Seeking advice on boat ownership & operation for newbie

With some training and practice you should be able to handle the boat.

Thanks for your questions. Hopefully you get some good info here. Can you provide some more details about your boating experience? You mentioned nothing this large but what have you owned and operated?

The first things I would mention is insurance and potentially hiring a Capt. With no relevant experience you will likely be required to hire a CAPT until insurance is comfortable with your experience level. That being said, a boat in the 40-57 range can certainly be handled by an experienced couple by themselves. You may need to factor in having help until you get comfortable. And , of course, depends how complicated of a boat you get, condition and your comfort level operating. maintaining and repairing the systems.

I think the answer depends on your agility, balance, etc. Also prior boating experience. I am 57 have been recreational boating since 15 and have many times remarked to my wife I am so glad I didn’t just start boating and having to learn some of the hard lessons when my physicality is on the wane. The learning curve can be steep and I fear you will get frustrated with the mistakes you will inevitably make. We all have made them. Some of the mistakes happened with runabouts, which a lot of times can be overcome by pushing the boat to deeper water. Boating is also a lot of work and management. My wife is the same age as me and her knees have slowed her down considerably. We are looking for our retirement boat and her abilities to get around are dictating some of the boats that are in consideration. We are not looking at any boats that don’t have stairs to the bridge and full walk around side decks. I have a buddy that is 80 or so and has a 63 Hatt MY that tows a 28 center console. He is very good with his boat and the last I watched him I would consider his skill set as better than my own. So it can be done but my older buddy has a lifetime of boating experience. Can you start with a smaller boat maybe with joystick docking? That will take some of the nerves out of some of the high tension docking situations.

I'll add a qualified "yes, you can learn to run it" to what others have said. IMO, size isn't as important as layout, especially for close-quarter maneuvering. Docks and locks and so forth.

IOW, a 40' boat with a layout not particularly conducive to short-handed ops could be much more difficult than a 57' boat with great access.

What Ralph and others have said about training captains.

We've found friends and family are often happy enough with staying at that hotel just down the street from the marina. Ideally you get yourself a comfortable master stateroom... and everyone else can usually deal with occasional work-arounds. IOW, often there's no need to over-buy, especially for visits that might only happen 2x/year or some such.

In any case, most "features" issues are best solved in the shopping stage... so this is where it's useful to list (both of) your mandatory/optional requirements, ameliorate your two lists, then find boats that sorta-kinda match. And be open to previously unknown or unappreciated features you learn about while shopping, be open to changing the plan if you discover something you thought you wanted... sucks...

Et cetera.

-Chris

I'm in your age bracket and I single handle all the time and do all my maintenance but I have been boating since I was a teenager. But there are times I need a physically capable crew member especially with wind or current. These times can be midigated with planning. My point being handling a boat becomes more difficult if your partner is not willing to do their part. I say this because I have two boating buddies that have unwilling/capable partners.

I was new to boating, I did not grow up boating. I run a 50' pod driven motor boat and a 37' power boat, a 12' 40hp tneder, a jet ski, a hobie cat and a SUP or two. I love being on the water, I have run a 27' bowrider as well. I am an in shape 58 year old with a more capable 58 year old wife who is a far better skipper than I, lucky me That just as a point of reference related to your situation. We never have assistance docking, anchoring, cruising. Our longest trip is but 9-10 hours so no big deal there. If I were doing overnighters I might like three on board at least.

As for can you and your wife handle it, eventually probably.

As for helpers on the dock. Not unless you arrange for it ahead of time, and not all of the time unless a dock neighbor is watching out for you. Boaters are very helpful, if you don't have help dockside, idle around a bit and hail for assistance.

The issue I foresee is one of usage. I have had times when I did not have time or make time for boating, being newer this makes getting used to maneuvering a boat more of a steep learning curve. The more you do it, the more you learn and the better you get. Sporadic usage will keep you at a green horn level much longer and potentially be more frustrating.

As others have said, hire a training captain, but that is just the start, hours behind the helm to get comfortable is the next challenge for many of us.

As I said my 50' boat has pod drive propulsion. I choose to use my gears and throttles as much as possible to learn how to be a proper boat driver, but there are still times when I am glad to have the pods. Having said that I would rather have a shaft driven boat with bow and stern thrusters to avoid the pod maintenance and worries.

What would be a good plan is to hire a captain to help you learn the boat over a short period of time. The bigger you get, the more complex the systems can become, the bigger the house windage impacts your ability to maneuver, the distance between cleats on the decks...everything is magnified, and this takes skill that only comes from practice and quality information/education. Having someone work with you can pay dividends.

No disrespect intended.

Don't ever rely on dockside help. If they're present and competent, that's a win, but don't expect it. Can't tell you how many times we've handed a spring line to a dock hand with a specific direction with which to take that particular line, only to watch them go do whatever it is they want, usually exactly opposite of what you had instructed.

Learn to read the currents and winds on approach, and have a plan to get one line (usually a spring line) into place quickly and with certainty. From there you'll soon be able to control the boat to remain at the dock while the other lines land.

Great access is merely the ease at which one can maneuver the length of the deck to get from cleat to cleat quickly, safely and effortlessly, even the ability to actually cross over to the opposite deck to get to dolphin piles, etc.

And as usually mentioned here, you can charter a boat or two to see what you like/dislike to help make some decisions. Charter with a captain would be a good idea too.
Good luck in your search and keep us posted.