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Old 06-11-2013, 06:29 PM   #27
Nick14
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City: New England
Vessel Name: Culmination
Vessel Model: Helmsman 38 Sedan
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 719
I'm totally with SeaHorseII and Craig on this one. My philosophy is also to buy the smallest boat I could afford.

As others have said, it all depends on the purpose and use of the boat. For a liveaboard or serious transoceanic cruising, a 30 footer is probably not going to cut it. If the boat is also a home, then bigger is better.

But, for many of us (myself included), the boat is a 150 hour a year weekend and vacation getaway. I may have fantasies of living aboard or crossing oceans, but, that just isn't going to happen at this point in our lives. I have found the old adage to be true - the smaller the boat, the more you use it (and vice versa). And that is the point for us - to have something that serves our needs of being comfortable and seaworthy, but easy enough to be single-handed - and with minimal maintenance.

I have known so many boaters to whom 'bigger is better' is an absolute. They buy their boats by the pound, and buy the biggest one they can possibly afford. It usually doesn't work out so well. For a given amount of money, a bigger boat usually means older, or not as good condition or as well built, which invariably means more work and less reliability.

The last boat one friend of mine bought was the very biggest he could afford. He ended up putting twice as much into it as he originally paid, replacing engines, transmissions, generator, electrical system, air conditioning, etc. etc., it just went on and on. It broke down so often that he now rarely takes it away from the dock, and it's essentially a floating, stationary condo (and now is probably worth about half of what he originally paid, despite all the money poured into it).

If that's what the use of the boat is - a weekend condo, with little actual underway use planned - then sure, go for it, the bigger the better to literally have a weekend home. But, if the intended use is to actually go out on the water, and maximize the time using the boat rather than repairing it, I'll stick with buying the smallest, newest, best built, highest quality - meaning, most reliable and least trouble - boat I can afford.

(But then, if I could ever convince my wife to move aboard full time, I'll probably be looking to trade some newness and quality for size!)
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