Ideal Dimensions of a Proper Sailing Craft

[rossdv8]

Agreed, with apology.
I assumed the question related to 'Cruising' Sailing Craft.
I forgot most people cruise in boats longer than 40 feet !

[Adelie]

My boat is barely under 3:1.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Greatest Lakes

I'm not saying it can't or shouldn't be done, I'm just pointing out the difference. The modern boats are more often quicker, just often not as comfortable, particularly in a following sea. My dad has the Jeanneau 57. It has the wide, flat stern and hull shape seen most commonly now. It is a fast boat, and comfortable enough in motion, mostly due to its size. The cockpit coaming seems short and does not seem to be as comfortable at sail as it could be if it were only 2-3 inches taller to provide more support. Most of the DS versions were this way. In order to make more room inside, they raised the seated position. When at anchor or in a slip, wake or small waves from behind make a considerable slapping noise due to the shape of the hull. The one bit of weather bad enough to give it a good work out put the pounding of the hull on display. The boat is plenty strong, and suffered no ill effects, but even modest waves could send disconcerting reverberations through the hull. He also had the 54. It performed very similarly. Both were a blast once you got them going, but neither were comfortable in heavier seas.

The motion in a fast modern boat is “ different “ I’ll give you that and the techniques to sail them through very bad weather are different too

But having delivered many AWBs through all sorts of weather , I can say they are ( in general ) plenty robust to cross an ocean or two.

The fact is virtually nobody builds the type of yachts you mention any more ( or they are extremely niche custom builders )

Hence we need to stop talking about yacht types the average buyer today simply will never see .

What he will see is fin keels, spade rudders etc , pilot berths are a thing of the past.

But to compensate boats are bigger and easier to handle then ever before.

[Z.Burn]

Originally Posted by Enfant Du Vent

Ahoy Z.Burn:
You've gotten lots of good advice/opinions about the boat.
What I'm curious about is what exactly you're activities/goals are related to "study marine wildlife".
That info could help us all chime in on the space required for the gear, sample storage, etc. required. The research vessels I crewed on were never away from port for long, so only the collecting gear needed was significant.

The primary activity besides living on the boat will be scuba diving, I plan to get a small compressor just big enough for a few tanks a day and then some camera gear. For the most part there will be only one or two of us (myself and my research biologist) while sailing in the Sea of Cortez. The idea is that the vaquita is one of the most critically endangered species in the world and despite only living in the north west region of the gulf it is not studied or protected much resulting in an estimation of around 10 left. Assuming they aren't all dead from gillnets by the time I am able to embark on this expedition it would be a dream to actually capture one on footage and help to bring awareness to the care of this incredible animal. At this time there is no plan to do any tracking of animals just study their wild behaviors and get footage so no capture nets or the like would be necessary. We would be off port longer than most research vessels and would love to have my vessel running as much off of solar as possible to assist in this but there are probably many cruisers that stay off just as much or more, I expect my needs will be very similar to the liveaboard cruiser who consistently dives and makes youtube videos (although maybe a little more camera gear).

I used to work doing HVAC and Electrical and I'm also a pretty good welder so my plan has become to find a sound older aluminum hulled boat right around 35' and to do as much work as necessary to ensure that I know it like the back of my hand. When I'm not working I will be solo except for occasional guests and would like to sail around the Caribbean and dive some of the historic pirate ports, eventually cross to the Med to surf in France and visit some family but more than anything I would love to sail down the west coast of South America to Antarctica and back up around Cape Horn to the East Coast but hopefully I'm granted a long future to undertake such adventures, really I just love to immerse myself in as much local culture as possible in as many different places so I tend to not need much or spend much while traveling and instead just opt to hike, surf, dive and fish away from cities visiting much more remote areas.

[GreatLakeSailor]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

It is not true that anyone can learn to do a decent weld. But recognizing that, I would think that if you really mean to do what you say you wish to do, and do it in a metal boat, you should learn, if you don't know how already, to do a decent weld. In my opinion, tho' I've only tried my hand at it a few times, ally welding is easier than steel welding. And I would think that welding supplies, including the gas, are available in even the most remote corners of the inhabited world these days.

You likely are referring to TIG welding. There are many different welding processes. For production aluminum welding (higher deposition) it is common to see MIG done via a spool gun (the filler metal spool is in the gun you hold, as opposed to the wire feeder box with a set of rollers that "pushes" it through the hose to the gun). For lower deposition and more critical/fine/precise work TIG welding is pretty common - and likely the most common overall for Aluminum welding in general.


However - you can most certainly stick weld (GMAW) aluminum - with no gas, just a flux coated rod. For production it isn't a viable process for many reasons, however for repairs and lighter/non-routine fabrication it is a good process to have.


