can anyone recommond a sea going cruiser?

[Timmy35]

Hi all,

I'm new to boating, and wanted to look at buying/leasing a sea going cruiser suitable for making a crossing of about 135miles on open sea, so not a dingy.... I'd only need it for about 10 months so ideally something I could hope to resell fairly easily as and when. It would need to accomodate 4-5 people but only for a day crossing.

Are there any particular brands to look for, or avoid, I realise that the condition of the engines is vital as they're so expensive to replace/service. For a use period of under a year, is it better to look at leasing, in which case are there any good companies/websites that anyone couldf recommend.

Oh and one thing the mooring/destination would be the Eastern mediterranian/ middle east.

Cheers.

[TTwiggy]

Nothing shouts 'drug run' louder than this!

[Timmy35]

Not at all. More a case of not being able to rely on air or road transport when needed or for that matter ferries when actually needed. Hopefully it would never be needed for anything other than pottering about, but if required I would want to be able to make a safe rapid sea crossing, assuming reasonably calm seas and daylight sailing. It may well be a no starter.

[crofty1984]

How big and how much money?

[Timmy35]

crofty1984 said:

How big and how much money?

That's the question, obviously as small as possible and as little money as possible, but equally something that one would feel okay about being 60 miles from the nearest land in......

[crofty1984]

My Dad has a 32ft Cygnus. Excellent sea boat (being an ex-fishingboat hull) but slow.

Something like a 80's/90's Broom/Sealine maybe?
Looks like you're not looking at spending 100s of thousands.
Edit: Look for something like a 30-odd foot Corvette.

I don't mean to sound condascending, but if yo're new to boating, is going 60m+ straight out to sea wise?

Edited by crofty1984 on Tuesday 28th February 14:37

[hidetheelephants]

I question the wisdom of this; the med can be a nasty place to be in winter, storms come up with little warning and by your own confession you are a novice. In calm weather the voyage described could be safely done in a 7-8m mobo(hell, you could do it in a RHIB if you can fit enough fuel in and are mental enough to live with the lack of creature comforts), if the weather turned crappy(even in summer storms can be bad) even quite a large mobo would give you a slower and less safe crossing than Stavros' SuperSlow ferry service.

[TTwiggy]

Yep, you get some nasty short seas in the med. I'd rather take a sail boat across than a small(ish) powerboat, but maybe that's just me.

I agree with the view that it's quite an undertaking for a novice, even in these days of chart plotters etc.

[mickrick]

Sounds a bit like "I want to buy some rope".
You get what you pay for, so cheap isn't realy an option. A good boat won't be cheap.
For what you describe, a regular 130 odd mile day hop, I wouldn't feel safe in anything less than this.
http://www.dalenelson.co.uk/nelson-38/Dale-nelson-...

The Med can turn nasty very quickly.
As an aside, I commisioned the boat in the picture, as a tender for a large yacht. (Notice the lifting points) So I can vouch hand on heart for the quality. I did over 800hrs in that particular boat.

Or,
http://www.deltapower.co.uk/new/ Again, I can vouch for the quality.
Absolutely the best! But not realy a cruiser.

Hope this helps,
Mick.

[Timmy35]

Thanks guys. The thing is I am a novice but I won't have much to do most of the time so putting in plenty of sailing hours should be easy enough, as would making some practice trips with an experienced captain to teach me.

Personally I agree that it might just be sensible not to go to the area in the first place, but I may well need to be there, and might as well try to get a positive out of it, I've always wanted a boat, I don't want to spend a fortune, some of the linked boats look pretty reasonable.

[Timmy35]

There is a sailing school/club, so maybe a good starting point would be to do some time there in order to get into the sailing community, and try the 1 week course with a trip over to cyprus. Then start asking around about charters or people looking to sell. Might be a good way to meet some people anyway.

http://lebaneseyachtclub.org/page.php?id=2&sub...

[Ayahuasca]

How about this one, for sale for about 25,000 pounds.








Includes 1,000 horsepower for when you definitely, positivley, need a quick getaway.

Oh, and she's called 'Midnight Express'.

[TTwiggy]

Timmy35 said:

There is a sailing school/club, so maybe a good starting point would be to do some time there in order to get into the sailing community, and try the 1 week course with a trip over to cyprus. Then start asking around about charters or people looking to sell. Might be a good way to meet some people anyway.

http://lebaneseyachtclub.org/page.php?id=2&sub...

Do the RYA course in this country. For what you have planned, I'd suggest going to at least yatchmaster level, but I think you have to do dayskipper first.

Really dont want to sound dramatic, but the sea can be a very nasty place. Anyone who says they love the sea has never spent very long on it. You can love boats, you can love the freedom, but you never love the sea.

[Ayahuasca]

Oh, you want 2,000 horsepower?

[mickrick]

I love the Sea.

[astroarcadia]

All sounds very cryptic.

Lets have some more info OP.

[XJSJohn]

tim you mad bd, what are you up to now??

Assuming that you will probably want to buy something close to your "evacuation zone" rather than shipping in and out .......

here are a few from Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Israel .... you might want to think about the port of registration and flag with this little escapade ....

http://www.boats.com/boat-details/Cranchi-Enduranc...

http://www.boats.com/boat-details/Fairline-33-Targ...

http://www.boats.com/boat-details/Eurocraft-San-Re...

http://www.boats.com/boat-details/Fairline-Flybrid...

[breakfan]

I'd definitely recommend something with outboard engines, far cheaper to run and maintain. Anything with an inboard, and the costs are exponential.

That's not to say it'll be a dinghy, there are some SERIOUS centre consoles/RIBs nowadays.

[cal216610]

XJSJohn said:

tim you mad bd, what are you up to now??

Assuming that you will probably want to buy something close to your "evacuation zone" rather than shipping in and out .......

here are a few from Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Israel .... you might want to think about the port of registration and flag with this little escapade ....

http://www.boats.com/boat-details/Cranchi-Enduranc...

http://www.boats.com/boat-details/Fairline-33-Targ...

http://www.boats.com/boat-details/Eurocraft-San-Re...

http://www.boats.com/boat-details/Fairline-Flybrid...

Is he planning a quick getaway/rescue from beirut or something?

[Huntsman]

I'd say something big and heavey and semi displacement, like a Nelson, if you could do 13 or 14 knots you'll do that 135 miles in ten hours, ie mainly daylight and be reasonably comfy.

This guy is very good for training http://www.5starmarine.co.uk/