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Hi Mark!
So I've bought my first boat this year (a Pearson 26), and gotten deep into local racing (not with the Pearson). My recommendation is, if you're gonna teach yourself to sail, don't do what I did. Instead, buy something small (< 19 ft), used, and trailerable. Here's why:
- Small
- Boats are expensive. Small boats are at least proportionately less expensive when you break things. Use this fact to save money for later.
- Small boat means you don't need a lot of crew to sail, and sail well. This means you can go out by yourself or with just a friend.
- You're going to be rigging the boat every time you take it out, and you want a boat small enough to do that by yourself.
- Learning the wind is the same on big boats and small.
- Used
- Used boats are much cheaper. The older you can buy (in good shape), the more money you'll have to buy something better later.
- Assuming you don't sail directly into rocks, you'll be able to sell your small, used boat for at least what you paid for it. This will come in handy when you buy a cruiser. (Note that unless you adopt a real trainwreck, you won't be able to sell it for much MORE than you paid for it.)
- Trailerable
- Don't pay marina fees until you have to. It's ~$2-3k/yr that you could put into your next boat instead.
- You won't have to pay to have your boat hauled out when you need to work on it.
- You don't have to go to the marina to do work.
Books will teach you a fair amount of what you need to know, but experience is essential. The maintenance book you want is Don Casey's Complete Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance Manual.
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Do that for a year, get really good at it, and then start shopping around for your first cruiser! Catalinas are absurdly popular, and parts are plentiful.
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Sailing is an ABSOLUTE BLAST. Welcome!
There's a fantastic book written by a man who spent 76 days at sea. He floated in a raft, purifying water and eating what little fish he could catch.
At night, he couldn't see or hear the sharks. But he knew they were there from the hard bumps they'd give the raft.
No motor. No communication to anyone. Just endless black sea and sky, while sharks kept him up at night.
Since you seem to be already committed to this path: buy and read: Inspecting the Aging Sailboat.
But I echo other comments that "buying a sailboat before you've even been in one" is a bad idea up front, and putting the cart before the horse. Some folks assume that to go sailing, you must buy a boat, and this just isn't true. It's quite possible to learn to sail and get lots of opportunities to go sailing on "Other People's Boats" without ever buying a boat.
The best course is to learn to sail, sail on a number of boats, discover what kind of sailing experiences you like, and *then* proceed towards buying a boat.
EDIT: make sure you're reserving plenty of money for repairs. Even if you provide your own labor, old boats inevitably need a lot of work. The cheaper the boat is up front, the more money you're going to need. Don't make the mistake of assuming that if you paid $X dollars for a boat, the most it can cost you in repairs is $X.
Inspecting the Aging Sailboat (The International Marine Sailboat Library) https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0071445455/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_aAWNFb39NE4TW
Or a marine surveyor would be very useful.
But that seems like an extremely good price. Beware of scams, but I would buy it if I were you.
I would suggest buying and reading cover to cover The Voyager’s Handbook. My wife and I had similar dreams and still have them to a point, but after reading, I realized that it’s probably a better fit to live near water with a boat than it is to live on a boat, but that’s just us at least until our kids get older and can do some of the watches and upkeep.
Under the Black Flag. https://www.amazon.com/Under-Black-Flag-Romance-Reality/dp/081297722X
This is more fluffy, but it has pretty pictures: https://www.amazon.com/Real-Pirates-Untold-Whydah-Pirate/dp/1426202628/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=whydah+book&qid=1625648042&sprefix=whydah&sr=8-3
It highlights hard work, overcoming struggles and working as a team.
I know you said books are not right because of time, but I still want to highly recommend The Complete Sailor, Second Edition.
Amazing intro book on sailing. Amazon Prime in just a few days if you can wait that long!
I haven’t done any crossings yet, but a lot of bay and lake sailing. Depending on how much time you spend on the boat in the Med, you might be able to just acquire the skills for passaging as you go. There’s a great book, The Voyager’s Handbook. Buy it and take it with you. Do some hunting for videos or articles on or by John Kretchmer. He’s a great skipper and has decades of experience passage making. If you guys are going to be cruising in the Med for like 6 months or so and have all of the safety equipment needed to endure a long passage, then you can probably develop the skills to make it from the Med up to the NL over that period of time. It all depends on your (and your friends’) drive and how quickly you can absorb and develop your seamanship skills.
It's not going to go to weather as well as some other designs. These are pretty common in places with extreme tides so they can settle on the bottom.
26 is a good sized boat. Big enough to be a proper yacht you can sleep on and have most of the normal inboard systems you find on larger boats but not so big that you can't handle everything yourself.
Buy these:
https://www.amazon.com/Boatowners-Mechanical-Electrical-Manual-4/dp/0071790330/
https://www.amazon.com/Marine-Diesel-Engines-Maintenance-Troubleshooting/dp/0071475354/
They'll give you enough information to be able to manage all the systems on that boat.
