Investigator 563 or sunmaid 20?

[lmz]

Hi all,
Being French I used to (cruise) sail on 35feet yacht in Marseilles. I know realise how easy this was (no tides, current, sandbank, heavy rain, mudflats....).

Anyway, I miss sailing and I would like to introduce my kids (6,8) to sailing including spending 1-3 nights onboard. Not looking at racing, just making sure they are not scared and making it home safe and sound even if the weather gets nasty in the bay.

Looking at: Investigator 563 for around $7k good cond, Sunmaid 20 $12k very good cond, Catalina 22 $11k.

Probably off street parking...

Your words of wisdom (and experience) would be greatly appreciated!

Also need a boat easy to rig (by myself!)
Laurent

[Ozzie]

Welcome mate. The investigator will fit your needs well . It is a safe stable vessel easily handled and the front v berth is really more suited to two children even though it's marketed as a four berth TS. Unless you plan to sail very regularly $7k is a reasonable investment and allows you to stll spend a bit customizing it to you own comforts and stll be under the price of the next one up on your list.

God luck , someone may be close enough to give you a demo.

[Yara50]

Welcome Laurent
The first question we need to ask is what is the towing capacity of your tow vehicle.? For a Sunmaid you will need 1.8 t +. To be honest, if I didn't already have an Investigator 563, and had a bigger car, I would go for the biggest boat of the same type that I could tow.

[lmz]

Thanks guys,

We are tall family (I am 6ft2, wife tall but kids are kids size!) so I wonder about size of adult sleeping?

My car is a Pajero 4x4 so I assumed it can tow the sunmaid...

Also the sunmaid is set for cruising but the Investigator does not have ice box, sink, kitchenette... Also Investigator on single axle trailer so easy to launch.

Also don't know if you can sit 4 people in cockpit area of Investigator?

As well , I wonder which boat will retain its value the best???

Decisions decisions....

[lmz]

Forgot to add: I am already liking this forum a lot

[Yara50]

Investigator- easy to launch, tow, mast slightly lighter to raise.

Cockpit size- Most boats seem to have the same size cockpit. IMHO 3 people is the comfort limit. Take a look at the pic of Wagtail #72 here: http://www.investigator563.com/forum/vi ... p?f=5&t=87 I think I can see at least 5 people, if not 6 on board!

Resale value- Most boats are bargains at the moment, but you need to check out a few to get the right market price. In general the Sunmaids seem to fetch about $3k more than an Investigator 563.

Cruising. Easy to set up a stove on I563. Pics on this site. Sink is a bowl. We have Portapotti behind a blind for privacy, but it would be a squeeze for you. PP can also be placed in cockpit for the night. We have an icebox (esky in Oz) in cockpit locker. The Sunmaid would obviously be better for extended cruising.

Whatever you buy, condition of boat and trailer is most important.
Good luck!
BTW- I am biased, but I dont like heavy moving keels, so the Catalina would not be my choice.

[Ozzie]

Laurent , the front berths are 180, fine for kids but the rear are only 183 . It is possible to extend the quarter berths into the cockpit lockers for more length . A job I have been going to do on my side for a few years . The main reson I keep putting it off is all my electrics are located there.

There is a thred on here and pics of a boat modified as such . You add an extra ply bulkhead and top on the locker and cut out the existing to poke your feet through.

I have raised my mast once on the water with shear grunt and it can be done . I'm 57 and have a crook back. Took me a week to recover . For a young , fit, strong bloke ....buy a 'Mastmate' , life's too short to bugger your back!.

Ian B knows more about this ,but apparently some 563 s come with a lightweight tapered mast. Maybe your potential boat has one..

[kevwr400]

Hi and welcome, at 6,2” you will struggle, What Ian said is correct, buy as large as you can tow, a tall family will need space (happy wife happy life). Be prepared to spend a little longer at the ramp for setup and knock down with a larger boat. A Pajero should tow 2.5 tonne, so that opens you up to lots of boats around and under 12k.
Aquarius 23 (my Favourite)
Space sailor 20
Mariner 19 (Rare)
All of these are ballasted hull and all these boats have excellent sitting head room and long quarter berths. I didn’t like the sunmaid 20, beautiful lines but cabin to squishy, the investigator 563 and ultimate 18 have a more spacious fell to there cabins although the berths in the investigator are limited to 6” and the ultimate has fully weighted centre board (swing keel).
But if you decide on a investigator, you get a very sea worthy little yacht.

[Ozzie]

Here is a copy of a post I made on TSP a while ago.....


http://home.comcast.net/~vic-sitter/sit ... ng_System/

Interesting reading all these mast raising systems, so I googled the subject and hit 'images' and looked at what came up. I already have a long steel pole with a roller on the end that will fit down the winch post on the trailer, so this was similar to an idea I had only I thought of using water as the counterweight, pumped in with a hose at home or bucketed in at the ramp.

The idea is really the same as mast mate . Counterbalance the weight of the mast till it is negligible and then lift it yourself with all the control you need. Because I'm moored I have not had much impetus to develop this further but this guy seemed to be on the right track even though this is only a prototype. No sense in having to carry a 30kg counter weight though which is why I thought of water but then... why not use a portable heavy weight you already have ...a fuel tank with 10 liters of fuel . Then just add a little extra weight to counterbalance.

[Ozzie]

My original take on the above was to u bolt the upright to the winch post but now think I may put it in the jockey whel clamp . I have just fitted a large heavy duty fold back jockey wheel to my trailer that I bought second hand. As there is a lot of real estate on the drawbar I fitted it further back and left the original light duty welded on lamp in place. I have a long 2" steel pole that will fit this clamp so looks like it may get he roller off my other fittinge attached and we'll see how it all works. The best bit about this ideas is you can counter weight it to whatever level you want . Then single handed you quietly wander round and lift it at your leisure.