Ok me and the wife have decided to retire very early( mid 40s). Currently were looking around for a place in the Keys. Shortly after that we want to do what do the whole boat thing. I know there are many steps to making it an enjoyable and safe experience. However a few questions come to mind. Ideally we want to be able to bum around the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Below is our wishlist. What resources would help us find the right boat. 2 person operation Decent range versus speed ratio Fun boat 40 to 60 ish feet Decent electronics package for the longer cruises By the way is there a good reference for boat cruise ranges. I know very few boats in this range would let us go from Key West to St Kitts for example without refueling. I just want to understand what options are available to us.
Greetings Sunset Rider69, Welcome to YachtForums. Lots of unanswered questions. Have you any previous boating experience? What sort of budget did you have in mind? A place to begin may be to attend one of the Trawlerfest shows. There will be resources there to perhaps help guide you. You may also want to consider doing some chartering. By "testing out" different types of boats as a charter, you will begin to learn what is important to you, and not. Good luck, take your time, have fun.
Welcome... Budget is the key number here. 2 person operation and electronic is pretty much a given in that size range. Most power boats (except trawlers)can be operated at planning speed or hull speed. Hull speed is generally the square root of the waterline length times 1.3... In plain English a 4 footer will usually have a hull speed of about 8.5 kts. For a 60 footer figure around 9.5kts Hull speed is basically the most fuel efficient speed at which you can run a boat (trying to keep things simple here). Anything over that and fuel burn goes up a lot faster than speed. Many factor will affect fuel burn but for a rough estimate a non trawler boat will burn between 6 gph for a 40 footer to about 12 Gph for a 60 footer Bring the boat on plane, to around 20 kts and you can expect fuel burn to be 3 to 4 times higher... So since your speed is roughly twice as fat your mileage (and range) drops in Half Again, rough numbers and very simplistic explanation Now a trawler (displacement hull) will be a lot more efficient but more or less limited to hull speed, which means you don't have the ability to hurry up when needed Fun boat? Well this is really subjective... Not sure what you mean by fun... For me a fun boat has a lot of outside space (big aft deck and swim platform, space at the bow,...) Start by browsing yacht world and see what appeals to you
Thank you for the responses. Let me answer some of the above questions. As far as experience over the years I've owned 2 boats one was for fishing a 21ft Ranger the other was a 24 ft Sun tracker party barge. So I get there's a large learning curve ahead for us. But I'm not a golfer so what else am I going to do with my time. As far as chartering that's going to be happening as soon as we actually take up residence in the Keys. Budget, well the 48ft Azimut Flybridge could fit in the budget. That's the type/look of a boat I'm initially considering.
In my opinion...that choice will give an excellent grounding in Yacht looking after, maintenance, trouble shooting etc. as well as depreciation..YMMV..look long and hard before buying
OK, If you're shopping Azimut - definitely scratch what I said about Trawlerfest and go to The Miami Boat Show next month.
Was thinking about attending that one there's also a boat show the end of July in So Cal. My wifes sister lives out there ..Might be a good way to ditch at least 1 day of visiting the inlaws in the name of research Quick question for anyone with an informed opinion. Assuming we don't want a crew is the 50ish ft range about the largest that 2 people can reasonably handle?
The Miami boat show is the big one. If you're serious about buying, go There is a lot more to handling a boat alone or with SO than size... I ll take a well layed out 80 footer single handed over a poorly layer out 50' boat with a crew
Two people can handle considerably larger than 50'. It all depends on the couples abilities, the type of boat and the amount of work they're willing to do themselves or sub-contract. However, given your experience, your insurance company will most likely require that you use a captain when cruising for a period once you get to about 48' and it will be money well spent.
Azimut makes a nice boat which is very stylish. But pretty much without exception, they do not hold their value and look pretty tarty being just a few years old. I really liked one I was in Miami last year with a large central dining table. Italian idea. But the boat was new and looked like it had been carried in a little kids jeans pocket - all scratched up and dull.
How about a 43 or 44' Lagoon powercat? What exactly are you looking to do with the boat? A sportfish or sportfish express might be a good option.....such as a 45' Cabo........
Smaller Vessel, Shallow Draft I'll just refer you over to a posting I made on another subject thread for a couple looking to live and travel on a vessel http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/123583-post41.html ...not that you have this kind of money to spend, but its the thought of practicality for the Keys, Bahamas, etc that you will be learning in and doing your initial exploration,.... you should look for shallow draft. And if you get the chance, visit that Miami show....and spend a couple of days....its a big show with lots to see. You might just decide to buy a boat rather than a fixed location in the Keys Once upon a time I worried about whether my savings would not better be invested in a house than in a sailboat. Then I read certain magical words by Arthur Ransome, acquired the sailboat, and have lived happily ever after. The words are these, from Racundra’s First Cruise: “Houses are but badly built boats so firmly aground that you cannot think of moving them. They are definitely inferior things, belonging to the vegetable not the animal world, rooted and stationary, incapable of gay transition. The desire to build a house is the tired wish of a man content thenceforward with a single anchorage. The desire to build a boat is the desire of youth, unwilling yet to accept the idea of a final resting place…. When it comes, the desire to build a boat is one of those that cannot be resisted. It begins as a little cloud on a serene horizon. It ends by covering the whole sky, so that you can think of nothing else. You must build to regain your freedom.” Precisely so. …excerpted from the preface of ‘The Proper Yacht’