You should not worry about running the diesel. People who aren't familiar with them tend to not run them enough, just to get in and out of the harbor, and that murders them because it cokes the valves up. Run it fairly hard every time you take it out, enough to get it all the way up to operating temp for 10-15 minutes so you don't do that.
If you don't know how to sail, you should take some lessons.
This is the Bible:
Don Casey's Complete Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance Manual: Including Inspecting the Aging Sailboat, Sailboat Hull and Deck Repair, Sailboat Refinishing, Sailbo https://www.amazon.com/dp/0071462848/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_pXGeFbZZTF2S2
Also good:
Marine Diesel Engines: Maintenance, Troubleshooting, and Repair https://www.amazon.com/dp/0071475354/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_bYGeFbNVKM8AV
David Seidman's <em>The Complete Sailor</em> is the best introductory sailing book I've read - it's consistent and clear; each topic within it is a page or two, and each topic builds on the foundation of what it has explained previously. IMO it is very, very good - you will never find yourself wondering "what is he talking about now?" because of the way topics are explained simply and built upon in this way.
I think it's very hard for a sailing book to be comprehensive, but The Complete Sailor is very clear and accessible.
>Share your knowledge without cutting down those with less.
There are many many poor sources of information on the Internet, especially on YouTube. Good production does not mean the content is worth much, or anything. However people like those who responded to me above take what is presented at face value as "correct" which in many cases leads to poor decision-making and poor practices. That may be expensive. In some cases, such as in this video, it leads to accepting life-threatening risk unaware that the risk is being taken.
I can't bear to watch any other videos on the posted YouTube channel so my conclusions are based on that single product. I stand by my assessment that the young couple don't know what they are doing. They are making things up as they go along. They would have been much better off and spent less money cultivating a (perhaps beer-based) relationship with an experienced marine mechanic and asking questions. Or reading any one of several good books on marine diesel engines. Or ask whoever they bought exhaust hose from. Instead, not knowing what they don't know, they dove in spending more time and money than they should have with a result less safe than it could have been.
There comes a point where the best way to share knowledge is to say "don't listen to these people."
Someone posted that this couple has been on boats for ten years. That isn't relevant, especially for people themselves learning (or not) on the fly with no structured instruction. There is a big difference between ten years experience and one year of experience repeated ten times. This is a basic tenet of engineering.
TL;DR: These young people are a hazard to themselves and others.
10% is a pretty general estimate- lots of variables of course. Cheap used boat= lots of expensive repairs, expensive new boat= expenses can be deferred.
If I may offer one piece of advice from over 50 years of time on the water- as much as possible, do repairs yourself, regardless of whether comparative advantage would dictate that it’s more cost-effective to pay someone else to do it.
You will learn a lot in the process. More importantly, you will develop the knowledge and experience to repair your boat in places where you CAN’T hire someone else to do the work. And it will make you a better, more competent and independent seaman.
Nigel Calder is an excellent resource for literally everything boat related. He’s a genius- not only in breadth of knowledge, but ability to explain. This is one of his (well-thumbed on our boats) manuals. I highly recommend, if you don’t already have it.
Please excuse the “font of all knowledge” attitude that may be perceived. Definitely not my intention. You’re doing something that most don’t have the courage nor wherewithal to do, and I think that’s fantastic. Welcome to the life!
There was a guy who made it 76 days in the Atlantic and he happened to be a bad ass survivor type. His sailboat got RAMMED by a WHALE (that was a TIL for me) and capsized but he had a life raft.
The book is called Adrift and it's a quick read.
But it goes deep into all the things he had to do. Solar stills were the main reason he didnt die, also he caught some huge fish (Dorado) and made fish jerky. I think there was a mild shark attack as well.
Professionally? Your own sailboat? Mechanical/engine work, fiberglass/surface work, hardware, rigging, joinery?
For all of the above google is your friend of course, and you will learn the most stuff by actually trying to fix something. No book knowledge will replace experience working on boats.
If mechanical you need a reference manual. I (and many people) recommend Nigel Calder's book https://www.amazon.ca/Boatowners-Mechanical-Electrical-Manual-4/dp/0071790330
Probably too late now, but I would really recommend reading Inspecting the Aging Sailboat by Don Casey.
Would be good to pick up a couple books by Don Casey. “Inspecting the Aging Sailboat” is a very brief book and will give you lots to think about: Inspecting the Aging Sailboat (The International Marine Sailboat Library) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0071445455/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_6FJ574B1ZEW90X8875H5
Don Casey has two useful books, still in print and readily available, I believe: Inspecting the Gimg Sailboat, and Complete Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance (which may actually include the first title). I believe they are aimed more at larger boat systems (including electrical, engine maintenance, etc.), but the sections on rigging, deck repairs/recoring, etc., should be useful to anyone.
