What would be better ?

[Godabitibi]

I know it's a personnal choice but for a beginner opinion from older sailor could be helpful.

I've been shopping for a while and been looking at boats and was disapointed many times.

I have two that are attractive for me now but different in size and motors.

I've read the captain John website and his advice too. But still confused.

The boats are 42 ft Bristol DC with 2 perkins. The other is a Marine Trader 34ft single Ford
Single cabin. This one is well equiped even have a bow thruster and very updated but is the one with the moisture detected in the keel. No Gen.
The Bristol needs a lot of aesthetic and has no electronics. But a diesel gen. Much roomier with two rooms.

I'm retired and plan to be on the boat for fairly long period of time. I also hope to go for the great loop when I feel ready.

What are your opinions ?

 

[Comodave]

I prefer the Lehman, I am biased since I have 2, but if you are going to keep the boat for long term, I would have to recommend the bigger boat. With the smaller boat, most people will want to move up so you may as well go for the gusto first. It will be cheaper than buying the small boat and fix it up to your needs and then discover that you want/need a bigger boat and have to start over.

 

[Juliet 15]

+1

Save yourself the time and money - you indicate you intend to spend a lot of time on it, so my suggestion is to go as big as you can reasonably afford.

Also, aesthetics is less important than structure. The keel issue you mentioned might be significant. It's easier to make things pretty than it is to make major repairs.

Best of luck to you. If you're like the rest of us here you're gonna love it.

 

[sapple]

I have twin Perkins 135hp and love them

 

[Bill V]

As already stated, go with the bigger boat, add modern electronics, and you'll be much happier then the smaller boat. You'll never be sorry you have twin engines either.

 

[Lou_tribal]

Bonjour a toi,
I will be counter current and speak based on my own experience.
When we got our boat, 30 feet, our goal was to get some experience on a first boat on the small size, then couple of years later to get a bigger one.
5 years later we realized that a 30 feet is well enough for the two of us. Longest period aboard was 5 weeks in a row and we never wished to have more space. More than that we realize that more space we have more junk we store.
Things to consider, bigger means more pricey at the dock, for storage, for some maintenance, so if you do not really need the space well... Engine wise if you search on this forum you will find two schools, single engine pros and dual engine pros, each having their own reasoning. We have have one, happy that way.

J'espere que l'Abitibi se porte bien en cette periode etrange. Ma femme vient d'Amos!

L

 

[Comodave]

If our local yard could haul a larger heavier boat, we would have one. We have spent 45 days aboard our 41’ and wished it was larger. Lou may be one of the few that don’t want a bigger boat. Nothing wrong with that but not for us. We have invested heavily in our current boat, likely last boat, and I would hate to have to start again on a boat this size if we had had a smaller boat. But who am I to talk, this is our 23rd boat.

 

[mvweebles]

A few schools of thought.

If you plan on using the boat vs just living aboard at marinas, get the largest boat you can dock with your normal crew. If you're single-handing, will be a much smaller boat and/or one with better access on/off boat. Early in my boating career I owned a 42 foot Uniflite aft cabin motoryacht. Nice boat in many ways, but would be difficult to single hand. Aft cabin motoryacht styles (vs trunk cabin trawlers) are difficult to get crew to the dock for line handling. A little easier on east coast where lines are run to pilings, so cruising grounds make a difference too.

Second school of thought : match your personality. If you want more of a home-like experience with household sized appliances, ice makers, free standing furniture, and walk-around berths, bigger is definitely better. My wife and I find that style of boat distracting and somehow detracts from why we head out.

We've owned our Willard 36 for 22 years. We recently made the decision to restore/refit her. Our alternative was to sell her and buy a Willard 40 which is the boat we'd buy if we were boat less. But over the years we've grown attached to our boat and decided she needed a second life and a jumpstart on her next 50 years of existence. But the absolute reason we decided to stick with a 36 footer was, similar to Comodave, we had a hard barrier on size. We own a slip on the ICW - shoe-horning a 36 footer in is really a stretch. Anything larger would be a non-starter.

Peter

 

[psneeld]

If not a full time liveaboard and sounds like just one person onboard.....the 34 may not be too small.

Looping is still not full timing with no ashore storage.

Now I do admit there are advantages to the larger boat ....such as slightly taller/larger doors in some cases as an example.

Twins do have advantages, but if never straying far and only looping..a single will get you there too if your boathandling is decent. To me the disadvantages of the larger boat with twins, is time and money for maintenance.

Don't worry if Captain John confused you as there are really no right answers to many of "whats best" questions, only opinions. He developed a minimalist mentality with can be good...but we all like a little spoiling here and there......

.

