San Diego to Brisbane in a Motor Yacht

[atoll]

Originally Posted by jm21

I'd be curious to learn more about the potential of a trip like this. We are planning a similar trip in a year or two and my wife really prefers powerboats. Cost to ship a mid--30' powerboat from here to AUS is quite expensive (probably at least $20k or more) which doesn't make sense unless it's a really expensive boat to begin with.

Had talked with a few guys who claim they get around 1.5 GPH burn at 7-8 knots if the waves aren't too big. Single screw diesel trawlers. so maybe 4.6 nautical miles per gallon of diesel with a single screw or using one engine on a twin screw?

A lot of these boats have 300-400 gallons diesel capacity. Multiply by 4.6 and that's 1,380 to 1,860 nautical mile range. I guess this would be provided that in rough seas you just hunker down and wait things out.

Vic-Maui is about 2,300 nautical miles.

You've got the currents and winds at your back most of the trip.

So with a lot of the trawlers here you have the fuel capacity to get somewhere between 1/2 to 2/3 of the way to Hawaii. Probably a bit less because every now and then you'd probably want to rev up the negine for a half hour or so to burn off some carbon build up.

What I was thinking about though is that you've got the wind at your back, what about supplementing your fuel capacity with something like an outleader kite? It can go downwind and reach with no mast. Maybe have to install some tracks on the powerboat but that's about it. Maybe something to help with steering. Would be useful after the trip as a get home rig. Maybe try using a kiteboarding rig and adapting it? Doesn't seem like it would take much to go 5-6 knots.

I've been searching around and so far unable to find someone who has installed a kite on a powerboat for cruising, though I do remember seeing one of the "kite for sail" videos of a boston whaler looking small boat being hauled around at very high speeds. I don't see why it couldn't work to haul a powerboat downwind at under hull speed...and the wind conditions from the US to AUS seem ideal for it...

If you could do that, then you wouldn't have to worry much about fuel. Maybe would even make the trip feasible in planing or semi-displacement coastal cruisers.

Been toying with the idea and seems pretty cool...but no powerboat to try it on...

i think this has been perfected in the past! google "MOTORSAILOR"

[DeepFrz]

::Welcome to Nordhavn.com::

jm21, check out Egret's blog. You will have to search for it but they document fuel usage exhaustively in several places. Usually they cruise around 6 kn to conserve fuel for long passages. They have been around the world and across the Atlantic at least 3 times plus from the Med to South America, around the horn and from Chili to New Zealand. They carry extra fuel in inflatable bladders on deck for the longest passages.

[jm21]

Originally Posted by atoll

i think this has been perfected in the past! google "MOTORSAILOR"

Almost all sailboats nowadays are basically motorsailors, right? Not many built purposefully with no engine and most have big enough engines it coudl hardly be considered an auxiliary...

I'm thinking about a rig that you could attach (and detach) from a standard powerboat to provide supplemental power downwind and within at least 20 degrees or so of downwind (hopefully more like 30-45).

Sounds like a short unstayed detachable mast (possibly telescoping or in sections) with perhaps a telescoping bowsprit, used to fly a spinnaker, might also work.

Would preferably be cheap to make too...

Sounds like a lot of kites are problematic for long range cruising because they have to be managed very actively and will fall if left alone too long. Machines for controlling them would be too expensive to be practical.

[atoll]

without the fuel tankage most yachts will motor sail but not for extended distances.

my expedition yacht has 1000 gallons capacity,and can quite happily motor for 3000 miles.

flying kites is great in theory,but how do you reef them,what happens when they end up in the water,or blow out.

setting out on a 2000 mile voyage with 1500 miles of fuel in a motor boat could at worst lead to cannibulism!

with a motor sailor,at least you can pull up some sails

[jm21]

It would have to be a pretty simple kite that's easy to control and isn't going to suffer too much from being dunked in the water now and then. Blowing out can happen with sails too.

Something like the omega kite seems like it would be ideal but definitely on the expensive side probably due to the control equipment that it uses...

The OMEGASAILS-kite for powerboats - YouTube

!

I don't think the OP or I are saying we wouldn't like a nice 63' custom boat with a thousand gallons of fuel capacity, and I don't think there would be any disagreement that such a boat is safer to cross an ocean than a 30-40ish foot production powerboat. I suspect there are concerns besides safety which would drive one to consider how one might get a 30-40ish foot power boat across the pacific. Perhaps monetary in nature?

I would not consider it trying to go from AUS to the US across the pacific...just thinking it might be possible going US to AUS because the winds and current may be favorable.

[atoll]

this might work on very light weight power cats,but trying to make it work for relatively heavy displacement power boats is just an expensive experiment doomed to failure,the sums just dont add up.

[Factor]

Mate of mine has done the trip in a Selene and is slowly circumnavigating.

Brian Calvert & the MV FURTHUR

[seamaster]

I will be doing this trip next year in 47' displacement trawler.
Single engine with hydraulic backup auxiliary that i'm installing now. i will carry approx. 1,500 gal of fuel and hope to get 2.7-3 miles/gal with 6.5-7knts.
it is very doable - i know few people that have done that. One of them has done 3 times around the world in his 55' power boat.
to see more info about my boat visit www.seawitch.ca
Good luck to all power boaters that have the plans to do it! see you out there!

[Ataraxia]

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