What's the most boat I can handle solo?

[Robertcateran]

I am looking at a 50' Harryproa. With balestrom rig giving low sheet loads and no getting out on a skinny deck in heavy seas to change headsails, (or sort out a self furler that has indigestion), and the ability toreverse or crab in and out of places it should be dead easy to single hand.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Pepys

So...that being said, how much boat am I capable of handling?

I think only you can answer that. How big could someone handle? Well, it seems that the answer is pretty much anything! I would also ask how big do you want to handle? The odds are the answer is somewhere between 33 to 40 Foot. (but not to say that smaller or bigger is a "wrong" choice).

But before getting to size I would work out what you are going to be doing with the boat. and where.

Of course budget does usually come into the equation as a big decider on size both to buy and maintain, where bigger usually means more expensive overall.

[sandy daugherty]

I belong to a group called Singles on Sailboats. There are 140 boats in the club, ranging from 24 to 50-something feet, of every conceivable configuration. Most of the boat owners are over 50 and average 60. Many join the club because they are "dock-bound". They can sail their boats thousands of miles single handed, but they need crew to get away from and back to the slip. Smaller boats weigh less, and are more responsive. Equipment is cheaper and the loads on halyards, sheets, and dock lines are easier to handle (with one hand, remember?)
There are two down-sides to smaller boats; The ride is rougher, and the bragging rights are diminished. This matters if you are susceptible to 'mast-envy'!

Properly equipped, with quality stuff, a mid thirties vessel will get-er-dun!

[Cheechako]

50 foot is big. But if you need the room, you need the room for sure. The amazing thing about many boats is that in the 38-45 foot range, many of them have the same accomodation... just more space, maybe two heads in lieu of one. How many heads does one really need in the space of a 25 ft travel trailer, etc.? The best boat by far for having a lot of visitors is a cat. My 42 Lagoon had three double staterooms each with a sit down settee and hanging locker. The grandkids were safe and had room to move around even when sailing. Normally these boats had four staterooms, but one of mine was a workshop with 23 drawers and two counters and a built in vise! The cockpit table would seat about 12. The built in davits made having a large RIB easy so the whole group could go ashore, took 5 minutes to pull it up or deploy it.

[dan104]

I solo a lot due to a wife that has no interest and my love of being out there.



I am 79 and on my second boat, the first was a Columbia 8,7 (~~29') she was easy to sail and dock solo as I had fitted her to get all the lines back to cockpit and even though she was a tiller I had an auto pilot with a remote that let me do things myself both coming in and out (I could stay overnight and it was like a small camp site).



My second boat is a 36' Gozzard (come in at about 42' with bowsprit and dingy off back), she is big and rigged for solo and she can handle just about anything, she was rigged for sailing couple wintering in Carib. when I went to go on long runs I found crew off Salty Dogs or locals. I double handed from ST Thomas to St Martin and back and both of us knew what we were doing and it was a learning trip. Sailing back from USVI to Maryland I found 3 others and we did 4 shifts a night and space was ok for 4 people. There was no way I could have made that 1800nm by myself!



This winter I went down to Savanna via ICW mostly, I could have done it solo but I got a second to make it easy, coming back did an overnight up the bay which I was glad to have a second for. (key to ICW is 5' draft and 50' mast, they say 6' & 64' but trust me north of Charleston you need tide for even 5').



Funny thing is when I am solo I only use about a third of the interior space, galley, settee and table (the rest just ends up a storage), but then I have a large cockpit.


As for docking, I can handle her fairly well except in strong winds, I just do it slow!!