Living aboard full time/Crossing Pacific

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by 100k budget

I can't thank you enough for your responses Jim Cate. I understand looking back at my original post is like looking at a 15 year old's pipe dream. I'm surprised I was met with genuinely helpful people rather than getting a thrashing during this thread. It is not easy to give advice to someone that has this goal with absolutely no experience or know-how. I will retain much of this knowledge and reference it over and over until I fully understand every point made in this thread and use it in the future when it is more relevant to my current situation. I also now better understand the marina situation for liveaboards In Socal, its not the end of the road. " Uninformed enthusiasm is a costly road to travel" Who couldn't agree with that? I hope to educate myself more each day, although my enthusiasm has not wavered. I will be taking my first classes May of this year. My next thread months down the line will hopefully be more specific and informed. If there is any more red tape I need to keep in mind, then please. Thank you all!

Hundred K, that's a good response at this point. Beginning to know what ya don't know is a big step up from your first post.

Lots of us here on CF went through some similar phases: infatuation, enthusiasm, tottering steps into the sailing and then cruising worlds, gaining of experience, both good and bad, and finally emerging from the chrysalis and fluttering off across the Pacific and beyond.

There are many ways to get the experience needed, and you will get passionate advice guiding you in diverse directions. I dunno how to advise you as to what to do with this excessive advice! That's something you need to work out yourself, from your own personal point of view and circumstance. If your enthusiasm endures, you'll get there, not unscathed perhaps, but with enough knowledge to set off cruising. We were all beginners once, and some of us old farts still kinda remember the thrills of learning and adventuring.

It's a great life, and worth working for! Good luck!

Jim

[Mike Banks]

Tayana 37 or 41. They were well made--and can be purchased and refurbished without breaking the bank.

If you dislike sea sickness though--you will find a good Catamaran hard to beat for passage-making and comfort. Just choose your weather windows wisely.

[LittleWing77]

Here's a great resource, 100k.

Sailboat Reviews of Offshore Cruising Yachts : Bluewaterboats.org

I would stay away from Catalina; they are coastal boats, not offshore. As the previous poster said, the old Morgans are fairly bulletproof - if you find one in good condition.

Good luck on your search,
LittleWing

[Paul Howard]

Earl R. Hinz sailed around the Pacific for a couple decades on a Morgan Out Island 41 and wrote six books, Landfalls of Paradise, a guide book for Pacific Islands, Complete Anchoring Guide, Heavy Weather Tactics, etc. Check out his books (you can get them used on Amazon) for how he handled his OI 41 for about 40,000miles of ocean sailing.

[hellosailor]

Jim-
In the US there is currently a 30% federal income tax credit on solar installations. It was due to expire but has been extended to 12/31, then drops next year--unless they change it again. Cali has an additional credit, I believe. And with a 30% import tariff on Chinese solar panels (deferred twice already) there is no great reason to think the effective post-tax cost of solar will drop in the US in the next few years.

I'd suggest the OP buy the Practical Sailor books on used boats. They address a lot of these issues in details, including owner comments. And it they are new to these boats, invest a week in a charter (or a bareboat charter course, credential help with insurance discounts) to get some personal ideas about what works. Boats that are great for marina living, are not so good at ocean crossings, and vice versa. A week on board, will give them a good reference point.

[roverhi]

Originally Posted by Paul Howard

Earl R. Hinz sailed around the Pacific for a couple decades on a Morgan Out Island 41 and wrote six books, Landfalls of Paradise, a guide book for Pacific Islands, Complete Anchoring Guide, Heavy Weather Tactics, etc. Check out his books (you can get them used on Amazon) for how he handled his OI 41 for about 40,000miles of ocean sailing.

Minor point but believe Hinz sailed in a Cal 2-46

[Tillsbury]

Not much to add other than to listen to Jim. If you’re serious about marina living then you can be researching possibilities and organising that right now. It is likely to take a good long while to find something you’re happy with. Meanwhile look forward to your sailing lessons, and get down to your local marina to put your name about for some crewing opportunities. Sailing with different skippers will teach you a lot — some will show you how to do it right and others will show you things you can decide never to do yourself

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by 100k budget

....I seem unable to edit my posts now, not sure why.....

You get a 30min window to edit. After that add another post with the info.

[rsn48]

My recommendation is to find a $50,000 to $75,00 boat then put the rest of the $100,000 into it to make it yours, upgrade, etc. To get a boat at the top of your budget will stress you financially as you will need to do things to it.

