# J30( is it a good Cruiser)



## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Hi am thinking of geting a j30 for me and my wife. I am going to be crusing most of the time. I live in the caribean.Is J30 a good cruiser or some one have anothersugestion. I want a fast and performance cruiser so I can race her once in a while. Also does enyon Knows if ot is posible to instal a smal electric generator and a AC in ti. is ther roo n the boat for that. the caribbean is way hot and my wife wont put a foot on it unles she have ac and a tv for the nights


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## Cruisingdad (Jul 21, 2006)

Rfagu,

I have raced a 30. Fun boats, a lot of fun to sail. I always enjoy crewing on one as I will never own one because I do not think it is worth a crap as a liveaboard cruiser... especially for the islands. If you think your wife does not like the AC piece, wait until she gets stuck in that stripped down Corvette. 

Performance cruiser? What's your budget!!? Yes, there are performance cruisers but they ain't cheap. I think I would just get a Catalina so me and my wife were happy and comfortable 99.9% of the time and only race in races where they allow handicaps. Once you get all your crap on any boat you will never win any races anyways as the wateline will be just below the gunnels!! There are performance cruisers... but I will not go there. I do not believe in them as I think the two are mutually exclusive (OH LORD ISN"T THAT GOING TO GET ME SOME NASTY REPLIES). Just because it is a cruiser does not mean it has to be a slug... but many are. But a race boat as a cruiser... well, not me. I have been there. Nope, not me.

I think you need to ask yourself which one is more important to you: racing in a race with no handicaps where you have a chance to win, or living aboard and cruising comfortably on a boat where you and your wife will be comfortable and you will not be thrown overboard while facing a mutiny. Peronally, I chose the later as I can only tread water for just so long.

- CD


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## Giulietta (Nov 14, 2006)

Cruisingdad said:


> Rfagu,
> 
> I have raced a 30. Fun boats, a lot of fun to sail. I always enjoy crewing on one as I will never own one because I do not think it is worth a crap as a liveaboard cruiser... especially for the islands. If you think your wife does not like the AC piece, wait until she gets stuck in that stripped down Corvette.
> 
> ...


Rfagu, he's right, but look at the ones I mentioned.....


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

"There are performance cruisers... but I will not go there. I do not believe in them as I think the two are mutually exclusive "

CD, sorry to disappoint but, I haven't had my nasty pills yet. <G>

If you build a 40' boat with berths for eight and tankage and all and two heads....I'd argue that's a cruiser. Make a few different design choices in the same hull, like four berths and one head and half the tankage, and it might be a performance cruiser. You just need to make the compromises toward speed rather than payload or stowage. Take out the "Moorings" granite countertops and deluxe oven, use honeycomb instead of solids...I could see ways to emphasize performance without making a boat unsuitable for cruising.

You, you've chosen to carry your wife on board. That kind puts you out of "performance" mode and solidly into "cruising" right there, doesn't it? <gd&r>


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## Cruisingdad (Jul 21, 2006)

I am not saying you cannot get a performance cruiser. How about an X? THere are others. I don't want a slug in the water, but the mindset of a cruiser has to be:

1) Safety, 2) Liveability, 3) Access to equipment, 4) Ability to put on equipment/gear, 5) Performance.

In that order, in my book.

Now, for a racer:

1) Safety (first or second, depending on whether we are talking offshore or beer cans), 2) Performance, 3) Ability to put on equipment/gear, 4) Access to equipment/gear, 5) Liveability.

How do you rank the performance cruiser? Where is the compromise? There are compromises, in every boat. 

Unless you have a lot of money and want to design your own boat (Giu's, for example), go get a fat, comfortable, kick your feet out in the cockpit and grill hanging over the side cruiser. Pull a bloody racing dink behind you to get your speed fix. Keep the wife happy and you will be happier too. The whole racing boat for a cruiser thing sounds great at the docks and weekend cruising... but long term liveaboard (especially in the islands)... NO THANK YOU. I give you a month before you are shopping for a new boat or giving up cruising as too uncomfortable, or no fun, or too cramped, or blah, blah, blah...

