Pedestal to tiller conversion? And is a 25D a good choice?

[Amanda N]

My Dad and I bought a 25D in August and spent 38 days (broken down into a 28 day stretch and 10 day stretch) sailing her from Maine to North Carolina. We love Caper and had a ball on the trip—but we also didn’t plan to move on board permanently. We knew it would be one big trip and now that we have her in NC, we’ll mostly use her for daysails and weekend trips.

Others are right—it depends how much stuff and how many amenities you want on board. We were fine for the long trips, but not a day went by when we weren’t saying we brought too much stuff for the size of the boat. You’ll wind up stowing a lot in the quarter berth—don’t expect to sleep there. I’m 5’2 and fit just fine on the starboard side. At 6 feet, my dad felt a little cramped on the port side. The double pullout situation might work for a couple, but it takes up almost the entire space in the cabin, so it’s hard to move around if it’s out. All of that said, if you don’t care about bringing a lot of extra stuff and you’re able to re-provision fairly often so you don’t carry too much extra food, the boat has everything a bigger boat has—just smaller. I think if I were going to spend more than a month at a time on board regularly, though, I’d want something bigger.

I’d be interested to see what the wheel would be like. The tiller takes up a lot of space in the cockpit—but the wheel seems like it would be overkill on a boat this size.


I’ll also say that the 25D is wonderful to sail, handles like a dream. Glad to try to answer any questions if you move forward with yours!

[spiritforadventure]

My 25D is easily sailed by one person and you can "man handle" it in the slip (which is nice). The boat would handle where you want to go, however those are some cold waters and some chop will make that a wet ride. If your wife is super adventurous and doesnt mind cramped quarters 25d or a 27 is the way to go. if she likes some comfort i would look elsewhere... at least a 28 or a 30 possibly a little larger. If she isnt happy guess who also wont be, lol!

if you end up buying a 25D i put my refit on YouTube... so use it as a resource or make fun of it LOL! youtube channel is thespiritforadventure