Both yes and no, mostly depending on your financial situation. Almost everything on a larger boat will be more expensive, but it won't necessarily wear out faster. Quality items last and last, and are usually designed to be rebuilt rather than replaced.
However, you can expect to pay a lot more for:
Sails & Rigging (both standing and running)
Bottom Paint
Ground Tackle (anchor and chain)
For instance, I went from a 24' to a 35' sailboat. Only accounting for the above systems:
The 24' was a sloop with a main, r/f genoa, and spinnaker. They were all original sails and while in serviceable shape (I had them all inspected and restitched) they could have stood to be replaced. It had 257 sq. ft. of working sail area, plus ~500 for the spinnaker. I will admit it had a smaller working jib and a storm trisail, which never left their bags.
The 35' Cutter has a Main, r/f staysail, and r/f genoa. Right there you can see there are twice as many roller-furlers (and I need to replace one). All the sails on this boat are relatively new and top-notch (or I wouldn't have bought the boat!) and total 516 sq ft- double the working sail area of my old 24' Sloop. It would probably cost 3x as much to replace the sails on this boat compared to the other.
The sloop has a tiny fraction of the amount (and size) of rigging as the cutter, especially running rigging which needs to be replaced every 5 years or so. I spent $144 to replace just the main halyard on my cutter, and there are enough halyard pulleys for 7 halyards on that boat, 6 of which go to the top of the mast!
The 24' Sloop could be pulled out of the water with a trailer (in fact I had one for it) and painted with a gallon of bottom paint.
The 35' Cutter requires a lift and three gallons of paint.
For a boatyard to it, around here the cheapest yard charges $25/ft to pull, clean, and paint the hull with decent paint.That comes out to $600 for the sloop and $875 for the cutter. Expect to re-do the bottom every 2-3 years in my area.
Coppercoat antifouling is an initially more expensive route, but the protection is guaranteed for 10 years, with many applications lasting even longer.
I would've be happy with a 33# Rocna anchor for the sloop, at ~$370. I bought a 55# Rocna for the cutter, at $700!
I would go with at least 250' of chain with either boat, but 1/4" HT for the sloop versus 3/8" HT for the cutter comes to $875 vs $1247.50.
That being said, my dream boat is even bigger- a Freedom 40 Center Cockpit. However, it is a Cat- Ketch with free-standing masts so there is never any running rigging to replace. It has only two working sails and an optional mizzen staysail which is not flown upwind. The wishbone booms reduce sheet loads and the amount of running rigging needed to control the sails, plus they are self-tacking which makes it easier to single-hand.
Here are some pictures of the Hull #1, formerly Santa Margarita and now Modesty:
http://www.seafarer-research-center.com/modesty.htm |
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