I am currently in the market for a yacht. Berths to me are an important factor. If it doesn't have 3 doubles (or at least one double for me and two equal size beds to stop the arguing) then I'm onto the next listing. My two boys are getting too old and big to sleep together now and they are only getting bigger. I enjoy my current tub with them and I want to enjoy the next with them.

Adequate berths for me at the moment is just as important as a hull with no holes in it.

Toph said..
I am currently in the market for a yacht. Berths to me are an important factor. If it doesn't have 3 doubles (or at least one double for me and two equal size beds to stop the arguing) then I'm onto the next listing. My two boys are getting too old and big to sleep together, now and they are only getting bigger. I enjoy my current tub with them and I want to enjoy the next with them.

Adequate berths for me at the moment is just as important as a hull with no holes in it.

+1 for that. Kids need their own little bit of space, even on just a long day out. 3 cabins keeps my family happy.

Flame way!
Less draft, more available moorings, you don't live down in the cave.
Cheaper insurance by a long way.
Engine spares are much cheaper.
A good 44 footer will have a double cabin, a double V berth and two singles plus a fold down double so that is 6 in 3 cabins plus a foldout double. Then there will be the two showers and WC.
Just saying.

I have owned both yachts and power boat (more power then sail though) from 21' to 32'. In my personal experience the cost of ownership is much the muchness. Where you save in sail you spend in power and visa-a-versa. Athough my current boat -a 32' mustang (and also the newest) is by far the most expensive to own and run.

PhoenixStar said..

lydia said..
Flame way!
Less draft, more available moorings, you don't live down in the cave.
Cheaper insurance by a long way.
Engine spares are much cheaper.
A good 44 footer will have a double cabin, a double V berth and two singles plus a fold down double so that is 6 in 3 cabins plus a foldout double. Then there will be the two showers and WC.
Just saying.

True Lydia, you could invest the cost of sails and rig and buy all the fuel you would need to cruise for a ever. There is no change from $70000 to rig a cat with all the mast and boom and vang and sails and deck hardware and added structure needed to to support the mast and keel and chain plates.
So it's really all about philosophy, culture and heart before head. But those heart before head choices are the ones we make that define our enjoyment of the water and keep us cruising.

If I was intending to buy a stinker it would be a cat powered by two small diesel sail drives with an option of installing a mast later if I felt like it.

My H28 did have two settee berths and two stern berths. It now has if needed a V berth one stern birth and the two settees. and the floor between the settes which is where Ill be sleeping
But suit one person just fine for long term use
Has a 1000 watt muir winch a stove oven . two 40 liter fridges .opening port lights a livable interior plenty of food storage 100 liter fuel tank 600 amp hour house 120 amp dedicated winch battery and a 100 amp engine start No water as yet and no hot water as yet a wind gen 400 watt not yet fitted and a semi flexible solar panel 60 watt solar will be expanded after the mast are up this year

I guess all of us can remember every time you turn off the diesel engine and the sail takes up the slack ,no man made noise other than the sound of a winch and the clinking of a halyard or the sound of the main sheet as its gathered in the flap of a genoa not quite trimmed

There is just something inherently wrong about getting everywhere by turning a key and burning fossil fuel, every single time. Sailing is much more in tune with nature, coming to terms with it, using it to travel and using it for energy ( yeah yeah, I know fossil fuel is just natural organic stuff compressed some millions of years ago).

Id love to travel the coast and beyond in a Nordhavn 43, but I think I'd still get more enjoyment and satisfaction doing it in a sailboat, though a Nordhavn 43 is very very nice and I would still do it, even though I would feel a little bit guilty, thinking I'd be better off in a sailboat, as I sipped my gin and tonic.

lydia said..

What sells me on the power boat is the inordinate time you spend motoring or motor sailing when you are coastal cruising on the east coast.

In my experience with east coast passage making ranging between Sydney and Cairns and points between, 90% of it has been motoring or motor sailing. When in passage I have a schedule and destinations to make. I will not flop about in 3 to 5 knots of breeze downwind. That is why you have an "Iron Top Sail".

I could be quite happy with a plate alloy 30 to 36 footer with 150 to 200 horsepower and no wankey fly bridge.

As far as "How many people does it sleep?" goes, four comfortable bunks is plenty.

Cool cool. I'll just turn the key and burn some fossil fuels.. Not too worried about wind time or fuel. It's only the roster that matters ??

Stepped aboard some nice new 36/40 footers at the Sydney boat show a couple of years back. Plenty of accommodation but no storage. Hence great for a weekend getaway but not much chop for cruising. Mind you, I have been on board some of these (Charter boat layout) boats that people are cruising on and they have accommodation areas that will never be used as accommodation because they are full of gear stacked on top of each other.

My gear is all in cupboards and all easily accessible. Maybe I'm a realist.

Yeah Yeah, a cruising cat of similar length may have a lot more storage but the price for this is probably 3 to 4 time the cost of my boat.


(And all you Thread pirates, there a button up the top/right for making your own stink verse sail thread)