Opinions on a 8'3 draft?

[GordMay]

A draft of 8' is pretty deep for many cruising destinations, marinas, and small-boat anchorages.
Notwithstanding, the So-Pac is notorious for deep anchorages, where 8'-3" draft shouldn't present too many problems.

Net Tonnage is a measure of volume of a ship, more precisely the volume of a ship that's useful for carrying cargo and passengers. So, essentially you take the internal volume of the ship, and remove the volume of the fuel, engine spaces, crew quarters and so on. 100 cubic feet is the volume used for calculating net and gross registered (GRT) tonnage of a ship.

Dead weight tonnage is the actual weight of what a ship can carry. To get this, you take the displacement of a fully loaded ship and then subtract from that the displacement of it when totally empty. And since displacement is actually the amount of water displaced by a vessel, it corresponds to the actual weight of the ship.

See the USCG “TONNAGE GUIDE FOR SIMPLIFIED MEASUREMENT”
http://www.qualitymaritime.info/Pres...mplified_0.pdf

For purposes of Regulatory Measurement (GRT / NRT):

Overall Depth means the vertical distance taken at or near amidships from a line drawn horizontally through the uppermost edges of the skin (outside planking or plating) at the side of the hull (excluding the cap rail, trunks, cabins and deckhouses, and deck caps) to the outboard face of the bottom skin of the hull, excluding the keel. For a vessel that is designed for sailing where the interface between the “keel” and the “bottom skin of the hull” is not clearly defined (as is the case with an “integral” or “faired” keel), the keel is included in the “overall depth”.

[Jim Cate]

G'Day tdine,

FWIW,

We've cruised full time in the south pacificfor the last 23 years in 2 boats, both of which drew 7'2". We were often told that it was "too deep for sailing in (wherever the pundit was from)". And yes, we run aground every now and then, and yes,there are a few places we simply can't get into. Another foot of draft or so would certainly increase the number of unaccessable spots, but there a hell of a lot of spots you can get into. I certainly wouldn't let that draft be a deal breaker for me if Iliked the boat.

Having said that,I'll add my guess that there is some error in the spec. We too have been around many Roberts designs, and none of them were of unusually deep draft. Have a good look for yourself if neccessary -- I bet that you'll find it to be 6'6' or less!

Good luck with the search

Cheers,

Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable II lying Gladstone Qld Oz

PS We aften say "All cruisers run aground now and then, and we just do it a little further from shore that the shallow drafters!"

[tdine]

Sure enough, when we went to see the boat today with the broker he made a few calls and discovered that it was an estimate- between 6-8 feet. I guess we'll have to do this the old fashioned way and measure once it's out of the water. I did e-mail Bruce and he said the same: measure it! He didn't answer much else. So I guess that's why there's disclaimers on all of the specs sheets...

I do appreciate everyone's feedback- it's nice to know there's a support group out there!

[Bash]

Check out the link below, and you'll find any number of Bruce Roberts ketches up to 58' long with no greater draft than 7'. Is it possible that there's a typo in the specs you're reviewing?

Bruce Roberts sailboats for sale by owner.

[Bash]

oops! sorry tdine! For some reason your latest post didn't show up before I wrote the above response.

Yeah, I'm guessing the estimate of draft is way off.

[James S]

My money's on it being the overall depth (with the keel up) as gord says....I've seen this before and I guess it does have to do with shipping details.