The Holy Grail Ultimate Sailboat
Did you ever play one of those racing games where you can configure the vehicles? Where if you increase traction, acceleration is automatically reduced. This is exactly what sailboats are like. Very roomy and comfortable sailboats have more beam and typically carry the beam further aft, which makes for a slower boat than one with a narrow beam and a lot narrower transom. The “bulbous” hull shape makes roomy cruisers more “buoyant” which also makes them bob up on the wave rather than slice through them. (Illustration) Some examples of the various metrics that affect a boat’s overall characteristics include:
Keel Shape: A Deep, Narrow and Short keel is great for high performance while restricting access to shallow areas. A long and shallow keel provides stability and grants access to shallow areas, but won’t point as high and adds more drag.
Deck and Cabin: High Freeboards and a tall Cabin top adds Safety, Space and Headroom, but increases wind resistance from the bow -reducing speed, and from the sides making close quarters maneuvering more challenging.
Rig and Sail Area: A Tall Rig and Large Sail area are Very appreciated when winds are light or when performance is prioritized, but requires early reefing when the wind picks up. Most outright cruisers have slightly shorter rigs and smaller sail area, making it less necessary to adjust sail size for leisurely cruising. Will you require a furler?
Establish Criteria
There are many more examples but we’ll save that for a more in depth article on that topic. The point is: to find your Ultimate Sailboat, you will first need to identify your priorities. A good starting point is a list of the various components that make up the overall experience:
Berths: How many people will sleep on board at the same time? How tall are the tallest people?
Head: Do you need a shower?(is there adequate venting?) Hot running water? What type of toilet do you prefer? Does it need to be fully enclosed?
Galley: Is a single sink sufficient? Do you require hot, running water? Is an icebox adequate or is a refrigerator required? How many burners? Oven? Storage space? Ability to cook under sail? (Gimbled stove and ability to secure yourself) Position of the galley in the boat.
Salon: How many people will eat or play cards simultaneously? Can you see out the port lights while seated?
Cockpit: Seats? Ability to work around each other. Ability to Entertain and sail simultaneously. Self Tailing Winches?
Electronics and equipment: What are your requirements? Do you need an auto pilot? Is an Anemometer necessary or can you make do with the Windex? Depth, Speed, Battery Monitoring, etc. etc. Other considerations include Battery Management and Charging, Shore Power, Bilge pump(s) etc.
Engine and Tank: Some of us motor as soon as the wind doesn’t co-operate while others take their time and avoid the engine if possible.
Example Priorities
Keel: Shallow Draft, maybe retractable centerboard even. Access to shallow areas for “gunk holing” or simply being able to find a spot in a crowded anchorage, by going closer to shore, than many others are able to.
Deck and Cabintop: Freeboard isn’t a huge concern as long as there are adequate scuppers. Standing headroom (5’ 11’) is required.
Rig and Sail Area: Of minor concern as long as not too small. A Furler is essential.
Sleeping space: Separate Master and Guest cabin as well as added sleeping space in salon.
Head: Toilet type is of minor concern. Head needs to be enclosed and the ability to shower would be a bonus. Prefer an additional shower in the cockpit or the ability to feed the shower hose up on deck.
Galley: A single sink is sufficient but a double would be a big bonus. Pressure water is required and if there is no hot water tank, one would likely be added at some point. Two fixed burners are sufficient as a camping stove top can easily add capacity. Oven is not required. Storage space is much appreciated. Lastly -a fridge is required, preferably with a door, rather than a “lid”. The closer to the cockpit the galley is located, the better.
Salon: The ability to sit and gaze out the port lights at eye level is a high priority and unfortunately very rare. Seating for 6 would be nice.
Cockpit: This is where most sailors spend 90% of their awake time. Must be spacious and comfortable. Ability to easily enter and exit the water or dock is also important.
Electronics and Equipment: Requirements are: Auto pilot, multiple bilge pumps, Ventilation, Large Battery Bank(s), Solar and Shore Power, Modest Instrument Requirements.
Engine and Tank: While a diesel and large tank provides range, Outboard(s) only would be preferred. One gas and one electric would be ideal. (This author does not like fuel and combustion engines in the same space as indoor living.)
Identify Vessels
While spending hours sifting through pages and pictures looking for boats can be enjoyable, a more efficient approach is to first identify the boats that meet your criteria. To further minimize wasted time, start with the hardest criteria to satisfy. In our example case, the most elusive criterion is comfortable indoor seating with a view of ground/sea level. (Just about any boat will give you a view of the sky.) Most of the time this means being able to look out the port light from a seated position in the salon. Not too difficult to find on many newer boats with port lights in the hull, but substantially more challenging for us savvy sailors that tend to find the best value in slightly older boats. An example of a very affordable boat that meets this criterion is the Grampian 26.
Pilot house sailboats quite often provide the same and quite a few of the “Deck Salon” models as well. An example of a boat that just about meets all the criteria is the Beneteau Evasion 34, (Pictured Right) which is closer to 36 feet LOA. This is a boat that packs an incredible amount of space into a modest size. It sports a Pilot house with Large windows all around as well as a Helm, Galley, Salon and an enclosed double cabin. Below deck is the head, V-berth and a 3rd enclosed queen cabin that can convert to a second salon!
Ideally, we should make a list of the vessels identified with a column for each established criteria:
This list makes a quick job of reordering the vessels so that the ones that meet all or most of the criteria are at the top. One could even take it a step further and establish a max price to pay for each model, depending on how close it is to ideal. You may find at this point that just one or two models “float” to the top. “As a Do-it-yourselfer” this author also takes into account the ability to make modifications in order to get closer to the ideal vessel.
Our example list very quickly identifies the ideal candidate, the Gemini 105 (Right) which in our case happens to be the most costly by far. Never the less, it is identified as the Holy Grail Ultimate Cruiser for this author and the intention is to acquire one at some point. (As they get older, affordability improves.) Unless one of the close “runner ups” happen across our path, at a price that can’t be resisted. At this time, the LM 32, (Left) from 1986 currently owned, comes close enough that patience can be exercised until an ideal boat comes along.