You can get a lot of boat for $50,000 to $75,000. Here's one I found in Washington state after 10 minutes of looking: https://www.boattrader.com/listing/1...dard%20listing

This boat is on Vancouver Island and is listed at $97,500 but that is Canadian dollars, American dollars it is $74,200 so money left over to play with. You can ask around for assistance to help bring it down:
https://www.boatdealers.ca/boats-for...itish-columbia

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by 100k budget

....
Note what is self serviceable and what is not. I wasnt aware of the unreliability of sailboat fridges and will look into that further.
......
Why are 40 ft boats much more expensive to maintain than say a 35ft? My move is immenent. Once our 10 month lease is up we are gone. Family to stay with in southern California to buy more time.

Sailboat equipment doesn’t have the sales volume of most consumer products so there are not as many resources available for design and testing prior to general release to the market.

Larger boats are more expensive to maintain that smaller boats for a number of reasons.

Let’s start with the easy linear things. If the boat is bigger you need longer sheets on all the sails.

Sticking with the sheets for sails item. A bigger boat has bigger loads in the sails, so not only do the sheets need to be longer, they need to be a larger diameter.

Larger sheets mean larger (more expensive) blocks and winches (lots more expensive).

On a larger boat you need to use larger wiring for some things even if the electrical loads are the same. Varies with the particulars of each load.

The area of sails goes approximately as the square of the length. If you go from a 30’ to 40’ boat the sail area would scale up almost double. In real life it’s closer to 1.5x for various reasons but that’s still significantly more than the 1.33x length scaling. But once again you need to use heavier cloth so price is closer to double.

And so it goes with most of the items on a boat.

Let me know when you get to SD, I’ll take you sailing on my boat.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by roverhi

Minor point but believe Hinz sailed in a Cal 2-46

He may have sailed a Cal2-46 at some point, but he definitely owned and cruised a Morgan OI-41 ketch.
From his anchoring book, 2nd edition, 2001, of 26.

Bill Lapworth had a Cal 2-46.

[capnJ]

The quickest easiest tell for a blue-water boat is to ask if the cross-section of the hull has a white wine glass shape, or if it has a red wine glass shape. The whites spread more gradually as they rise, thus giving a softer landing on waves. The reds are more popular, easier to build, and probably faster. But if the builder goes to the trouble of making a white wine glass hull, you know he is focussed on the blue water experience.

[Jimmyhenry]

Have a look at the Cal 46. Maybe version 2 as they had better access to the engine room/workshop.
They have a massive saloon/galley. And large forward and aft cabins both with their own head/shower. Centre cockpit so comfortable at sea. Big tankage. Decent size motor
Designer Bill Lapworth did a brilliant job.

[nwdiver]

Tayana 37, the two cabin design or the Bayfield 40 has two great cabins and lots of space......

[GrowleyMonster]

Tayana? Good choice. I am a big fan of the OI 41. Nice rugged boat. It was extremely popular in the Caribbean charter market for many years, and some of those old charter barges can be picked up crazy cheap. Plenty big enough for two single guys. Room for a couple of boat bunnies no problem. I am fitting out a Bruce Roberts 44 that I picked up for $9500 and the headroom is crazy, and the beam (wider than the design beam which I think is 12'8") is 13'5" so lots of room below. The Roberts Spray series is good, too. Only caveat is half of these are backyard boats and some are built crazy strong and heavy with great workmanship and craftsmanship, and some are hey, I know this is our first boatbuilding project, but lets hurry get this thing finished in time to go sailing by Labor Day".



Just living aboard and doing some light coastal cruising, very nearly any boat of size would work just fine. Being stuck on a boat 1200 miles from shelter with a howling storm barrelling down on you or just off a lee shore and bucking wind and current, or cruising skinny or remote waters, you maybe want a more substantially built boat than average. A vintage Cal or Catalina or Beneteau or similar will make nice quick inshore passages and work fine offshore in a good weather window, but lots of points against that sort of boat, for extended isolated bluewater cruising.


Notwithstanding the many success stories, my advice is to spend at least a couple of years just messing about in boats before thinking seriously about crossing oceans. And I would start with a trailer sailer, to avoid marina expenses and keep maint costs down as you learn the basics. If it is an older boat on a good sound trailer, you could probably sell it when you are ready to upgrade, at little loss. A couple of cartop sailing dinghies would be lots of fun on local lakes, too, and nothing teaches you about the dynamics of sailing like a good dunking under a capsized dink. Plus with two boats, you can race, loser buys the beer and pizza. What I am saying is have fun just learning to sail, while you take your time shopping for boat and slip. The patient man with ready funds eventually will run across a sweet deal from a motivated seller.