Med liveaboard boat

My wife and I are planning to live on a boat in the Med for a number of months as a minimum, maybe for ever.

I am interested in the "right" boat. I cannot decide whether a semi displacement would be right or a displacement. Ideally I would like to cruise at 15 kts but I also want the space and solidity of possibly steel.

I have been looking for a 42ftish semi but they are hard to find within a limited budget.

Anyone got any ideas?

I saw loads of Grand Banks's for sale in Frejus. They'd be big enough as a 42. But not steel. I understand the worry but at 15+ knots you might be sinking anyway if you hit a container. Main issue is large number of floating trees etc washed down from countryside in Med, which will cause prop problems whether steel or plastic. Most Med boats are plastic, so maintenance and resale would point that way.

Our plans are similar to yours - Med liveaboard.

However, we don't want a houseboat: we want to travel as well so our choice is for a planing boat. Style and looks are important to us as well as space and facilities. Our choice is for a Fairline Phantom 43 which is the nearest compromise to our long list of 'needs' in a boat.

I'd suggest that, for a liveaboard, you don't want a targa but a flybridge for the extra space. Also, consider not having an aft cabin as there's no lazarette to store things - we want a couple of (fold-up?) bikes on board. We think we may choose an inflatable and electric pump rather than a RIB so that we can store the tender in the lazarette rather than risk it being stolen.

We will probably buy in the UK, enjoy cruising home waters first and then experience the journey to the Med around the Iberian peninsular.

What's special about 15 knts cruise speed?

A chap who moved from a 27foot sailing boat to a 40 foot fairline phantom said he couldn't get everything from the old boat to the new - it wouldn't fit. I wdn't have thought it possible to long-term liveaboard in any Fairline other than perhaps a 65, but with that option one might need at least one of the cabins stacked full of cash to pay for fuel.

For the med, you'll want to anchor off to keep cool at nights, and to save on vast harbour expense, and it's more secluded/interesting. It'll need to be very calm indeed for a smallish planing flybridge to anchor off. I'd have a saily boat for long distances, and to avoid going ashore in Portugal, and a decent RIB to zip about in when we get there, but dismantle it for the long trips, tow it for the shorter ones.

Not that it would be exactly horrid long-term in a Phantom of course. But there isn't much space for er well more than a few charts, or ten books, or an actual real wardrobe of clothes.

Apparently they don't make a 65 Phantom, Matt! So we'll have to make do with a smaller one. Save having to work until we're 95 to pay for it as well.

From what we've seen of sailing boats, they're a lot smaller than power boats. Can't understand how anyone would have the problem you described. Perhaps he was trying to stow his spare sails and a spare mast aboard his 40' power boat?

What's the problem with going ashore in Portugal, Matt?

Hi folks hope you get it all together ~had some years on fishing trawlers ~they make nice conversations~I know someone who has a 50ft whitby crabber based in monastir/Tunisia best wishes & fair winds

Having similar plans for the future I am considering a Princess 45 or Trader 47. You really need that shelter from the sun in the Med (Trader !).

Any quality or riding probems with Traders ?