What's the largest boat 2 people should handle?

my grandfather and his buddy never had a problem with his 60 footer...You can prolly handle an 80' with 2 people just a person to drive the boat and a person on the sides to throw lines to people at the dock.....do you really need more people than that?

I have handled an 85´yacht with just one deckhand. However this is the easy part. To maintain and keep a boat of this size is a halftime job or more, so the time to enjoy the yachting becomes limited if you are on your own.

I shouldn´t recommend bigger than 50-60´ if you are not happy to spend half the day washing down, repairing and maintaining all the stuff that comes with a larger yacht...

I agree with Lars. My wife and I can easily handle a 100' but we are professional crew whose job it is to maintain the boat. I wouldn't dream of having anything larger than 60' for personal use because of the workload it would demand in order to keep it well.

I agree with Lars and Ken, we had a 54 foot trawler and before that we had a C&C 40. The difference in work load for the extra 14 feet is more than double. We had 2 of everything to fix and clean not to mention all of the plumbing, electric, washer and dryer, disposal, dishwasher etc... And when your done working on those things it takes the better part of a day to just clean the boat. I hired a local kid to work on the boat to help clean and give me a hand with things.

When you travel in the Bahamas and the Carribean, often a local guy will come down to the dock and ask if you want your boat washed. Usually they know what to do, and if they are good you can have them do maintenance jobs.
That takes some of the pressure off, as the boat handling for two people is easy, but the care of it is not.
Those boats you mention in the 65' - 68' range will be big enough to spend extended time on board, carry enough fuel for longer distances, be comfortable in 2-4' sea conditions and will not need crew.
Your insurance company might not like the no crew part if you have not had much experience. Then you might have to have some crew on board for awhile.
Tucker Fallon

Serecovery,
If yuou plan to run a large yacht with just two crew (with you at the wheel and the other setting lines and fenders and the such) then equip the vessel with a bow and stern thruster. This way you can control the positioning of the bot while the crew does their work properly. I had both on a 61 footer and they were a real treat to use and keep the boat in place. 68-70 feet may be okay, 86 may be pushing it.
Good luck.
Capt Tom

PS Some of us captains are fun to travel with. LoL

My husband and I have a 45 foot yacht, and think that is the perfect size for two people to handle. I suppose we could go up to 60 feet, but we really wouldn't want to go much bigger than that because we don't want to have a crew. A 45 footer, even, is lots of maintenance for two people when my husband works long hours.

Depending on the type of yacht and the equipment on board it is possible to go up to 70 feet comfortably. Most livaboard ocean crossing vessels are comfortable for a couple to handle as they come with all the appropriate items and design characteristics needed