Its a buyers market and will continue that way. Keep the size down to 30 foot and the costs will be reasonable and it will be easier to manage. Large yachts are relatively cheap for a reason. You will need to set a budget before people can offer specific advice on yachts.

Living in Victoria is very expensive to moor a yacht, check availability of moorings and berths and factor that in. Even when cruising if you don't anchor and use marinas the costs will have to be considered. Remember size matters.

Cruisers spend 98% of their time in harbour, 1% of their time sailing and 1% of their time motoring. Even when sailing they will often just use a headsail. Cruisers never go to windward!

@ Striderani -I was going to ask if you had any sailing experience but you answered that.

Learning to sail in a dinghy is a great idea and might I suggest you also try sailing a lil beach cat as well...like a Hobie. gain experience whenever you can. Local yacht clubs usually have social sailing where you can go along for the experience at no cost ... its best to try and make yourself useful while on someone else's boat and in no time you will be sought after as crew for those social occasions...

Once you gain a little experience this way see if you can maybe go on a sailing trip for a few days. By then you should have a good idea if a cruising lifestyle is something you can do realistically.

When you get time you might check out a few boats for sale ... when you look, imagine thats its going to be your permanent home. For a couple living aboard, something between 30 and 35 feet might be the go. Small enough to manage single handed but large enough for some nice coastal cruising. Most boats in this range can usually sleep at least 4 people but are comfy for two to live.

It might be early days yet but you also need to consider the kind of lifestyle you want on a boat .... you can go from simplistic, camping on the water kind of thing to living with a luxury fit out. Work out what your electrical requirements will be... like listening to music, computer, TV, fridge for the cold beer ... my, the list goes on and on and on... keep doing lots of reading and check out boats, go on board look down below, lay on bunks, poke around as much as you are able and in time things will become clearer to you.

For the moment saying what the right boat is for you is like asking how long a piece of string is ... in time you will find the boat for you ... it may not be your first boat but it will happen for you and in the mean time each experience leads you closer to your dream.

Have fun, Lex

Yes to the above. Buy your self a fast sailing dinghy with a main and jib sails at least such as a Tasar, Javelin or something similar that requires two people to sail it (about 14 ft or 4 m long) and go sailing regularly.

That will teach you how to sail and also how to deal with crew.

When you have learnt how to sail that you will also have learnt how to sail a maxi yacht The principles are the same.

Leave the single handed sailing thing alone until you are entirely confident with your capabilities and have a yacht no longer than 40 ft (12m).

Keep in mind that 99.9999% of women have absolutely no interest in yachts or people who own them unless it is some mega motor yacht that is tied up to a marina and never leaves the marina.

Upon meeting a woman, to introduce into the conversation early in the piece the fact that you own a yacht is sure to send her running.

The appropriate time to mention that is when you have her at the beach and are trying to convince her that she will be safe if she gets into the dinghy with you and row out to the beautiful yacht you have.

Time for you to "fish" or "cut bait" striderani!!

Do you really want to bugger your life up completely by taking up the "cruising lifestyle" or just stick with "normality"?

Once you have been there, there is no going back!! Cheers Cisco.

What Cisco meant was not to end up like one of those sad old hermits living on cruising yachts all up and down the coast. The market is full of ended dreams where the wife has left and the bloke is left trying to sell off the yacht.

Look to EBay for a dinghy for training purposes, $1000 will buy a lot of racing dinghy. What you need is something to just get out and have fun. Scare yourself fartless with a 505 or similar. What you are looking for is something to learn the principals and the consequences.

Lazy E for sale in Victoria. You can get a taste of maintenance and sailing for probably less than $500.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Sailing-Dinghy-Lazy-E-ex-Club-Racer-Trailer-/260776899894?pt=AU_Boats&hash=item3cb783b536

@ striderani - The first boat I lived aboard was a 19 foot trailer sailor back in the late 80's. I spent several months sailing it in the Whitsundays and had a ball for the most part. I also sailed it from from Cairns down to the Whitsundays initially. Scary at times but damn I would do it again in a minute.

Now I am almost 60 years old and still have a love of the ocean and a cruising lifestyle. I dont own a boat at the moment but that is changing in the next couple of months. I like a few more creature comforts these days and will prob buy something about 12 meters in length.

When sailing in North Queensland last year my biggest problem was getting rid of people when I didnt want them on board any more without hurting their feelings ... after all I am living my dream with my cruising and they need to know that they cant tack their dream onto my boat.

Never had a problem with attracting fun loving women, the secret is to have a good heads with hot water shower and electric loo.

You are young so I say go for it, explore yourself and the world around you. Take the positive advice thats been given and get out there and do it.

Have fun ...

Royal Geelong Yacht Club have regular adult sailing courses
if you want to get out on the water for racing or cruising.
Give them a call or just drop in you may be amazed how welcome
you might feel. PLUG PLUG PLUG.

Hi Mario

a lot of good advice has been given but I'll put my two bobs worth in anyways.

I think the ultimate nail has been hit with buying and learning to sail in a dinghy.
It doesn't have to be some fast type of 'professional' dinghy that you spoke of a number of posts ago...at this stage of your journey, it could be a bathtub with a mast. I'm not being derogatory, please don't think that....it's just you have to make a start somewhere...baby steps and all that. Any old clunker will get you getting the mast up, putting on the sails, getting the boat in the water, etc., etc.

Thence the fun begins with the subtle nuances of how you move your body around the boat without tipping the thing over and getting wet...which, incidentally, you WILL do time and time again...and EVEN the best sailors do it. Why dinghies are the best way to learn to sail is that they do not forgive...there is no mercy on the hoomans who apparently are the masters of them. They point out to the hoomans, in words of less than one syllable that said hooman has made a mistake.

