Long Term Cruising on a Budget: 10 Designs to Consider

Long Term Cruising on a Budget: 10 Designs to Consider 

For other ideas see:First the disclaimer. I am a boat owner, but my cruising has been mostly limited to two-three week spells, whilst on vacation from a full time job, with one longer trip across the Bay of Biscay to help a friend with the first leg of a transatlantic crossing from the UK to the Caribbean.

So, I am really writing this as a compilation of the ideas that I have gather from researching this over the last few years.

Most cruisers seem to suggest that the big questions must be considered first:

What is your budget? Where to you want to sail? And will this involve long passages and the risk of big weather? And who and how large will comprise the crew?

After that the answer seems invariably to be go small, go now.

Some of the most seaworthy boats are pretty tiny and can cruise the world if partnered with good weather information, a competent skipper and patience.

Here is a list of designs available in Western Europe (and the UK), suitable for blue water (ocean) exploits that I would consider on a 'starter' budget:

1. Vancouver 27 -- Read the excellent e-books of Martin Edge for a flavour of what you can do in this design of long/full keeled yacht. There are three for sale at the time of writing for between 20 000 and 28 000 pounds sterling (and that is sticker price).  If you budget can stretch take a look at the 28 and 32 foot designs or a Victoria 34 for comparison.

2. Elizabethan 29  -- Another full keel pocket blue water cruiser dating from the late 1960 (made of solid fibre glass).  There are some good examples out there for a song. (I have just spotted one for 4500 GBP.)

3. Achilles 24  or Corribee 21. Check out Roger Taylor's approach to making a small hull like these sea worthy for high latitude sailing: http://www.thesimplesailor.com/index.html and his Vlog.

Don't under estimate the effort it take for this kind of conversion.  See http://www.achillesyachts.co.uk/page63.html for ideas of the going rates, from about 2500 GBP, but remember the hour of work (and expertise) that Roger puts in to make them watertight and safer than the original design.

4. Contessa 32. In my early 20s this was the design of blue water cruising dreams. You can pick one up from as little as 12000 GBP or 20 000 for a half decent example.

5. Van Der Stadt 34 -- a well known Dutch steel design, from about 25 000 GBP.

6. Albin Vega (27 ft) yachts have a good reputation.  Some of the larger designs such as the Ballad may be worth considering too. See http://www.albinvega.co.uk/brokerage.php for the UK vega brokerage.

7. Rustler 36. This is a real gem of a design (I nearly bought one).  From around 40 000 GBP.

8. Hallberg-Rassy 35 RASMUS (or other smaller designs such as the 31) are great little yachts.  For me they don't always age well: teak decks need replacing after 20-30 years for example, but worth consiuderation.  The older designs are more traditional -- safety, comfort and design margin.




9. Bavaria 32 Form around 20 000 GBP this is a grate value boat under 15 year old. Of the stable of modern mass market boats these age more gracefully than their Jeaneau and Beneteau counterparts. The build quality and craftsmanship is unusually high for a budget family cruiser design. See what one of these can do when set up well: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDJIgr5AVMYuQnS_eugSvlA

10. Moody 31. From about 20 000 GBP these sturdy cruiser could be a good option.  Skeg hung rudder, good spec and build quality bode well for this popular cruiser of yesteryear.

http://www.sailfarlivefree.com/2012/03/top-10-favorite-affordable-bluewater.html
http://sailboatdata.com/
http://www.yachtsnet.co.uk/archives.htm
http://www.cruisingworld.com/sailboats/peoples-choice-best-cruising-sailboats
http://bluewaterboats.org/