"Scott Vernon" wrote in message ...
It has little to do with the boat size.

I have to disagree slightly with this statement. How much a boat gets
USED may be different than how much a boat gets SAILED. All sailboats
get SAILED, some, but under the right circumstances, the boats get
USED much more. Used for what? For a weekend retreat, for a place to
entertain friends, for a place to be alone to read a good book, etc
etc etc.

In this case the size of the boat is important. If you boat a 20'
boat, you probably would not use it as a weekend home. A boat in the
30' plus range could and probably would be used for this purpose.

I have seen that the owner who lives far away from his boat uses it
more. Here is what I mean. If you live 15 minutes away from your
boat you might go to it a few times a year and day sail, but you
probably will not find it worth the effort to pack up clothes, food,
etc to stay a weekend, not when your bed is just a 15 minute drive
away. But if the boat is an hour or two or three away from your home
you may get into a routine of packing up every friday and living on
the boat for the weekend. This way the boat gets used a great deal.
How much you actually go sailing may vary, however.

I've known people that lived 5 hours away from their boats and used it
3 out of 4 weekends every month. Every 4th weekend they would stay
home to get things done around their home, or take care of social
obligations there.

That is my 2 cents.

Lonny














Depends more on the individual and
his financial state. Fer instance, I bought a relatively cheap boat so
therefore I don't need to work as much ( I'm self employed) and have more
time to sail (and work on the boat). It seems as though a majority of the
'big' boats tied up at marinas are owned by 9-5ers, who , though making a
decent salary, tend to buy the most boat they can afford and then spend
their time working to pay for it, squeezing in a weekend or two here and
there. This is, of course a generalization.
The old saying, ''the bigger the boat the less it's sailed'', does seem to
hold some water.

SV


"Jim Cate" wrote in message
...

As discussed in other subject strings, I'm looking at 30 to 35-foot used
boats such as Cals, O'Days, Catalinas, etc. My intended use would be for
day sailing and sailing offshore near the coast in the Texas Gulf. As
mentioned, offshore sailing would probably require four or five days in
our area because of the distances involved.

Although I know it all depends on the person, the crew, the
circumstances, the boat, etc., have there been any studies or surveys
that might provide some idea of how many days of sailing per year an
owner of such a boat typically gets, particularly after the first year?
Again, it's obvious that it all depends, on the person, the individual
circumstances, his work load, etc., and that there can be no
generalizations. (No need to tell me this. - It's pretty self-evident.)
Still, there may have been some polls or surveys, or at least, some
general experience and consensus regarding the question. The reason for
asking is that, though I'm anxious to get out to the blue water, I'm
wondering whether I would be the exception to what seems to be the
general rule in this area, in which the boats seem to sit in their slips
for 99.9 percent of the time. For example, one of the brokers I spoke
with last week bragged that the owner of that boat had only taken the
boat out some 10-12 times in the past ten years. - Any estimates, guesses?

Jim