The Best CHEAP Sailboat for SOLO cruising - Ep 220 - Lady K Sailing

this week's episode is brought to you by Doug Frederick and Julia this week's newest patrons thank you cheap is a relative term I know and while I can't promise you that my personal version of cheap is going to be the same as yours what I can promise you is that this episode is going to make some people very very angry well we are going to look at some cool boats today more importantly we're going to cover a couple of Concepts about boat life and cruising and we're gonna upset the establishment just a little bit I can't wait to see you in the comments after this video this week on everything you need to know the best cheap sailboat for solo cruising [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah to stay cheap for our solo cruising sailboat we're gonna have to make a few compromises of course because we need it to be cheap we're not going to be able to be too picky about where we buy it from what location we have to be willing to go get it or maybe get our butts to wherever the boat is and move on board and start from there we also have to cross off a few pretty big Creature Comforts to sort of keep that cost down namely the AFT cabin and sugar scoop boats as soon as you look at boats with an aft cabin and a sugar scoop the price jumps dramatically so what is our budget then a cheap boat for me something you can say sail from the great lakes or the East Coast New York Annapolis all the way to Grenada and back by yourself with some semblance of safety is going to be anywhere from about twenty thousand to about 40 000 US dollars this is where opinions are gonna differ and some folks are already warming up their caps lock key with the uh no better than thou opinions to start running roughshod over the comments on this video but hear me out before you do sure there are a lot of hundred thousand dollar boats that are gonna do this job pretty nicely but you're a single person without that kind of money so what you lack in money you're gonna have to make up for elsewhere you'll be the person who's willing to do the work to make the boat as seaworthy as she can possibly be and you're willing to do the research and perform the best you possibly can to be the safest captain that you can be and you're going to be willing to put in the time to learn and hone your skills whether it's through racing or ASA or just practice before you ever set Keel in the big Waters take this book for example here we have a very solo manageable 37 footer from 1988. it's not even that terribly old and they want 39 grand for it and it's a Pearson Pearson is very well known for being well made a thick boat that usually sails to a fairly high standard last year in fact the boat I crew on took third place overall and it's a Pearson 30. that first glance this 37-footer has a lot going for it it's a whopping 16 000 pounds and while being small enough to solo sail it also gives us a lot of deck space gives us opening hatches and door raids but it's all very simple we get a standard roller up front for the jib and a regular old Mainsail cover on the back it's the Fairly standard cockpit too we get wheel steering a lot of albeit dated Ray Marine equipment big primary and second and smaller secondary winches we even get a walk through sort of flip down transom deal which is actually a pretty big deal on a boat at this price point we even already have some solar panels up there and built-in protection with the Dodger in Bimini and what's important here is that all the framing for that stuff is already done so even if the Sunbrella is toast a budget-minded solo Cruiser should be happy enough to learn how to replace that Sunbrella with a borrowed sewing machine and lots of elbow grease inside this piercing they keep it simple but also very livable with some actually pretty cool features for this price point in this size of boat we get a very simple Saloon area with an interesting bench sort of thing on Starboard where they have a TV and what looks like a bar fridge installed again budget cruising it would suggest that the original Factory fridge isn't working so you may need to learn some new skills with HVAC to make this operational again if you want or you can spend a few hundred dollars on a 12 volt Dometic or something like that up front we get a very cool v-birth area with this semi walk around bed which is outstanding on a 37-footer you don't see this ask me how I know I've got a boat like this and it does not have a bed that's that cool I'm not seeing any water damage here under the port lights or on the floor it all looks to be in pretty good shape for the 39 Grand they want heading aft we get a dedicated nav desk again kind of a rarity on these it's got a chair and then the door to the head is across from what's actually a pretty decent sized Galley for the solo Cruiser I think this is more than enough to actually work with all in all this is a very livable space for solo cruising and the head even has a separate shower I think we're getting a little bit spoiled with this boat for 39 Grand this is actually a very nice option and for the goal we have in mind it'll do a really good job but let's be clear about something here this boat doesn't have an e-perb or an SSB an iridium or even a life raft and in the budget that we have we're not going to be able to install any of those things either now some folks would say I would never be caught dead out at sea for weeks on end by myself without all those safety items and I agree with you I wouldn't either but we aren't going to be out at sea for all those weeks on end are we we're just going to be going to grenade and back and there's not really any bigger hops than 60 or 80 nautical miles in between land on that path now do you need an Epub and a life raft to do an 80 mile hop I often get Flack for saying this but I think there is a genuine place in the cruising world to safely travel on these cheaper smaller boats without without all those toys and safety items provided you take all the precautions and have all the wherewithal that you need to do the job safely now you can be a crappier more ill-prepared Captain with all those life-saving toys and you'll probably survive because of all the life-saving toys but without all of them you're actually gonna have to try a little bit harder but you can do it people have been doing it for