- CD

PS Giu, I raced against a first 32 on my catalina 320 and beat him. Now you are going to say the bene did not know how to race!? (probably too because I don't either!!) Spilt my beer, busted a crystal glass going over, gave up racing on my own boat. Nah. When I get that very rare bug up my butt to race, I go crew on a buddy's J92. After the race is over, they all come over to my boat to drink as he even pulled out his bloody cushions as too much weight?*%!#! Whatever. Not my boat.


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

CD-
I'd argue that your fifth criteria, Performance, is a misnomer. Actually, "performance" can be defined as all of the other four criteria, so it is the first thing, not the last thing, on your list!

I never had any interest in racing until someone said "There's a great steakhouse but we don't have charts, if we can get in there while there's still daylight..." and I began to look at how to make boats go faster.<G>

"Keep the wife happy and you will be happier too." Ah, well, how many wives really want their men to be messing around with boats at all?<VBG>

So, in my cruiser's mindset (I'm built for comfort not for speed, as they say), I'd read your cruising criteria this way:

1) Safety.
In the outright cruiser? Maybe dual or triple redundancy and huge capacity for everything. In the "performance cruiser" ? All the same safety gear, just scaled down from Nuclear War to what I'm more likely to experience, and curtailed according to what I can avoid. Skip the forward battery and power windlass, take two anchors instead of three, now the bow is lighter and the boat will be faster and more comfortable in seas. Is it any less safe? Well, that's a subjective choice.

2) Liveability, 
One head instead of two?<G> One Korean butane burner and meals-in-one can probably keep me happy for a long time and knock another 100# of metal out of the galley. And, I don't need a blender, I'll buy "blender drinks" at a bar if I need them. A good peanutbutter jar makes a great cocktail shaker. Does that mean I'm slumming it? Probably.<G>

3) Access to equipment, 
Who cares about access, that's what the servants have to deal with. No, really.<G> If you want access, I suppose that means buy the bigger longer boat, which will be faster (performance) and load it lightly for good access.

4) Ability to put on equipment/gear,
Are we talking about a Targa bar here?<G> Then again, I also love being dry under a bimini in the rain, but in these northern waters, running "furniture" all over the cockpit just seems like a blasted impediment to me. I've got a hat and hood if it rains or shines.

5) Performance.
See? That's a part of everything you thought wasn't about performance! Now, did you want these JATO bottles installed on the pushpit, or the targa bar?


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## Cruisingdad (Jul 21, 2006)

Dear Hello,

I have to admit. You are right. I succumb to your wit and wisdom. After reading such, I am now ready to recceomend he immediately put in his bid on the following boat:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/cust...4QQihZ019QQcategoryZ63730QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Of course, he will have to fight off Labatt... but hey, I love a good fight, and with that extra-long mast sticking off the front, he can finish the race before he starts... not to mention have an escape when his wife kicks his butt off the boat and begins shooting flares at him. Hell, this might be a lot of fun. Me and the kids will sit back on our un-performance Catalina and mixed drinks and watch the action unfold like the old outdoor movie theaters.

You can come along if you want...

(SMILE HELLO, TRYING TO MAKE YOU LAUGH)


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## PBzeer (Nov 11, 2002)

There's one thing missing from this equation though. No boat is going to be faster than the skipper can sail it. So, basically, unless you're doing one design, it's the skipper that sails his boat to it's maximum potential that will win (in handicap racing at least).

For me, living on my boat, if I just gotta race, I'd rather race a cruiser than live on a racer. That concept isn't too simple is it? <G>


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## PBzeer (Nov 11, 2002)

That's no mast, that's a bow sprit. Sheessshhhhh.


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

CD-
I'm EPA-licensed to metabolize mixed drinks. Easy to make me smile.<G>


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## Cruisingdad (Jul 21, 2006)

PB,

You have not studied the architectual diagrams and history of the vessel. It is not a bow sprit. It is a mast. Let me give you the history lesson:

In the early 1800s the skippers of the Macgregors placed their masts off the front of the boat such that when the vessel climbed up an extremely steep wave, they could thrown out another head sail from the Bow-Mast and make extra headway. This mast is often mistaken by less knowledgeable sailors as a bow sprit. It is a commong missconception amongst the confused and ignorant.

Now, would you like me to give you the complet history of global warming too?

- CD

Surrender PB. I am right. You are wrong... and which side are you on anyways?


