Chicago Boat Show

My thoughts on boats continue to evolve as we get deeper in and closer to the decision to pull the trigger on this thing. (3 years into a 5 year plan.) Catamarans are still my favorite platform but, unless I get a job on the East Coast, I fear they are just too expensive. We could probably afford one if we wait long enough, but therein lies the rub. I'm not sure how much longer I want to wait.

So, with the tide appearing to favor a mono-hull, what are the things what matter, and the things what don't? The first "thing what matters" is size. With an exception or two I think anything much less than 40 feet is just too short to call home, and anything over 46 is unnecessary. Catalina frames the tape measure, with the 375 lying just over the "too short" call and their 445 just short of "unnecessary." With boats in that length draft doesn't seem to be much of a "deal killer."

A modified fin keel with a skeg hung rudder seems the underwater shapes for good passage making when things get rough. Though truth to tell I am having trouble keeping the "modified fins" and "modern full" keels separate. I think one sort of morphs into the next depending on the specific boat / designer. I am not a fan of the racing fins and balanced rudders. I know they mean "performance" but it looks to me like they also mean "easily damaged" and "expensive to repair."

Though Deb and I will spend more time on the hook than we do underway, (just like everyone else)I like the idea of a boat whose design parameters emphasize sea keeping and passage making. I'll give away a little floor space in the V-birth for a boat that doesn't pound or a knot of hull speed for a boat that is stable in the wind and waves. I like a cutter rig but would do away with a bowsprit, though I like the way Nomad looks with hers. Still, one often pays for the length of the bowsprit when at the dock, so why not have that length in the water? And I always wondered as the wisdom of having a rigging load tied to the boat at or near the waterline and right at the bow.

Even though I sill would like a Cat, I often ponder the issues that come with not being able to track well to windward. (Unless you get one with boards.) Deb and I plan on making the East Coast home. Going to windward would seem to be the task at hand at least half the time. Something to consider with various mono-hulls as well.

Cockpit locations no longer matter much, though a completely open transom seems a poor idea on a cruising boat. I have become fond of twin helms.

Separate shower stall (with overhead hatch please) is close to a deal breaker. Water maker, probably. Big fridge, not really but a little ice maker would be nice. And make mine a close to being energy independent as we can get, solar and wind.

And make it sooner rather than later.