What is considered "small" here? What is considered "big"?

[Seafarer]

I often (and I mean often) think about the next sailboat. Frankly, I like the layout of my Seafarer 24.  Dinette to port, galley to starboard. Head, v-berth forward. Quarter berth (err...quarter storage are) starboard aft. Based on that beginning, I feel the ideal boat for me would be similar, but a few feet longer (and maybe a little wider) so...

My first keelboat was also a Seafarer 24 (1974 Futura-decked model). I am 5'10" tall and that is the max headroom of this boat. Rubbing my head drove me nuts. It would be fine for a second boat that I didn't intend to live aboard (in other words, I'd buy another one in a heartbeat). I looked long and hard before buying this boat, as I am picky about interiors.

You might be interested in the Seafarer 29 ( http://sarasota.craigslist.org/boa/2839304301.html ) or, if you could find one, the very rare Seafarer 31 MKII. These have similar layouts but more headroom and are more spread out.

Also, many Cal boats have a similar interior, which is exactly why I bought my '74 Cal Cruising 35. It's like the Seafarer 24 on a much larger scale, plus a chart table tossed in. They also have excellent build quality and sailing characteristics.

[Travelnik]

I know this is an old thread, but I didn't want to clutter things by starting a new one.

When I first thought about living on a boat, I was in my mid-teens, and everyone told me that I needed to have a big boat to do it. Unfortunately, that meant being extremely rich. Even the Luger kit boats were out of my range. (Remember those from the mid to later 70's?)
When I went to a big boat sales lot in Phoenix (big by Arizona standards), they told me the same thing. I looked at the biggest 2 sailboats they had anyway, one was a a 26' and the other a 28', and neither had headroom over 5'. Since I'm 6', that would have been cramped to live in.

Then, I looked at a lot of boat plans because I figured that the only way to be able to have my "dream boat" that I could live on was to build it a little at a time as I could afford to put money into it. I bought a few study plans, but I realized that I didn't have anywhere to build one anyway.

Well, life came along, and my dreams went on the back burner. Finally I did buy a place of my own, and the first thing I thought of was building a boat. Yes, it was kind of silly trying to build one in the Arizona mountains, but I never lost the boat dream. My wife did have something to say about it though...She said forget it!

But I couldn't. I just hid the dream away again. I did read a lot of boating magazines, and they basically were all part of the Big Boat-Big Debt crowd, except for one that I came across, Small Boat Journal. That got me thinking about small boat cruising and the KISS principle, especially when I read about Sven Yrvind and Bris.

Then, I knew it was possible, and I had hope again. No money, but a lot of hope!

Jump forward about 15 years, and I finally got my 22' boat, only to have it stolen, and then get it back again (but that's another story).

I have found that there are still a lot of prejudices against small "pocket cruisers" in the cruising community at large, but most of them seem to always be trying to justify spending so much money on so-called safety, comfort and seaworthiness. They can't stand it when someone else can go to the same places as they do on a small boat without spending a fortune.
They try to discount us as being too risky, and claiming that we are being a danger to everyone else by putting our possible rescuers in danger. It seems to me that it's the big boats that are always calling for help, not the self-sufficient small boaters!

Speaking of spending a fortune, here's a blog where the guy is talking about the upgrades to his 53' boat to get it ready for "offshore" cruising;
http://www.theseaissalt.com/time-money/

His life raft was more than my boat! Yikes!  :o

I'm glad that I finally did find out that the dream could happen with a small boat, and without having to have a fortune to do it!

[Captain Smollett]

Excellent post.  Have a grog.

Your story of the evolution of your thinking on this closely mirrors my own.  For years, I read SAIL magazine.

My thoughts of anything bigger than a day sailor/weekender began in earnest when my wife and I talked, almost jokingly at first, about sailing to Ireland.  So, I began looking more carefully at "what it would take."

I soon got VERY discouraged.  The boats "they" said I would need for such a trip, US East Coast to Ireland, would cost more than I had and I did not want a "second mortgage" kind of deal.  The price tags on the boats exceeded that of our house.

A "cruising boat" was not going to happen.

Next, I turned to boat plans and began looking at designs by George Beuhler, Ken Hankinson and a few others.  I realized 10 years to built a boat, THEN learn to sail her and still have to outfit her was also not in the cards...it just all seemed so beyond reach.

It was the Pardey's that tickled the right nerve that got me thinking "there is another way."  I'm not sure which came first, my reading of the Pardey's "Cost Conscious Cruiser" or Hiscock's "Voyaging Under Sail."  HIscock's book impressed upon me a lot of DIY solutions vs store bought solutions, and the Pardey's provided not only "encouragement" to go simple, but also good analysis as to why it makes sense and ways to implement KISS.

And, then, in 2005, a dude I knew in Myrtle Beach started this counter-culture web site called sailfar.net, and well... ;D

I have learned SO MUCH from so many people here. I can truly say that the community here has been beyond inspirational.

The "naysayer" thread stands as a stark reminder to what we have all heard, what we have all had to endure for not buying the opinionated dogma in the 'sailing community."

