Importance of standing headroom?

[mudnut]

Here's a photo that Norm wanted posted, so I'm posting it. :) According to Norm's e-mail:

It is a photo of a small sailboat (Vega 27) while they were both at Marina Cay (East End of Tortola, BVI).  What is remarkable is that this is the first small sailboat Norm had seen set up for voyaging since he got there in November.

I'm sorry if this is out of topic.Being in OZ,we don't have the luxuary of lots of differnt makers and models to choose from when considering a boat to liveaboard and cruise on in the 30ft range,unless ya have heaps of $$$.I haven't and feel I need to balance the two,L/aboard with the abillity to cruise when needed.I know the reality of (When ya inside you mainly are seated,so headroom isn't that important line)What I guess I'm asking is"Does a wider beam make up for the lack of headroom?"I'm 5ft 9''and most boats to fit me are around the 35' mark.I can buy a 35' FC hulled boat for under $29.000.but not so in any other type of hull,unless it's an old steel boat or worse,A 1935 wooden thingie.Sooner or latter I'm gonna need to stand up.Any thoughts.Mudnut.

[AdriftAtSea]

You can always do what several of your countrymen have done and fly to the US to buy a boat and sail it back. :)

[ScotiaSailor]

When i was looking around at different boats i did finally find a 28 foot boat that had 6'2"-6'4" headroom.

I bought the Grampian 28, but as i noticed is that in order to get that nice headroom the boat has a "Very" high ammount of freeboard. if i was to fall off this boat at anchor even, if it were not for the ladder in the back i am not sure you could climb back up.

it should be interesting to see how much she will be effected by windage at anchor and such..



(not my boat but it is a g28, just to give you an idea of how high they are)


-Greg

[Zen]

Or Buy from Mexico...

You can always do what several of your countrymen have done and fly to the US to buy a boat and sail it back. :)

[mudnut]

I haven't even began to learn HOW to sail yet,let alone cross oceans.A friend of a mate said he would transport a boat to OZ for $10,000 from the states.He is into international transport as a buisness.If I add up all the other costs like sales tax,inport duty and surveyors cost it still adds up to about the same cost.If it wasn't deck stepped it would cost even more.I sure do like the variety you folks have though.Gotta sell the house first.Mudnut.

[CapnK]

Mudnut -

I'm 5' 9" also, and can stand up in my boat which is 25' 6"LOA. That was a priority, for me, after my last boat, where I couldn't stand up. I don't think that having additional beam would make up for the lack of height, it would just give you more stowage that you'd have to bent over to get into. :)

I'm not sure where in Oz you are, but it seems like there would be places there, especially on the Pacific side, where there would be a good used boat market from folks who'd done the SoPac tradewind route, and who then were leaving the boat when they went back to the Americas or Europe. Maybe in New Zealand, too? I know some cruising destinations are almost notorious for having lots of boats that were left behind after their owners got there and had determined that the "getting there" wasn't really what they had planned it would be, so they leave behind nice, outfitted and decent boats.

[AdriftAtSea]

Hmmm... Just learning to sail puts a definite crimp in that suggestion. :)

[mudnut]

captK,all to true,but ,Iv'e looked on yachtworld to compare similar US made boats for sale in the states against the prices there asking here for the same boats.Allied seawind,morgan's even 30ft HR's,C&C's,columbia,Alberg's and the list goes on and the asking price when adjusted to the $AU,just dosen't figure.
                                                                                                                       
     Two yrs ago my personal life took a U turn,my partner and I are going our own way when we sell the house.So seeing I loved all my time at sea I figure(buy a liveaboard yacht,learn to sail and marry them together)It dosen't seem too hard a deal.I have been researching,reading and learning along the way.This year it WILL happen.No kids,no alimony zip nada,50/50,with no ill thoughts.Sounds like a dream result to some folks I bet.  :D
                                                                                                                     
     One boat I fell in love with is a John Hanna Tahitian Ketch,similar to Weston Farmer,I'm a sucker for "Old and classic"and scared of the upkeep of wooden boats,so the same designs in steel or FRP are tempting.I have a few others in mind but will leave them untill the day of reckoning comes.
                                                                                                                     
     As for learning to sail my "Home"That will be a walk in the park,to me it is just a means to and end.Sailing lessons are in the pipeline.I don't feel the need to cross oceans,coastal is just fine.Sorry for the waffle on.I do listen to all you folks here and other sites say and it calms me to no end.Mudnut.
                                                                                                                     





                                                                                                                       
     

[gigglingdolphins]

mudnut, good luck on your adventures, you will find a gal that loves to sail as much as you do. Get the boat and all will fall into place.

