John61CT>
"If you think none / some of the smaller boats are safe for
blue water, specific feedback would be appreciated"
John, there is size,
safety and then there is *comfort* in boats. Size is irrelevant, in that from 10ft up you can build anything to take the punishment that the ocean can dish out within reason
Safety is something specific to each boat's owner and how they choose to set parameters and equip the vessel for the task at hand. Just because a
boat can cross oceans does not mean the expense to do so has to be paid out by an owner who only intends to coastal
cruise it.
Comfort is what 'size' can buy you in a well designed vessel. It won't roll as much downwind, nor
pitch as much in a seaway, nor constantly broach wildly out of control in varying winds. There are 'boat designers' and 'Naval Architects', the two are vastly different, think nurse and heart surgeon. Both
work in the same venue but one has superior knowledge to perform the task at hand. Same with a BD or NA, you want an
ocean crossing vessel to be drawn by a Naval Architect of some reknown, preferably someone whom has put their own life on the line and sailed a diverse number of vessels in their lifetime to frame their experience onto paper.
This is not to say many of the coastal cruisers out there that have crossed oceans at one time or another were not up to the task, they were *outfitted* for the task. IE,
cape dory 27 that circumnavigated has good 'bones' but was specifically beefed up in certain areas to compensate with expected wear and tear.
Don, I was *just* down to a boatyard today to check on a
mast I had made a barter on in mid sept. Lo and behold there sits a 1965
Columbia 29 with the atomic 4 pulled
motor mounts widened and a good running
dang forgot what
diesel engine is in it. Too many conversations from seeing it and dealing with 9 other people I had not seen in the boatyard since sept
Anyway, the story is the owner is in
Ohio and is contemplating wanting it gone because he doesn't want to pay
winter storage fees. I casually know the guy who was aboard
cleaning it out. he knows 'I'm in the loop' of knowing lots of people who buy boats because I'm around to 20 or so yards in the region. He said in 2 weeks time or so to let him know if anyone is a serious buyer, ie no tire kickers, because essentially he wants to show it make a transaction and be done. A person with cash in hand could own it for about the
price of the
California one, and it's in less of a
refit condition, though needs a thorough
cleaning in and out. Sitting
on the hard with someone who knows the boat in and out because it was his old boat. He did all of the
work before this owner traded boats with him. He says the
sails are usable, but not
offshore worthy.
Re: Trailerable blue-ocean: exists?
Keep staying on the sunny side of life there Clamdigger! Keep moving and recovering! (Then can you find me one of those over on the 
Linear Mode
Recent Discussions