65' liveaboard

[poppetman]

Hi All

Still dithering about what boat to buy as a liveaboard but 65'semi trad is current favourite. (Esp. used Aqualine as I am highly impressed with their fitouts) Obvious benefit is extra space but what disadvantages are there? Could it limit me as to moorings available and some think it is too big a boat for solo cruising
Any advice gratefully received.

[oscar]

Greetings Poppetman,
If you want to do the whole inland system you will be restricted with anything over 57' but if you intend to stay 'down south' you should be able to get most places
From my experience you will be at the limits of single handed cruising with a 65' boat, you will be OK until you come across a lock with a difficult landing or on a breezy day. Also in some of the shorter locks where there is little tolerance the boat needs to be well forward to avoid the sill when going down, it is struggle to do this with just the mooring line. I have/do leave the boat in forward tick-over whilst setting the locks, but be careful as when the lock has equalized she may nudge the gate open and take off without you !!

To keep it short I would think carefully about a boat over 60' for single handed cruising, also some mariners usually prefer boats at 60' or less to match their pontoons

bwp

[poppetman]

Good advice Oscar---thanks. While we all want maximum living space you have confirmed my thoughts that 60' is probably the optimum.
P.

[viprofferi]

WOW, 65' single handed , that is a nice idea, it would work, just barely if you were on a sail boat at sea, but it would be a bit of a handful on any day with winds over force 4 unless you stayed moored. My intuition would lead me to agree with oscar's comments about the canals. I am planning on boarding a 1967 37' long keel steel cutter and sailing that single handed round the islands and to the continent. I would not have any lochs to navigate, but I would have plenty of ropes to handle in addition to the rudder. Wish you the very best with your search and floating home poppetman. javascript:add("%20%20")
Cheers,
Mito

[billy]

OH, Mito tell me more.

long keel steel cutter and sailing that single handed

Perhaps on another thread as I already hijack too many.

Would love to hear of your plans and your vessel.

billy