Jack needed head room at almost 6' we only have a 33' but she has 6'4 headroom throughout. I am only 4'11" (barley) so headroom to me is a cutty cabin (almost)... :)

[Oldrig]

Good luck, Mudnut.

A Cape Dory 25D (too small to live aboard) was recently sold in OZ for a pretty fair price. Somebody who posts on the Cape Dory bulletin board sailed from California to OZ (he was planning a circumnavigation). He never explained why he flew back to California and sold the boat (perhaps he met a woman?).

Learning to sail won't be that tough--just follow the advice in the old joke about getting to Carnegie Hall: Practice, practice, practice.

First, of course, you've gotta find the boat--then the woman.

--Joe

[Captain Smollett]

A Cape Dory 25D (too small to live aboard)

???

If it were just me looking to live aboard, A CD 25D would be on my short list (top 5 or so)...if I did not have the A-30.

[CharlieJ]

Ed Campbell, who writes and publishes the "Campbell's Cruising Guide to Texas" ( Our ONLY one) spends all his cruising time aboard a CD 25, with his lady friend. They don't live aboard, but they sure spend long trips aboard. Nice boat.

[Oldrig]

[/quote]
If it were just me looking to live aboard, A CD 25D would be on my short list (top 5 or so)...if I did not have the A-30.
[/quote]

Agreed--I love my 25D. But I also love my wife of 25 years--even though she doesn't understand that sailing is the most important thing in the universe. :)

[Captain Smollett]

Agreed--I love my 25D. But I also love my wife of 25 years--even though she doesn't understand that sailing is the most important thing in the universe. :)

Something dawned on me when I read this...I'm not picking on you, it's just your post made me think (I good think, right?  Well, maybe).

Perhaps we use the term live aboard too generally.  There are different types of live aboards.  There are those that live aboard a boat as cheap "housing," but never sail or travel.  On the other end of the spectrum, there are those that live aboard because they are cruising.

So, this made me think about a CD 25, or other small boat, in terms of a couple or a family.  I began to wonder "what do you mean by LIVE?"  Neglecting passagemaking and forced times 'aboard' (such as weather), just how much time "living aboard" does the cruiser actually spend "aboard?"  Where is the "living," out among the local population, in nature, or is it "trapped" aboard a small boat?

I guess one direction my nearly directionless musing has gone is to wonder if having such a small living space help push small-boat cruisers into more personal, direct contact with the area they are cruising.  A CD 25D would be a small "house," tied to the dock, as a substitute for a full blown land based "home," but would make a fine base of operations for exploring a new location.

I submit the smaller the 'aboard,' the larger the 'living,' since the small living space encourages more outings.  I can well imagine a couple living on a Spacious 50 with all the amenities just living "aboard."

It's funny for me to think about this stuff, because the Alberg 30 seems cavernous to me when I am alone, but "tight" (  ;) ) when the whole family is there.  (Actually, she's still quite spacious.  The children can run around below, there's the forecabin if someone "needs" some alone time, etc....just comparatively, one person rattles around in a space that feels tighter with four).

Back on topic: The newer A-30's have right at 5'-10" or 11" headroom.  The older ones (pre '71) have a few inches more.    :)

[CharlieJ]

having been a full time liveaboard ( no home ashore at all) and a shorter term cruiser ( with home base) Here's how I look at it.

When you are living aboard full time ( I did it on a 35 foot tri, with three aboard) it's not so much the room for YOU and crew, as it is for the "Stuff" you MUST have. We cruised from Florida in summer, to the Chesapeake in fall, down to northern Florida in deep winter, and then into the keys for winter/spring. For one thing, that 25 simply doesn't have the storage capacity for clothes (and blankets) for all four seasons, for several people. At least Tehani doesn't

For people with a home base ashore, you can leave the off season stuff at home, safely stored, and only carry the clothes aboard that you really NEED at the time. A slightly larger boat can give you that capacity.

