The best seaworthy choice ?

[Michel Boudreault]

I am searching to find the best seaworthy sailboat and so for this is a list of what I think will be a good choice I need to have your opinion? and if you can give me more suggestions?

Thanks

Michel Boudreault
[e-mail]

Seaferer 36, 1973
Bruce Roberts 45 1980
Islander 36 1972
Choey Lee 36 1974
Formosa 41 1970

[zeehag]

donot forget westsail--32 is a good one as is the 42 and 43 depending on budgetary constraints--remember the westsail 32 is the boat that survived the perfect storm ....i have a formosa 41--there is always a lot of work to do with and on these for deep water work...but they are awesome boats---the babas and anything perry designed --very excellent boats....hans christian--many are seaworthy and many others are goood choices. there are wetsnail 32s available for pittance and some for over 100k---those are very overpriced and owner doesnt really wanna sell---many are in the 10-20k range, if approached with cash in hand--lol..is a buyers market to the max--

[zeehag]

oops there are 2 of these--might want to consolidate!!!

[John Shasteen]

Michael, seaworthy means different things to different people. What kind of sailing do you plan to do and where? Great Lakes sailing is different than the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic or Pacific. Different sailing dreams favor different boats. I sail Paloma, a tough little Bristol 29.9, in the Gulf of Mexico and have been through two Force 10 storms at sea with her, but I might want something different to circumnavigate in. So, what are your plans???

[Michel Boudreault]

I will travel Atlantic Pacific I would like to do really extensive sailing I would like to be able to sail everywhere with a realy good and safe sailboat

[Peter Kafer]

There are lots of boats out there that are good candidates for off-shore/blue water sailing. As John Shasteen advised, keep in mind what kind of sailing you want to do. I would add that many of the boats of yesteryear are eminently seaworthy. At the same time, they make compromises in comfort that many of us in 2009 are not willing to make. When my wife and I began our search for a boat, we had fallen under the spell of the Pardy's. Thirty feet--that was enough. Heavy displacement, a requirement. Affordability, another requirement. We looked at Pearson 303's, Westsail 32's, Cape Dory 30's, Morgan's. We looked at a lot of other boats and I really don't even remember some of them. They were all a bit too spartan for us. I'm not saying that one can't or shouldn't, but I can't imagine living on a Cape Dory 30 or a Westail 32 or a Pearson 303 for months at a time. Lots of people do and they are happy. I know a guy who lived for 4 years on a Catalina 22! I own a 22' boat and can't even imagine living on it for a week! On the other hand, we love our Pearson 323. We've spent time on other boats from 30 feet to 37 feet. Whenever we come back to our boat, we say, "YES!" For us (US) it's perfect. When we were looking for our boat, someone told us, "When you find it, you will know it." That sounded kind of crazy to us--a bit too romantic, a bit too. . .well too much. On our last trip, we looked at Pearson 323's exclusively except for the Down East 32. We really like the Down East, but she had a lot of brightwork. Every 323 we looked at was, well it was a boat. Big deal. So was every other vessel in the marina. On the other hand, when we stepped aboard one particular P323, we knew she was the right one. Sounds crazy, but that's the way it was. This is not to say that we wouldn't trade her on another boat, but, for us, she's perfect. It's likely that if you step aboard enough boats, you'll know which one suits your purposes. Regardless, unless you know a lot (I mean a lot) about boats, get a surveyor's opinion.

[Peter Kafer]

Check out "Practical Boat Buying" from "Practical Sailor" and Used Boat Notebook: From the Pages of Sailing Magazine, "Reviews of 40 Used Boats Plus a Detailed Look at Ten Great Used Boats to Sail Around the World" (Paperback)

Some interesting info

[John Shasteen]

Michael, here is a link to Mahina Expeditions website. They have a listing of all the bluewater boats with comments, they may have left out a couple of boats, but the list is long. When you get to their site, click on the Boats to Consider for Offshore Cruising quick link.

http://www.mahina.com/consult.html