 

[Bacchus]

We have a Mainship 34HT single with B&S thrusters.
We spent 2+ months aboard in 2019 cruising Great Lakes and felt the size was perfect for 2 people.
I dont do a lot of single handed cruising but feel I could very easily with this boat & set up if/when needed.
It very easily could be a decent loop boat for 1 or 2 max. A little more boat & storage if it were two aboard would be helpful. A lot depends on your personal expectations, space and level of comfort desired / required.

 

[Cigatoo]

Any boat that Bristol made was of superior initial quality over the Marine Trader. Lehman’s and Perkins are both solid power plants. Bigger will be better if you stay onboard for long periods. Generator is nice. No electronics allows you to add new as you see fit. Aesthetics are much easier to repair than wet decks. See where I am going here?

 

[FF]

You MUST be able to single hand the vessel.

Big is nice but perhaps double the maint., plus cleaning, painting , heating etc.

The simpler the vessel the easier it is to operate and maintain.

Much of the loop is hand steering , an auto pilot would be nice to have ,, one you can program for next weeks cruise hardly necessary.

KISS you will seldom miss what you don't have.

Bestitis is a disease , not a hobby.

 

[catalinajack]

We did the Loop and live aboard a DeFever 44 (twins) full time. It is the right boat for us. On the Loop we traveled with two single-handers in Monk 36s (single-engined). The Monk seems perfect for a single-hander. I do prefer twins for a bunch of reasons but, if I were single-handing, I would consider the Monk 36. On the other hand, I am acquainted with a 75yo gentleman who is planning his third single-handed Loop in a 53-foot, twin-engined boat. Size matters when it comes to comfort, especially when cruising long distances. Think food and beverage storage.

You MUST be able to single hand the vessel.

Big is nice but perhaps double the maint., plus cleaning, painting , heating etc.

The simpler the vessel the easier it is to operate and maintain.

Much of the loop is hand steering , an auto pilot would be nice to have ,, one you can program for next weeks cruise hardly necessary.

KISS you will seldom miss what you don't have.

Bestitis is a disease , not a hobby.

 

[Godabitibi]

Wow thanks a lot everybody. Like I see different opinions from different type of people.
We will travel as a couple. I do prefer a room with a large bed in a aft cabin so for this reason the Bristol is more attractive. Also as a diesel mechanic I know the Perkins more because they are everywhere, the Ford not as much on ground equipment. The twin option is also attractive to me as it makes me feel safer when you're out on a lake. Both of these boats have a door right at the helm so docking shouldn't be too hard.
We rented a houseboat for a week in the 1000 islands on the St-Lawrence 2 summers ago and totally fell in love with river boating. Enough to sell our house and move to the Ottawa river area. We own a 25 ft aft cabin since a few years withh all the amenities needed for a few days trip but feel a little cranped i there so I know I like roomier boat.
The MT 34 is very attractive by it's well maintained appearance cleanliness and its full modern electronics and bow thruster. A ready to go boat other than the moisture detected which I think does not make the boat unsafe for the first summer.

I also thought the Bristol was probably a better built boat. We will definetly not be the dock style boaters. More the anchor away style so yes the generator is attractive for us. Also our property is about 1500 ft from the river and there is a large boat lift at the marina so I will probably be able to store it on my property and I plan to anchor it off shore at private anchor buoy because I will be at a walking distance from it and can easily use a canoe or kayak to reach it and then come to the public dock to load.

Thanks again and please let your comments come in when you have any.

Claude
Papineauville and LaSarre, Qc

 

[Godabitibi]

Bonjour a toi,

J'espere que l'Abitibi se porte bien en cette periode etrange. Ma femme vient d'Amos!

L

Merci, oui tout va bien ici en region la Covid est plus calme.

Thanks for your experienced comments. As you can see you're not the only one with small in mind with the newer posts. Hard to take a proper decision.
Personally I would like to a have very large boat like 60 ft but I know it doesn't make sense.
I came very close to buy a 38 ft Chris Craft that I felt very comfortable in but the gas engines are a big NO for me now.

 

[Flatswing]

Size & single handed suitability are not necessarily related.
Herb Seaton is the guy with the 53’ (Phantom) who has single handedly looped twice. He has bow & stern thrusters with the lanyard remote also. After completing part of the loop on our 36 GB Classic (twin 135 Perkins, no thrusters) my wife said our next boat will have Sidepower bow & stern thrusters with the lanyard remote like Herb. She was right! Now I take my 49RPH single handed often.

If you buy a smaller boat with twins, be very sure u can physically get to the outboard side of both engines for basic service. Some, like the GB - originally designed for a single engine have no room outboard of twins! My preference would definitely be a single with thrusters,