Don Casey's Complete Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance Manual: Including Inspecting the Aging Sailboat, Sailboat Hull and Deck Repair, Sailboat Refinishing, Sailbo https://www.amazon.com/dp/0071462848/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_J8K6W7ER51EVNWNGAB59
I highly recommend taking a week-long bundled ASA course. We did 101, 103, 104, and 114 on a Leopard 44 with Blue Water Sailing School. With the live-aboard style week long class, you'll get a taste of the cruising life with the safety of a professional captain.
We also came from sailing 22s and 25s on lakes. Our journey was: Lake sailing, ASA catamaran week, then we bought our boat (Lagoon 440). We then had a private course for a week on our own boat, where the instructor gave us a refresher course, and also focused on things I wanted him to focus on. We anchored about 5 times a day, picked up a mooring ball 30 times in different wind conditions, changed the sail drive oil, raised/lowered our lazyjacks, completed an overnight passage, and a lot more that ASA basic courses don't cover.
We have friends who bought a Lagoon 400 and hired a delivery captain in a teach-on-passage style sailing adventure. Everyone has a different way they get into the life.
In terms of "what boat should i buy": That's really up to you. How much comfort do you want? What's your budget? People cross oceans on 25 foot sailboats all the time, but they aren't very comfortable. My wife and I had a goal of a catamaran, and that's what we bought.
It also depends on where you want to go and when you want to go there. I wouldn't leave the dock with my Lagoon 440 if there was a forecast of 35 knot gusts and 20 foot waves, but Skip Novak would probably have a killer time on his new Pelagic 77. You may want to read The Voyager's Handbook. It might give you an idea of what you're looking for in a ocean crossing boat.
Honestly… this makes me think you’re not ready for this leap.
Buy a small boat, experience a few years of boat ownership & then you’re going to understand.
The gotcha here is “decent shape”.
That means two fifths of fuck all with regard to boats.
It also really depends on what you want to do with it.
A floating wreck is good enough to plug into shore power & keep the bilges running to not sink.
A boat with 10-15 year old fit out can be in “decent shape” to putter around the bay, where you can always get a tow back.
That same boat may need a full $100-150k refit to be in “decent shape” to take into blue water, where you can’t call for a tow if shit hits the fan.
Go borrow a copy of this book: https://www.amazon.com.au/Voyagers-Handbook-Essential-Guide-Cruising/dp/0071437657
It will help you understand where that $20-30k will go. Keep in mind, the cost of a lot of items is going to be 150%+ the cost of a monohull. Rigging gets a lot more expensive on cats in particularly as they get exponentially larger with each additional foot.
You may want to pickup Don Casey’s book Complete Sailboat Maintenance Manual. It’s a great resource and has an entire section on inspecting an aging sailboat.
https://www.amazon.com/Caseys-Complete-Illustrated-Sailboat-Maintenance/dp/0071462848/ref=nodl_
I used to have a Catalina 22 and a 30. Both were easy to handle and fun to sail. I’m sure the 27 will be the same.
Good Luck!
Many diesels function the same, as previously mentioned, finding someone to actually repair this beast though might be a challenge. Parts, considering this engine is not in production any longer, will be difficult to find. Ebay and craigslist will be your best bets there.
Search for model numbers and pick up Marine Diesel Engines: Maintenance, Troubleshooting, and Repair https://www.amazon.com/dp/0071475354/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_996WFQZJ64EEKK16G8FG.
That combined with whatever documentation exists specifically for your boat means you probably won't fuck up anything bad enough to require multiple replacements in a short timespan.
That is a great book, but may I direct you to this collection of Don Casey's books instead...will tell you how to inspect the boat and then how to fix it up. Very handy.
I don't know shit about sailboats but I found out about this book today: Inspecting the Aging Sailboat (The International Marine Sailboat Library) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0071445455/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_39YJJKQ69CAP1S0RA417
Go over everything and check the crucial systems like standing rigging (the cable), the mast, wheel steering controls, throttle controls. If the hull is sound your biggest costs are going to be mechanical. If the hull isn't sound, which may be the case because of the age then it's going to be time replacing the core which is very labor intensive not do much cost(but that depends on what materials you use).
Check for soft spots in the deck, they'll feel squishy. Check your chain plates on the inside to see if water has made it's way in. You may be able to get the book "don Casey inspecting an aging sailboat" https://www.amazon.com/dp/0071445455/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_QWTYZH5HEX06693QKK2E
He also has a few other books, but that one will help significantly.
Nigel Calders Boatowners Mechanical and Electrical Manual is a great book https://www.amazon.com/Boatowners-Mechanical-Electrical-Manual-4/dp/0071790330/