Payload for Small Boat Cruising?

[ElGatoGordo]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Wow, this has to be some sort of record for a thread going off the rails. Carrying capacity to a squabble about measuring systems in less than an hour ... impressive.


Why go fast, when you can go slow

My thought too Mike. But I guess until the OP clarifies we'll keep it up

I'd love to be Metric in the US (especially since as a chemist in the Navy and now as an RN I use metrics in my job), but it is what it is, we as Americans who deal with the ENTIRE REST OF THE WORLD must learn to convert since as a nation we're to slow to change.

[mikeod]

I don't know the lbs but since buying our Tartan 33 five years ago we have sunk it about 6 inches. When we bought it there was just me and my wife weekend coastal cruising. We have had two kids and cruised the east coast and Bahamas three out of the last 4 winters. There is probably a formula to figure out the lbs per inch of waterline. I agree metric is a lot easier to work with but I cant change the system here.

[model 10]

I don't understand the water quantity, who can carry 325gal?
Coastal cruisers need just as much ground tackle as anyone else so I don't think there should be such a big difference.
Our small boat went down about 3 ", about 2400lbs.

[ElGatoGordo]

Originally Posted by Guy

I don't understand the water quantity, who can carry 325gal?

Unless that's pounds, in which case it's 40Gal, totally doable.

OP...more info

[MarkSF]

Having lived in the UK most of my life, then moved to the US, my opinion is this :

Metric is easier to do science and engineering in.

Imperial is easier for day to day activities. The pint is an ideal measure of beer or milk. MPG is far more intuitive than L/km. Inches and feet are more intuitive than cm. You can divide 12 by 2,3,4, and 6. 16 is divisible by 8,4, and 2. 10 is only divisible by 5 & 2. Most families are 2 or 4 people (not mentioning the obvious 1) Why do you think things have been sold in dozens for millennia?

Switching to metric isn't resisted because everyone in the US is crazy or reactionary - it's because it sucks.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Island Time O25

Why, were you banned from google? ))

Inches is easy. It was the width of the thumb of some medieval English king. So was his foot's length for a "foot" (our size 12 I suppose). A yard was the lenght from his waste to the ground (I think). And so forth. Of course these measures differed quite a bit from place to place not to mention from country to country, thus the need for standartization. But that's another story.

Bzzzt! Total fail - did you just make that up or did you find some really bad Wikipedia page?

[Jim Cate]

Geeze, Evans, what a hornet's nest you poked!

For the reading impaired, I believe that the numbers quoted were all in pounds, no matter what the material involved. Seemed pretty obvious to me.

And if you have trouble with the units, surely clever people like inhabit CF can do the conversions, even if the units posted are, according to you pundits, archaic. A computer, calculator, slide rule or pencil/paper should be man enough for this arduous task.

Now, as to the query posted, it has been too many years since we cruised in a 30 foot boat, and my memory is pretty vague... so I can't actually help with data.

Cheers,

Jim

[JPA Cate]

Evans, apologies for continuing the drift, but....

Thumb: 1 inch is the length from the outermost joint of the thumb to its tip. As the cubit is the length from the point of one's elbow to the tip of the longest finger, approx, 18 inches. But the really cool deal for ancient boat builders, is that if you build by measurements on your own body, all your boats are internally consistent. The lenghts were 3 times the beam, and so on. And if you had a giant Viking build your boat,
the whole thing was bigger, but all in scale. When you consider present day dependence on measuring things to the nth decimal place, not such a bad idea, anyway.

However, for standardization and replicability, we start our with yardsticks and metre sticks, and wind up measuring pollution in millionths of a unit!! Astounding! not sure how useful, though.

Now, Evans, if you'll come back and explain that you meant pounds of stuff (if that's what you meant), that'd be helpful for your thread, and we might even be able to tell you approx. what we took when we went to Hawaii in the Yankee 30, besides the 20 lbs. of onions. ;-)

Ann

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Geeze, Evans, what a hornet's nest you poked!

For the reading impaired, I believe that the numbers quoted were all in pounds, no matter what the material involved. Seemed pretty obvious to me.

And if you have trouble with the units, surely clever people like inhabit CF can do the conversions, even if the units posted are, according to you pundits, archaic. A computer, calculator, slide rule or pencil/paper should be man enough for this arduous task.

Now, as to the query posted, it has been too many years since we cruised in a 30 foot boat, and my memory is pretty vague... so I can't actually help with data.

Cheers,

Jim

sorry evans did not mean to hijack the thread!

though just read my horoscope for today and it said this

21/5-21/6 gemini
You're tired of settling for mediocrity all the time. You will be met with resistance after proposing a new way of doing things. Fortunately, you will be able to convert an influential person to your point of view. With this bigwig by your side, a stuffy regulation will fall by the wayside. Soon, your method will be employed and great progress will be made. Be prepared to share the credit for this accomplishment with your benefactor. Express your gratitude and appreciation in a public forum.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by atoll

sorry evans did not mean to hijack the thread!

though just read my horoscope for today and it said this

21/5-21/6 gemini
You're tired of settling for mediocrity all the time. You will be met with resistance after proposing a new way of doing things. Fortunately, you will be able to convert an influential person to your point of view. With this bigwig by your side, a stuffy regulation will fall by the wayside. Soon, your method will be employed and great progress will be made. Be prepared to share the credit for this accomplishment with your benefactor. Express your gratitude and appreciation in a public forum.

