When you are looking for a cruising boat there are certain features/equipment that you need to look for. Now is still a great time to take a couple of years out and go cruising and wait for the economy to recover.

Does the layout inside suit you?
What condition are the sails in?
How old is the rigging?
Is the sail mainsheet arrangement suitable?
Is the engine in good condition?
Does it have a cabin heater?
Is its gear in good condition?
What’s it range under power?
How large are the water tanks?
Does it have a wind generator, solar panels?
What’s the navigation equipment like?
Does it have a life raft that’s in service?

If I was looking for a Blue water cruiser or long distance cruising boat I would choose great sea keeping ability over its accommodation layout, plus it needs to be able to do fast passages.

But depending upon what type of cruising you are going to be doing you are going to be living aboard for extended periods of time. There are so many different types of boats to choose form and its always a compromise between sailing ability and accommodation.

Does the layout inside suit you?
Are the berths long or large enough, plus does it have good sea berths whilst you’re doing long passages. Will you be having guests onboard as well as in harbour and on passage?

What condition are the sails in?
If the sails are old, they’ll still make great spares, so choose new ones that will give you more speed and repair and store the old ones as they’ll still get you out of trouble if need be.

How old is the rigging?
If the rigging is older than 10 years old it will need to be replaced for insurance purposes. There are companies that will do a dye test to check for damage areas.

Is the sail mainsheet arrangement suitable?
Is the boat easy to reef and does it suit your capabilities in bad weather? Some people choose a main sheet arrangement that does not interfere with the cockpit area, more room for parties.

Is the engine in good condition?
If the engine is old it still might be in OK condition, or it can be taken out and reconditioned. Or you can always invest in a new engine, but where ever you are in the world you should be able, to get it repaired or install a new one later on.

Does it have a cabin heater?
We invested in a new Refleks diesel heater 10 years ago, the whole job cost £1,000 and we have worshipped the heater ever since. Its great not to rely on a heater that uses battery power, you can leave this heater on for weeks in cold weather and because of the chimney it circulates the air in the boat. Whatever type of heater you inherit or buy, its definitely worth having one that does not use shore power!

Is its gear in good condition?
Even if the gear is old, if its been well maintained and still working try it first until you really know what to upgrade it to. We have an old Hydrovane self steering unit, it’s really old and still works fine. Autopilots are invaluable, ensure you get a decent one capable of handling weather when it gets rough, but always do check them every so often when sailing and using one, just in case you need to alter the sails for weather helm.

What’s it range under power?
It always depends upon size of engine, fuel tanks and how much throttle you are using. For a rough estimation use a calculation of 10% of the HP in litres per hour.
Diesel cans can always be carried if you need more range. Our current boat does over 5 days constant motoring in tanks, plus we carry an extra day in containers. We also use our diesel for the heater so ensure you have a day tank for heater use.

How large are the water tanks?
Its amazing how little water you can survive on per day. We have a sea water tap in the galley sink only used when we are out at sea. This saves water consumption. We hold very little water (35 gallons in total) and it lasts us quite a while when we’re careful. We don’t have pressurised water so this reduces the water consumption dramatically. You can always buy flexible water containers that fit into the bilge, plus bottles of water are cheap to buy and available every where and very easy to fill once used.

Does it have a wind generator, solar panels?
Depend upon which latitude you are in whether the solar panels boost your batteries or not. Our wind generator is fantastic and really makes a huge difference to our battery power, when its blowing a gale the fridge freezes and all the lights are on, so ensure you can cut the power to your batteries or they will fry. Our solar panels have been great this year because we have had so much sunshine, they’re old generation ones now, 10 years old but still boost our batteries.

What’s the navigation equipment like?
Sometimes when the ships navigation equipment is old its a great excuse to start again and choose exactly what you want onboard. Chart plotters, radar all go obsolete so quickly these days and the price of all this equipment has come down in price quite a bit.

Does it have a life raft that’s in service?
The broker will advise whether the life raft is included in the sale. All the equipment included in the sale will be listed on the boat details, this acts as the boats inventory. You can lease life rafts as well.

12 meter Cat Lying with Boatshed Phuket $169,500
Vancouver 42 Lying with Boatshed Algarve €35,000
Moody 41 Lying with Boatshed Hamble £199,952
Bavaria Vision 40 Lying with Boatshed West Scotland £149,500
Steel Sloop 41 lying with Boatshed Bristol £55,000
Beneteau 40 Lying with Boatshed BVI $115,000
Aluminium, lifting keel sloop 41 lying with Boatshed Phuket €130,000
Classic sloop lying with Boatshed Hamble £39,999
Lagoon 410 lying with Boatshed Phuket $260,000
GRP sloop, 1997]lying with Boatshed Essex £79,950
fast cruiser lying with Boatshed Hamble £89,950
Colvic Victor 41 lyingt with Boatshed Dartmouth £55,000
Colvic Victor ketch lying with Boatshed Kent £62,000
Colvic Victor 40 Wheelhouse lying with Boatshed Torquay £65,000
Amber 40 2003 lying with Boatshed Poole £150,000
Cheoy Lee Midshipman 40 lying with Boatshed malta 1979 £49,500

We also have many Beneteau yachts and Jeanneau yachts that also make good cruising boats.

If you need any help, we are always happy to discuss each boat and your requirements to find your perfect cruising boat.