ETERNAUT

Choosing a Yacht (1)

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Part 1: Mono- vs Multi-hull

Choosing a yacht can be a long and daunting task.

I started looking for our future yacht in spring 2014. By that time I had been two years without a boat. I wanted, or better needed, a vessel to sail and to live on to give my often stressful work-life a meaning.

Next to surfing the World Wide Web and often asking Dr. Google I also read a lot of magazines. Unfortunately it is very difficult to find unbiased reviews. Once you have read a few magazines you realize that they are sponsored by the industry they are promoting. Also do not waste your money and subscribe for different magazines: You will discover same articles in different magazines just a few editions apart.

Instead, go to as many boat exhibitions and visit as many shipyards as possible to get an impression yourself.

Do not refrain looking for used boats and visit as many as you can. That way you get a rough idea of what you want, you would like to have, and what you do not want at all.

Size Matters

At the end it comes down to a compromise of:

• Purchase Price
• Running Cost
• Safety
• Comfort
• Speed

All of the above is pretty much interwoven and the first and most important question comes down to size: Purchase price and running cost almost quadruple with size, although the latter can be reduced by staying self sufficient and out of marinas for the most of the time.

Also consider: Do you intend to do solo sailing, sail as a couple/family or do you intend to hire a crew?

Can you handle the boat if a crew member falls sick?

Contrary to the above: Safety, comfort and speed tend to in increase with size.

I had two options in mind concerning safety and storm tactics:

1. Have a boat fast enough to outrun a storm, which means capable of making an average of 200 miles and more per day
2. Have a yacht sturdy enough to weather a gale

The Mono-hull

One of the boats I had owned before was a monohull. A 46ft American built Hunter 466. It came with SSB and storm sail on a removable inner forestay. Furthermore I had invested in a life raft, an EPIRB and a handheld satellite phone. Although it was well enough equipped, I never ventured far offshore. One time I had planned to sail to Philippines and back from Hong Kong. But a typhoon stuck in the South China Sea for over a week in late December stopped us from leaving our safe harbor.

Something I disliked was the rectangular fuel tank: With half empty tank the fuel drained out of the supply lines when the boat heeled during sailing. This resulted in engine failure and required bleeding of fuel lines.

Most production mono-hulls feature a deep fin keel affixed by a couple of bolts and a spade rudder. I personally consider these yachts good for inshore and coastal cruising, but I would not be comfortable crossing any Ocean with it. I am just too scared to hit one of the thousands containers lost by shipping worldwide annually!

Despite my previous experience with mono-hulls was not too good, I still looked at them occasionally as there are few points they tend to be unbeatable:

• Pointing into the wind
• Handling with shorthanded crew / as single handed crew
• Handling in high seas
• Ability to withstand adverse weather

Below a small list I looked for “haves / better not haves” on a Monohull. This is my own list. My priority is safety on ocean passages, not racing. Everybody might have different goals and should prepare an own list according to personal emphasis.

What to look for:

• Protected cockpit
• Halyard and main reefing lines lead back to cockpit
• Long, in hull structure integrated keel
• Easy access to engine compartment
• Ample Storage

What to avoid:

• Deep fin keel with bulbous weight
• Small, rectangular fuel tanks
• Spade rudder
• Flimsy reeling

The Multi-hull

My first yacht I owned was a Fountain-Pajot Belize. The 43ft sailing catamaran proved perfect for a single person to live on. I used it as my “home” for three years. On days off I could sail it to one of the many beautiful anchorages which can be found in the North East of the Hong Kong territory.

Luckily my contract with the employer included boats for the house scheme.

Unluckily the local dealer in Hong Kong back then (I heard the dealership has changed) had not run with me through the list of standard and optional equipment: I had only specified AirCon units, a radar, a GPS and seat cushions for the cockpit as options. I had not ordered anything else because I simply have been oblivious to what is essential and available. So the boat showed up with a CRT display for radar and numeric GPS Lat/Long display (the age of LCD screens had started a decade ago). It also meant there was no anchor!

Having the boat delivered without anchor and chain is like receiving a car without hand brake

My comment to the Boat Dealer When inspecting the empty anchor compartment

This proves that you not only need to know what sort of boat you want, you also have to choose your boat dealer wisely. And it is amazing how much money you have to spend in addition to the basic price to just have the essential cruising equipment installed.

Back to the yacht choosing process:

Due to my personal prioritization I looked mainly into multi-hulls. Generally I had good experience with them. I considered them as an acceptable compromise of prize, safety and comfort.

Multi-hulls are difficult to beat in:

• Space
• Shallow draft (especially when equipped with daggerboards)
• Speed (but beware, you have to keep it light weight!)

We went to several boat shows (see below) and inspected a lot of yachts. Same as with mono-hulls, the market is spread afar: From cost effective boats geared towards the charter market to expensive racing super cats.

Sometimes it was shocking what the close up inspection revealed: One trimaran had following rudder setup: single spade rudder controlled by ropes (not wire) which ran straight on top of the engine. With engine fire you also loose steer-ability. Despite the otherwise good layout this is absolute No-Go!

What to look for:

• Protected helm station
• All sail control lines accessible from cockpit
• Low center of effort
• Max producer recommended payload (consider weight of all your gear!)
• Strep free cockpit – saloon access
• Galley integrated into saloon

What to avoid:

• Raised helm station
• Low freeboard
• Square large window front
• Petrol outboard engines for main propulsion
• Flimsy reeling

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There were two French made catamarans I seriously considered purchasing. But their unwillingness to integrate GenSet and AirCon which I considered indispensable for a live-aboard boat made those deals fail.

Then, finally, after a few years searching, we found what we assumed as “our” boat. Find out what happened next in the upcoming blog.

The Boat Shows

Rita and me went to many boat shows and visited a few ship yards in Europe before we closed in on what we considered as “our” boat. It was also the time I owned a BMW R1200R. We combined the boat show visits with great motor bike trips.

Due to my family ties we mostly started our Europe trips in Germany. Thus we concentrated on the boat shows in Germany and Europe.

Do not forget that there are plenty other international boat shows like the ones in Southampton and Annapolis. We never made it to those two shows, but find below a list of the yacht exhibitions we went to:

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Cannes

If your time is limited, and you have the possibility to be in Europe in autumn, then the Yachting Festival in Cannes is the boat show in Europe you have to visit. This is the spot to choose a yacht or at least to get an overview what the market has to offer.

Monohulls, Multihulls, Power Boats, here you have them all in one spot!

THE MOST ECLECTIC SHOW IN THE WORLD

yachting Festival Cannes

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La Grande Motte

The Multihull Boat Show in La Grande Motte is important if you are aiming for a catamaran or trimaran. Most European and the bigger International multihull builders exhibit a wider range of their models here. We have been at this boat show in 2014 and 2016.

It is worthwhile to mention that is often pays to stay close to the exhibition area. Aim to join for test sailing trips with the yachts you are interested in. They usually run in the late afternoon after most visitors have left.

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Other Boat Shows

As I have mentioned above there are other huge yachting events which are worthwhile going like the ones in Southampton and Annapolis.

Within Germany we had been to following exhibitions:

Boot in Dusseldorf: Germany’s largest boat show has quite a bit to offer. Surely worth visiting if you are in the area.

Hanseboot in Hamburg: The place where I had seen the FP Belize the first time back in 2011. Unfortunately closed it’s doors.

Interboot in Friedrichshafen: Mainly aimed for small craft and inshore boating. We bought some equipment there… but all in all we were disappointed and left early.