Fiberglass and International Travel

[GalaxyGirl]

Just started to check flight schedules to check out a fiberglass boat. Figuring that I would be doing the right thing if I purchase this low-maintenance boat. Woke up today feeling like it might be a stupid move to buy a fiberglass boat for international travel.

Any thoughts on this?

[bobconnie]

Gee! Maybe all those Fiberglass boats out there going from country to country are Stupid ?? I really believe that by this time you know better then to ask a question like this one!! The material is not all that makes a boat !! Untill you have done some REAL looking you will never know whats right for you and yours! I truely believe you should hire someone with real knowlage in the area of open ocean cruiseing, to help you with looking at some boats closer to where you are, and maybe he will be able to point out to you the plus's and minus's of some cruiseing boats !! Seems to me and others that you have been wasting your time with your hunt! Till ya get a REAL Idea about what ya need then your gonna keep on wasteing your time! and think about the time your gonna waste if you find out your kids hate it or get sick at sea !! Just sayin you need to do some real work toward your golds, and be able to make choice based on knowage not dreams!! Just sayin I still think your trolling !! Just my 2 cents

[Airshac]

I'd rather do a fiberglass repair over wood or metal any day especially on a boat internationally because you can easily carry the supplies with you for minor or major repairs.

[GalaxyGirl]

Originally Posted by bobconnie

Gee! Maybe all those Fiberglass boats out there going from country to country are Stupid ?? I really believe that by this time you know better then to ask a question like this one!! The material is not all that makes a boat !! Untill you have done some REAL looking you will never know whats right for you and yours! I truely believe you should hire someone with real knowlage in the area of open ocean cruiseing, to help you with looking at some boats closer to where you are, and maybe he will be able to point out to you the plus's and minus's of some cruiseing boats !! Seems to me and others that you have been wasting your time with your hunt! Till ya get a REAL Idea about what ya need then your gonna keep on wasteing your time! and think about the time your gonna waste if you find out your kids hate it or get sick at sea !! Just sayin you need to do some real work toward your golds, and be able to make choice based on knowage not dreams!! Just sayin I still think your trolling !! Just my 2 cents

Wasn't trying to offend anyone. I just keep thinking back to all of the comments that I got on my steel boat threads about steel is easier to repair in foreign countries, that's all. I was wondering if that is really the case. Especially, since I was thinking of making an offer on a glass boat. All of the other boats that I was considering were steel.

Not trolling. Don't have the time to waste anyone else's time. I bring up topics about things that have been on my mind for at least a couple of days, especially things that I am concerned about. I figure, maybe I should get some feedback in case I'm missing something.

[GalaxyGirl]

Originally Posted by Airshac

I'd rather do a fiberglass repair over wood or metal any day especially on a boat internationally because you can easily carry the supplies with you for minor or major repairs.

Thanks for the response. In your opinion, how easy or difficult is a glass repair? Can that be done DIY?

[Sailmonkey]

Fiberglass is everywhere, guys in third world countries are repairing or modifying pangas on the beach in the sand with fiberglass. To say its not possible or even difficult to repair FG boats anywhere is silly.
Especially easy if you knock out a quick ugly repair in the backside of beyond, and have it professionally done repair later.

[GalaxyGirl]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

Fiberglass is everywhere, guys in third world countries are repairing or modifying pangas on the beach in the sand with fiberglass. To say its not possible or even difficult to repair FG boats anywhere is silly.
Especially easy if you knock out a quick ugly repair in the backside of beyond, and have it professionally done repair later.

Thanks for the response. Most of the folks that were saying that steel boats were easier to repair in foreign were steel owners on a steel thread, glad to hear that others think it's not a big deal. I have actually gotten used to the idea of low-maintenance glass (as compared to other material).

[zeehag]

finding a welder is often more difficult than finding fiberglass repair items to do it yourself.... can you weld\??? if not--go glass.....

mexico has surprising amounts of repair materials no one spozedly knew about lol---pangas need love too, and repairs are easily done here.

[chrisjs]

Unless you really have catastrophic docking/grounding most FG repairs are not time critical. If you have to abandon ship, then FG repair will be the least of your worries!!

[GalaxyGirl]

Originally Posted by chrisjs

Unless you really have catastrophic docking/grounding most FG repairs are not time critical. If you have to abandon ship, then FG repair will be the least of your worries!!

Good point

[cheoah]

Yep you don't have to have a steel boat. Lots of good fiberglass boats out there that will do what you want. Tons of them out there right now cruising.

Fiberglass is not that difficult to work with, so with some supplies, some research, and attention to detail and you'll be able to handle smaller jobs on your own.

[eyschulman]

My two cents. Keep your land home(day job) and buy a 35 foot power or sail boat of modest price. Use it for two to four years extending your time aboard from day trips to months and keep reading and doing boat stuff. Then you may wake up some day knowing if you should go big boat full time with five kids. It certainly can be done but there is a learning curve and jumping in may be more of a cliff than a curve. You can gain lots of information from this site including major bias and disagreement there is no end to discussion and dispute regarding steel-aluminum-wood glass-cement structure and all the variations. You will have to build some personal experience to decide what is or is not for you.

[GalaxyGirl]

Originally Posted by eyschulman

My two cents. Keep your land home(day job) and buy a 35 foot power or sail boat of modest price. Use it for two to four years extending your time aboard from day trips to months and keep reading and doing boat stuff. Then you may wake up some day knowing if you should go big boat full time with five kids. It certainly can be done but there is a learning curve and jumping in may be more of a cliff than a curve. You can gain lots of information from this site including major bias and disagreement there is no end to discussion and dispute regarding steel-aluminum-wood glass-cement structure and all the variations. You will have to build some personal experience to decide what is or is not for you.

