Are There Places On Your Sailboat You Can't / Won't Go?

[GaryMayo]

I am 6'7" tall and I could hide my wife in my shoe.

I would dearly love to get into my engine room to do work on my electrical system. There are three access points, all of which are a tight squeeze for normal people of average size. Me fit in there? Lol

Are there places on your sailboat that you find off limits? This "handicap" I am faced with means never heading out to sea alone on my sailboat.

If I were to decide to give up the land, how large a boat would I be looking at to have full access to all areas on the boat?

[sailorboy1]

For the most part the only areas on my boat I can not get to are behind bulkheads. My engine has 300+ degrees of access and full access to anything one would want to work on.

I would to get good access one needs something in the 40+ range. But since builders will cram stuff in for living space size probably doesn't get you good access. More about the builder method etc. I would bet.

[denverd0n]

It's not a question of how large a boat. It's a question of how the boat was designed and built. There are boats out there under 30' LOA with complete and unfettered access to the engine, and there are boats out there over 50' where the engine access is positively horrible.

[jeremiason]

Denverdon is right the design of the boat is more important than the size for you needs.

My Catalina 470 has lots of head room (7' 6" in the main cabin), but is a bitch to change the main engine impeller, no matter how big or small you are.

There are very few recretional sailboats, if any, on the water today that are completely accessible for a big guy or for that matter anyone unless they are custom designed

I would suggest you start walking Yacht Dealer Docks and looking at diffrent boats. Climb on them and see if they fit your needs.

Good Luck!

[Sailmonkey]

I've been on a few 30' boats that have the engine in the middle of the salon, disguised as a table. Great access. I've also been on a few 50'+ boats that had a designer who though the grand hall was more important than being able to replace the fan belt without remove the sound deadening material and your knuckles.

Our boat now, it's easier to pull the engine into the salon to change the oil in the transmission than it is to do it in situ (although not practical).

[rtbates]

I can't begin to tell you how sorry I feel for you...I MEAN IT...I'm really not trying to be a smart a**.

I'm 5'7" and when I was young and dumb I would have given anything to be your size. Being one the smallest guy in school I was teased a bit, usually by guys your size! Now that I'm old and wise I thank heaven, and my parents genes, that I'm 5'7" and at 64 I weigh 1.5lbs more than I did when I joined the Army at 21...

My Cape Dory 25D and my Miata fit like a glove...I can also free climb to my spreaders....Being small and light weight is a gift I appreciate every day...No one teases me anymore either!!

Have you looked at boats in the 80 to 100 foot range??? Now I'm just being cruel, sorry! I'm a recovering smart a**..

NO to your question

[Ex-Calif]

I am embarrassed to be at around the heaviest weight I have ever been. Didn't stop me from crawling into the bilge to clean and repair it.

Of course I did have to remove the engine, saildrive, batteries and exhaust system - LOL...

There are also positions on a boat that one must get into to reach things. Part gymnast, part contortionist, part masochist...

The only place I can't successfully go is up the mast. Everything is better at lighter weights...

Gotta get back on the diet and lose about 20 kilos...

Damn...

[GaryMayo]

Originally Posted by rtbates

I can't begin to tell you how sorry I feel for you...I MEAN IT...I'm really not trying to be a smart a**.

I'm 5'7" and when I was young and dumb I would have given anything to be your size. Being one the smallest guy in school I was teased a bit, usually by guys your size! Now that I'm old and wise I thank heaven, and my parents genes, that I'm 5'7" and at 64 I weigh 1.5lbs more than I did when I joined the Army at 21...

My Cape Dory 25D and my Miata fit like a glove...I can also free climb to my spreaders....Being small and light weight is a gift I appreciate every day...No one teases me anymore either!!

Have you looked at boats in the 80 to 100 foot range??? Now I'm just being cruel, sorry! I'm a recovering smart a**..

NO to your question

If reincarnation is legit, I have already signed up for size 8 shoes and a 31" waist.

I watch my wife, and other people on the docks, climb down into my engine room, and proclaim, there is lots of room to work down here, I want to tell them, yeah, right! I find it difficult to get inside the aft cabin! lol

[zeehag]

there is no place in my formosa 41 i cannot fit my entire body, and without having to cram or find some weird position to fit into--is a well designed cruising boat. easy to repair and easy to sail.

