Full keel vs fin keel for offshore?

[hpeer]

Think,
Good point about relative sxperience, demonstrates the value of doing finding out about ones self. Although Crownhurst is probably a bad example.

[rgleason]

You may find a longer boat will have more side deck, and solve you cramped feeling. I find much much better stowage cabinets in older boats, which is a big consideration particularly in a small boat Shallow bilge and no keel well leads to wet lockers.

[kmacdonald]

While experience matters, common sense and being pro-active is more important. Being a "Jack of all Trades" is also desirable.

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by Tidjian

Trailerable just seemed the easier option as I can go 10 hours in each direction to buy and bring the boat back home myself. Put her in the water here in late April and get time to work on her as well as get used to her. If I buy it on the west coast or have it shipped there I won't be able to go there earlier than probably June. Mid to late June more likely. So that would only give me about a month to sail her around the harbour.

Let me confirm something. I had thought you had other reasons for buying a trailerable boat but from the above it's sounding like the only reason is getting a boat to where you are as inexpensively as possible, and that once there it being easily trailerable is no longer a need.

If so I think you have your priorities out of order. Buy the best boat for your long-term needs. If it costs a few thousand more to have it delivered...it's worth it. Go out and make a few more thousand or whatever to pay for it.

If you constrain yourself to buying a certain size/weight of boat for a one time towing event, you're going to regret it. It's a bit like buying a motorcycle for a cross country trip because nothing else will fit in your garden shed for the two weeks before you start the trip.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by kmacdonald

While experience matters, common sense and being pro-active is more important. Being a "Jack of all Trades" is also desirable.

Sailing/boating experience matters a lot because it allows you to use your common sense appropriately and also allows you to know what to be pro-active about!

[Pegu Club]

Your choice in boat comes down to, 1)Money, 2)Willingness to learn, 3)doing the actually important maintenance first, cosmetics come last.
To do what I gather you are trying to achieve will run in the smaller thousands of dollars to fully fit out the boat, $15,000.00 to $30.00.00, to make the boat what I suspect you invision, add another $10.000.00 to $20.000.00. jmo.

If you would like to see what we did on our 1977 Bristol 29.9, check out our Blog. All the costs and labor are there to be checked out at your leisure.

Best of luck on your boat hunt, and fair winds to you.

( adventuresontheclub.com )

[kmacdonald]

Crossing oceans on a $6K budget is an accident waiting to happen.

[olivert]

Dockhead is quite right about cost/material content. Technology has come on since the birth of grp and so have the handicap rules and both of these factors lead to light displacement, high volume boats. What I feel has been missed is to define 'forgiving' IMHO, the slower motion of the long keel, heavier displacement, less flat bottomed boat gives more time to the less experienced singlehander. It is less problematical if you drop the tiller for a moment, you are less likely to find jerky motions putting you off balance whilst working on deck, anchoring for instance. it is easier to balance the boat well enough to sail herself etc etc. There is of course a downside in that you have to work at learning to manoeuvre in a Marina and so on.

Although some of these advantages can be found by having a larger boat of the same displacement, all the running gear is commensuaratly heavier and more difficult for the beginner

I love my 28ft Twister - the epitome of heavy long keel and I am more comfortable sailing her a couple of notches higher up the Beaufort scale than a ligjtweight

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by kmacdonald

Crossing oceans on a $6K budget is an accident waiting to happen.

Tell that to the Brit who regularly sailed his junk rigged Corribee 21 up to Iceland and Greenland a few times over the years.. he's recently upgraded to an Achilles 24..
Or Rory who circumnavigated on a Tiki 21.. every trip is a potential accident waiting to happen.. its just how one minimises the outcome that counts.

[Tidjian]

Originally Posted by kmacdonald

Crossing oceans on a $6K budget is an accident waiting to happen.

I'm not on a $6k budget. That's just all I have off hand at the moment. I still have half a year of work income I can set aside the next few months. Plus if I sell my Grampian there is a tiny amount of money there. The sale of my house will be a big determining factor in my overall budget. I just can't fully depend on ducks that haven't hatched. My house could sell fast or sell very slow in which I may have to keep it and rent it out. Either way I'll sort those details. Just right now and over the next couple months I can probably only put between $6-10k towards a boat and getting it here or to the coast. Pending that the next couple months I'll be allocating income towards buying what I need for it, provisioning food and whatever else for the voyage. Then setting aside some money for when I get there. It's hard to say an exact budget overall for the entire trip but it will be well over $6k.

