Circumnavigation

[illini]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

I do think your budget is low for a 50' boat.

Start digging through listing on yachtworld, narrow it down with keywords.....


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Do you mean purchase price or monthly budget or both? I know slips for 50 footers are expensive so I'd have to find a way to lower that cost a bit, maybe achor out on a ball for half the time.

[Sailmonkey]

IMHO the purchase price is doable with a larger monthly budget, or the monthly budget is doable for a larger purchase price. But a 50' boat makes everything expensive just by pure quantity. Lots of large long hoses, larger longer lines, bigger sails more standing rigging, etc.....


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[2Hulls]

Hello Illini - keep reading and learning, but I think you're a long way off from picking a specific boat.

In the meantime, get out on the ocean any way you can on sailing vessels. Volunteer for crew on ocean passages and even find a local racing group to try to get a spot as crew - what you learn will help you make all your decisions later. Research crewed charters that offer "cabin" slots - you share the charter with other singles or couples. Work up to skippering your own bareboat charter. Learn, learn, learn. As you go, evaluate other boats you see and sail on and THEN start deciding what is right for you.

Oh, and do not be reluctant to change your plans as you learn, e.g., going around South America.....

Good luck,
Dave

[chuckr]

Hum -- a couple of thoughts and I will be gone -- first why a 50'? Two of us live very nicely on a 40' and we have several thousand miles under our keel in 8 years of cruising. We talk about it often and we would not want a boat bigger than say 45 and no smaller than 40. But then again that is just us. Bigger boats = bigger expense.


Second why only English speaking countries. So far we have visited about 40 countries and most are not English speaking. Right now we are spending our 2nd winter in Tunisia which is either French or Arabic and we speak neither but we have been all over the country and had a great time here.


Third your monthly budget is good. We spend between $2,500 and $4,000 a year depending on where we are and upgrades. Search on dollars and cents forum and there is a lot of info on there including our spreadsheet on 6 years of cruising costs.


Lastly spend a lot and I mean a lot of time learning how to forecast and use weather forecast models. I have a real bug a boo over weather as we know a lot of folks who have gotten in big trouble not being able to understand weather.


Good luck

[illini]

Originally Posted by chuckr

Hum -- a couple of thoughts and I will be gone -- first why a 50'? Two of us live very nicely on a 40' and we have several thousand miles under our keel in 8 years of cruising. We talk about it often and we would not want a boat bigger than say 45 and no smaller than 40. But then again that is just us. Bigger boats = bigger expense.


Second why only English speaking countries. So far we have visited about 40 countries and most are not English speaking. Right now we are spending our 2nd winter in Tunisia which is either French or Arabic and we speak neither but we have been all over the country and had a great time here.


Third your monthly budget is good. We spend between $2,500 and $4,000 a year depending on where we are and upgrades. Search on dollars and cents forum and there is a lot of info on there including our spreadsheet on 6 years of cruising costs.


Lastly spend a lot and I mean a lot of time learning how to forecast and use weather forecast models. I have a real bug a boo over weather as we know a lot of folks who have gotten in big trouble not being able to understand weather.


Good luck

Good points,all, thank you.
Thankfully I am a licensed private pilot so you become intimately familiar with weather.

[illini]

Originally Posted by 2Hulls

Hello Illini - keep reading and learning, but I think you're a long way off from picking a specific boat.

In the meantime, get out on the ocean any way you can on sailing vessels. Volunteer for crew on ocean passages and even find a local racing group to try to get a spot as crew - what you learn will help you make all your decisions later. Research crewed charters that offer "cabin" slots - you share the charter with other singles or couples. Work up to skippering your own bareboat charter. Learn, learn, learn. As you go, evaluate other boats you see and sail on and THEN start deciding what is right for you.

Oh, and do not be reluctant to change your plans as you learn, e.g., going around South America.....

Good luck,
Dave

No time like the present I am looking up my local Yacht club right now.

[hpeer]

Since you mentioned Single Handed Sailing I recommend this book.

http://www.amazon.com/Singlehanded-S.../dp/0070281645

I think there is another more recent book available, free online? Someone have a link?

[illini]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Since you mentioned Single Handed Sailing I recommend this book.

Singlehanded Sailing: The Experiences and Techniques of the Lone Voyagers: Richard Henderson: 9780070281646: Amazon.com: Books

I think there is another more recent book available, free online? Someone have a link?

One of the things that attracts me to this Idea of a circumnavigation is how much there is to learn. Also the idea of a long, well earned, extended vacation. I've always been fascinated by challenging, complicated and or complex things. And then I started reading more about sailing and liveaboards and I've been hooked on the idea ever since.

[carstenb]

Not to be a nay-sayer (and then I turn rigth around and become one) A budget of 50 to 100K is on the very low side for a 50 footer. If you find one, there will be a big expense to upgrade it to RTW standard.

You might want to rethink that a bit.