thousands of years and they're still doing it today here's another one that's worth a look and this is a boat after my own heart as you guys probably know because this is a Carl alberg boat this is the Whitby Albert 37 and these have already been around the world more times than you can count and they will still certainly be found all over the Caribbean right now this 17 000 pound Timeless classic is as seaworthy as she is beautiful and you can pick these up for just over 20 grand all day long this one is 30 000 but that's reflected in how well equipped and how good a shape it's already in and again we get just a normal roller up front and it's already got a big rockna on the bow so that's going to save you a thousand dollars right there we've also got self steering a big Vein on the back of the boat so if you are going to be spending days and days on passage if you choose to do that you won't be steering the whole time or wasting precious amp hours on the autopilot all day and speaking of amp hours we've already got a couple of solar panels on us to help keep the fridge working this classic Albert looks to be in fantastic shape I've seen these in bad shape this one is probably one of the best and I can tell you firsthand that when I started boat chopping these boats were at the top of my list but at the time a nice one was ranging from 50 to even 80 grand you couldn't ask for a more solid yacht at this price inside the Albert we get a very classic double setty layout that you'd expect from a boat that is this narrow but again for the price Beggars shouldn't be being all choosy The Head and the v-birth are forward as you'd expect in front of the Keel stepped Mastin we have lots and lots of storage Outback we get a smaller Galley and it was sort of the trend back in the day that we got these smaller galleys and then a big quarter birth or a sea berth that you might actually find would be the most comfortable place to sleep on this boat if you're by yourself the owners already even sprung for a portable 12 volt refrigerator and if it still works that's going to save you some cash too the Hallberg 37 is a boat that cannot be understated if you want to go solar solo cruising on the cheap but to do it on a boat that was doing the darn thing before some of you were even born these are Limitless in their ability to go to Sea safely and in a unique place right now because if you somehow sunk it you could just replace it with another one right away on the cheap the downside of course is that well as seaworthy as it gets these aren't really fast or super maneuverable and the skinny beam means they won't be super roomy inside but of course compromisers do you want to get there safely and cheaply here's your boat albert37 job done lady case only is brought to you by patrons people who give a couple of bucks and episodes to make all these videos possible I genuinely couldn't do it without you a big shout out to all the existing patrons who have gotten us this far and if you get some value from these videos or you want to help out the Channel please consider becoming a patron our next boat today is one that I have kind of a personal connection to and it's kind of an interesting story because one of these boats is out there cruising right now that I know of um as we speak and it left the east coast of Canada a few months ago and it's now bombing around the Bahamas with my friend on board captaining it La now you may remember LA because he crewed on Lady K back in 2019 and when he got home from that he bought one of these a Niagara 35 this example is a 1980 model and already has something we hadn't seen yet today a furling Mainsail the style that furrows into the boom too so you can still have proper sail shape on your main this Mark Ellis design is a lot like Lady K actually she's 14 000 pounds like Lady K before outfitting her of course so you're gonna have to wait to be safe and comfortable in most situations and we get this elongated modified fin Keel it's not long enough to be a full heel but it will track really well but it doesn't weigh a whole lot and it has less wetted surface so it's still going to perform reasonably well as compared to a full heel in this one we get a double anchor roller up front and we get a furling jib as well as a nice clean looking deck in good shape although I'm not a huge fan of the Shroud location where the chain plates are sort of in the middle of the side deck it makes it hard to rush up and down the decks either put them well inboard or right out at the edge in my opinion that a Niagara gives us a very nice large cockpit that when you Adorn this with cushions it's a very nice place to spend time on passage and we get a large gauge pod with a fold up table on the pedestal it looks like we get a slightly modern set of electronics on this boat including a wind station and we get coach top self-tailing winches which is a great addition especially if you're by yourself inside this boat it has a really interesting layout instead of the big sort of two-person births this actually has dual quarter births at the back and then bunks up in the v-birth which is interesting and just what we might want if we're going to be solo sailing you can sleep in one or two of them and turn the extra bunks into storage or a workbench or somewhere to put your water toys another note on compromise as we look at boats like this is these older boats are very cheap compared to the newer stuff but they give you that cave effect anyone with an old monohull knows what I mean when you go inside you have very little light or air coming in so it it's almost like being in a teak in Mahogany cave it's dark it's often damp and very disconnected from the outside world my boat's the same way living on it feels very much like living in a cave when you're inside at night and it's all boarded up for the 35 Grand or so that they're asking for this boat it is a very good value because it has great bones and it wouldn't take much to add solar in a reasonable battery bank and head south just like La did it is a very very capable and easy boat to use that will certainly get you there now you may notice a trend in the size of boats that I've been pointing out today they've all been around 35 feet long and I think I have a few good reasons for that you can do it on something smaller though there's nothing wrong with that idea one of my favorite Sailors