If that was all I had I would just seal up my Grampian, get a windvane and a few gadgets and say screw it and go. I wouldn't bother with the cost of a new boat.

Given a lot of luck, determination and a touch of crazy someone can cross an ocean in a raft with whatever they grabbed from their kitchen cupboard. Or they could sink after spending millions on a yacht. The goal isn't really how cheap can I cross the world for. The purpose in my posts are to get a realistic view on how to do it as safely as I can on my budget. Choosing the most important and necessary tools to get the job done with my restraints. I'm fully aware I won't be able to have the best of everything but it doesn't mean I can't succeed at it. People have done it with far less than I'm willing to put into it and people have failed after putting far more than I ever could into it. In the end all debate aside whatever happens will happen. I'd just like to try to minimize the risk a little.

[hpeer]

I’m wandering down the North Florida portion of the AICW at the moment. I’m seeing a few boats wrecked by hurricanes. I’m wondering if some of the local consignment shops might be able to help you with the wind vane?

Someone like Sailorman or maybe others. Should be scads of spare parts at the moment. Maybe give them a call, once you find your boat.

Sailorman: Used Marine Gear

[thomm225]

So I was thinking today if I had to sail across an ocean and had a old Bluewater qualified full keel boat like I have now what would I add on a limited budget say 5K

I would add the best weather forecasting system I could afford, replace the rigging and chain plates, add AIS, an extra bilge pump, and a few more solar panels plus and extra tiller, Epirb and SAT phone

If the 5k didn't cover it, I wait until I could acquire all on the list

Avoiding bad weather is the most important I'm thinking especially since Steven Callahan "sailed" his 6 man life raft 3/4 the way across the Atlantic

The point is that good weather reports outweigh the type boat you plan to sail..............

This from a coastal cruiser that relies on good weather reports

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by thomm225

So I was thinking today if I had to sail across an ocean and had a old Bluewater qualified full keel boat like I have now what would I add on a limited budget say 5K

I would add the best weather forecasting system I could afford, replace the rigging and chain plates, add AIS, an extra bilge pump, and a few more solar panels plus and extra tiller, Epirb and SAT phone

If the 5k didn't cover it, I wait until I could acquire all on the list

Avoiding bad weather is the most important I'm thinking especially since Steven Callahan "sailed" his 6 man life raft 3/4 the way across the Atlantic

The point is that good weather reports outweigh the type boat you plan to sail..............

This from a coastal cruiser that relies on good weather reports

Well, if you set out to cross the Pacific, the weather reports aren't going to mean much by the time you get a few days out. And in a small, slow boat, you'll be at it for weeks.

BUT, that being said, I think in the trades and out of typhoon season, there's not really so much bad that can happen to you in a reasonably strong boat. "Run what you brung" -- I wouldn't get hung up on the specific type of boat, but rather focus my attention on getting that boat in top condition before I left. If I had the time and desire to cross the Pacific, I sure as hell would not call it off just because the boat I happened to have didn't seem ideal.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by thomm225

So I was thinking today if I had to sail across an ocean and had a old Bluewater qualified full keel boat like I have now what would I add on a limited budget say 5K

I would add the best weather forecasting system I could afford, replace the rigging and chain plates, add AIS, an extra bilge pump, and a few more solar panels plus and extra tiller, Epirb and SAT phone

If the 5k didn't cover it, I wait until I could acquire all on the list

Avoiding bad weather is the most important I'm thinking especially since Steven Callahan "sailed" his 6 man life raft 3/4 the way across the Atlantic

The point is that good weather reports outweigh the type boat you plan to sail..............

This from a coastal cruiser that relies on good weather reports

rather than pay all that to have someone tell you everything you can see if you look and listen learn to do your own forecasts
New standing rigging would be a good idea unless you knew for a fact it was less than about 5 years old. Should already have both an electric and a manual bilge pump. Spare tiller why? Do you really expect the one you have to break? replace it before you leave.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Well, if you set out to cross the Pacific, the weather reports aren't going to mean much by the time you get a few days out. And in a small, slow boat, you'll be at it for weeks.

Yeah, sometimes I get confused because I used to sail beach cats that could hit 26 knots.

I was thinking of how the maxi cats did it in 2000 when they avoided all weather and were averaging 400 miles plus a day.

One of the locals where I was at the time that I had to race against, Randy Smyth, was one of the helmsmen on Cam Lewis's Maxi Cat Team Adventure