Newb looking into purchasing a sailboat

[Itsalonestar]

Re: Newb looking into purchasing a sailboat

There are plenty of older Macgregors, Catalinas, and Hunters out there that would serve your needs for a reasonable price. Generally the Macs are the most bang for the buck. Wife and I were in a similar situation some years ago, and ended up with a Mac 22 foot trailerable. It is adequate for weekend camping, and cost well under 2 grand with serviceable sails and trailer. We chose to buy one without a motor, so the after market rudder and 6 horse Nissan we added actually cost a good bit more than the boat and trailer. I personally would not start with anything smaller if you intend to do overnight or weekend stuff. You can do that from day one with a trailerable cruiser, whether you know how to sail or not if it's got a reliable motor.

For lakes, it's hard to beat a sailboat with a crank up keel....just my opinion.
The ability to go from beating into the wind with 6 feet down in deep water to skimming along in 9 inches up a creek makes it a much more versatile boat. Might think differently if I was on the coast somewhere, but for all around use and to be able to load up and visit different lakes, and even use the boat like a travel trailer along the way.....that's pretty cool. For grins, you might take a peek at Macgregor 26M or the water-ballasted Hunter 26 footer. That will probably put you totally off the notion of starting with a 14 footer.

Read a book or two, rent some sailing movies, browse online. More than enough material out there to learn from. When you get the boat, set it up in the driveway to familiarize yourself with mast setup....with a good system and practice it's a ten minute job. Pick a day when there are light breezes
to make your maiden voyage, motor out where you've got some room, and see what you can do with her. It's not brain surgery or rocket science. As long as you don't have too much sail up, the boat will handle anything
your lake can throw at you. Just do it!

As an afterthought, if you're planning on storing her in the water, or buying one that has been, you'll probably want to be able to see the hull, and determine if it's had bottom paint. Fiberglass boats can develop osmotic blisters if they've been in the water long..usually nothing to freak out about, but they will require attention, and a barrier coat.

Well I'm not a newb to boating but I know near nothing about sailing.

I have thought seriously about buying a sailboat for a few years but now I actually have a boat slip of my own so I could have a place to store it.

I will be using it in The Lake of The Ozarks in Missouri which sometimes has chop 3 or so feet and can have boat wakes higher than that. I would want it to be large enough and stable enough that I could use it even when the water is getting rough. I would like it to still be trailer-able so I could move it if needed. I would like to have a cabin large enough for one or two people to spend a night in it. I would also like it to have a small gas powered engine.

I'm looking for recommendations on older boats between $3k-$4k, I don't want to spend a lot until I'm confident I will be able to sail something and have fun with it.

Mostly,

What fits my criteria?

What should I look for before purchasing a boat?

Will I be able to learn to sail on my own very easily?

 

[Itsalonestar]

Re: Newb looking into purchasing a sailboat

Throw in the Swedish bikini team for crew and support staff, and we might have a deal......seriously, this is something uneducated savages have been doing in hollowed out logs for thousands of years. Crossing oceans even. If you examine the mortality rates for sailors on inland lakes in this country, you might conclude that you are as much at risk sitting in front of the puter reading about it as doing it. My guess is that the average person can figure out the cause and effect of getting the boat to do what you want within 15 minutes of hoisting the sail. If not, you can always hop on the short bus to the 700 dollar institution of higher learning. I have managed to heel ours over far enough to take water into the cockpit, but I couldn't keep it there.....it was before we had any goodies installed and we wanted to see what a worse case scenario looked like. Sailboats are like a bobber with a sinker clipped on. You can tip them, but they tend to right themselves despite your best efforts to do otherwise. If the wife's screams start to hurt your ears, just let go of everything and it will right itself. And they are a reasonably comfortable ride in weather that drives the power boaters off the lake....more room for sailboats! 3 to 4 foot waves with whitecaps is really no big deal in a sailboat of any size....... until you try to put it on the trailer. Best cure for that we've found is to run a taut line from the winch tree to each goal post. Makes life much easier at the end of the day. Aside from mast up and mast down in the parking lot, our time on the ramp is the same as any other boat if not less. That, of course, can be a courtesy thing as well as a personal convenience thing.

Nope, that's ridiculous, unless it's private one-on-one instruction for an 8 hour day with a catered lunch.

 

[emoney]

Re: Newb looking into purchasing a sailboat

One last bit of advice; once you find your sailboat, try and get someone to
go out with you the first couple of times without the spouse. It's always smarter to be a litte
ahead of the game when you take the "Admiral" out than behind. Even the
real troopers have a lot more fun when they can put confidence in the Captain,
if that makes sense.

So, what gives? Have you found the "Starter Boat of Your Dreams", yet?

 

[ghamby]

Re: Newb looking into purchasing a sailboat

From what I can see, on e-bay and craig's list, finding a starter boat within a
day's drive is going to be tough.

 

[likalar]

Re: Newb looking into purchasing a sailboat

Interesting thread, with lots of good advice. My 2 cents worth: Since you have some boating experience, but are new to sailing, how about the following: Find a decent, small, used 2 man sailboat that will introduce you to the pure joy of sailing. Forget about bunks, motors, storage space, and all that. A good, well cared for used 16' Hobie Cat comes to mind.