[captain58sailin]

1973 Skookum Cutter Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com


While this vessel has not been in my family for awhile, I am very familiar with this particular vessel. It was bought new by my family with the intention of a circumnavigation, it has sailed around the south Pacific from Alaska and she was chartered in Alaska and Hawaii, several roundtrips between AK and HI, doesn't have a pilot house. I did a complete refit including rebuilding her engine 4 cyl Ford Lehman. Makes between 7 & 8 knots under sail or power, burns about 2 USG per hour under power. Not trying to sell you the boat, have no affiliation with it now; just a good strong seaworthy vessel in the price range you say you are looking for.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Since you mentioned Single Handed Sailing I recommend this book.

http://www.amazon.com/Singlehanded-S.../dp/0070281645

I think there is another more recent book available, free online? Someone have a link?

Here is the book I often recommend regarding Single Handed Sailing. I read this book and found it FULL of helpful, concise information. It also has many viewpoints (not just one sailor is quoted).

This is the newest edition (2014) and contains new, updated material in addition to what was published before.

The author (Andrew Evans) is an accomplished and respected Single Handed Sailor, a nice member of this forum (forum name is "Foolish" because his boat was named "Foolish Muse"), and he earlier gave away 25,000 copies of his earlier ebook edition for free to any sailor who wanted one (a very nice thing to do to help the sailing community).

Singlehanded Sailing: Thoughts, Tips, Techniques & Tactics: Andrew Evans: 9780071836531: Amazon.com: Books

My Suggestion: Buy this as a Kindle version and read it thoroughly and keep it aboard as a reference. That is what I will do.

[darylat8750]

Originally Posted by illini

Good points,all, thank you.
Thankfully I am a licensed private pilot so you become intimately familiar with weather.

A few thoughts.

Be sure to look into the access and format of Wx info while off shore. It is different than what what you are used to as a pilot. Several good threads on communication packages that can include Wx data.

Unless you have a specific reason for doing otherwise consider circumnavigating via the trade wind route. If you buy your boat in the Great Lakes, East coast or Florida you can start out with easy legs and parts/ support readily available. When you have things sorted out cruise the western Caribbean, go through the Panama Canal and head out across the pacific ocean.

When you say "flat deck, flat floor " do you mean flat as in not curved or flat as in not tilted? If flat as in not tilted you should look at catamarans.

The difference in cost and area to clean changes dramatically with size. A friend who is an older gentleman that has been around (he crewed on Ticonderoga in his youth, raced sailboats most of his life and worked for a sail loft for many years) and I were discussing what my next boat should be. We were thinking of boats in the 40 to 42 ft range. I saw an interesting 48 footer and asked him how much more sails and rigging would be on that size boat. He just rolled his eyes and said "LOTS! The sails are also heavy." I'm 66 years old now and when I was 40 the main sail on that would have been a challenge to change by myself with any wind or wave to complicate matters. Help someone clean and wax a 40+ foot boat while keeping in mind that the area doubles with every increase of about 4 feet of hull length. Even if you love varnishing as a hobby I would avoid much exterior wood.

[exMaggieDrum]

Check out Sailboat Reviews of Offshore Cruising Yachts : Bluewaterboats.org

Personally a 50' anything boat is too big for a novice (and most expert) sailor to singlehand. Nice to have but too much to handle in a seaway.

Roller furling would probably be a big help in that regard for any size boat. But you have a lot of homework to do and lots of discussions.

Also check out Beth Leonard's latest cruising how to book. Excellent for what you are doing.

[Hudson Force]

Several people have mentioned that the 50' length seemed to be a burden for a single person. Even if the expense was not an issue and the rigging was designed for ease of single handling, the cause for such a size would be unclear to me. I know single and couple members here that are pleased have such size vessels, but I can't see the need.

A single person can find a boat at 36' to 40' capable of stowing gear & having tankage for long distance cruising. The same smaller vessel could easily have all the needed comforts and safety.

I think that it is very common for people who have a background of living in houses to overestimate the size of vessel that they would tolerate or require. You could have more in strength and quality if you're not buying an extra dozen feet of boat length!

[The Smokester]

My experience: I bought a 16 year old, barely used "blue water" boat. It is prestine. To modernize it as a circumnavigator I have installed autopilots and windvanes for self steering, new sails, new rigging, new electronics, AIS transponder, new comms, EPERB, liferaft, dinghy, refrigerator, solar, LED lighting, and modernized the engine propulsion. These changes alone are well north of $50k. If you find such a ready boat, or a subset thereof, for $50k, buy it for the parts alone.

In other words, I believe that your $50k budget for a circum-ready boat is way low.

Also, I will echo some of the comments for 50' being big for single handing. If all goes well it will be a dream. However, when things are wrong it will be a nightmare. If you arrive late in the day to a harbor all the 40'+ slips will be taken...You will anchor out a lot. The sails will be heavy or even heavier depending on the sail plan. Costs seem to go up surprisingly with size beyond a scaling based on simple common sense. The forces go as size^2 so winches get larger and slower and the systems to support them more massive. When $h??!! happens there is a lot more energy on the loose.

So I advise looking closer to 40 ft, and planning on a bigger budget.