Cruising Boats (Another Lesson)

[Hardhead]

Originally Posted by Cruiser2B

I went from Alberg 30 to Westsail 32 to live aboard and always admired the salty look and sturdiness of W32....

It's funny you say that - I've always felt exactly the same, and it dawned on me specifically why. To me at least, it seems like the closest a sailor could actually get now to just the general atmospheric feel of sailing an old time square rigger. Heavy, stout fittings, and big billowy sails, carrying a lot of sail, varnish everywhere, heavy, rolling motion, etc. Makes me want to go to sea...

[MVDarlin]

I have a 34' C&C sailboat in Alaska for summer and a 52' Ocean Alexander twin diesel motor yacht in Mexico for winter. I enjoy the simplicity of sail and the luxury of the power boat amenities. The power boat is 4x as expensive to store and insure.

[Group9]

Originally Posted by MVDarlin

I have a 34' C&C sailboat in Alaska for summer and a 52' Ocean Alexander twin diesel motor yacht in Mexico for winter. I enjoy the simplicity of sail and the luxury of the power boat amenities. The power boat is 4x as expensive to store and insure.

We traded in a 42 foot sailboat for a 42 foot power boat (twin diesel engines).

I would say that our total yearly expenses with the power boat have easily been three times what the sailboat had. There is just so much more stuff to maintain and to fix. And, of course, there is just no comparison to the fuel usage.

We burned more diesel in the power boat bringing it home in five days, than we did in the sailboat in eight years (including two trips to the Bahamas).

[sdj]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

We stepped up from 20 foot Tornado Cat

Well, you won't have fear of any type if you've outgrown a tornado..

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by sdj

Well, you won't have fear of any type if you've outgrown a tornado..

Still have the Tornado, Sea Ark, Sunfish. Leaving the launch well on day one with the Camper scared the stuff out of us. It was six weeks before we could get off/on the dock.

GO BLUE!

[barnakiel]

Big boats are awesome and I would gladly have one provided you pay the bills !!!


;-)


b.

[barnakiel]

A Noordkapper Dutch sailing barge is at our dock ....


Beyond and above - finish, feeling. A boat that may not be you choice for can races but man what ocean dreams a hull like this can invoke!




Cheers,
b.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

Still have the Tornado, Sea Ark, Sunfish. Leaving the launch well on day one with the Camper scared the stuff out of us. It was six weeks before we could get off/on the dock.

GO BLUE!

Wow, every time I hear anything about the Tornado Catamarans I think of the first time I saw them in a race.

The sailors were mostly Olympic Caliber and at the start every single boat (there were maybe 18-20) was parked right on the starting like for the last minute or so.

This was in Ft Walton Beach in the mid to late 90's and it was awesome.

I learned a good lesson for having to race these guys later but it took years to learn enough to compete with them

[contrail]

Hats off to your son and his singing, Thomm. Thanks for sharing and wish there was more.

[Pinto]

Originally Posted by Greg K

Not necessarily true. Went from our Alberg 30 trainer in the PNW to a Cape Dory 36 which we sailed to the islands, across the pond and all over the Med for about ten years, only to recently go back to a 28 footer as our summer cruiser here in Med Spain.

Loved the Cape Dory 36, and in all respects she was a wonderful boat, but just a bit too much expense for dockage and maintenance considering we weren't planning to go back to full-time, liveaboard cruising any time soon.

The smaller Shannon 28 cutter that we now own is a perfect size for our needs. She is incredibly simple, with no air-con, shore power, fridge or pressure water or any of the numerous complexities of charging systems to run all that stuff. The windlass is manual, and even the Yanmar 2GM engine can be started with a hand crank if need be.

Absolutely love the simplicity and low cost of having gone back to small.

Interesting subject

My ideal boat??.

70 feet


What I really really want to do — a 70 footer just cannot do it


What can?


A 25 to 32 footer


I could have made one of the bigger mistakes in life if I had purchased a large boat -then discovered what I really wanted

Interesting lesson

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by contrail

Hats off to your son and his singing, Thomm. Thanks for sharing and wish there was more.

Thanks. There's a few more on youtube under his name.

He used to play maybe 5 days a week on Bourbon Street, New Orleans but that was a tough life and you sometimes see some crazy behavior from fellow human beings...…..in a place where the party never stops...….

[Pinto]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

I have always found it far easier and more cost effective to pay someone to do the dirty relatively unskilled jobs while I do the less messy but need to be done right jobs.

