lessons you folks taught me is that a a 40' sailboat will have as much room as the bedroom on my first apartment :P Nonsailors need to hear that