[gjordan]

Clipper Marine boats are not noted for being easy for anything, but a sawsall and a vacuem cleaner will get you where you need to go. Double reinforce the holes you have cut and make fume and smoke proof covers. And on the next boat(there always is one) buy a boat with good access to begin with. My 2 cents worth.____Grant.

[GaryMayo]

Originally Posted by gjordan

Clipper Marine boats are not noted for being easy for anything, but a sawsall and a vacuem cleaner will get you where you need to go. Double reinforce the holes you have cut and make fume and smoke proof covers. And on the next boat(there always is one) buy a boat with good access to begin with. My 2 cents worth.____Grant.

First off, just how many Clipper Marine sailboats have you ever set a foot on? I have never set one foot on a Hunter sailboat, therefore, I am 100% not qualified to say any disparaging remark about the sailboats I know nothing about. (actually, I like Hunter sailboats)

Secondly, history is always written by the winning side, in this case, Clipper Marine being the looser, having the accountant fleeing in the night with the company bankroll, forcing them out of business. Do you suppose all the competing manufactures were going to say nice things about their one day rival, and next day out of business has been? Not likely.

This forum has a thread on Clipper Marine that is many pages long, over several years. All the people that bad mouthed them, including a mod, never set a foot on one. All the owners of these boats, adored them. Go read for yourself.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...rine-8403.html

Finally, what did one of the most recognized Naval Architects of all time, who designed Clipper Marine sailboats, think of his designs looking back on his lifetime achements in marine history? A business partner I have personally talked with, said William Crealock was "Very Proud Of His Clipper Marine Sailboats".

If Crealock was very proud of something, you can take that to the bank.

Because I am 6'7" tall, and cannot get into an engine compartment, I need to hear a snide remark towards my beloved sailboat?

Really?

I am sorry, but I have no tolerance for one person pointing out another person has a wife with one eyeball between her eyebrows, or a sailboat someone owns is not someone else's favorite sailboat.

The mission statement of Clipper Marine sailboats was clear from day one, and continues till this day, with thousands and thousands of sailboats still in the waters of the world some 40 years later, " The Worlds Finest Trailerable Cruising Sailboats."

Why did I purchase Clipper Marine? I purchased one, because William Crealock is my favorite yacht designer, and the CM32 is my favorite yacht he designed, in that my lake has a max length of 32 feet for a sailboat, and I adore the fact I can tow this wonderful sailboat anywhere.

Will I get a larger sailboat someday, maybe a Pacific Seacraft 37? Maybe, if I get a larger lake to sail it on.

How large a hole do you want me to cut in her, to get my butt in the engine compartment? A phone booth size hole? ???

Off my soap box.

This thread is not about any issue with my sailboat, which I have none of any consequence, but rather the interest to know if others also have places they cannot go in their sailboats.

[GaryMayo]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

I am embarrassed to be at around the heaviest weight I have ever been. Didn't stop me from crawling into the bilge to clean and repair it.

Of course I did have to remove the engine, saildrive, batteries and exhaust system - LOL...

There are also positions on a boat that one must get into to reach things. Part gymnast, part contortionist, part masochist...

The only place I can't successfully go is up the mast. Everything is better at lighter weights...

Gotta get back on the diet and lose about 20 kilos...

Damn...

That is a wonderful photograph! To get to your size, I would need to loose 100 pounds! lol

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Gotta get back on the diet and lose about 20 kilos...

Damn...

20 kilos?

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by GaryMayo

I am 6'7" tall and I could hide my wife in my shoe.

I would dearly love to get into my engine room to do work on my electrical system. There are three access points, all of which are a tight squeeze for normal people of average size.

Speaking as someone who is skinny, 5' 11 and can still bend like a contortionist (not simply useful for boaty stuff ) - albeit nowadays takes me a little longer to unbend ........ I can see that the answer is staring you in the face. Well, probably around your belly button .

Get your Missus trained up on Electrickery and buy her an electricians tool kit for her next birthday ........and then dangle her into the engine bay by her feet (call it a team effort ).

Problem sorted .

Next..........

[Tony B]

To paraphrase Sheriff Brody in "Jaws". "You're gonna need a bigger boat".