Is it Possible to Go Blue Water in a 13 Foot Guppy?

[sailronin]

Yeah, that 10 foot waterline should let you average about 50 nm per day, perfect for fast passages.
This is a "manifestly unsafe voyage" by definition and comes under the "stunt category", see note above about Experienced voyager attempting passage in same type of boat.
He died!

[tbodine88]

Originally Posted by atoll

open ocean forget it,ship the boat.

I think a better plan is to sell the guppy in washington. Take the money and find a boat in Vava'u or Tonga.

I found a very nice blue water japanese boat in Guam when I went down there. And there were others for sale fairly cheap.

I left my Potter in the states, shipping it would have cost nearly $4000 and taken 6 months.

[rtbates]

Figure it out. Go off shore a tad at a time. Do so in ever increasing winds and seas. You'll answer your own question quickly enough. Oh and be sure to post a rescue bond as suggested. And take video ..

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by tbodine88

I think a better plan is to sell the guppy in washington. Take the money and find a boat in Vava'u or Tonga.

I found a very nice blue water japanese boat in Guam when I went down there. And there were others for sale fairly cheap.

I left my Potter in the states, shipping it would have cost nearly $4000 and taken 6 months.

Are you the guy that bought the Yamaha that was sitting outside the yacht club?

[tbodine88]

No, I bought a different boat, but since I had to leave, sold it to a guy named Thomas. He told me he moved it to the hurricane anchorage across the harbor. It was a lovely boat, sure do miss her even though I only owned her six months and was only on board maybe two hours.

[JazzyO]

Originally Posted by tbodine88

I think a better plan is to sell the guppy in washington. Take the money and find a boat in Vava'u or Tonga.

+1!


Onno

[paulf]

I partially agree,
I took my SanJuan 23 from Sequim WA to San Juan Islands this fall.
Weather was great...but no wind. Great learning experience!

You live in the beat place to test your theory. Spend a few weeks in Puget Sound and The Strait of Juan DeFuca, then move to the Steait of Georgia. You will know soon if it is possable.
paulf

Originally Posted by rtbates

Figure it out. Go off shore a tad at a time. Do so in ever increasing winds and seas. You'll answer your own question quickly enough. Oh and be sure to post a rescue bond as suggested. And take video ..

[HopCar]

I think this is still this is still in Hugo's back yard. It's only crossed the Atlantic once.

[pete2169]

Well, I still have the guppy 13. I still have not taken it to the ocean yet.

Still working on it to make more sea worthy. Right now,I have it moored in the
Columbia river near the Tri-Citys in Washington state. I have added a Torqeedo cruise 2.0 electric longshaft outboard motor. It's really cool because it has 6 horsepower of thrust and it's only 40 pounds in weight. I have heard it's the most powerful 24 volt motor on the market. I modified the steering fin on the bottom of the motor by adding 6 inches in length to the fin. I mounted it in the center of the back of the boat in place of the original rudder. It works great as a motorized rudder. I still have the two electric saltwater trolling motors that are 80 pounds of thrust each they are mounted on each side of the torqeedo motor and I built a special steering system so they steer together with the torqeedo motorized rudder.

I tested it a while back without the sails it can go 8 knots with all 3 motors at full speed. And I am now testing with the sails and I had it moving at almost 12 knots motor sailing down the Columbia river. I plan to sail it this summer all the way down the Columbia and out to the ocean. I have 780 amp hours of lithium battery power so I can go about 14 nm on a charge at full speed and much further at slower speeds. The five batteries only add 140 lbs of weight to the boat and they fit perfectly in a straight line above the keel under the cabin floor. It makes the boat more stable with the battery weight in the bottom of the boat right where it needs to be. 2 of the batteries run the 24 volt torqeedo motor, 2 of the batteries run the 24 volt trolling motors and the 5th battery runs the 12 volt system for the cabin and the lights. Anyway I thought I would keep everyone up to date on the guppy project. will take picks and add soon.

[seandepagnier]

pictures of this setup? Did you use special propellors? If it were me, I would just use one motor because 8 knots is a bit ridiculous speed to motor on electric power. Do you have solar panels to recharge? Did you bypass the torqueedo controller to allow regen (with a different propeller) under sail?

[Andrew Troup]

Originally Posted by pete2169

Well, I still have the guppy 13. I still have not taken it to the ocean yet.

Still working on it to make more sea worthy. Right now,I have it moored in the
Columbia river near the Tri-Citys in Washington state. I have added a Torqeedo cruise 2.0 electric longshaft outboard motor. It's really cool because it has 6 horsepower of thrust and it's only 40 pounds in weight. I have heard it's the most powerful 24 volt motor on the market. I modified the steering fin on the bottom of the motor by adding 6 inches in length to the fin. I mounted it in the center of the back of the boat in place of the original rudder. It works great as a motorized rudder. I still have the two electric saltwater trolling motors that are 80 pounds of thrust each they are mounted on each side of the torqeedo motor and I built a special steering system so they steer together with the torqeedo motorized rudder.

I tested it a while back without the sails it can go 8 knots with all 3 motors at full speed. And I am now testing with the sails and I had it moving at almost 12 knots motor sailing down the Columbia river. I plan to sail it this summer all the way down the Columbia and out to the ocean. I have 780 amp hours of lithium battery power so I can go about 14 nm on a charge at full speed and much further at slower speeds. The five batteries only add 140 lbs of weight to the boat and they fit perfectly in a straight line above the keel under the cabin floor. It makes the boat more stable with the battery weight in the bottom of the boat right where it needs to be. 2 of the batteries run the 24 volt torqeedo motor, 2 of the batteries run the 24 volt trolling motors and the 5th battery runs the 12 volt system for the cabin and the lights. Anyway I thought I would keep everyone up to date on the guppy project. will take picks and add soon.

Hmm ... let me guess: you measured your speed by GPS?

Perhaps try this on your next 'sea' trial: turn off the motors and haul down the sails and go sideways to the current and measure the speed and subtract it from the 'almost twelve knots' or whatever. That'll give you an indication of your hull speed. (Also: make sure it's "knots" and not "kph"; 12 kph is 6.5 knots)

[JPA Cate]

Questions for Pete2162:

How much water does the guppy have room to store? If there is a difference between your requirements and the tankage, how will you meet them? Incidentally, as it gets hotter, you may find, as we did, that we needed 1/2 gal. water per person per day, minimum.

Are you planning to move only when the sun shines? What will your anticipated days' runs be?

Does the vessel have running lights?

Have you calculated your nutritional needs?

What that you have to take with you would require to be kept dry?? and how will you accomplish that?

A family friend lost his life crossing the Columbia River Bar. It's a fairly notorious piece of water. How do you plan to do it? From where would you make your departure for Vava'u?

Bye for now.

Ann

[Bregts]

Read '500 days at sea' from Serge Testa. He did it in a 13ft boat but it was purpose built and strong as a rock.

[Wolfy]

If you did try and actually make it to Vava'u.....you'll be a hell of a tired out Puppy in a 13ft Guppy.......

[pete2169]

Hey good idea to add regen to the torqeedo. I want to do that. I added a home made regen to my trolling motors with a controller bypass switch and a couple of 24 volt 80 amp diodes that go back to the batteries. but I need to modify the props because the factory props don't spin very well under drag. I noticed that the torqeedo prop spins better because it 12" with 3 blades at a sharper pitch. I wonder it it would spin better if I turned it around backwards on the shaft?