Bahamas, Things You Don't Need...

[windhorze]

Originally Posted by DotDun

I know what I don't need......some Internet Troll telling me what I need or don't need on my boat! I'll determine that! And, yes, wants turn into needs cause my boat won't move without them!

A thread topic: "Bahamas, Things I Don't/Didn't Need...." may be an interesting read, this thread not so much.

sorry I picked on the chap that didn't want to take the helm of his own boat...it was comments like these that got me a little miffed...having a thread about getting back to the roots of basic sailing, going cheap going now mentality is good with me...

...I just did a 36 hour, solo, transit, hand steered the whole way...different strikes for different folks...

my apologies....

[DotDun]

Originally Posted by windhorze

sorry I picked on the chap that didn't want to take the helm of his own boat...it was comments like these that got me a little miffed...having a thread about getting back to the roots of basic sailing, going cheap going now mentality is good with me...

...I just did a 36 hour, solo, transit, hand steered the whole way...different strikes for different folks...

my apologies....

Please re-read the title of the thread! It's telling me things I don't need to cruise to the Bahamas!

I don't care what you do on your boat, you can hand steer a circumnavigation if you want to. Is it your position that I should do the same?

Having a conversation about why/why not you have things on your boat is what should be on this forum. I'll even join the conversation and do the same. But don't tell me what I need on my boat.

You cruise with what you want, and I'll cruise with what I want.

[windhorze]

Originally Posted by DotDun

Please re-read the title of the thread! It's telling me things I don't need to cruise to the Bahamas!

You cruise with what you want, and I'll cruise with what I want.

exactly Dotdun, the thread was ABOUT NEEDS, NOT WANTS.

and besides, is it possible for the original poster of a thread to be a Troll?

[DotDun]

So, is a bilge pump and want or a need?

[Jim Cate]

...I just did a 36 hour, solo, transit, hand steered the whole way...different strikes for different folks...

So, your boat must steer itself fairly well... many boats will going upwind, few downwind. Why do I say this? Because in 36 hours, various calls of nature must be dealt with, things that are difficult to do at the helm. And then there are issues with reefing, sail changes or other duties that typically take one from the helm. So, either the boat steers itself during those times or you must add something that takes over the helm for a while.

Yep, lots of folks have done long solo trips without an a/p or a vane, but they either hove to a lot or had a boat that would self steer well.

And if the boat will self steer, how is that functionally different from having a steering aid like an a/p?

Years ago I did a lot of single hand ocean racing. At first all I had was a lashed tiller, then I learned about sheet to tiller steering and it was far better. Then I bought a Tillermaster a/p.. crude, simple, not very fast to respond, but what a difference it made in both my enjoyment and my race placings. Once on that slippery slope, better a/ps and vanes entered my life, along with different boats. Decent self steering has become, for me, a crucial bit of kit for the cruising that I do.

Heaping scorn on me or others who make this decision seems churlish and perhaps representative of one who hasn't done many long (multi-day) passages.

Jim

[windhorze]

Originally Posted by DotDun

So, is a bilge pump and want or a need?

if you want one it's a want, guess if you need one it's a need...

I forget how that saying goes exactly, but "nothing moves water faster than a bucket when a boat is taking on water" or something like that...

[Madwand]

The problem is when you think your list of wants can't or shouldnt be someone else's needs. Very narrow thinking.

[windhorze]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Here's a few more things you don't NEED, but may want:

A chart plotter (you can use paper charts and sextant and tables for fixing your position)Ann

OK, now that's just crazy!

