Cruiser Advice for Pacific Isles Liveaboard

[Brent Swain]

People have been crossing oceans for centuries before watermakers became available. My last two trips across the Pacific I caught all my water off the mainsail and wheelhouse top.
Friends who have sailed on Beneteaus, say you can't leave the helm for a microsecond without them broaching, in following winds and seas. They are extremely complicated, with systems which are hard to get at when they screw up. I've been told the ones built for charter are much better than the ones they sell to the public.
I've read that the east coast of the US backwaters are filling up with abandoned boats. Many of these were built at a time when fibreglass and labour were cheap ,and no one trusted it, so they were far better built tnan anyone could afford to build today.
Osmosis was never a problem before1980.
Some had short keels with rudders attached ; far too far forward. This can be easily rectified by installing a new ruder on a skeg, six feet further aft.

[wolfenzee]

I apologize but I just find it hard to rationalize spending more on gizmos that I don't even think are worth the precious space, power usage etc than I spent on my entire boat. I live in a world the revels in classic simplicity and am trying to debate with people who enjoy all of the technical innovations they can get their hands on. What I say for those who wish to cruise the Pacific Isles in comfort (that is this thread isn't it) what I have to say is "First look at what you can do with out before you start searching to see what you can do with" KISS

To each his own...I just wanted to say why I didn't go that route (actually if I had wanted to then I would have ended up sitting on the dock wanting)

[sctpc]

wolfenzeeNext you pretend you can go to the tropics with no air con!!!

[VirtualVagabond]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Another point... buy $5,000 worth of unbranded parts delivered from the other side of the world/country for a self install and the damn thing doesnt work. Who you gunna call?

BOAT-BUSTERS!!....??

Seems many of the components are from big brand names anyway... industrial pumps, brand name membranes... just not carrying the Sooper Dooper Watermaker Co name...

I guess if you're handy enough to put it together and install it in the first place, you'd probably carry a few spare bits... hop onto CF... ask other cruisers in the area... Ever noticed how resourceful cruisers can be at problem solving?

[boatman61]

Every boat I've ever bought has been a fixer upper.... even a 5yr old Beneteau from The Moorings...

[SurferShane]

Originally Posted by sctpc

wolfenzeeNext you pretend you can go to the tropics with no air con!!!

Before he even gets a chance to reply, strangely I recently read a thread by someone who spent a fair chunk of this year around the equator and was comfortable with just a couple of small cabin fans. My simple boat was likewise re-fitted in Thailand with similar dual cabin fans. I bought her from Airlie beach Far North Queensland and jumped on a plane from Sydney 2000 plus kilometres south arriving at the beginning of summer. The difference in temperatures and humidity was absolutely overwhelming. I was hoping I could get the boat ready to sail in a week and it ended up taking me a month. During the middle of the day I would just have a few beers and take a lunch time nap; comfortably without air conditioning and often without the annoying buzz of the fans..

Unless I was staying at a marina in Darwin with full shore power while working and saving to travel I don’t think I would ever bother with an air conditioner. If I bought one it would be a portable budget model I could pass on when I left.

The biggest problems I can foresee with air conditioning (if it even works) is the power drain and the different temperatures inside and out that you need to constantly adjust too. Like water makers, people have been sailing the tropics for centuries without air conditioning ?

Each to their own? If you would have said next you will pretend you can go to the tropics without a light long sleeved cotton shirt, a broad brimmed hat, mosquito netting or screens and a heap of mozzie coils and/or citronella candles/lamps and maybe even a 20 l drum of D.E.E.T., I might have a totally different opinion!

[wolfenzee]

I didn't reply because I took it as it was intended and smiled
btw I lived in the desert with no AC

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by svBeBe

<snip>

However, the best advise I can give you is to look in Malaysia and Thailand. Thailand is the "end of the line" for many Circumnavigators. They tend to give up here rather than go to S. Africa or past the Somali Pirates in the Gulf of Aden.

There are plenty of boats for sale from Singapore north to Phuket. All are fully equipped for cruising. Here in Rebak Marina, Langkawi, Malaysia there are 2 Hunters, at least 1 Beneteau, at least 1 Island Packet, and at least 15 other boats for sale. <snip>

I can't recommend a broker, but that should not be too hard. Possibly the marina here can help you with a list of boats for sale.

Best,

Bill
s/v BeBe, Amel 53
Currently Rebak Marina, Langkawi, Malaysia

Bill - It's always great to hear from someone who is already out there.

These threads always take on a life of their own with personal "prejudices" and personal beliefs substituting for actual observations.

I see lots of travelers passing through and can really state there is no "standard" boat type or standard cruisers.

Everything from Westsails, to Benes, to ferocement, to steel to custom built cruising trawlers pass through Singapore and Malaysia every single week.

I haven't met a bad person or a bad boat yet.

