# First Boat



## cavediver (Feb 12, 2015)

Hi, I'm William. I live in Marianna, Fl and I moved out this past september and will be buying a sailboat. The basic plan with the boat is to anchor it in a cove and do any work myself. Even though I'm only nineteen I have always associated any thing that I wanted to do with at least 80% of it being work. That's why I'm cave diving also I learned to sail on a 1987 Island Packet 38. 
The boat I'm considreing is a 1976 Clark san juan 24. The interior as far as any fabric and foam will be gutted as to help prevent mold and mildew after I kill it all. Any thoughts?


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## bljones (Oct 13, 2008)

Dude, welcome to sailnet. Congrats on wanting to become one of us.
looking ast your choice of boat and your question, I have one question in return:
do you have any plan, desire,or hope to, or dream of, getting laid anytime soon?

if so, find a boat with standing headroom, a separate head, that doesn't smell bad, and that doesn't look homeless occupied. save for two more months and buy better.


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## cavediver (Feb 12, 2015)

Bljones, The answer to your question is no, I don't think I'll get laid anytime soon, I don't have a girlfriend either. I have right now a fourteen foot lake boat and I plan on selling that and putting money away this summer for the boat and equipment. I really what a solid no thrills simple realivily seaworthy boat for the opps times. And if the cabin can carry my sidemount tanks or a set of doubles without taking up much space that's cool.


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## SHNOOL (Jun 7, 2007)

Hmmm... bl, that's pretty out of character for you.
For the record the San Jaun is a helluva starter keelboat, you'll learn a lot, and welcome.

As for the question of "getting laid" in such a small boat. All I'll say is my Capri 25 was anything but my definition of "comfy" down below... barely sitting room below. Wife had NO WORRIES about, um sleeping below. There is just something about sailboats.


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## cavediver (Feb 12, 2015)

Shnool, what makes the san juan a good starter boat? I saw it and thought the smallish cotpit would be good for when I'm 10 miles off the beach and I can see bad weather coming. Also it the only boat that I can afford within 500 miles that has sails.


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## gedaggett (Oct 21, 2008)

cavediver said:


> Shnool, what makes the san juan a good starter boat? I saw it and thought the smallish cotpit would be good for when I'm 10 miles off the beach and I can see bad weather coming. Also it the only boat that I can afford within 500 miles that has sails.


The San Jaun 24 is a good boat for what it was designed for. As with any boat it has a purpose behind the design. The San Jaun 24 was a boat designed to take advantage of the racing rules at the time it was build. The build quality is average but that is not a bad thing. At 24 feet any boat with a fin keel and medium displacement is going to have off shore limits. So long as you stay within those limits you are fine. You should talk to current and former SJ24 owners to get more specifics on that. 
From a couple people I talked to when I was considering a SJ24 that was here in Chicago the boat tends to have some weather helm and if you are running you will likely be working the tiler constantly as she will feel little like she is on ice with rear wheel drive. 
Other than that she is a good first boat and able to be single handed if set up for it. If the deck and hull are in good shape she could be a nice first boat.


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## MysticWind (Sep 27, 2003)

Cavediver, not sure what price range you can afford but there is a C&C 27 sailboat on the Panama City Craigslist for $2500 that looks pretty decent. You might take a look at that also.


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## SHNOOL (Jun 7, 2007)

SJ24 is a pretty stable, average built boat... the fin keel will provide a pretty stable ride and the performance is also better than other 24s of the same vintage. Yes the SJ suffers some from the IOR rules, but luckily isn't an extreme IOR rule beater type boat.

Many like to tout the great starter boat as the Catalina 22... it too has too little cockpit and more cabin than is useable for such a small boat. The real advantage of the 22 is it's ease of trailering. If trailering isn't your thing, than I submit many production keel boats, preferably fin keel, will provide a stable forgiving sailing platform that many of the lighter trailerables done... again subject to water depth and ability to sail off a slip versus a trailer.

I personally have offered up the Capri 22 as the ultimate starter boat. It has very little cabin, but a huge cockpit of almost 9 feet. It has all the grown-up sail controls, in a tiny package. They also made a standard rig, a tall, a fin, and a wing design. So depening on what your immediate needs are there is a version that works best... some don't have water problems, so the fin is good. Some need to trailer so the wing is good. Some have mostly light air and the tall rig is better.