Thanks Atoll!
Together we will restore Beer to its rightful place in society!

[estarzinger]

Hey guys (and girls). . . It is/was lbs.

I did actually say "lbs" several times in the OP.

[Island Time O25]

Originally Posted by StuM

Bzzzt! Total fail - did you just make that up or did you find some really bad Wikipedia page?

Britannica good enough for you? inch (unit of measurement) -- Encyclopedia Britannica
Inch
-inch, unit of British Imperial and United States Customary measure equal to 1/36 of a yard. The unit derives from the Old English ince, or ynce, which in turn came from the Latin unit uncia, which was “one-twelfth” of a Roman foot, or pes. (The Latin word uncia was the source of the name of another English unit, the ounce.) The old English ynce was defined by King David I of Scotland about 1150 as the breadth of a man’s thumb at the base of the nail. To help maintain consistency of the unit, the measure was usually achieved by adding the thumb breadth of three men—one small, one medium, and one large—and then dividing the figure by three. During the reign of King Edward II, in the early 14th century, the inch was defined as “three grains of barley, dry and round, placed end to end lengthwise.” At various times the inch has also been defined as the combined lengths of 12 poppyseeds. Since 1959 the inch has been defined officially as 2.54 cm.

[estarzinger]

Well . . . . let me try again . . . . .but if you all prefer to discuss units of measurement just carry on.

(lbs) Coastal Blue Water
Water 250 325
Diesel 72 72
Gasoline 32 32
Propane 20 20
Chain 74 150
Rode 25 25
Anchors 55 85
Tools 75 100
Spare Parts 50 150
Clothing 100 100
Food 200 300
Extra sails & Rope 50 50
Personal stuff 150 200
dinghy & outboard 106 106
Misc 150 150
Total (lbs) 1409 1865

[Benz]

Hi Evans,

Cruised until two weeks ago on a 31'. Did Newfoundland, so serious coastal I guess.

Here's my numbers (approx)
Diesel: 0
Gas: 25 gal
Dinghy 100 no outboard
Oars, 15lb (?)
Water 120 gal
Anchors: 200' 5/16 chain; 45 lb Manson; 15lb fortress; 100 fathoms of 3/4" nylon; assorted chain and kedge bits: 75 lbs.
Books: 300 lbs
Charts: 150 lbs
Children: 3@ assorted weights: 170 lbs?
Clothing? fathomless
Spare parts & tools: under 100lbs
Propane: 30 lbs
Food unknown; initial weight of boat unloaded: 20,000lbs
Most of these are estimates: I didn't bother weighing all the ins and outs, but I hope it helps.

And for you metric lovers: you all fail. A quick search of my blog posts for one called "No Metric Equivalent" will soon instruct you in these matters. I'd post a link, but having been deemed a 'Commercial Vendor' due to an ongoing Kickstarted campaign, I cannot. Happy to discuss all these matters, though: perhaps someone could start a Metric flame thread?
Best all,
Ben Zartman
zartman cruising dot com

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by estarzinger

Well . . . . let me try again . . . . .but if you all prefer to discuss units of measurement just carry on.

(lbs) Coastal Blue Water
Water 250 325
Diesel 72 72
Gasoline 32 32
Propane 20 20
Chain 74 150
Rode 25 25
Anchors 55 85
Tools 75 100
Spare Parts 50 150
Clothing 100 100
Food 200 300
Extra sails & Rope 50 50
Personal stuff 150 200
dinghy & outboard 106 106
Misc 150 150
Total (lbs) 1409 1865

Evans,

I sail a 40 footer so my comments are perhaps biased. I think the water sounds a bit low. 325 lbs is 40 gal or say 145 liters. For 30 days that's 1 gal total per day (with a 10 gal buffer). For two people that is pretty severe rationing (especially in the tropics - different in the north). Of course if there is a rain catchment system (and some squalls) then the tanks can be refilled along the way).

The gasoline is for the dinghy, which probably won't be used until the boat reaches land. I might cut that gasoline in half and add more propane. (assuming the boat is going somewhere where gas can be purchased).

Like some others, I'm a bit puzzled by the heavier anchor - it is no use in blue water and when the other side is reached - then it is serious coastal? Why the bigger anchor while at sea?

The same is true for the chain.


I guess I'm a "belt and suspenders" type of person. Running out of food on a passage or having to eat beans 3 times per day sucks - but you can survive. Running out of water and it is all over in 3-4 days.

I suppose the 300 lbs of food is meant to be supplemented with fish caught on the way.

The diesel and gasoline amounts are dependent on how the boater is going to generate electricity. Are we assuming solar? perhaps a wind or water generator? If not, then the diesel amount might be on the short side.

Finally, this is a nice intellectual excercise - or do you have something practical in mind? Someone you know is planning a trip like this?

carsten