The point will be to get some fun, fairweather wind time under your belt. Choose your days carefully (light wind mornings at first). Skip the 3' choppy afternoons. Too much stress! In 6 months or a year, after you realize how much you love sailing, sell it for near what you paid, and move on to your next boat. That next boat will have the motor, berths, etc. Have fun!

Larry

 

[Renny_D]

Re: Newb looking into purchasing a sailboat

Despite all the poo pooing about lessons I would recommend them before buying a boat for many reasons. The best is that most schools have access to a wide variety of boats and you may find that one type suits you more than others. The other reason is that I've seen many inexperienced sailors end up in very dangerous situations and at times fatal ones. I used to teach in the sf bay area and now teach up in Portland Or and the water in both locations can be cold enough to induce hypothermia in minutes. I've seen bad crashes and groundings. Stood by on more than one occasion to lend aid and seen hundreds of really bad dockings - btw docking is a spectator sport. I wont go so far as to advocate licenses for sailing as it is one of the last bastions of freedom but that said I wish folks would take care to educate themselves and get the experience under guidance vs crash and burn method. Maybe I've a more vested interest as I teach sailing as my fun job - it don't pay squat. I like the idea of teaching folks to hopefully avoid the mistakes I've made and seen and give them a fighting chance of taking their loved ones out and not having to worry about returning with less of them or not returning at all.

Aside from classes I would advocate sailing lots of boats of lots of types, single hull, multi, slow, fast racing, cruiser etc. Any boat is a compromise and it is much easier to avoid the second best day of boat ownership - the day you sell it - if you buy one that better fits your needs up front.

My .02 take what ya like an leave the rest

Renny

 

[SolingSailor]

Re: Newb looking into purchasing a sailboat

Renny does not go far enough!

Sailing lesons will teach you the tried and true techniques. A good sailing program will drill you so that when the **** hits the fan (and it will), you will do the right thing without thinking too much. This will allow you to tend to the needs of your passengers and crew properly. You will find that your boat is stronger than you are.

I have also sailed the SF bay (chartered from OCSC), and any SF sailing instructor should be taken seriously.

 

[doehunter]

Re: Newb looking into purchasing a sailboat

Arron R,
I might as well put in my 2 cents.
Sailing is an addiction. Get out now before it's too late, lol.
Basic sailing is very simple. Small dinghies make learning easy(and cheap), and once you get the feel for it, you can sail anything. I started with an OD11 about 30+ years ago. On my own, no lessons. After you get in the water, and start moving, you can play with the boat and discover it's limitations. It doesn't take very long to get to where you can sail it anywhere you want to go.
The small dinghy types, generally have a sealed hull with a plug. the cockpits are self bailing. When (not if!) you capsize, the boat will not sink. If you get into waves that go over the bow, the boat still will not sink. You will however be very wet. You will get an education on handling a small boat in big water, on a small scale, so to speak. It's fun on a small boat, but also the experience will be valuable when you move up to bigger boats.
I now have 5 sailboats from 11 to 18 feet and like you I'm now going after a 26 foot Mac. Those have a water ballast, and are light enough to trailer, enough room inside for weekending on.
Check out the Mac forum. a lot of useful information on there.
http://macgregor.sailboatowners.com/
Jim

 

[Bluesail661]

Re: Newb looking into purchasing a sailboat

Aarron,

Lots of good ideas. The boat that comes to mind for me that fits your requirments is a Catalina 22. Trailerable, pop up type cabin top which will sleep two very easily and super easy to sail. Right in your price range if you look around. There are many boats on the market so don't jump at the first one you see.

Good luck,

Chuck

 

[Mark SF]

Re: Newb looking into purchasing a sailboat

Like Renny said.

Despite all the poo pooing about lessons I would recommend them before buying a boat for many reasons. The best is that most schools have access to a wide variety of boats and you may find that one type suits you more than others. The other reason is that I've seen many inexperienced sailors end up in very dangerous situations and at times fatal ones. I used to teach in the sf bay area and now teach up in Portland Or and the water in both locations can be cold enough to induce hypothermia in minutes. I've seen bad crashes and groundings. Stood by on more than one occasion to lend aid and seen hundreds of really bad dockings - btw docking is a spectator sport. I wont go so far as to advocate licenses for sailing as it is one of the last bastions of freedom but that said I wish folks would take care to educate themselves and get the experience under guidance vs crash and burn method. Maybe I've a more vested interest as I teach sailing as my fun job - it don't pay squat. I like the idea of teaching folks to hopefully avoid the mistakes I've made and seen and give them a fighting chance of taking their loved ones out and not having to worry about returning with less of them or not returning at all.

Aside from classes I would advocate sailing lots of boats of lots of types, single hull, multi, slow, fast racing, cruiser etc. Any boat is a compromise and it is much easier to avoid the second best day of boat ownership - the day you sell it - if you buy one that better fits your needs up front.

My .02 take what ya like an leave the rest

Renny