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Boats for transiting the Gulf?

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by BravoKilo, Jul 29, 2021.

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  1. BravoKilo

    BravoKilo New Member

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    Hi all!

    My wife and I live in FL and have been boating around Destin on our 20ft Sea Ray for the better part of the last 5 years. We are looking into buying a "yacht" in the 44-48ft range to live on. The goal is to live on the boat full time and then take it from Destin down to the Keys/Caribbean on vacations.

    I've been doing some reading/research over the last week or so and can't exactly find the info I'm looking for. I know our budget dictates used boats, but I'm hoping to get more info on which yacht can handle our voyages as I've described above. Preferably under/around the 200k mark. I've seen beautiful Carvers in that range but when I think I've got it figured out, I see that Carvers aren't the best for transiting open seas. I need help in identifying a yacht that would handle our live-aboard style and also carry us on vacations.

    (EDIT) looking into a motor yacht with a fly bridge style.
  2. JWY

    JWY Senior Member

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    Welcome to YF!

    You might want to consider Defever, Grand Banks, Navigator, Ocean Alexander, and Offshore. I think you can find them in your size and price range.
  3. BravoKilo

    BravoKilo New Member

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    Thank you for your suggestions. Do you by chance have any insight as to why, say a Carver 444 may not be a good option? Or maybe a Silverton?
    We literally are just starting out and are trying to learn as much as possible.
  4. JWY

    JWY Senior Member

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    If you were talking about live-aboard or "just the Gulf," you might be ok in a Carver or Silverton. Once you add in Caribbean, then you're talking range (fuel capacity and consumption) as well as sturdiness for handling more intense sea conditions. Also, when you talk about live-aboard, are you going to be at anchor or at a dock? That raises a whole nuther set of issues.
    yr2030 likes this.
  5. BravoKilo

    BravoKilo New Member

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    Our intention is to be at dock in a slip all year and take it out on extended vacations. With my limited knowledge it just doesn’t seem like anything other than a trawler type is meant for longer voyages. Is that an elitist type attitude or is it backed by real information? I’m honestly asking because not ever having had a boat in the mid to high 40ft, it just seems like a 45+ could make a Miami - Bahamas trip with ease. It’s a little disheartening hearing that we may be forced into a trawler more or less.

    What are the concerns of anchoring vs docking? While on vacation the plan would be to anchor off an island like Nassau during our travels.
  6. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    First of all your original post mentioned the keys and the Caribbean. Huge difference. Pretty much anything will make it down to the keys and, picking the right weather window, to the Bahamas.

    now for the Caribbean you will need to step it up quite a bit. It’s a long way with some seriously open water stretches

    the Caribbean is not somewhere you ll go for a few weeks. Too far, too long to get there. I don’t think a trip down to the Caribbean under 4 months is worth it.

    Bahamas, yes worth it for a couple of weeks, or less if just bimini or the berrys

    reason trawlers were mentioned is that their hull shape is generally better at handling choppy waters.

    hit just some short 3 footers on the bow And you can be sure you won’t be doing 20 kts in lighter built and flatter bottom boats like Carvers or Silvertons...

    but as long as you pick your days and weather windows, you can make it in pretty much anything to the Bahamas

    One final thing to consider is storage (especially refrigeration, and tankage on smaller boats. This is even more important if you re going to live aboard.

    as to anchoring or docking, personally I love being anchored out. Better views, privacy, more breeze... it s great. But again you need to be self sufficient with watermaker, generator and storage.
    yr2030 and JWY like this.
  7. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    Take the Caribbean out of your present thoughts. You haven't even made it to Clearwater yet, much less the Keys and then the Bahamas come next and the entire East Coast. You have years before thinking Caribbean and that is likely in your next boat.

