Quote:
Originally Posted by xymotic
Um, more like "a totally negative slant on cats" than "hidden truth"
A modern cat has two engines. This is either a huge plus or a huge negative, for the man of limited means depending on your own personal outlook/situation.
In fact most of your hidden truths contain a similar bias. Yes, they have a weird motion, *for some people* and for plenty of others not fighting heel ALL the time is a blessing. You don't fight heel, if you learn to sail properly, and choose routes that permit reaching and running. And of course, if you choose a good old boat.
They ARE two boats in one.
A 32' cat has about the same space as a 60' mono. and no, I guess you can't load it down like you could a mono, but you can load it with as much stuff as you'd put in a 32' mono and still have TWICE the space!
C. Everything Cats have been overwhelmed and turned upside down, under conditions that cause but a knock down in a mono-hull, even just cruising from island to island, most often during squalls encountered at night, which catch the crew unaware, sometimes in squalls encountered during the day, which prove much stronger than expected.
d) They have awesome Flat nearly no motion most of the rest of the time, and again, a lot of people find fighting heel and motion exhausting on a mono. No, most folks, who choose mono-hulls from the good old boats list, which means boats with displacement from 6-8 tons, have well behaved sea-kindly boats. It is those who choose recent very light boats who have this problem, as do those who cruise on cats
e is flat false. They have higher costs than a similar LENGTH mono, but a 32 cat and a 64 mono probably have similar maint & mooring costs. And As stated before cats do have advantages over most monos in where they can go and ability to be beached. This is flat out false. There are deep draft cats and there are shallow draft cats, just as there are deep draft mono-hulls and shallow draft mono-hulls.
I have a mono because of one reason, COST I got a 36' world cruising steel boat for $6500. But I also know some guys that just got a 54' cat project boat for FREE. so it's not all black and white right and wrong  |
Finally, admission. In this thread COST IS EVERYTHING!!
Cats are more expensive to operate. As admitted above.
Cruising on a micro-budget requires minimalism. In today's world, with
today's costs, it is either that or sea-steading... sitting in one place, going nowhere.
This thread is for the guy who, like me, is on a very limited budget, with very limited means.
As such, we are looking for ideas that show others how it can be done.
For example, much as I like Jim,
solar panels on a micro-budget boat make sense PROVIDED that boat is very simply equipped.
By this, I mean LED
cabin and nav lights, perhaps an energy mizerly
fridge like the engle, hand pumped water, bucket
head or hand pumped WC. Hand operated winches and
windlass. If you need heat, a
stove which does not require electricity to operate.
Now that I am back north, out of the tropics, my
solar panels do not provide the
power they did in St. Thomas. It is very windy here so I will fix the
wind turbine and between the two have enough.
I'd now like to talk about the last few days here in Cocoa.
Yesterday, I was invited to Thanksgiving dinner at the gazebo downtown. A group of very nice folks put on quite a feast for any and all who choose to come. It's free. They also bring clothes for those in need. I learned of it after I'd thawed the
turkey, so I baked the bird anyway. Will use the leftovers for quite a while.
Two days ago, Mike was at the docks. He is cruising the US
East Coast in his 16 ft
aluminum canoe.
He has a 20 L jerrycan for a water tank, a tent, a camp stove, mess kit, cook kit, sailing rig. He camps on spoil islands. He is having a great time. His only problem enroute the keys will be Miami-FtLauderdale where he is concerned about being waked by high speed boats.
He is spending about $150/month.
There are thousands of miles of protected water cruising in the US alone. The north channel of Lake Huron, north coast of
Lake Superior, the mid-western rivers.... DesPlaines, Fox, Illinois, Kankakee, Wabash,
Ohio,
Mississippi, Tennessee, Black Warrior, Missouri and Monongahela,
the
ICW from
NYC to
Houston. All await.
Key to finding places to camp or moor is shallow draft. A sharpie or similar is very practical for this kind of cruising. A canoe if your means are extremely limited.
Of course, the Canoe opens virtually all of the Canadian Lakes to you to explore.
Lost your job? Now on SSI and
Food stamps? This thread is for you.
Go back and read pp 28- 37 where we discuss how to
cruise on this budget:
Our annual cruising budget now is:
Maintenance and Repair $ 970
Provisions $ 2,400 ( diet high in legumes, all meals cooked aboard)
Entry & Clearance Fees $ 150
Fuel $ 100 ( LPG for galley stove )
Mooring & Marina Fees $ -0-
Communication $ 200
Excursions/ Entertainment $ 800
Navigation $ 700
Insurance, Boat $ -0-
Insurance Health $ 240 (money put in rainy day fund)
Souvenirs $ 150
Clothing and Sundries $ 290
TOTAL $ 6,000
From my neighbors, I am discovering that one and all got their 28-34 ft mono-hulls for less than $6000. Of course, virtually all these boats are worn out.
Jim is a case in point, he has been fixing his 32 for the past two years. He likes
buying worn out boats, moving aboard, fixing and selling them. It's his hobby. This is instructive.
For a couple of grand a savvy guy can get a worn out good old boat these days. It floats, the hand
pump for the water may or may not
work, but jugs will carry the day. The
food pantry, or seniors home supplies a hot meal daily, so a broken cooker does not matter.
What matters is a dry
interior, and a place to sleep. Given that the man of limited means can
anchor near a town, he can turn his limited
income to fixing the boat, while
living aboard. To get extra cash he might do odd jobs, sell insurance (my
broker is looking for agents and claims a go getter can make $3k monthly. Not bad for talking to folks while sitting in an office, or work at a boat yard.
I think this much better than subsisting in public housing while the housing authority takes 75% of your pension check.
Once the boat is fixed, then it's time to go some where.
If you're tired of living in penury on your SS pension, then
central america is for you. Better yet
asia or
India.
Fair Winds,
INDY
) was a 21 foot 
) - at some point in the vague and distant future......but something like this might be an alternative - and something I could build next summer, over here (and then try and drown myself locally 
). And either ship it out or only part of it and build the rest on site.....or simply use my newly acquired boat building skills for the Tiki.
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