Our Tehani is well large enough for Laura and I to do prolonged cruises, but she's a small 25 footer. We could NOT live aboard full time - well, we COULD, but we wouldn't like it that much. As a woodworker, I'd like to have aboard a live aboard boat, at least a small set of tools. No storage room on Tehani.

Laura is an artist- she'd want a certain amount of art supplies and equipment. Simply isn't the space for that. Plus carrying clothes for 4 seasons, AND foodstuffs for long trips- simply not enough boat.

Now in a 30 footer, the two of us feel we could live aboard for full time, simply due to the increased capacity to store things.

I'm probably not getting my point across totally- it's 3 in the morning and I'm here cause I can't sleep, so bear with me. I hope you understand what I'm saying. Or trying to say.

[CaptMac]

Sorry to be digging up old bones, but this was the main requirement when we were looking for our next boat, being several hours away from our boat we usually would spent the night on it before returning home. My wife said that if she could stand up in the boat she would enjoy it more and want to use it more, well you don't have to hit me with a brick, we got a boat with standing headroom. :D

The problem is finding one at a reasonable price (for us), we loved the Flicka and CD25D but both were a little pricey, so looking through the internet we had found the the Seafarer 26 had standing headroom but the closest ones around where about 600 miles away, which I hated to drive that far just to see if the boat would work for us, and usually pics on the internet and the actual boat are vary different.
But just about the time we decide to take a trip to look at them one came up for sale close by at half the price, we went and looked at it and bought it the same day, this after looking for about a year.

I know it is a project boat but when it is done it will the way we like it not the way the previous owner liked it.

[Oldrig]

Hey CaptMac:

Congratulations on your purchase!

If standing headroom is a requirement, and you're willing to invest lots of sweat equity in your Seafarer 26, it should work out just fine. This is a great board to turn to with questions, and you should also look at some websites devoted to Seafarers and other Tripp-designed boats.

Here's one http://www.seafarer-research-center.com/index.html.

--Joe

[chris2998]

I'm in search of buying my first boat and that is the one thing I am looking for in this seeming to be extremely long search of at least 6'2 of headroom or more.

I went aboard a westsail 32 and I think supposely the headroom was 6'4"s but I think really it was about 6'2" and I must me 6'1" without my shoes. I really liked it that I could stand up in it although the ceiling was right there and if the boat was moving I think I'd be more hunched over then standing straight up. I really did like the fact that if I were cooking I could stand straight up which I think would be very important.  I didn't like the V-berth seemd cramped and I imediatly knocked my head when getting out of it so no didn't really like it but the settes and v berth were the right length for me and so was the height so those are really the two important things I have found is beds long enough and headroom on the inside


I went aboard a cape dory 27ft and I was hunched over seems like somewhere I read that the headroomn is about 5'11"s so I think 6'2"s probally would be perfect for me. I have found some cape dorys that were 28ft and the headroom was 6'2"s they claimed so I guess you could stay under 30ft and still have a fare amount of headroom. I sure wish I was shorter lol

[Iceman]

I recently purchased a Freedom 21 that has sitting headroom
I sold my Voyager 26 that had head hanging to one side headroom.

I think headroom is great for long term livability.  But if its marginal I rather be sitting than trying to stand. Does this make sense?

Yes I am still here, scraping bottom paint off the new for me F21.
Its in NJ headed to VT on a new trailer soon.

Just can't seem to find the right big boat at the right price

Ice

[Shipscarver]

On my CD27, being only 5'8" tall I have standing room. However, getting my 250 pounds through the opening to the V-berth is a sideways proposition.  ;D
My "headbanger" is not the overhead in the cabin, it is hitting the slider as I step up to exit the companionway, having partially closed it.  ::)
Last time, I was really dazed and bleeding. A kind lady on my dock provided the solution for the immediate bleeding problem, and a future head butting cushion by dressing the wound and installing a pair of Mini Pads in my cap.  :-[
Oh well, it worked.