What is the right boat to buy? The answer is probably going to be a bit different for every person. fortunately there are a lot of boats out there to choose from!
Preparations
The important thing is to get some sailing experience first. A few ocean passages on different types of boats is very helpful. Join a sailing club and do a bit of racing on other peoples boats. That is the fastest way to hone your sailing skills. Sailing experience is vital so that you know what to look for. Internet research is great. We spent a lot of time surfing the web. However, there is no substitute for “hands on” learning.
Then depending on your circumstances you need to make a short list of what is absolutely essential and have a budget within your means. Our budget was rather limited (about A$150k) so we had to find something within those constraints.
Because we plan to go cruising for an extended period of time, we both had to like the boat. Something that we both would be happy to live for an extended period of time. This is a very personal preference and it is just a feeling you get with the right boat.
Because my better half is not a serious sailor, the type of vessel we concentrated on was a good sized catamaran around the 40 ft mark. It is big enough to be very comfortable to live aboard, small enough to sail solo. Catamarans are also very stable under most circumstances.
With our budget there very few boats built post 2000 available. Therefore we had to concentrate on boats built in the 80’s and 90’s. That means that you end up with a boat 30 to 40 years old. No problem, there are a lot of good quality boats built in that period. What it does mean though is that the boat will probably need a lot of work and TLC to bring it up to cruising standard. If you can do most of the work yourself and you have time, then it can be a very economical option.
Our Criteria
While there are a lot of features that are nice to have, we decided what was absolutely essential for us. Compromise is always the name of the game but the following things we deemed to be non-negotiable:
- Very sound solid construction that will handle rough weather
- Fibre glass hulls and decks. (composite construction may be strong but once water gets in is a nightmare to fix)
- Inboard diesel engines
- Lots of protection from the elements, sun, wind and rain.
- Easy sail handling for solo sailing – a cutter rig with mast aft is ideal because the sails are smaller and there are plenty of options to reduce and balance your sails.
- Performance while important did not rate that high as long as long as it is reasonable. We don’t plan to fight against the wind so pointing ability not so important.
The Quest
Over a period of 2 years we did a lot of looking but most of the boats did not really stand out or were far too expensive for our budget.
We stumbled across a Nimbus 12 designed by Robin Chamberlin. We both really liked the layout and the feel of the boat but it had been badly neglected for the past 10 years. Partially sunk once, the decking rotting in many places and condemned by the yacht club where it was moored. Too much work even if it were given to us free of charge!
By chance we were on the Gold Coast late in 1916 and took the opportunity to check out a few boats. One of the boats we viewed was a Stratos 12 design by non other than Robin Chamberlin. This boat was in reasonable condition although it had not been sailed for 5 years. A solid boat built to Survey, all GRP construction, a very roomy boat with twin diesels in good working order and a good solid cutter rig. It needed new sails and windows replacing plus a lot of cosmetic work. We offered $50k below the advertised price to cover things that needed urgent attention and a few hours later we signed the contract. An impulsive buy!
Of course we should have got a survey and taken it for a proper sail, but we had researched this boat design and was confident that it would sail well. A survey would probably tell us little more than we already knew from a thorough inspection of the boat. There was a lot of work to be done. Mainly cosmetic. And of course it always takes longer than you think.
So we had a boat. Just had to get it back to Sydney. Did we buy the right boat for us? Only time will tell.
