Battleship 100 Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 I'd say the nice big bed in the aft cabin is an advantage, also I reckon solid dodgers look smarter on a centre cockpit. . I think if I was going long term cruising I'd still want an ssb to compliment the Sat phone/Iridium go, just for listening in to SSB nets and keeping contact with other cruisers for locating spare parts, services and local advice. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Island Time 1,235 Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Agreed. On the bed and the ssb. I know cruisers who happily spend $500 and more per month on their sat phs. Not me. I spend $250 usd per year on sailmail for email and forecasts. I admit it's not a phone, and is harder to use, but it's cheap! IMO sat ph or sat cons is good for short term - passages or a few months away, but I still prefer ssb for long term cruising, but it is mostly due to cost. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dtwo 157 Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Centre cockpit not nearly as good as aft cockpit for the reasons IT mentioned plus cop more weather and make the main cabin much smaller with usually high and steep companionway steps. Also not nearly as good at anchor as you are a long way from the water and more difficult to get on and off the boat. I can't think of any advantages for centre cockpit and yes give old teak decks a miss. The best boat is definitely one that is looked after and someone else has spent the money on it. These days you don't need SSB, and Iridium satellite system is a better alternative. I have a center cockpit Peterson 44 and agree with some of your comments Chewy. However, all boats are a compromise and I think the advantages of the center cockpit (on my boat anyway) outweigh the "cons". - clutter free living area. I have keep all halyards at the mast, sure you need to go forward at 3am in the rain to reef, but 99% of the time you spend on the boat is not sailing and it is nice not to have all the crap lying around - aft cabin. My aft bunk is 2m x 2m, private and comfortable - aft deck, You do get a usable area aft, useful for gutting fish at sea among other things - engine space. I have an excellent installation with full access to both sides of the engine, with heaps of room for machinery Generally, you do get more "weather" than an aft cockpit, hence most have a good dodger. CC boats tend to be bigger - you need the size to make the concept work - so you could argue that they are drier because of that. I have spent some time on an Oceans 12, it is probably at the small end of the scale for a CC boat but it does work. Not the fastest performer and I thought it a bit rolly-polly, but what the hell, it will get you there and if you are cruising it is all about liveability. People have crossed oceans with boats much worse! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
robinm 2 Posted October 14, 2016 Author Share Posted October 14, 2016 The usable space in the Oceans 12 was much better than the Moody 44 we looked at, I'm impressed just how much boat Alan Wright has stuffed into 12m. I can see how it may be a bit rolly, and had considered that. The centre cockpit layout works well for my family too, if I was sailing solo, I'd actually go for something smaller with an aft cockpit, but I'm not, it has to be a joint decision by us all. The idea of having some privacy in the aft cabin is also good, and it will be somewhere to ship the snoring relatives off to while the rest of the family camps out in the saloon. The big news is..... we've put in a offer and had it accepted! Between this advice here and the various people we've talked to, as well as our own preferences, this boat feels like the right one. Yes I'm sure there are better boats and we could spend the next 12 months scouring Trademe and wringing our hands over a better choice, but why wait, the boat is called Impulse II after all. We rang Mike McCormick (thank you Willow) who was very encouraging and is also a cat 1 inspector, so I think we'll need to stop off in Tauranga on the trip north next year. We will get an SSB and we'll probably get something like the inreach for satellite backup. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dtwo 157 Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 The usable space in the Oceans 12 was much better than the Moody 44 we looked at, I'm impressed just how much boat Alan Wright has stuffed into 12m. I can see how it may be a bit rolly, and had considered that. The centre cockpit layout works well for my family too, if I was sailing solo, I'd actually go for something smaller with an aft cockpit, but I'm not, it has to be a joint decision by us all. The idea of having some privacy in the aft cabin is also good, and it will be somewhere to ship the snoring relatives off to while the rest of the family camps out in the saloon. The big news is..... we've put in a offer and had it accepted! Between this advice here and the various people we've talked to, as well as our own preferences, this boat feels like the right one. Yes I'm sure there are better boats and we could spend the next 12 months scouring Trademe and wringing our hands over a better choice, but why wait, the boat is called Impulse II after all. We rang Mike McCormick (thank you Willow) who was very encouraging and is also a cat 1 inspector, so I think we'll need to stop off in Tauranga on the trip north next year. We will get an SSB and we'll probably get something like the inreach for satellite backup. Well done that man! "Go Now" is very good advice! I like SSB over Sat as you have more of a community feel - you can listen in to radio nets and it is a definite positive cruising with kids as you can hear the kid boats. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
clareb 1 Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Well done that man! "Go Now" is very good advice! I like SSB over Sat as you have more of a community feel - you can listen in to radio nets and it is a definite positive cruising with kids as you can hear the kid boats. Thanks Dtwo. We are very excited (I'm the other half!). We'll have our daughter with us so the SSB will be important, I'm a bit concerned about how hard it will be for an only child cruising for an extended period of time. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Island Time 1,235 Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Only child will be fine. Plenty of cruisers with kids out there, and you'll be amazed at how they quickly develop the ability to interact with other adults a a level far above their peers. Congrats on the new boat. Hope she is all you have wished for. Fair winds and following seas... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
darkside 61 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Congratulations on the purchase, exciting times! We cruised with our children for 5 years and there are plenty of kid boats out there. We had a mini m satphone but hardly used it whereas we were on the ssb and sailmail every day. The latest ARC summary had most skippers with inmarsat wanting to swap to irridium and vice versa. The only group that were relatively happy were the ssb owners. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Black Panther 1,587 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 10 years with the kids aboard. Best thing we ever did for them. Currently in Fiji and boat kids everywhere. Just starting to think about crew for the return trip. But would much rather be heading for the Solomon Islands Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chewing Gum 17 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Congrats, you won't go wrong with a Wright boat, built a Lotus 10.6 in Kauri many moons ago, it was an awesome boat, sailed well and a ton of room for its size. Bit flat in the bottom though so did pound a bit going to weather. Like I said I prefer the aft cockpit but my first offshore a long time ago was in an Orams 53 centre cockpit to Tonga and it was fine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Battleship 100 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Glad to be of help, enjoy the boat they certainly are comfy for their size. Don't forget to share your travels with all of us here. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jon 360 Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Congrats to you both The bests boat is the one you can afford and the one you both most happy with, it will always be a bit of a compromise and it doesn't have to be your forever boat, but if it gets you away then your winning. As for SSB verse Irridium Go, I've always been in the SSB camp but after buying our current yacht in Europe then sailing back, the plan was to fit the SSB that's now sitting in my shed But after using the Go with tracking through Predictwind I'm not going to bother as wewouldn't use it. With the Go you txt, email or call when it suits you and the same for weather. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
robinm 2 Posted October 17, 2016 Author Share Posted October 17, 2016 Thanks guys, Jon - if you still have it sitting in the shed, are you interested in selling it? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jon 360 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Maybe, It doesn't belong to me but I can ask for you It's a 100w Furuno with didgital tuner, not sure on the exact model Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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