Sailing for Economy

[Cuttyhunk]

My EndeavourCat 36 comes in a trawler version, and I seriously debated it. The price would have been similar. I'm a lifelong sailor, but my husband mostly lives to fish. The trawler would be awesome for a great loop trip and the ICW. But the sailboat has smaller engines, so my beloved is not able to burn too much fuel even if we are motoring. And it is so comfortable with the sails up.

I have cruised before, all through the Caribbean on a CSY 33. We motored most of the time, even with sails up, as we were usually beating. So I am all over the romantic notion of going everywhere with sails alone. I still chose the sailboat. Maybe when we are older, we will switch over, but I think I'd be more likely to change to a shorter mast than go totally power!

[Sea Frog]

I wouln't have a motor boat no matter how much I earn and can afford. Being a hostage of fuel is just too risky. The **** can hit the fan any day, globally or locally, and I want to be able to get away with zero fuel, if needed. Maybe when some small nuclear cells are awailable...

[Pete7]

Surely you can buy a lot of diesel (well not in Europe) for the price of a set of sails plus standing and running rigging every 10 - 15 years.

Pete

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Surely you can buy a lot of diesel (well not in Europe) for the price of a set of sails plus standing and running rigging every 10 - 15 years.

Pete

That's the argument that is used, but I bet that if it's used much at all, you have to figure an engine replacement every ten to fifteen yrs and that I think would roughly cancel out the rigging / sails.

Truth for me anyway is I hope I'll have to replace rigging and sails twice, but doubt it, bet it's only once. Probably when the time comes and my house if I still have it needs re-roofing, it's unlikely I'll spend the extra money for a 50 yr roof

[DotDun]

I think sails and rigging are more reliable, i.e. less moving parts. My engines are 'auxiliary' power, hence don't have to depend on them to get home (except for that dreaded schedule when the wind doesn't cooperate).

I believe if I ever went to the dark side, I would want a economical single engine trawler, that at some point would leave me stranded.

Plus, nothing equals sitting on the fore deck with my wife, some adult beverages and hearing nothing but wind and waves (sans engine noise). Sailing is bliss!

[Horror Hotel]

As much as people say "that would buy a lot of diesel" it really won't. I spent 12k on 2 of my 3 sails, new rigging and 1 1/2 hood furlers. Sure with my current sailboat engine that would be a ton of fuel. (12,000\$4 =3000gal / .75 hr=4000hr x 5.5kts=22,000 nm) but with a 4 gallon per hour trawler you end up with 4500 nm. That's like one season of travel. I bet my sails and rigging are gonna last way longer than one season. Probably ten years with the way I baby them and avoid all bad weather. Just seems like a commonly repeated phrase that is actually pretty inaccurate.

[hoppy]

It's all about the journey for me. So I don't care about sail v motor economics whichever what you calculate it. :-)

I'd rather have a weekly prostate exam than switch from sail to a stink boat, perhaps with the exception of super yachts. Even then I'd prefer a sailing super yacht.

[autumnbreeze27]

We try to run the motor as little as possible. If money was no object, I'd live on a big motor boat and have a racing sailboat. If I was cruising it would have to be a sailboat. I couldn't imagine cruising with the motors running all the time.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Horror Hotel

If paying a $250 or $500 or $1000 a day fuel bill was no issue, how many would be in a salty 45' trawler?

An argument would be if you could afford $800 a day in fuel, you would probably no have a old $50k trawler.

But with a low buck trawler, $20k a year on fuel isn't that bad and doable for many.

Geez, we run 900 HP and we're out almost every weekend... and that kind of money would cover our fuel costs for at least 10 years...

-Chris

[Horror Hotel]

How far do you go?

[Tayana42]

After 45 years of sailing I still love the "aaah factor", the moment of near silence when I shut down the engine and sail. I'm not averse to motor sailing when it's more practical but I love sailing. That said, I could learn to love a Nordhaven 40.


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[SaltyMonkey]

Reading from folks who migrated from sailing / motorsailing to pure motoring, they say they spend LESS than they used to.

Nordhavn, diesel ducks used less than 1MM.

ngins are cleaner, better maintained than sailors, better systems. some have backup ngins.

Nice bridges, better living layouts.

I'd move yes, if i could ford a boat!

[Horror Hotel]

Not to nit-pic but I was mainly speaking to the long distance cruisers. There are plenty of sport fish boats that could go from canada to key west but don't cause it would cost a ungodly amount . I would know some people with that bigger boats that burn 5-20 gallons per hour per engine. It's hard to imagine 900hp not using 10k in fuel during one season. Say you went from key west to rio dulce Guatemala?

[SaltyMonkey]

Not true.

Nordhavn 40: 920 gal tank.
John Deere 4045TFM75 107 hp @ 2,400 rpm
Twin Disc MG5050 reverse gear with 3:1 reduction

6 knots = 1.6 GPH Range: 3,450 nm
7 knots = 2.6 GPH Range: 2,458 nm
8 knots = 4.0 GPH Range: 1,840 nm

[SaltyMonkey]

ON market USA All under 500k

http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/2001...s#.UzmdmVxqeEE

2000 Nordhavn 40 Power Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

2000 Nordhavn 40 Power Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

2004 Nordhavn 40 MK II Flybridge Power Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

2002 Nordhavn 40 Pacific Seacraft Power Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

1999 Nordhavn N40 Power Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com