Next weekend L and I are off to Vancouver to take in the Vancouver Boat Show and meet up with Dave and Margaret of R Shack Island fame. In honour of that I thought I would jot down some boat thoughts.

I have been doing a lot of fantasy boat shopping lately to pass the time. It’s just something us fanatic wannabees do. But I have also spent some time trying to figure out what the perfect boat is/would be. There are a ton of people who have asked this very question in online forums and such and there are the corresponding ton of answers. But if you dig deep in all the replies, the answer actually comes down to “it depends what you want.” Which admittedly is seemingly less helpful than wading through a billion opinions, but after having done the aforementioned wading, I have begun to realize is actually the correct answer.

So what do I want? In no particular order or level of seriousness:

  • a boat that has space and equipment for a minimum of 2–3 days away from dock.
  • a sailboat to save on diesel costs
  • a fast sailboat because, as every sailor knowns, if two sailboats are going in the same direction, they are racing. And who likes to lose?
  • two cabins
  • a comfortable, accessible main berth. (Because getting up in the middle of the night is a big enough pain as it is.)
  • a reasonably roomy cockpit with cockpit table
  • an electric windlass
  • a reasonably long chain rode
  • a reasonably roomy head
  • the ability to single hand.
  • a reliable engine
  • a fairly dry dinghy
  • a fairly good electrical system, because I am not giving up the ipad or ebooks
  • good electronics (chart plotter, VHF, wind instruments)
  • a dodger and a bimini
  • a good fridge

What I don’t need (but I’ll take)

  • a large outboard
  • engine hoist (unless I get the large outboard and then its a need)
  • large water tanks
  • hot water heater
  • sound system
  • radar
  • roller furling main (I’d actually prefer not)
  • spinnaker
  • genset (generator)
  • 2 heads
  • pilot berths
  • a freezer

What a dream boat would have

  • a pilot house (see the next point)
  • a separate shower
  • twin helm
  • walk-off transom
  • a large or separate work area
  • a walk-in engine room
  • a watermaker
  • dinghy davits
  • a gennaker or code 0

What I don’t want

  • new
  • microwave
  • three cabins
  • electric winches
  • quarterberth
  • cramped v-berth
  • an in-cockpit traveller
  • tiller steering

Here are few boats that I have considered and could be had out in the PNW fairly affordably (which is relative).

  • Hunter 42 CC
  • Hunter 420
  • Gemini 105mc (catamaran)
  • PDQ 32 (catamaran)
  • Nauticat

And some available in other places,

  • Wildcat 350 (catamaran)

To be continued