The Search for the Next Boat and the list.

Some people were surprised that I sold our Typhoon. Truth is, the Typhoon is a great boat but it was time to move on.  We simply want to be able to make some slightly longer passages have a bit more room for overnight camping and the Typhoon just was too small to do those things with. 

For some time, I have been looking over the horizon and creating a list of cool boats.  Here it is. 

Note: you will not find a boat over 25 feet on my list.  The annual dock costs double for any boat here over 25 ft.  So, while there are a lot of great boats over 25 ft long, financial costs have to be considered.

The Classics:   Albergs, and Hershoff's

Herrshoff Eagle 22  is one of my favorite boats.  A great classic look, that topsail in just too cool.  The killers here are the cabin size is to small for our family weekending purposes and the desire to stay away from any mechanical swing keel boat as we plan on doing more Lake Michigan coastal sailing trips. 

Cape Cod Marlin 23  Super cool boat I have only once seen a used one for sale out on the east coast.  They are apparently building them again now but wow $$$$$  New in not in my price range. 

Typhoon Sr.

Cape Dory 22

South Coast 23

Kittiwake 23       All of these are Alberg design variations in the 22-23 foot range. I find them very appealing.  With a PHRF rating around 280, it may be a stretch for these boats to reach the distances we are hoping to travel.  

Cape Dory 25  While not an Alberg design, this is one boat we went and looked at. One popped up for sale a few docks away last summer.  The cabin was nice but the owner had removed the galley and had stripped it down for day sailing.  We also were not a big fan of the narrowish beam and it seemed only slightly more stable in the water than our Typhoon. 

Quickstep 24  This Brewer design is one of my favorites. The lines here are just so amazing and I love the canoe style aft quarter. A very neat boat with only about 23 of these built market availability is somewhat limited. Many of them are not in great condition.

Bristol 24  Having looked at two of these in the last year they are amazing.  Cabin wise, there is a ton of room and the boat has those classic lines you expect to see on a full keel boat. The first one we looked at was a project gone bad.  The owner dropped the mast and the deck was a bit of a wreck. The second was off in the middle of the state.  A farm field boat. It was in much better condition cosmetically, however, the keel was suffering from significant water intrusion that would have required some serious effort to dry it out. The boat was also missing several key rigging components. Again, full keel boats have significant range limitations due to their speed.

Hinterholler 25 Is one of the early Keelboat designs.  A stretched out version of the Shark 24 these boats have a nice look to them.  However, everything I have read and seen about them they seem to have some significant structural issues that pushed them out of consideration for us. One of my favorite video bloggers did a review of one a few years back.  Here's the link.

Some Newer Designed Keelboats (70's-80's)

S2 7.3 Now this is a newer design that was built just 5 miles from my house. Surprisingly there are not a lot of them around here. S2, now, Tiara yachts has a good reputation, however, some of these boats are tending to have balsa deck coring issues.  This is a high potential boat for our purposes, especially with the shoal draft version. 

Mirage 24 This the C&C design that got away. C&C sold this design off to one of their dealers who went to Canada and started the Mirage line of boats. We have looked at two of these both well built and holding up despite their age. A high contender for our next boat.

C&C24  We went and checked one of these out. This one is just all over the place. Not sure what the designer was thinking. The weird head placement, mainsheet anchored to the center of the cockpit floor for us, we just did not love this boats set up. Also, the one I walked on had decks so soft I thought my foot was going to go through the cabin top.

C&C 25 When C&C realized how successful the Mirage 24 was doing they released this boat. Very similar to the Mirage the C&C has a larger cabin and a shorter keel. Some of them were equipped with inboards. Having looked at two of these now both of them had some minor water intrusion around deck fittings nothing major.  However, both also had keel joint separation issues or smiles. 

Hunter 25  This one should have been a consideration but after talking to a few owners they have not loved the boat for their sail-ability.  So these were bumped from our list.

Catalina 25 A great boat, my Uncle currently has one and this is one of the most popular boats ever built in this size range.  Truly a consideration especially in a fin keel. This boat has ample cabin space and is a dependable boat.

Catalina 250 This is one I felt had great potential but the open design of these newer boats in a non-starter for my wife.  She likes the privacy the bulkhead between the v-berth and main cabin provide.

Beneteau First 235:  While loved by their owners I just can't see us in one.  These boats are faster than anything else we are looking at. The reviews say they can be a bit unstable at times. We're not looking for a race that we will need to sit on the gunwale to keep upright. Also, the price point on these is right at the top of our range so there would be little room for improvement. The 235 has the modern open layout not loved by my wife and the aft quarter berth just I can't see anyone sleeping in there.

Hunter 23 FK  We took a look at one of these.  It is very reminiscent of my old Catalina 22. Great boat for 2 but a bit crowded for three.


So far these are the boats we have considered if you have any suggestions throw them down in the comments. I can't wait to see what's on your daydream list. =-)

Meanwhile, we are off to look at another boat this time in St. Claire. It's 14 degrees here.