Blue water boat

[UKRobin]

Hi

I am currently in Panama looking at buying a fully equipped blue water yacht to spend 6 months in the Caribbean in and then take across the Pacific and maybe on from there. Next week I will probably head to Florida and continue the search and then on the Eastern Caribbean.

Not aiming to sail alone overly - I have a list of friends and will also advertise - but comfortable if I have to.

I have never owned a yacht before - loads of racing dinghies but have skippered and crewed a range of yachts. I always said I would not buy one until I had time, which I now do.

I spending the last 3 weeks looking and reviewing my head is in a bit of a funk so some advice would be appreciated.

I have a top end of about $100K to spend if the boat has literally everything on board. I prefer for a yacht to sail faster, just my racing background and knowing that speed can help avoid situations.

I am looking for a well regarded boat and intitial thoughts are Whitby 42 (sensible), KP 44 if the budget there, Tayana 42 (nice options) and C&C 43 (heritage).

There is a chance I will go on to Japan after and then re do the NWP and then possibly south to South Georgia (that trip is in the back of my mind so insulation heating might come into it).

Interested in views.

Regards

Robin

[Pat Ross]

I went through similar decision making process about 10 years ago and realized I was also getting older. I was set on a trawler for awhile figuring I could consistently motor regardless of health. After studying many designs of all types I realize that multihulls were the true motorsailers, for the most part doing both very well. Of course there are multihull designs that do neither well so one has to be selective, just as in any design. Some of the monohulls you have listed I would not consider fast, good boats but not necessarily fast. Your point about about the ability to move out of the way of weather is one I agree with.

Here is an example of a proven world cruiser that can be found and purchased for around your price. Yes I know they are listed higher than you want to pay but if you have been around boats much - I have never found one that I really wanted that I could not get the price way down off of what it was being marketed for, particularly in today's market.

Dave from Maxing Out's boat The Boat

Of course this may not be your cup of tea.