Morning


One of the things in life that has pissed me off and still pisses me off is that “ more cost effective to pay someone to do the dirty relatively unskilled jobs while ”


Most of those dirty, difficult jobs ARE the critical jobs


It’s those jobs not done well that make the wheels fall off or the sea Cock frozen when you need it the most


And where is the unskilled person when you are at sea or in the guts of nowhere when the wheel has fallen off?...

In some pub thousands of miles away watching footy


It’s a very hard and bitter lesson

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Pinto

Morning


One of the things in life that has pissed me off and still pisses me off is that “ more cost effective to pay someone to do the dirty relatively unskilled jobs while ”


Most of those dirty, difficult jobs ARE the critical jobs


It’s those jobs not done well that make the wheels fall off or the sea Cock frozen when you need it the most


And where is the unskilled person when you are at sea or in the guts of nowhere when the wheel has fallen off?...

In some pub thousands of miles away watching footy

It’s a very hard and bitter lesson

Someone has to do the messy jobs. Sometimes it’s me. Other times, I need an artist. I hire finish painting and varnish by Trinidad’s best. One thing for sure, if it’s the head, I’m looking for Ed Norton if possible.

I don’t consider those jobs ‘unskilled’. If anyone could do it you’d look for the village idiot. We hired no one where I built machinery whom we didn’t think had a path up. I always consulted our guys on the shop floor. It’s good to have them own part of the machine they might build. They can save your backside in a hurry or wreck your day. Mostly, these greasy guys were as smart as any of the engineers. They just learned other stuff.

It’s no different in the Caribbean. Most of the people have plenty to offer if you enable them. We love the Caribbean “mornin - mornin” greeting. It often precedes a long conversation where you find out a lot about each other. Any business waits for the formalities. Surprising what you learn sometimes.

[Tmacmi]

Timely Topic.

We bought a Spirit 28 to wet our feet for summer cruising this season. I grew up on the Bay sailing a 23 foot wooden boat. My aunt and uncle spent YEARS gunkholing the summers on the bay on a 28' something I can't recall but probably purchased at the Annapolis Boat Show (which I used to sneak into as a 12 y.o.).

We started getting 2' itis almost right a way.

Here are the items that we want to accommodate in the next boat (32' maybe)

1) deck room to get past shrouds. Our boat has 3 shrouds current coming to the deck. Moving one's butt around those is just plain unpleasant for this now 50 plus sailor.

2) ability to raise, lower, and reef the main from the cockpit. Maybe I am inexperienced. but walking down our dock, this capacity doesn't show up until the boats get bigger.

3) room for a refrigerated cooler. OK this is just old man comfort, but we have a plug in cooler that is plain nice to have but in the confines of the cabin of a 28' boat this just lost.

BTW this all needs to be accommodated for $25k

We got the 28' for $10K and we have already planned it as our 3 season boat.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Tmacmi

Timely Topic.

We bought a Spirit 28 to wet our feet for summer cruising this season. I grew up on the Bay sailing a 23 foot wooden boat. My aunt and uncle spent YEARS gunkholing the summers on the bay on a 28' something I can't recall but probably purchased at the Annapolis Boat Show (which I used to sneak into as a 12 y.o.).

We started getting 2' itis almost right a way.

Here are the items that we want to accommodate in the next boat (32' maybe)

1) deck room to get past shrouds. Our boat has 3 shrouds current coming to the deck. Moving one's butt around those is just plain unpleasant for this now 50 plus sailor.

2) ability to raise, lower, and reef the main from the cockpit. Maybe I am inexperienced. but walking down our dock, this capacity doesn't show up until the boats get bigger.

3) room for a refrigerated cooler. OK this is just old man comfort, but we have a plug in cooler that is plain nice to have but in the confines of the cabin of a 28' boat this just lost.

BTW this all needs to be accommodated for $25k

We got the 28' for $10K and we have already planned it as our 3 season boat.

I have plenty of room on my 27' boat to go forward. The three shrouds are attached to fiber glass knees (I think they are called) old school style so they are on the edge right at the toe rail

So far I've had no problems going forward to reef but it does get interesting at times tying off the extra sail so sometimes I do it later or not at all (I only have one set of reef points so not a lot of excess sail)

I've spent so much time on the boat and on deck these last 8 years that I've adjusted to most everything there

My main problem is down below. Space is limited and there's no shower. I have a propane hot plate to warm or cook food.

A fridge does sound nice though and I may get one for longer distance/time cruising or I may try to do without it at first as long as I can resupply once every 5-6 days

The Spirit 28 looks like a nice boat though especially as a starter boat in the Bay