My point is, given some parameters, the SJ, a pretty common keelboat, will have a huge following, and many people who can help point out the strong points and how to get the most out of the boat. Also with a bunch of people still sailing them, finding parts should generally be easier, and asking questions on how to maintain the boat and what problem areas to focus on should also be easy.

Now focusing back on the OP, keep in mind maintaining these older boats comes with an lot of extra expenses. Don't expect a 1976 sailboat to be up to off-shore work (and it doesnt' sound like you do) from day 1. Much of the rigging on these boats require, not only labor, but also $$ to get you up and running safely. That includes necessary safety gear.

PS: If that C&C is available it'd be way more boat if the OP is attempting to spend much time off shore. Didn't we have another person wanting to get AN SJ 24 and sail around the world. Ah yes Rimas! Sailing around the world in a San Juan 24 - Sailing Anarchy - Sailing Anarchy Forums To the OP keep your expectations of a 40yo sailboat, er, um reasonable. The fact that poor Rimas is still alive is a miracle of epic proportions.


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## Mr. Bubs (Aug 21, 2013)

You could drift around the world... Rimas Adrift


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## bljones (Oct 13, 2008)

SHNOOL said:


> Hmmm... bl, that's pretty out of character for you.
> For the record the San Jaun is a helluva starter keelboat, you'll learn a lot, and welcome.
> 
> As for the question of "getting laid" in such a small boat. All I'll say is my Capri 25 was anything but my definition of "comfy" down below... barely sitting room below. Wife had NO WORRIES about, um sleeping below. There is just something about sailboats.


My point was that there are better boats out there, especially in today's marketplace, than a boat that needs to have the interior stripped out to deal with a mold issue that is indicative of bigger issues, like core rot, leaks, etc. Once all the soft goods have been pulled from the cabin, it is decidedly uncozy. even jail cells have mattresses and blankets.

Also, if the goal is to anchor out while doing all this work, the more derelict the boat looks, the more likely it is that there will be grief and harassment coming.


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## cavediver (Feb 12, 2015)

bljones said:


> My point was that there are better boats out there, especially in today's marketplace, than a boat that needs to have the interior stripped out to deal with a mold issue that is indicative of bigger issues, like core rot, leaks, etc. Once all the soft goods have been pulled from the cabin, it is decidedly uncozy. even jail cells have mattresses and blankets.
> 
> Also, if the goal is to anchor out while doing all this work, the more derelict the boat looks, the more likely it is that there will be grief and harassment coming.


The reason that I assumed that I would need to pull out the foam at least is that the first boat I ever used was a 21' center console. The aft bilge had a very bad mildew problem that took two months to fix and lots of time down in that little hell hole. Also I have only seen pictures of the outside of it and I'm keeping my options open. Just wanted to get some insight.


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## bljones (Oct 13, 2008)

Keep looking. There are better boats.


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## johnshasteen (Aug 9, 2002)

What boat you choose should depend on where you plan to sail - we sail mostly offshore and with just a crew of two, so, our Bristol 29.9 (third boat for us) was a good choice for us.
Stay with a sloop for your first boat - a cutter has too many sails to worry about.


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## gamayun (Aug 20, 2009)

Welcome William. I used to cave dive in your neck of the woods back in the 90s. Now I sail and dive my boat. All great endeavors. 

Which cove do you plan to anchor in? Are you thinking of living in the boat or just using it as a daysailor? These might affect your choices in the type of boat you get, but at this stage, just get something that is sturdy and has good rigging/sails, then sail the hell out of it. You'll more than likely have other opportunities for better boats in the future. Just make sure whatever you get has good bones. There are a lot of good ones out there in the 20-24-ft range. As to mold, it can exist behind the floorboards and headliner, so throwing out the cushions can eliminate the worst of the smell, but it probably won't eliminate it entirely.


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## aa3jy (Jul 23, 2006)

Same here still stick my nose in those springs of north Fla. and Cenotes of Mexico...


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