This real estate junkie won't be giving up her day job any time soon. It's good advice, but we are way too excited about the cruising lifestyle to turn back now. Land will always be there

We all know the Mark Twain quote.

[europaflyer]

Originally Posted by bobconnie

Gee! Maybe all those Fiberglass boats out there going from country to country are Stupid ?? I really believe that by this time you know better then to ask a question like this one!! The material is not all that makes a boat !! Untill you have done some REAL looking you will never know whats right for you and yours! I truely believe you should hire someone with real knowlage in the area of open ocean cruiseing, to help you with looking at some boats closer to where you are, and maybe he will be able to point out to you the plus's and minus's of some cruiseing boats !! Seems to me and others that you have been wasting your time with your hunt! Till ya get a REAL Idea about what ya need then your gonna keep on wasteing your time! and think about the time your gonna waste if you find out your kids hate it or get sick at sea !! Just sayin you need to do some real work toward your golds, and be able to make choice based on knowage not dreams!! Just sayin I still think your trolling !! Just my 2 cents

Originally Posted by eyschulman

My two cents. Keep your land home(day job) and buy a 35 foot power or sail boat of modest price. Use it for two to four years extending your time aboard from day trips to months and keep reading and doing boat stuff. Then you may wake up some day knowing if you should go big boat full time with five kids. It certainly can be done but there is a learning curve and jumping in may be more of a cliff than a curve. You can gain lots of information from this site including major bias and disagreement there is no end to discussion and dispute regarding steel-aluminum-wood glass-cement structure and all the variations. You will have to build some personal experience to decide what is or is not for you.

+1 +1 +1 +1

I tried to persuade GG of this on her custom boat thread... not interested. Sometimes you can see the accident waiting to happen, and you just know the person is so set on their course that no amount of advice will help them!

GalaxyGirl, people here can see that if you don't know what material you want your boat to be built from then it's a bit worrying that you seem to be about to buy a 70' powerboat. I read your seasickness blog post with interest. No, I don't think taking your kids out on a high speed powerboat for half an hour in calm water is a great seasickness test, for reasons that you should already know if you're on the point of buying a massive boat and moving your family aboard! Neither is going out on a big tourist boat, and you would realise this if you knew how boats worked. It is sort of in the mind, but not in the way you think. I can tell you, I was really surprised the first time I got seasick, which sort of explains how positive my mindset was - and it didn't help a bit! One of the best ways of preventing/dealing with seasickness does, I suppose, work 'mentally' - but it's not the sort of 'I won't get seasick' brain game stuff you're thinking of. Get on the water and you will realise that staying busy is one of the best things to do. Good luck trying to keep 5 kids busy on a big powerboat (no sails to play with) which you can't handle yourself (hired skipper doing all the stuff for you).

As we keep trying to tell you, experience is key here. You can't learn about this from the internet. Buy a weeks powerboating course on a boat around the 40' mark. Experience some rough weather. Experience some tricky situations. Get to know what living on a boat is like for you and your kids. Once you've done that, get back to us. Until then, you're just sounding a bit silly and naive. Unless this is all an elaborate troll... i'm beginning to wonder... surely there isn't anyone out there foolish enough to think they can set out on a new life on a boat without having spent any time with their family at sea!

[AbaftAndBaffled]

Originally Posted by europaflyer

+1 +1 +1 +1

I tried to persuade GG of this on her custom boat thread... not interested. Sometimes you can see the accident waiting to happen, and you just know the person is so set on their course that no amount of advice will help them!

GalaxyGirl, people here can see that if you don't know what material you want your boat to be built from then it's a bit worrying that you seem to be about to buy a 70' powerboat. I read your seasickness blog post with interest. No, I don't think taking your kids out on a high speed powerboat for half an hour in calm water is a great seasickness test, for reasons that you should already know if you're on the point of buying a massive boat and moving your family aboard! Neither is going out on a big tourist boat, and you would realise this if you knew how boats worked. It is sort of in the mind, but not in the way you think. I can tell you, I was really surprised the first time I got seasick, which sort of explains how positive my mindset was - and it didn't help a bit! One of the best ways of preventing/dealing with seasickness does, I suppose, work 'mentally' - but it's not the sort of 'I won't get seasick' brain game stuff you're thinking of. Get on the water and you will realise that staying busy is one of the best things to do. Good luck trying to keep 5 kids busy on a big powerboat (no sails to play with) which you can't handle yourself (hired skipper doing all the stuff for you).

As we keep trying to tell you, experience is key here. You can't learn about this from the internet. Buy a weeks powerboating course on a boat around the 40' mark. Experience some rough weather. Experience some tricky situations. Get to know what living on a boat is like for you and your kids. Once you've done that, get back to us. Until then, you're just sounding a bit silly and naive. Unless this is all an elaborate troll... i'm beginning to wonder... surely there isn't anyone out there foolish enough to think they can set out on a new life on a boat without having spent any time with their family at sea!

Way I see it, either it'll work out great for them or it'll make for an amazing deal on a 70' powerboat for someone down the road. I agree with the sail vs power thing though, I can't imagine being confined inside a powerboat for weeks at a time with nothing to do but watch the chart plotter. That's basically prison, isn't it?