Considering the discussion is on boats, the following might be a bit far off topic/out of the realm of possibility, however... If you have a home shop and are setting up for welding my number 1 recommendation is to acquire an old (like earlier than 1980) transformer stick welder with infinite current adjustment (not a switch to preset amperages) that does AC and DC. They weigh a ton and take a lot of juice, but if the world blew up there would be two things left - cockroaches and tombstone welders. Options include Lincoln Idealarc 250 AC/DC's and Miller Dialarcs. Not only are they extremely robust machines, you can not substitute the smooth arcs these produce - its because of the mass of the transformers and the reactor chokes. Once you have a big old transformer welder then look at smaller, more efficient inverter machines. The small machines are convenient - they just won't last like a big old transformer machine. So if the inverter machine goes down you always have the transformer machine there to keep going. That and if you have something heavy to weld you would have to have a heck of an inverter to do it, whereas a transformer machine would handle it like a walk in the park.



Back to aluminum welding - aluminum takes a lot more current than the equivalent steel welding (speaking of stick welding - rod diameter and material thickness). For what in steel might take a 3/32" 6011 rod at 80 amps you might need 120-130 amps aluminum. The saying "grab a handle and hold on" comes to mind - aluminum rods burn very fast.



For a good universal rod for aluminum - check out Crown Alloys Royal 300. If you've never stick welded aluminum - and even if you have - give these a shot. They are surprisingly forgiving, easy slag removal, and produce ductile welds. As with any welding - practice before you go to your actual work and once you learn your machine make some detailed notes for later reference. If you have a repair that won't lend itself to much practice then the notes you have can give you a better leg up on "getting it right the first time".



If you have good AC power* on your boat you can weld up to about 150 amps on 120v, so long as you do have good AC power and amperage to supply the machine under load (that is always a concern - even in garages as the 120v circuit likely has other things on it, so if you have 15a available but lights and a couple room circuits are also on the same breaker you don't have 15a for the welder = voltage problems). If you have 240v you can have much better electrical performance - the machine will draw roughly 1/2 the amps at 240v than 120v so voltage drop becomes much less of a concern increasing the voltage stability.



*Another important note is inverter welders constitute "sensitive electronics". The computers in them can not handle dirty/high THD power. "Clean power" is generally considered less than 5% THD. True sine wave power inverters largely meet this figure. However, lots of rotary generators do not. Inverter generators (think Honda EU2200i, EU3000i, etc) typically do supply "clean power" because they use an inverter to output the AC power - the alternator is not what is supplying the power output directly. However, you need a big generator to weld off of. Same with an inverter - it isn't just the inverter, you need the power behind it in the form of batteries and C (discharge ability). If you don't have the power behind the power source when you strike an arc welding the voltage tanks and messes up your weld (same thing that happens in the garage power example with other devices on the same circuit - the power to the welder tanks). This drop in voltage messing up your welding is probably the number 1 beginner challenge that only goes to deter the newbies and make their learning very difficult. Start with good power and the rest will fall in to place a lot easier. And ensure you have good power where ever you end up trying to weld. That should be rule number 1 and the first line of troubleshooting poor arc performance.



"Suitcase welders" are common in today's day in age of welding gear. They are small and compact, you can throw them over your shoulder with a strap like a briefcase. My portable machine is an Everlast PowerArc 210STL. It works fine - it has a lot of features on it for stick welding (adjustable arc force, adjustable hot start, VRD, and anti-stick), but also is a decent DC-only TIG machine (note that Aluminum TIG requires AC, you can try DC but the results will be terrible - if you are wanting TIG for Aluminum you really need to jump right off the deep end and get a machine that will do AC TIG = usually much more expensive). Esab, Fronius, HTP also make higher quality small suitcase welders (Fronius might lead - they are pricey but very nice). There are a lot of manufacturers out of Europe that I'd put higher on the quality list, US made like Miller and Lincoln are good. Everlast is Asia/pacific and overall not considered a "good" brand, but they do have a 5 year warranty and their price point is really good for what you get.


Something to think about for repairs under-way - with a small suitcase DC stick welder you can weld any metal on your boat - aluminum and steel generally (stainless or carbon) - just pick rods for what you want to weld. The smaller the rods the lower the amperage/easier they are to run. That ability to weld on-the-go might give you a giant leg up on reducing the stress of managing a broken boat. Of course, if you end up with a problem below the water line that is no place for an on-the-go repair as you need to get the boat out of the water. I would think a marina that could get the boat out of the water would have the ability to weld, but ya never know.

[merrydolphin]

Simple answer to a complex question.
Everything is a trade off. That simple. Gain one, loss another. You will have to figure out what YOUR set of trade-offs is.

BTW: I cruised the Sea of Cortez for 3 years. What an incredible place. The people, the sea life. Wow. ( I am an avid diver). It you are, get a boat that has space for a compressor. I kept one on deck in a deck box for years and many many countries. 44-48 ft mono best bang for the buck and still give you space and comfort. Also for what you want, a good fully planing dingy that will handle dive gear essential.