Probably a Dumb Question...

[Peterw11]

Think about your eventual plans for a boat. Are you going to be alone most of the time, bring kids or wife along?

Are you just cruising for fun, or looking to race?

Save your money, eliminate the baby steps, and buy for that eventuality.

If you can sail a 10 footer, you can sail a 14, or a 17.

That's what makes the DS such a great boat, it's big enough, but not too big. Some people buy one to start with and then move up. And many start with one and keep it forever.

After getting banged around on a smaller boat a few times, you'd probably be looking for a bigger one anyway.

[johncharmon]

All good points besides buying a trailer for it would bump me up around the price of something bigger anyway. One problem that recently came to mind is it has to fit inside my 20' garage or I'll have to rent storage space, so that really limits what I can buy at this point. I will be the only one sailing in it and I'm just looking for something fun to do on the days when it's too windy to kayak. I'm fairly small at 67" and 150 lbs and have a some experience sailing a 14' Turbo Hobie Cat several years back. The laser mentioned earlier really looks nice--all I would need is a wetsuit! Wouldn't be much fun in the winter though.

[Baysailer]

John,

Obviously we're going to be DS biased around here but put a small list of charactaristics then search for boats that fit your needs. Based on your earlier posts you're newly (or getting back into) sailing, fairly small sized, sail mostly alone (but always want to leave the option of bringing family along), will be sailing mostly in central florida, must fit inside 20' garage with trailer, and of course cost and availablility always come into play.

With those suppositions I'd say you want to stay in the 14' - 17' range with a boat that is stable and easy to set up with simple controls. I'd see a good list to include Lido's, Blue Jays, Javelins, DaySailers, Albacores, Wayfarers and others.

Here's a link from a guy who went through a lot of what you are now and it has intros for a lot of classes. From there you can go to the class websites your interested in.

http://www.ruach.net/Dinghy.html

Baysailer

[K.C. Walker]

...has to fit inside my 20' garage... looking for something fun to do on the days when it's too windy to kayak.... experience sailing a 14' Turbo Hobie Cat.... The laser mentioned earlier really looks nice--all I would need is a wetsuit! .

It seems to me like you should consider a windsurfer, especially if you're looking for something to do on days that are too windy to kayak.

KC

[johncharmon]

Windsurfing is just too much work. Been there, done that when I lived in Kansas. I'm still partial to the DS too and just measured my garage and it is actually 19' 6". Will a DS and trailer fit inside there? Price isn't that much of a consideration as long as I can get most of my money back when I sell it.

[GreenLake]

The DS is 16'9", so you have 2'9" for the trailer tongue to extend forward of the boat until you hit 19'6".

If you get a keel-stepped mast, that would be 25' and therefore be tough to fit, except diagonally. A deck-stepped mast (or a cut mast) would be shorter.

The DS is 6' 3" wide; if your garage is wider, you might be able to park the trailer at some slight angle, and thus increase the total length that can fit. (You might gain an additional 6-8" if your garage is at least 10' wide)

[Alan]

My mast is stepped to a tabernacle. The mast itself (not counting the stub that goes from the cuddy floor through the cuddy roof) measures 21 feet 11 inches from the base to the top of the masthead.

[Alan]

And, just to clarify, I have the cut mast that GreenLake referred to above.