(just kidding, now that I have used a chart plotter it's hard to image sailing without one...) especially in places with skinny water like down yonder, and up in British Columbia where you are traversing narrow rapids with lots of boulders just under the surface...

cheers

[rognvald]

Welcome to the Club, D! There are, of course, exceptions to the rule but many "cruisers" find uncountable ways to avoid the reality that it takes very little to fulfill your dreams if you're not encumbered by the endless list of "must haves" before you embark. D listed most of them, especially in the Bahamas, and the previous post about the 23 ft Catalina drives this point home. In all fairness, many men must create the creature comforts of the condo on water in order to entice their reluctant wives that they really DO want to cruise. Of course, we know most of them really want their tidy homes, garden, grandchildren, shopping sprees at TJ Max and sipping cheap wine in a shopping mall outdoor cafe(As I have said many times in the past, I don't include some of the fine women on this forum who DO NOT fit this stereotype. I am, however, talking about your sisters). Now, I am really going to go out on a limb . . . most traditional women are what I call "Dream Killers." In 98.9876% of cruising couples(this of course is the math of invention rather than statistics), it is the Man's dream to cruise. In 100% of the bailouts/divorces as a result of cruising that we've witnessed after almost 20K of cruising the Great Lakes, Bahamas and the Caribbean, it is the woman who the initiates the end of the cruise. This is not an unfair invective, but my personal observation of countless broken relationships and marriages over the last 20 plus years. So, why do some need the long list of "must haves?" To placate reluctant females who really are not part of the Man's dream. . . or Men who must replicate shoreside life on the water in order to validate how happy they will be with their unnecessary toys. Tell me . . . why the Hell did you want to get away? And, get away from what? You've got it all on your boat. Good luck and safe sailing . . . and, feeling what some would deem unfairly sanctimonious. Captain Rognvald--in the process of, once again, escaping the Herd.

[sailorboy1]

man people really get pissed out if everyone doesn't agree with their position the end what do people care what other do on their boat?

[Delancey]

Wow! Guess I struck a nerve with a few folks. Who knew you guys were so sensitive?

Take my advice. Drink a beer in your cockpit while anchored off a beach like the one pictured below. You'll live longer.

BTW, the island pictured is for sale. Some billionaire is going to buy it and build a McMansion on it. It won't be the same if you wait until you have all that stuff.

Life is short. Get busy. Go now.

[puffcard]

OK guess I don't need the LCD Flat screen, with +200 movies.

[Delancey]

Originally Posted by puffcard

OK guess I don't need the LCD Flat screen, with +200 movies.

Well, not so sure about that. Cruising can be boring.

[Delancey]

Originally Posted by windhorze

...I just did a 36 hour, solo, transit, hand steered the whole way...different strikes for different folks...

I did a double-handed delivery across the Atlantic a few years ago with a bum windvane. Basically hand steered the whole way. Seventeen days to the Azores from NYC. Wasn't so bad, except for the six day gale but we would have been hand steering in those conditions anyway. Too messy to let a robot or a windvane drive.

Might not do it again if I had a choice but then again I wouldn't miss out on a opportunity like that the first time around in spite of it.

Sailing to the Bahamas? Don't need one. Not saying it isn't a nice bit of kit for any cruising boat, but to go to the Bahamas? Don't NEED one unless you're solo.

Sorry in advance to those who don't agree. Gulf Stream crossing? Big whoop. Twelve hours maybe. Then what? It's all day sails after that. If you can't survive without an AP in the Bahamas should maybe consider a new hobby.

[brownoarsman]

I would add inboard engine to delancey's list. Did just fine with an outboard (only ran it about four hours over two months, actually), though losing the inboard required adding 100w of solar. Out of delancey's list, besides the aforementioned solar, I had none of those things in 2015. The one thing I would not do without again is AIS. In my ignorance, I hadn't realised what a popular shipping lane the crossing is. Even though the forecast for my crossing was clear, an intense squall blew up at night and blacked out everything. When it cleared, there was a large ship about 1,000 feet behind me with spotlights off its stern panning the water. I think they were looking for a debris field after our close crossing, though no call went out on 16. I had neither heard nor seen it due to the blackout conditions, and while I probably should have been issuing sécurités over VHF myself, I was occupied with trying to get sails down and the boat under control, single-handing as I was. Entirely too close of a call. We flashed lights at each other and continued on.