[CharlieJ]

Hey- I know that dude- drinks a lot, and tends to prevaricate  about others drinking HIS rum ;D

Ya know, I got a whole lotta miles in the wake, on a SMALL 25 footer!!  Never felt under boated.

[Mario G]

 In the begining I could not stop but think if there would be a better boat for us. I have the benefit of owning 3 different size boats and know/think that the size of boat should depend on what type of sailing you do. The Chrysler 22 was perfect for lake sailing and I would have sailed the coast with it, if it wasn't for naysayers. I still miss how fun the 22 was not only to sail but to hangout on even if I couldn't stand in it.
The Chrysler 26 did make a great coastal sailor and as simple as it was I would have been happy with it as our liveaboard boat. To make the 1st mate happy (rule #1) I aggreed to go bigger, but not complicated. Our 32 is still small compaired to alot of the boats I work on and far less complicated.  Being around different size boats all the time now makes me know we have the right boat, anything bigger more complicated and I don't think we would still be out here.

I can't help but laugh at some of the people with big boats that can't handle them or just leave them in the slip because its a little  rough out there.

guess in a nut shell,  smaller/simple seems more practical and only after years of sailing.

[Travelnik]

I think that if I was going to live aboard full-time, I would probably have to consider something a little larger, possibly a boat like Annie Hill's Badger.

With me, my wife, and 2 dogs, a 22' boat would be a cramped home. We would need a proper poop-deck for full-time living.

I like the idea of a junk rig though. Very simple and cheap to maintain. I would like to go that route on my Nomad, but I don't want to lose the interior space by having a mast through the cabin. Maybe, if I could make a deck-stepped tabernacle that had a solid through-bolted platform. Possibly braced around the hull...

[Captain Smollett]

I would probably have to consider something a little larger, possibly a boat like Annie Hill's Badger.

And to emphasize Annie Hill's relevance to this site ...

Voyaging on a Small Income, by Annie Hill

[Wade]

I've had a 23 Oday, lived on a Hunter 25.5 for a year And now live on a 31 Bombay Clipper 3
+ yrs. For me and a friend it is perfect for Coastal cruising but is a little crowded when the kids are aboard. Like Mario it is as big as I want. Oh and I am 6'3" And truthfully I sailed the 23 Oday more often. All very simple boats and that's the way I like them.

[Captain Smollett]

With me, my wife, and 2 dogs, a 22' boat would be a cramped home.

and

31 Bombay Clipper 3 ... is a little crowded when the kids are aboard.

We were 2 adults, 2 children and a cat on an Alberg 30 for three years.

The children are all but begging to move back aboard the boat.

;D ;D

[Travelnik]

With me, my wife, and 2 dogs, a 22' boat would be a cramped home.

and

31 Bombay Clipper 3 ... is a little crowded when the kids are aboard.

We were 2 adults, 2 children and a cat on an Alberg 30 for three years.

The children are all but begging to move back aboard the boat.

;D ;D

I wanted to raise my kids on a boat too, but my wife wouldn't go for it.
Now that they're adults, both of my kids tell me that they wish we would have done things my way.  :(

Oh well, now they will just have to find their own way to see the world.

[OldPelican]

A Sailfar boat, IMO, is the result of a decision about which you want more: the freedom to cruise anywhere, anytime as long as health allows or all the comforts of home afloat.

I turned 64 last month. I'm single and debt free and have a modest retirement income. My 1979 Watkins 27 is the smallest of the four sailboats I've owned over the past 30 years. I believe I could singlehand her anywhere in the world I wanted to go when properly outfitted and prepared. That makes her a nearly perfect boat for me. YMMV :)

[CharlieJ]

My 1979 Watkins 27 is the smallest of the four sailboats I've owned over the past 30 years. I believe I could singlehand her anywhere in the world I wanted to go when properly outfitted and prepared. That makes her a nearly perfect boat for me. YMMV :)

Do you have pictures of her interior? My friend David Grimm (GrimE), who posts here sometimes,   and his wife, just bought a Watkins 27 and the interior has been "worked over" They'd dearly love seeing pics of the interior as it should be.

[marujo_sortudo]

Getting the smallest, simplest boat you'll be happy with makes a lot of sense.  You have a much better chance of being able to afford cruising in it for longer periods of time, and less of that time will be spent fixing it up!  Other bits are handy, too.  A smaller boat is much easier to kedge off or maneuver at dockside by hand.  Sails are more easily handled.  The whole boat is more easily single-handed, etc.

[OldPelican]

My 1979 Watkins 27 is the smallest of the four sailboats I've owned over the past 30 years. I believe I could singlehand her anywhere in the world I wanted to go when properly outfitted and prepared. That makes her a nearly perfect boat for me. YMMV :)

Do you have pictures of her interior? My friend David Grimm (GrimE), who posts here sometimes,   and his wife, just bought a Watkins 27 and the interior has been "worked over" They'd dearly love seeing pics of the interior as it should be.

My interior is not ready for its close up yet but You casn find many pix on sailingtexas in the gallery for Watkins boats.