If you feel that the sailing/cruising lifestyle is for you, yes, as some-one said, there is no going back. Once it's in your blood, it's there forever. I learned to sail before I learned to walk. My late dad was a risk-taker and, despite doing what I now know to be foolish things,( e.g. playing a full main and no. 2 headsail , instead of prudently and safely just shortening sail in 45knots going across to moreton island in moreton bay when i was 15) i still love it and cannot get it out of my system. My poor husband laments (tongue in cheek of course..I think??) that he would be on to his 2nd or 3rd or 4th house if he hadn't met me and got the "bug" too!!

As for finding 'someone' along the track to share your life with, I think there are adventurous women out there, and you are certainly at an advantage being young yourself.
There's plenty of girls doing cool stuff these days like sailing, playing music, skateboarding, longboarding, surfing, SUPing, kitesurfing, SCUBA diving, travelling, the list goes on. There's plenty of pretty little twats out there gettin their acrylic nails done every week...but there's plenty of hidden adventurous gals doin stuff for themselves!!

If you're serious about the cruising life, there is only one way to own a boat and that is to live aboard. That way you and her become one. You learn to recognise every creak, every groan, if it's a good noise, if it's a bad noise...if everything be well aboard or if something is afoot. You and she will be as one.

Mario, you sound like a wise and a well-grounded young man. I'm glad you have your dream and I hope you realise it. You, along with my ten and seven year old daughters are the next generation of cruising yachties!!!! It is this forums' job to nurture you!!!

Trace

Ok guys, I've just gone and bought my dinghy and it's sitting in the backyard at this very moment. I've got mixed feelings of eagerness, apprehension, exictement and worried all at the same time. It's almost like buying your first car but already it feels completely different than that. It needs a bit of work done to it.
I need to strip all the paint off completely, then check the wood underneath to see if any of it needs replacing. Then I need to sand it all down if I have too and replace any bits that need to be replaced. I know it is missing a rudder and a few other things. I also need to secure the decking? boards that are on top and around the edges, they seem to be peeling off. I'm not sure if they were glued or screwed down before but I will need to figure out how to do it later. It seems like a mammoth task ahead but I'll enjoy working on it on my weekends and days off. I have plenty of room where I'm living at the moment to work on a project of this size and my dad has lots of woodworking and tools in general.
Hmm, I've been looking for resources online about repairing wooden dinghy's and havn't found much. Does anyone have any helpfull resources or websites I could check out? Thanks in advance.
I will be going down to one of the yacht clubs in my area this weekend and I might even bring down the dinghy so I can get their opinions on it. I might meet someone that knows how to fix them, which would be an invaluable resource.

So that's the plan so far.
Tomorrow I will be cleaning it all up and getting it all ready for work to begin. I will probably post some pictures too.

striderani said...

Ok guys, I've just gone and bought my dinghy and it's sitting in the backyard at this very moment. I've got mixed feelings of eagerness, apprehension, exictement and worried all at the same time. It's almost like buying your first car but already it feels completely different than that. It needs a bit of work done to it.
I need to strip all the paint off completely, then check the wood underneath to see if any of it needs replacing. Then I need to sand it all down if I have too and replace any bits that need to be replaced.

Shame about the rudder missing. Couple of photos showing the damage to the deck will aid people offering advice. The idea now is not to over capitalize. This is a cheap boat and can be repaired easily as long as ply does not have to be replaced. The deck ply is always going to have problems with fresh water condensation in this type of boat.
Avoid ship chandlers and shop at hardware stores. Selleys Durabond is only about $20 a container. Paint with White Knights oil based paving paint. Remove the loose paint, sand smooth with your Dad's sander and apply 3 coats, no primer. If the deck is varnish then there is some extra work required.
Have fun.

Thanks! I don't think it has a name, but I've allready thought of one. I will christen her Ella, after Ella Fitzgerald, the American singer from the 1940's. The reason is that when I went to pick her up, I discovered the guy selling her was a double bassist and musician, which is something of a hobby of mine. (I'm a pianist) We talked for quite a bit about jazz, blues and swing music and even traded band names and stuff. He didn't know much about boating, that was mainly his wife's interest but she wasn't there when I came down. I think she volenteers on one of the tall ships.

Anyways, I must say I'm kinda scared of sailin her at the moment. I have absolutely no exerience so I wouldn't trust myself unless I had an experienced hand with me.

Concerning the recovery, I've been reading that overcompensation is what happens to many projects people go through, taking an almost sea worthy craft and turning it into a 6 month project. I shouldn't have to many problems with this. But I will need to be carefull as I am quite the perfectionist and like having everything like new.
How I am going to do the painting is what I am worried about. There are so many different ways to do it that it can get confusing at times.
I've also been reading alot about Epoxy. Seems like it's a really good water resistant coating for boats in general but it seems like more trouble than it's worth.

The idea you suggested Ramona is clean, simple and easy. Which is what I'm trying to do on it, right?

striderani

Hi and congrats on your purchase, prepare to get your bum wet, but then that's half the fun in learning to sail.

I just goggled (repair sailing dinghy) and there was plenty of sites on offer with advice, I even checked them out and there was good information to be had and how to avoid pitfalls and how not to waste your money.

This is and will be your fist yacht so make it ready to sail without spending a fortune, have a deadline to have it ready to sail and a budget as to what you are prepared to spend then go sailing.

Welcome to the sailing fraternity, live long and may the winds be with you.

Ha, ha me hearties we have a true one amongst us! Haven't heard from young Mario in over a week...........I think he's bogged (hee hee) down gettin amongst it........................go Mario!!!!