I've ever met in all my travels is my friend Wes who's been cruising for more than a decade most of the time by himself on an Albin Vega 27. and if you want to go that route I urge you to find his channel on YouTube there's some videos from a few years ago he's called The Salted hippie um and he has some great things to say on it the reason that I pick boats of about 35 feet is I think that most people need a few things to be happy actually living on a sailboat first of course is the space to comfortably live inside it I struggle with my 35 footer I want something bigger for full-time cruising so I couldn't do anything smaller than 35 myself second is weight and plainly in this case the heavier the boat the better the safer the more comfortable at Sea and the more comfortable at Anchorage people don't often think about that but a light boat bounces and bucks and it's crazy and Anchorage you don't want it my personal minimum weight would be about 15 000 pounds knowing what I know now Lady K bone stock is 14 000 so I was always sort of wanting for more weight now having said that if you do want to get into something that's sort of the bottom of our sort of budget window today or maybe even a little bit cheaper than that you may want to look at Bayfield this Bayfield is a Canadian company who made boats very near to where I grew up and I'm always astounded to sort of see them turn up all over the world the last one I saw was turned up in Australia now how's that for a blue water boat this is a ten thousand pound 32 foot long Canadian made piece of sort of pride of ownership anybody who has a bay feel has a big pride of ownership and this one's the 32. you can always tell a bay field by way of its big wood beautiful bow sprit and it's sort of bathtub shape if I had to pick one word to describe bayfield's I would use the word stout Stout because even with the smaller length they accomplished such a robust and seaworthy strong design and they build them tough as Nails extra thick everything they're like little tanks that sort of spread out all over the planet right after they left the factory these boats leave things to be desired of course in terms of interior space and kind of modern luxuries that you will be sort of cramped inside and you won't really have a lot of room for entertaining or carrying a bunch of extra junk but where it counts this boat has it it's a very safe and stout little boat that will always get you there and get you home very safely and Bayfield is a name with a lot of support behind it these things have a really good cult following on the internet so you get bonus points because you have an owner's group that will help you out when something goes wrong nothing on this boat will be Reinventing the wheel if you break it because somebody else has already broken it and already figured out how to fix it and then written about it on the internet I promise and if you're gonna be all by yourself then you don't really need a bigger interior you can get one of these things for less than 20 grand one last thing to say about these sort of Cheaper boats a big compromise you have to make with them is a lack of tankage you won't be toting around two months worth of fresh water or extended ranges of diesel but those problems can be addressed on the cheap as well it's not very difficult first obviously Jerry cans on the deck they say you can always tell the cruising sailboats because of all the Jerry cans on the deck and that's absolutely true especially with these smaller cheaper sailboats they don't have the tankage that you would expect at this day and age to sort of get you all over the place without ever having to stop so um the other way that you can combat that problem is a reasonably good dinghy yes you'll be running to the local dock every week or two for more water or more diesel you need a good stable dinghy with enough power because when you put four or five 600 pounds of liquid in it and yourself it needs to be able to go I would suggest the smallest proper rib that you can fit on deck if you don't have davits of course with at least a six horse two stroke on the back the point of this episode started as a chance to look at some of the smaller cheaper boats that I would choose with the goal in mind in fact I did choose with this goal in mind I still have one right now this solo cruising through the Caribbean but the more I thought about this episode it wasn't just looking at boats anymore it became about being able to sail through the Caribbean cheaper than some folks would have you believe now you know the model of this channel has always been the party's wise words go small go simple go now and some folks out there will flat out demand that you have to buy a certain kind of boat and you have to outfit it in a certain kind of way and maybe that's because that's what they did but that doesn't always mean it's the only way what's more important is to Simply do it do it now you might not be around in 10 years or life may change and you may not be able to go it's much better to experience this life while you can instead of rolling the dice on potentially never experiencing it at all for the sake of a bit nicer boat I get asked a lot for help from people boat shopping right now so I dedicated a page over at ladyksailing.com where you can go to book an hour of my time if you need me it's ladyksailing.com forward slash consults if you like this video please don't hesitate to give it a thumbs up and subscribe uh it's free for you and it would really mean the world to me if you want to continue the conversation we have an absolutely amazing group of people over on the Lady K Discord Channel I've been on vacation for a week and I've just seen the Discord Channel just constant constant flow of people talking all week if you want to get in on that I'll leave a link in the description until next week guys keep the heavy side down but not too far down [Music] thank you

Channel: Lady K Sailing

Views: 200,125

Keywords: Sailing, LadyKSailing, Lady K, TRYC, sailing uma, sailing away, sailing delos, sailing around the world, sailing bahamas, sailing caribbean, sailing zatara, sailing ruby rose, sailing adventure, sailboat living, sailboat tour, sailboat story, sailboat refit, how to sail, sail away, buy a sailboat

Id: rcL02qRoS1M

Length: 19min 24sec (1164 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 11 2023