WHY I CREATED THIS GUIDE
I wanted a sailboat so bad it hurt!!! There was little else I could think of while searching for a boat big enough to sleep my whole family of 4, yet small enough to fit in my garage. I searched the internet and found very little data on what boats had been produced that could fit this need. After a while my spreadsheet was getting bigger and bigger, then by accident I stumbled upon a Vagabond 17 just passing time in total neglect at a local marina. I contacted the owner and was able to purchase it for a very reasonable price becuase he was paying dry dock fees and it was more of a burden than what it was worth to him. Another reason he sold it to me was because he has many friends that own much larger boats that are moored so any weekend he wanted to go sailing, all he had to do was purchase a case of beer and call around to see who was going out that weekend.

I had never heard of a Vagabond 17 even though I had searched the internet high and low. Then I started seeing other boats that had no representation on the internet or were buried so deep in the search engines that it would be all but impossible to find it without someone telling you it was there. So, I decided to publish my spreadsheet for others to see, and help them in their quest to seek out boats in the same size range.

The reason I update it so frequently is because I just love looking at pictures and websites about these boats.

FIBERGLASS (OR STEEL) PRODUCTION SAILBOATS
I have 2 main resons for not listing wood & homemade boats:
1 - There are "builders" and there are "sailors". There are also many hybrids inbetween, but for most the division is very significant. There are many great resources currently on the internet for home built boats, my personal favorite is DuckWorksMagazine.com which has weekly articles, columns, and a huge boat design index.
2 - Wood doesn't last as long as fiberglass, especially if neglected. Don't get me wrong, I love plywood boats, have built them and plan on building many others - it is just that I prefer to catalog the production fiberglass boats which can be found sitting in total neglect and be plausable for the average person to restore to a usable state.

CABIN WITH DOOR OR DROP BOARDS
You can call me bashfull, but when mother nature calls, I like to answer in privacy. If I am out boating with someone else, then a cabin I can go into to use the can is an absolute must. If I am by myself, I still need a cabin because the bass boats come from everywhere with no warning and the last thing I want to do is show everyone my behind.

LESS THAN 20' LONG
I have a 2 car garage, and the biggest boat I can sneak in there is 20' long, which is actually about 23' after you add the motor mount, bow roller, winch and hinged tounge. Besides the monthly savings from not having to pay for a slip I can visit my boat anytime I want, tinker with modifications or additions without having to leave my man-cave, and there are so many places to go boating I wouldn't want to pick just one to leave my boat at. The best reason is that I can stock my boat the week before so on a weekend I am going boating I just get up on Saturday and go. Why don't I just put it in the side yard? I and many others am not allowed to because of community covenant restrictions. Some restrictions state that you can store a boat in the side yard, but it can't be above the fence height of 6'.
NOTE: since the original writing of this, I have moved to a house without the same restrictions and now keep my boats in the side yard behind a large opening gate.

LESS THAN 8' WIDE
I think that is the limit to how wide a load can be pulled down the highway without a special "Wide Load" lead and follow vehicle.

LESS THAN 2000 POUNDS
I am a MAN, I drive a minivan and proud of it! My car manual says that my towing limit is 3000 lbs, but many people have told me it is more like 2000 lb before surger brakes would be required - and is a similar limit to many cars. If I could afford to purchase a spare vehicle just for towing a boat, I could probably afford many other things including a 25' x 60' garage to store a bunch of small sailboats.


Back to guide

---

Copyright © 2001 David Routh, All Rights Reserved

Home - Email - Catalog