Anyone Converted a Racing Boat to Cruising?

[videorov]

I am thinking about some older Jboat racers to use for a cruiser.
Add some crusing features watermaker, larger water supply etc.

[Bash]

A racing boat is usually rigged with a full crew in mind, and a good cruising boat should lend itself to short-handed sailing. I found that when I retired from racing and began planning to change a former racer into a cruiser, so much re-rigging was required that it became cheaper to sell the boat and purchase a proper cruiser.

One of the biggest design differences between my former racing boats and the two cruising boats I've had subsequently is the setup for a chain locker, windlass and bow rollers. There was no way any of my racing boats could have handled 300 feet of chain and the necessary infrastructure to handle multiple anchors and rodes. No way. And there's no way I'm going on a cruise without adequate ground tackle. In a sense, this makes the decision for me before I even begin to think about investing in things like self-tailing winches.

[Weyalan]

Our boat has heaps of space up forward because the forepeak was only ever sail storage, not cabin. I have the anchor winch already (but not fitted). This coming winter we will build in a chain locker and anchor locker and install the winch. When I got the boat there was no bow roller, so I designed one to suit the existing, substantial, stainless steel stem fitting.

The trickiest thing for us has been the rig: Being fractional, with in-line spreaders we have running backstays and checkstays. It is quite a big mainsail (around 48 square metres / 520 square feet) and big genoa (44.5 square metres / 480 square feet), so tacking, or more particularly jibing is a handful 2-up.

We really cannot afford a new stick, so we plan on getting a cut-down main for cruising, sized so that the head of the main is just below the hounds, plus shorten our boom by about 100mm / 4" and make the checkstays detachable so that we will be able to tack & jibe inside the runners. Obviously, in heavy seas, we have the option of putting the checkstays back on. This means we will also have the option of putting the full-size main back on if we want to do some crewed racing.

Hopefully the above will give us a manageable 2-up cruising rig, but not emasculate the boat's performance to. much

[over40pirate]

My wife and I lived on her converted ocean racing boat, that she and her ex converted.
It was 38' 1 tonner, ex. Admirals Cup boat, made of aluminum. It was the S&S design, that Catalina used for their 38. The one with all the tumblehome, but with a flush deck.
One downside, was the boat didn't have any opening ports, and only 2 - 5" dia ports in the deck. I added 4 more.
I'm not sure I would want to cruise with a fin keel and a spade rudder, that stuck down almost as far as the keel. Can you say, aground?

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by over40pirate

I'm not sure I would want to cruise with a fin keel and a spade rudder, that stuck down almost as far as the keel. Can you say, aground?

A fin keeler is EZer to get off a grounding. I've plowed many a bar and just spun around and sailed right back off. Once I got stuck on a river bank. So, I just tied off to my Jib halyard a line, got in the dinghy and pulled the boat over abeam right off the bank. No big deal. But try that in a short keel or full keel and your in for a job.

[George P]

Demarrey,
One question....where do you sit in the cock pit??????
George P

[over40pirate]

I remember being at the yard doing a bottom job, and a boat was towed in from the Gulf Stream. They were sailing along and the rudder fell off. It floated, and they recovered it. It was a spade rudder that was as deep as the keel.
The rudder post was tubular aluminum. It showed signs of being bent. It was assumed a charter client or two, had run aground, in reverse. If it had bent going forward, the rudder would have jammed the hull, and prevented turning the rudder past the center. Fun!

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by George P

Demarrey,
One question....where do you sit in the cock pit??????
George P

I have removable seats and ladders. But I prefer leaning against the combing. Sitting too long hurts the back and I'd rather not lean over the seats to crank the winches. If I want to lay down I can put a board between the ladders and lay on the two seats. Or I could carry a board to lay across the seats/ladder board and bring up a cushion. There are lots of options, even sitting between the winches on the hi side heeling.

In the coxswains-pit I'll have a removable stool for port & stbd, not yet built.

Didn't mean to hijack the thread.

[Siren]

I purchased a 43 foot double handed sailboat that won the osaka race in 2000. The original name was Sayernara. I converted her to a cruising boat. Then it all depends on your sailing ability and exactly what you want. I don't plan on doing a 30 day trip at all but just Island hopping. If I do a long pasage max 5/7 days which I cover at least 1400 miles ! I completely restructured inside, put cork decking, air conditioning, shower, generator. She has 400lt of water and 100lt of Diesel. Put a furler and a lazy jack. Nice full Bimini.. Changed the sails to dracon. Recently I did Hong Kong to Subic Bay at an average of 10knots with 10/15 45 degree true wind. I think she is fantastic. Spent around 50.000US on top of the purchase But now have a beautiful boat strong and fast, which for me most of all is fast.. I would advise anyone to do it...
However, most of the work was done in the philippines at low labour cost.. I think that is pretty important..

[Siren]

I forgot to add that due to my past experience I was looking for a boat that can be handed by two people if not myself with auto pilot. Siren has a carbon mast and no fractional stays (forgive me if my English is not perfect). Then the lazy jack is absolutely vital for 64Sqm of mainsail. The code Zero is also furled. I added bowroller and electric winch for the mainsail. Ran out of money but would have put a furling boom. Crew is needed only with complicated rigging and sails to be folded. Resolve that and it's done. Then for long trips you allways need to be at least three..

Hope I was usefull

[s/v Moondancer]

Older off-shore racers may be worth the effort but newer ones are minimalistic and very unseakindly. Boats built for a crew of 10 are very difficult for a shorthanded crew to handle.

I delivered a Farr 40 West Palm to St Thomas...it was 8 days in a washing machine...very wet and we had to run safety lines inside the 'salon' so that we could stand to put our pants on!!

[Siren]

Totally agree... some oneoff designed Old offshore double handed boats are made to do trips that last 40 days. like mine (the osaka race) So they have protected cockpits and full kitchens inside with freezers. there is also 2mt headroom in salon. Mine also had air conditioning and it however got line honours and also won the race in 2000. With only two crew members confort was also essential as you need to rest well.
I've never been on a Farr 40 but Oh yes absolutely.. too open... it is a washing machine.. especially if the weather is rough.. and 8 days are alot in a washing machine..
However ragrding old race boats I think you also need to start from 43foot up.

[Abaco]

Siren,

Your cork decks look great. That is a nice product. Excellent job with the boat.

[High Heels]

Siren, your yacht is Beautiful! Best of both worlds!

[witzgall]

We would all love to see the inside photos as well!!

Chris

Originally Posted by Siren

I purchased a 43 foot double handed sailboat that won the osaka race in 2000. The original name was Sayernara. I converted her to a cruising boat. Then it all depends on your sailing ability and exactly what you want. I don't plan on doing a 30 day trip at all but just Island hopping. If I do a long pasage max 5/7 days which I cover at least 1400 miles ! I completely restructured inside, put cork decking, air conditioning, shower, generator. She has 400lt of water and 100lt of Diesel. Put a furler and a lazy jack. Nice full Bimini.. Changed the sails to dracon. Recently I did Hong Kong to Subic Bay at an average of 10knots with 10/15 45 degree true wind. I think she is fantastic. Spent around 50.000US on top of the purchase But now have a beautiful boat strong and fast, which for me most of all is fast.. I would advise anyone to do it...
However, most of the work was done in the philippines at low labour cost.. I think that is pretty important..