TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands looking for a smallish mono for bareboat

Linda and I are looking to go down round June. Looking for a 30ish, maybe 40 boat to charter on a 10-14 day trip. Normally we would stick with the yacht we have (Bavaria 46Vision) but not needed for the two of us as it is now in ANNP, MD. Considering the one we did last time...Limin' Time from Horizon Yacht Charter, which we were happy with, and the company was very good. NOT interested in a Jeanneu from Moorings. What other means/ways are there for an Interesting options?

HiYa-robert

Conch charters usually has some smaller monohull at very good price points.
G

Thats the first place we went---20+ years ago. I actually loved troubleshooting the issues. Maybe that has changed. I'll check out the current fleet. Price is not the issue, just practicality/fun/interesting. Think small Morris/mini Swan,Mini Oyster. Something different!

In looking at Conch...too budget. All we really need is a FANTASTIC sail, 1 head, 1+ berth. AN experience of a boat. Something really different.

Hi,

we do same type of charter, wife and I. We like the Island Packets at Island Yachts in Red Hook, St Thomas. When just the two of us we ususally go with the 37. We have also sailed the 44 with two.

Always very nice , well taken care of, but sometimes older boats. Always good service and provisioning is easy for us at Moes across the street from the Marina.

Mark

If you’re looking for a fast sailing vessel you can’t go wrong with a Jeaneau or Benetau, they’re fast, go to weather well and turn on a dime and have ample water tanks.
For Caribbean sailing sailing you don’t require a heavy displacement ocean sailing yacht.
Maneuverability and simplicity is the ticket.

Horizon has a few Barvaia models - I think they have the 41 Vision? Maybe cruiser? with a generator, AC, and electric heads. This kind of stuff we don't sail without anymore!

They have smaller ones too - and it sounds like you don't need AC so maybe they are a better fit!

We very much enjoy sailing the jeanneau 36i's out of Conch Charters......great condition...and we actually sail all of the passages, and use the engine mostly to pick up moorings and charge the batteries. The also have a very nice beneteau 37, and a smaller sloop about a 32 ft.

There are only Erica and I, not large mass of people on board.

For us Conch has been excellent, super neat staff, family run, very helpful, make friends, and well found, well taken care of boats.

Next door is the PUB, for grub and grog, and Riteway is just up the road for provisions. We use their dock wheel barrows and also get early boarding
the afternoon at 4:30 pm. before our departure the next day.. All our provisions are stowed as soon as we return to the vessel.

At that time , we also go thru the vessel inventory and do our own systems checks, and inspect rigging, sails, reefing, pumps, electrical, engine room, etc, before
the official staff systems check out the next day. We are ready to get out of the docks and on our way to our first destination and the Willy T about noon.

The last trip may 2019 was # 17. Most of those were with the moorings and sunsail, the last three with conch. We like the personal friendliness and private
owned business attitude over the mega corporations.

Personal choice.

Have a pain killer or two for us.

Denny and Erica

We have a Jeanneau 380 and a Beneteau 38.1. Both are nice little boats at CYOA.

+1 for the recommendation of Island Yachts out of Redhook. Very nice dealing with their owners Skip and Andrea King. Boats are well maintained, sail nice and we love the shallow draft and the cutter rig. The IP 37 is perfect for a couple. And self-provisioning at Moe’s couldn’t be easier. Great selection and very good deli. Liquor at good prices upstairs. Roll the shopping cart right onto the dock. We always start and end our charters with a meal and drinks at Duffy’s Love Shack. Best “parking lot” bar we have found. Wish I was sucking down a Lime in ‘de Coconut right now.

Agree with Bertman We have excellent experiences with both CYOA and Island Yachts - chartered with both on numerous occasions - really like being STT based - we're often on the boat within an hour of landing.

One more thing about Island Yachts’ boats....they all have solar panels which, if you manage your power usage judiciously, means you’ll rarely have to run your engine to top up your batteries. On our last 13 day charter in Nov/Dec, we only had to run the engine one time specifically to charge the batteries. Otherwise the solar panels, combined with running the engine to enter and exit an anchorage, provided all the energy we needed to maintain the house batteries. It is a sweet treat not having to run your engine twice a day at anchor.

Bertman,

Sail 445 is right, the island packet (island piglets as some say) are slow, maybe much slower than the kind of boat hallucination was asking about. But when just the 2 of us , I 100% agree with your experience at IYC. We roll the shopping cart right to the boat too. We plan to be there next week.

If you are wanting to start from St. Thomas, Jay is right — those 38’s are a friggin blast to sail. BVI Yacht Charters has a couple of them too - they also have the 35.

We chartered a Beneteau 38.1 (Always Sunny) out of CYOA in June 2018. We were a crew of 4 and it was a great boat for us.
Cheers.

I would also recommend the Island Packet 37. We have sailed it as well as their 44 pre-Irma in the US/British and SVI. Great sailing boats and very high quality. Others have commented on their lack of speed, but Skip from IYC races them periodically and does well if I remember my conversations with him correctly. From personal experience, they are great to weather.

Thanks for all the input. Agree the IPs are very stable, but they sail ....meh... We had a yacht from Island Yachts and I was pretty peeved that the "owners panel" was disconnected. I didn't care too much about radar/water maker off, but even the GPS was suspended.one of the two compasses locked up, so ONE compass was the ONLY form of NAV.
I'thinking Morris, Oysters/Swans are too big, custom, something different, not a plastic fantastic. maybe wood?
If not, we will default to Limin'Time which we have sailed before from HYC.

Small, upscale, available for charter... I don't think you will find many boats that meet all three.

Agree, nothings but basics in my hunt.