Seacharge - I agree with the posters that state you can get by with a lot less in terms of equipment but everyone should respect other's choices in terms of what equipment they want on board.

The evolution of boat equipment allows much more freedom to have the comforts on board. Starting with power generating options - wind, solar, generator. Followed by ever improving reliable equipment - radar, watermakers, plotters, autopilots, communications & weather data, entertainment etc.

We have become used to our comforts on land and the suppliers of boat equipment have realized that in our relatively affluent retirements we'd like to take those comforts with us.

No one need look down at purists with their long keels and sextants but likewise no one should look down on folks that want a "personally comfortable" easy to sail yacht for a few years of retirement cruising.

And really no one should be saying "this boat or that boat" can't do it. It's really a preposterous statement completely disabused by a simple inspection of the marinas in the common cruising cross roads (singapore, malaysia & thailand for example)

BTW - I can help with a yacht broker in Singapore (who also knows Malaysia & Thailand) if anyone is interested.

[sctpc]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

BTW - I can help with a yacht broker in Singapore (who also knows Malaysia & Thailand) if anyone is interested.

Do you know any good websites we could browse in your neck off the woods?
for interest sake as its so easy to look at US sites but yours ???????????

[Ex-Calif]

Honestly the broker sites aren't that great. I have found almost all the boats in Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Malaysia are listed on boats.com.

You can set up a custom search on multiple countries.

[SurferShane]

Originally Posted by wolfenzee

I didn't reply because I took it as it was intended and smiled
btw I lived in the desert with no AC

I got that too -strange also a moderator was straight in there after us! No problem though as I was seriously looking at boats in Thailand when I bought my old girl (and out of curiosity still am). I was just lucky some else had her shipped over there for a re-fit hoping to make a profit that never happened.

Strangely also, I also did my first trip to outback Queensland in my Transit van, which had no air conditioning in the middle summer at the height of the last drought. Even the gum trees were dying. My rationale was that if I had air conditioning stepping outside the car would be like jumping into an oven. We knew we were “there” when I took this wrong turn that ended up a dead end and the tumble weed and dust started blowing past us across the gravel road in the 40 degree plus heat! Everyone thought I was mad, but we had one memorable trip.

Hey, as they say in legalese, at least there should be no objections due the hearsay rules of evidence?

[svBeBe]

Request for sites:

You can start with Pippen Marine broker site...they seem to have a lot of boats here in Rebak. Down the dock from us is a Hunter Passage 45. I mention this because you originally stated Beneteau and Hunter. I looked for it on their website and could not find it, which does not surprise me, as someone previously stated broker sites are not that up-to-date...but anyway...

Pippen Marine

And, just for kicks (and prejudices), here is their link for an Amel in Thailand that my guess can be bought within your budget:

Pippen Marine


Best,

Bill
s/v BeBe, Amel Super Maramu 53
Currently Rebak Marina, Langkawi, Malaysia
Blog: http://www.svbebe.com

[sctpc]

well to be honest by the time you pay to get it in Australia and then the dutys, flights there not hugely cheaper, in most cases you need to know your boats I look at the Kiwis trademe.co.nz site it has heeps more boats than all the Au sites I go to but there are still comparable boats and prices depending on the condition of the like boat.

And as to my joke b4 at the moment no I am not interested in a shower, watermaker, or AC but when I cruise after retirement I will have all the above as we plan to go around AU over 5 years that will be my home then. Ill be old and after comfort by then and I will deserve it. (i hope)

[SurferShane]

Originally Posted by svBeBe

And, just for kicks (and prejudices), here is their link for an Amel in Thailand that my guess can be bought within your budget:

Pippen Marine

Best,

Bill
s/v BeBe, Amel Super Maramu 53
Currently Rebak Marina, Langkawi, Malaysia
Blog: http://www.svbebe.com

Seriously Amel – you are joking aren’t you? I only thought they were one of the best designed glass blue water boats available? (pure supposition!) Pity they are French so you won’t be getting that import concession. Still too big and way out of my budget, but an admirable to say the least; maybe one day!

Hey, I am not a prolific or opinionated poster; it’s just a miserable day over here and I am bored senseless! Then again, if I had an Amel I might just be out there? My flu has already developed into a secondary sinus infection (Might be what happens when you go spear fishing in cold water when crook), last thing I want is a good old dose of pneumonia.

Photo by me of this beautiful Sunday arvo; not too much swell though heaps of seas, windy and cold.

[ozskipper]

Originally Posted by sctpc

well to be honest by the time you pay to get it in Australia and then the dutys, flights there not hugely cheaper,
snip

Agreed. I am looking at doing a similar thing. However, I in my case, I am looking to buy the boat elsewhere then sail home as part of the adventure. One cant expect to profit on the journey. If I break even on the boat I will be more than happy. Considering it will have been my home for a couple of years, I consider it very cheap living indeed.

Cheers
OZ