New to Sailing

[lugervoyager]

i'm new to sailing and just purchased a 86 Luger voyager 30 ft. Was wondering what type of equipment is essential to sailing, example chart plotter, etc. the rigging and ropes are good. the jib sail has a tear in it, so need to find a new jib or is it possible to repair a torn sail. also need to do bottom painting, any recommendations, want to keep boat in water and not have to take it out that much. any info is appreciated.



joe

[Hydra]

Welcome to CruisersForum, lugervoyager

IMO, a chartplotter isn't essential: I have done without for 35 years. But it's nice to have.

But charts, either paper or electronics, are essential, with means to fix and plot your position on these charts.

Other members will give lots of opinions about what is necessary.

Yes, it is possible to repair a torn sail. It isn't really expensive to have it done professionally.

Alain

[svHannabel]

I suppose the best answer depends on your intended use. Do you plan to daysail? Go cruising on weekends? Longer cruises? Race? Liveaboard? Consider your primary use and let that drive your equipment and upgrade priorities.

Safety equipment (PFDs, flares, harness/jackline, spares, etc.) is a great place to start assessing your needs regardless of what your intended use is.

[lugervoyager]

I plan on live aboard in the future, would be trying to sail the east coast would be in the Chesapeake bay at first.

[SkiprJohn]

Please consider taking a course or two. USCG Boating Safety Courses are inexpensive and will tell you what you need to pass a Coast Guard inspection. They cover all kinds of subjects like navigation, knots and their stress is safety.

If you take your boat anywhere you'll need to navigate and charts of the area you'll be in are necessary. You will have to know the depth of water you are approaching in order to keep from going aground.

PFDs (life jackets) are a must. Learning to handle the sails is a must and easily learned by reading the book "Start Sailing Right!" and or taking a basic sailing cours.

Congratulations and good luck in your new element.

[sealubber]

Originally Posted by lugervoyager

i'm new to sailing and just purchased a 86 Luger voyager 30 ft. Was wondering what type of equipment is essential to sailing, example chart plotter, etc. the rigging and ropes are good. the jib sail has a tear in it, so need to find a new jib or is it possible to repair a torn sail. also need to do bottom painting, any recommendations, want to keep boat in water and not have to take it out that much. any info is appreciated.joe

All the rest is dependent on the boat and you. For the bottom paint what type of water are you keeping her in? Brackish, Fresh, Heavy Saltwater Brackish, Saltwater blue, use of boat and how often?

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Joe.

[lugervoyager]

sealubber. the the boat will be in saltwater. was thinking a multi-season paint would be good because then I wouldn't have to haul the boat as often to repaint.

[skipmac]

My answer would be similar to Hydra's. Very little is "essential". Most of the gadgets are handy, convenient, make sailing easier but at the end of the day, all that is really necessary is the boat and sails, a compass and some charts. After that, pick the items that make sailing easier for your particular plans.

The start of the list: VHF radio and a basic GPS.

Do a lot of sailing and are shorthanded and autopilot would be high on my list. Live in New England where you get a lot of fog, think about radar.

Liveaboard and your SO likes to cook, start upgrading the galley.

[satdiver]

Originally Posted by lugervoyager

sealubber. the the boat will be in saltwater. was thinking a multi-season paint would be good because then I wouldn't have to haul the boat as often to repaint.

Although the question is not directed to me I'll help you out. You need to find out if the bottom paint used previously was an ablative or hard paint. You can roll a ablative paint over a hard paint but not vice versa.

2nd if unknown sand it down and go with Petit Trinidad SR and you do want a biocide if you are up in VA and since you're going to be in the water year round like me. Although some environmentalist on here will have other opinions on that because it's heavy in copper. I've tried the Hydrocoat down here one season and spent half the summer bottom scrubbing. I also tried Ultima SR 40 one season as well and had similar results.

When I sail to the Caribbean I'll typically haul out and use Zspar which I have had decent success with.

Although I do care about the environment I dive for a living and would prefer not spending my down time scrubbing my hull.

[Ambler]

A chart plotter is expensive and limits you to a particular brand of non official vector chart.
You should look at a 10 inch touch pad with GPS running android system then install Apps to suit your needs. There are charting Apps that use official chart images downloaded from NOAA and up to date. There are apps for Tide, Weather Gribs, Cruisers Forum, Ship Tracker AIS, Anchor Watch and much more.
I use a Samsung touchpad in a waterproof bag for deliveries around Australia (I run memory-map on it) and often leave the owner stunned with his new expensive inferior chart plotter.

Get a good quality stand alone fish finder style sounder for conning your way around. These sounders plot a profile of the bottom so you can see at a glance if it is getting shallower.

Consult fellow boaters near you to determine what bottom paint works the best in your location. Chances are they have tried many and settled on the best.

Get a sail maker to look at your sails. They can tell immediately if your sail is worth repairing as it may have UV degradation.

Wayne

[lugervoyager]

thanks, any help or info is appreciated. have pretty much determined the tablet nav with a backup garmin 72h and paper charts as a back up is the way to go for nav. as far as bottom paint i know the better multi-season paint is expensive. Wondering how much i would need, thinking a gallon would be enough. aslo i know that i don't have a rolling furl jib, which on the newer boats looks like it makes things alot easier, have seen furlers for 1400 to 200. just wondering if that would be a good upgrade?

[Ambler]

as far as bottom paint i know the better multi-season paint is expensive. Wondering how much i would need, thinking a gallon would be enough. aslo i know that i don't have a rolling furl jib, which on the newer boats looks like it makes things alot easier, have seen furlers for 1400 to 200. just wondering if that would be a good upgrade?[/QUOTE]

Paint quantity is trial and error. I use ablative anti foul with two coats all over. Any left over is applied around the waterline.

A furling headsail is a great upgrade but you will also have to spend money on your sail to have it modified by adding bolt rope to suit the foils, head and tack webbing and also UV protection when furled. Before furlers it was common to have 4 or more different sails to suit the conditions. Dragging wet salty sails below after sail changes means loss of living area as well as damp moldy interior. So furlers are well worthwhile in the long term.
Wayne

[satdiver]

Originally Posted by lugervoyager

thanks, any help or info is appreciated. have pretty much determined the tablet nav with a backup garmin 72h and paper charts as a back up is the way to go for nav. as far as bottom paint i know the better multi-season paint is expensive. Wondering how much i would need, thinking a gallon would be enough. aslo i know that i don't have a rolling furl jib, which on the newer boats looks like it makes things alot easier, have seen furlers for 1400 to 200. just wondering if that would be a good upgrade?

I'm not a electronics guru so I can't comment on that nor do I know your budget and the type of sailing you plan to do. What you should have for electronics highly depends on the type of sailing you plan to do and where you're doing it. Obviously there are some who could circumnavigate with nothing more than a sextant and charts.

For bottom paint the amount you need depends on what you go with the manufacturers of the paints typically have a chart which will indicate the amount you need. Also although I do my best to stay away from West Marine if you do decide to get your paint there Petit actually manufactures their bottom paint so sometimes you can save buying their brand over the name.

A furling jib is a worth while investment IMO and will make sailing a little easier. As one of the posters above stated I'd go talk to a sail maker before you go out and start investing in rigging.

[lugervoyager]

plan on getting it in the water by April and then doing as much day and weekend sailing as i can on the Chesapeake bay before venturing out and down the coast to Florida or up the coast.