    Now, the other thing to consider is time. How much time do you have in a year to boat? How long can your trips be? This is where you face the break of speed vs. slow. Some of the boats labeled as Trawlers are great for retired but not so much for active couples who still have jobs and limited time. Many are happy going 7 knots, but you may like slow sometimes and need 20 knots other times. Also, living aboard you need creature comforts a weekend boater might not. I think quickly of things like washer and dryer. You will see some 45' boats that feel like 35' and some that feel like 55' and you need the larger. The express boat no longer works. Sundancers likely don't fit the bill.
    BravoKilo and yr2030 like this.
  8. JWY

    JWY Senior Member

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    BK: olderboater raises some good points, but I would like to elaborate.

    IMHO, if you are living full time on your boat at a dock, you will have plenty of time to take courses, get hands on training, or do whatever you need to do for getting the knowledge and experience for cruising. Starting with the Gulf and working your way to the Keys should not "take years," although point obviously noted that you are not anywhere near prepared at this point for going very far from the dock, or at least no further than your Sea Ray experience has taken you.

    Another point on which I would like to clarify is that all of the manufactures I mentioned have semi-displacement models. So talking about 7 knots is not relevant to the discussion unless you consider the few displacement models in the manufacturer's line-up (Defever and GB each have a full displacement model or two, but the majority of the models are semi-displacement). Nor would I buy a particular manufacturer or model because it's capable of attaining 20 knots. For those times when you want to get to shore before nightfall or to "outrun" a storm, the 12-17 knot speeds that these manufacturers offer should suffice for most circumstances.
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  9. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    That's where personal preference comes in. I wouldn't own any boat not capable of cruising at 20 knots. At the moment I'm sitting on one that cruises in the 45 knot range. Now, as it applies to the OP. Destin to Clearwater is a one day run in a 20+ knot boat. It is not at 15 knots. If one is working full time, then those things start to be important. And, if one just has a day to boat, then only 2 hours to Panama City. I don't know how much time to boat he and his wife have, but if it's limited as I suspect, then reducing the time taken to run from one place to the next is important.

    I didn't imply anything about the boats you mentioned as I understand some are semi-displacement and some will run closer to 20 knots than others. I was following another poster's trawler comment which to many means slower.

    Mainly speed is an issue that the OP has to look at for himself and determine the importance as it will change the focus of his boat search.
    BravoKilo likes this.
  10. yr2030

    yr2030 Senior Member

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    OP; Have you priced out a 40ft dock vs 50ft lately? Electric meter, potable water and the necessary pumpout and the cost of fuel on yat your dock. Then there'e's the insurance.

    I was told years ago when I was looking at the 55 DeFever in Anacortes, if I didn't have the dock space, I shouldn't be buying it. Anchoring out was the only other choice and that wasn't a solution.
  11. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    Docks that size are in much shorter supply in the Anacortes area than Destin area although as a liveaboard he needs to be sure he's found dockage in advance of buying a boat.
  12. BravoKilo

    BravoKilo New Member

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    Olderboater, YR2030, and JWY. Thank you all so much for taking time to give me valuable information. I do understand I’ll need to take baby steps before departing for the Bahamas. That is my wife’s plan as Olderboater mentions, speed would probably be more of a factor for us in the short term, along with laundry, preferably water makers and adding Solar. Our travel time would come in weeks vs months. I.E I would take 3 weeks of leave to cruise the gulf coast down to Tampa then back to Destin. If we could make it to the keys and back in 3-4 weeks that would be ideal for our near future boating.

    As JWY stated, the importance of living at a dock full time is to be able to take those short range weeks long trips and learn as we go. And by that I mean, 15-20yrs of developing skills and knowledge before we upgrade to the 50-60ft yachts and retire where we can cruise at sub 10kts and not be hurting on time.

    So if anyone has any fairly good compromise options on the sub 50ft range with good speed and is full time livable, we are not opposed to having to make a few adjustments to the boat to get a water maker set up or solar added or laundry put in. We really just like having the Galley on the same floor as the main living space and a fly bridge type area.

    speaking of fly bridge, has anyone ran into issues with bridge clearance or anything of that nature? Is there a such thing as “too tall”?