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## Cruisingdad (Jul 21, 2006)

Oh yeah, and Rfagu, just in case you are still there and have not quit sailnet completely,

No, the j30 is not a good choice for a cruiser... a bruiser, maybe, not a cruiser.


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## PBzeer (Nov 11, 2002)

I'm on my side....of course!


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Thanks for your reply. I was having some doubt about the j30.You guys are correct I am trying on converting a race boat into a cruiser use to own a Dufour 42 , 1978. Great boat under heavy weather but in mile wind kind of slow. I am wiling to pay on a new boat around 20k to 30k. What boat you suggest fast cruiser.


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## soul searcher (Jun 28, 2006)

the one with the longest water line you can find for that amount.

there is no substitute for cubic inches


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## Cruisingdad (Jul 21, 2006)

Rfagu,

I really don't see you getting a real performance cruiser at that price. Maybe an old first series (Bene) or a catalina. Can you get an od 36 for that (Catalina)? I have not looked. Others may know better.

- CD


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

CD-
I'd have to agree with you. In my mind "performance cruiser" requires a good set of sails on the boat, not the ten year old bedsheets commonly found in that price range. (Simply because good sails cost money, darn it!)


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

I know that for that amount is going to be hard. I am going to jump to the 80 to 100 k league. But a I going to have to wait a year more or less. Until these I will envy all of you. I will have to saty on shore with my feets dry until then. 
Thanx for your Coments. 
I would make a terrible mistake geting a j30 that I would not be satified.


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## Cruisingdad (Jul 21, 2006)

You are MUCH better off getting into that price range and buying a boat that will actually cost you less in the long run, keep you safer, and make you more comfortable. Don't go buy a slug. A motosailor is not for you. But forget this whole I want to go fast in my cruising boat idea. I have been there. Just enjoy the scenery and haul a dink behind you that you can haul out on. It is so damned shallow over there anyways you will have a lot more fun. 

- CD

Catalina, Beneteau, Jeauneau. Good boats. Cheap. All three will serve you well for that use.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Sunsail are seling a few jeauneau 36, 2002 for a very good price under 80k.Would you buy a boat that has been charter? I think that for the correct sum of money I will.


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## Cruisingdad (Jul 21, 2006)

No, I would not buy one. i have heard both sides of the story. Some say it is ok, others say not.

You are better off waiting and looking for a cruising boat that has had liveaboards that just returned and are selling. You will get mostly gear that works, a boat that has been well taken care of, and is obviously capable. 

If you are going to take out a loan on the boat, you may be better of with a final note in excess of 100k. That is the break point for a 20 yr note and lower interest rates. Why? Don't ask me. I have never understood it. But a 100k note will cost you less/month than a 99k note.

If you are paying cash, sit back and wait for the right boat. Get a broker that is knowledgeable. I like using brokers (that are knowledgeable). Where are you located?


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## sailortjk1 (Dec 20, 2005)

Personally, I would not buy a boat that has been in the charter business.
Thats just me. They are probably very well and proffesionally maintained, but yet the interiors have most likely been abused by customers who don't care about the boat.

We can debate this subject just like every other subject on these threads for days, and you will get about ten different opinions.

For me, I looked for a slightly used boat. The search took a couple of years, but for me was worth it. Be patient, don't rush into any decisions.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

I live in Orlando but going back to my home town in Puerto Rico. I know I can get a good boat down there if I calm my ansiety to it. A lot o people buy them and their wife hated it and they dont use them. They will pay you to get them of their hands. A friend of mine bougth a Dufour 37 2004 or 2005 for les than 80k.I am just ready to go sailing . 
Thanx for all your help. Whenever I am ready to buy and find a boat I will let you guys know to hear your perspective, because you have really opend my eyes.


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## Cruisingdad (Jul 21, 2006)

Let me know. I will help in any way I can.

- CD


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## rtbates (Jan 30, 2007)

NO. They are race boats pure and simple. Yea, sure you could cruise on one but why would you want to, unless it was the only boat available. The only J30 I've been on had no standing headroom and you couldn't get it the heave to if your life depended on it. AND off shore it just might!. It's like saying, " does a 2'x6' walk in closet make a good bedroom?"


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