    Thanks everyone again for the inputs, it’s the exact reason I’ve started early on research and joined this forum.
  13. BravoKilo

    BravoKilo New Member

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    No we have not priced out a dock yet. I’m not too concerned with finding a spot given my location on the gulf coast. Unless anyone else from this general area feels I should have some concern?
  14. cleanslate

    cleanslate Senior Member

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    There is a nice 48’ Hatteras MY 1981 on the market , I think on the south East.
    Nice boat .
    44’ Viking MY 1989? I believe here in south Jersey that looks nice .
    Both nice boats you could run like a trawler or feed them fuel $$ and run 18 knots or so…
    They are in your price range. And have room to live aboard.
    BravoKilo likes this.
  15. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    Now that the OP has clarified and my assumptions were good, then, as Cleanslate indicates, boats like Hatteras and Princess and Viking MY's and even Sunseeker and Sea Ray Sedan models come into play. So do boats like OA and GB.

    Does air draft come into play? Not generally in your area. Only if you were doing the Great Loop or if you had a canal home in some areas.

    And, yes, in 3 to 4 weeks you could cruise to the Keys and enjoy them and then back with several stops on the way if the boat had adequate speed. Now, where the speed really comes in handy is weekends and long weekends. You can go 50 nm in two hours or three and so only spend 5 hours of your long weekend getting to and from. Or for the keys you can cross to Clearwater in a day. Then go slowly down the coast or leap to the Keys and then slowly back up. But the entire trip is reasonable for a three week vacation.

    By the time you get ready to upgrade and go to the Caribbean, you'll be far more knowledgeable about your likes and dislikes.

    Let me give you a dream four week vacation though. You cruise across to Fort Myers, then the Okeechobee, come out on the other side and cross to the Bahamas. With adequate speed you can easily have three of the four weeks in the Bahamas.

    Nice cruises to your west as well. So much area you can explore over the next few years.
  16. boatpoor

    boatpoor Active Member

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    We live on St. Andrews's bay and have traveled the gulf from New Orleans to Key West in a 46' Post. Most of it several times. We can make Clearwater or even Tampa if the breeze is on our back but normally cross from Apalachicola just to shorten the time on open water. Most of the ICW in the northern gulf can be run at cruise speed so fuel range isn't really an issue unless you just want to travel in the gulf. We fish a lot so a SF is our choice of boat and the cockpit is a great place to hang out at night when we're just cruising. Finding a reasonable priced boat for the gulf and even the Bahamas shouldn't be a problem but as others have said, you shouldn't plan to take that boat to the Caribbean.
  17. BravoKilo

    BravoKilo New Member

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    This raises another question I have. How does age play into the viability of a boat? If anything like a house, the older they are the more headaches that can come with it. I was hoping something around 2005 or so. But I have seen those Hatteras’s in that age range you’re talking about. I just honestly don’t know enough about buying a boat that old to be able to feel comfortable doing it. Do you have any insight to buying an older vessel?
  18. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    Condition plays in more than age. Review maintenance history. You'll get a survey done. I've seen 25 year old Hatteras boats more livable and ready than other 5 year old boats. You and your wife look and you'll instantly think, "I could live on that" or "No way in h...".
  19. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    I ll take a well maintained 30 or 40 Hatteras or Bertram over a 5 years old carver.

    Oh wait... I did!

    it all depends on the condition of the boat and its maintenance / upgrades. A pig will be a pig... even swimming in Staniel Cay. But at least you have solid heavy fiberglass hull, a sharp entry that will cut thru waves, fiberglass tanks that will last as long as boat instead of rotting aluminum, etc.

    Dockage is an issue everywhere these days. 45 or 55 doesn’t make much of a difference. Same with maintenance. No much difference between a 40, 48 or 53. They all have a generator, two engines, two shafts, props, rudder. Pretty the much the same steering, generator.

    if anything maintenance is easier and cheaper on a larger boat with good access and room to work. Find the right boat, don’t set a fixed size limit
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  20. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    Because it's equivalent of trying to tow your 20' searay with a smart car. It's not built for the job. Some older Searays would be my choice......a lot better than Carver and Silverton, more seaworthy and can find one that's maintained in your price range......the 48' Sedan bridge was a good boat.....also perhaps a Tiara...... Hatteras and Viking MY's would be good too.