looking for some advice/questions answered for around the world planning

[sapient sue]

Dear Noahsrejects

Firstly welcome to the forum and thank for your service - helping to keep the world a safe place for those of us already enjoying the cruising lifestyle.

Your plan seems sound, however, you will receive lots of seemingly conflicting advice from members of this forum, (because we are all individuals and quite opinionated) and opposing advice can be confusing I know.

'Unclivilised' recommended you stay away from Volvo engines and sail drives. I have to tell you that the previous owner of our home, a 40ft Joe Adams design, took this boat around the world with a Bukh engine with a saildrive. Since we have purchased Yaraandoo II we have sailed her more than 90,000 nms and we fitted a 55hp Volvo in the same space as the Bukh 36 still with a sail drive and we have never looked back.

Enjoy the learning experience, gather as much information as possible, take all advice, and apply it to your circumstances, which as Jim says will change with time and experience. We jumped from a 13ft sailing dinghy to this 40ft yacht, but we had years of sailing experience and My Captain is a naval architect.

Cheers Sue

[Don C L]

May have missed it but have you seen bluewaterboats.org? They do a good job of sketching a rough comparison of boats including your choices and other good ones. Look at the part about "boats to vote for" or something like that, there are a bunch of good ones there too. How about Peterson 44s? There are a bunch of real old school boats I like, but they may not be beamy or roomy enough for your tastes. Good luck!

[Tricolor]

Originally Posted by Don C L

May have missed it but have you seen bluewaterboats.org? They do a good job of sketching a rough comparison of boats including your choices and other good ones. Look at the part about "boats to vote for" or something like that, there are a bunch of good ones there too. How about Peterson 44s? There are a bunch of real old school boats I like, but they may not be beamy or roomy enough for your tastes. Good luck!

Thanks for the link..

[C Gypsy]

Hello Noah,

Welcome to the Forum. Your “Post” brings back many memories! When I had 14 years in the Coast Guard and was down at Antarctica I use to talk with several others about buying a boat and sailing around the world. I ended up retiring with 27 years, and as far as I know, I am the only one who bought a boat and headed out cruising. I have met many cruisers out there from all walks of life, but not many retired Navy or Coast guard. I hope your dream comes true and I see you out there. One of my questions is: What is your rate in the Navy and can it be incorporate into fixing the systems on your new boat? In the Navy, my rate would be considered an HT/DC. I was trained in fire fighting, damage control, pipe fitting, fiberglass repair, plumbing, carpentry, and all welding techniques. I have or can use all of this training in my new life cruising. I see that you have taken the ASA courses, which is great. I also see that the courses include recommended safety equipment, weather forecasts and interpretation, skippers and crews duties, chart reading and interpretation, marlinspike seamanship, sailing skills and practice, and boat handling under sail and power. I have been sailing since I was 9 and knew how to plot a course before I bought a boat, but I thought I was lacking in so many other aspects on an offshore sailboat. I took United States Power Squadron Courses which include seamanship, piloting, navigation, engine maintenance, communications systems, electrical systems, electronic navigation, sail, and weather. I also went back to school at a community college and got a degree in marine technology to learn diesel engine mechanics, outboard engine repair, boat systems, rigging, and refrigeration. I read Nigel Calder’s books and attended one his seminars. I also wanted to be able to communicate by Ham Radio so I got an Amateur Extra ham license. My wife has taken all the USPS navigation courses and the weather course. She also took classes in sail repair and bought a Sailrite sewing machine. She stitches all the canvas on the boat, stands offshore watches, navigates, and researches all the weather necessary for a passage. All of this extra knowledge may be a little bit overboard but I think that the more you and your partner can learn the more confident you will be when sailing offshore and when in foreign ports with no services available.

Another question I have is when will you be transferred and where will you be transferred? I was stationed in San Francisco and my wife and I bought our first boat which was a 30 ft. Hunter. It was an older Hunter and not as flimsy as they are today. We sailed it around San Francisco Bay for about a year and then got orders to the Virgin Islands. My thought was that we couldn’t live in the Virgin Islands without a boat! What we did was ship the boat by truck to Ft. Lauderdale and then cruise it down through the Bahamas and then to St. Thomas, USVI. To get the boat to St. Thomas, we had to sail off Exuma Island 650 miles and then make the turn down to St. Thomas. Being off 650 miles in a 30 ft. sailboat gave me a lot to worry about, especially when the waves coming at you are taller than the mast, the freshwater tank was taking on saltwater, and the hull was racking which was allowing saltwater to soak the forward berth. Luckily we had 5 gallons of freshwater in a Gerry can. It took 14 days to get to St. Thomas from Exuma, about 1200 miles, and the only other thing that happened was that the main sail ripped out. The auto pilot worked flawlessly, but we were pretty smelly by the time we got to St. Thomas due to the shortage in water.

I see that you have selected a nice list of good offshore boats. When I first started looking for an offshore boat I wanted to buy a Pacific Seacraft and ended up buying an Island Packet IP-38. We sailed the IP down the coast from Seattle to Mexico and are currently cruising the Pacific Coast of Mexico. We will go where the wind blows us……… maybe through the Panama Canal to the Caribbean and then to the Mediterranean, or maybe around the Pacific Rim clockwise and back to Seattle. It should take about 10 years to circumnavigate the Pacific Rim. One of your questions was about whether there were any of these types of boats available in Oahu. I wouldn’t limit myself to just Hawaii, look for boats along the west coast of the U. S., though a disheartened cruiser may come into the Hawaiian Islands and offer you a great deal. If you find a boat that appeals to you on the west coast, take a MAC flight to go look at it. If you buy a boat, say in San Diego, get some friends and sail it to Oahu. Here’s an excellent list of boats for sale: http://www.sailboatlistings.com/.

Another question you asked was about two heads. As the old saying goes: “Two heads are better than one”! We kept both heads in our IP-38. We use the forward head for me and for showering, making only one head a wet head. The other head is my wife’s private space! One IP cruiser I came across disabled the forward head and used it for storage. It looked very much cluttered. Another IP-38 I looked at before buying mine turned the aft head into a generator room. I didn’t like it! My opinion is that if one head clogs or otherwise doesn’t work there is always a backup head: and that has happened. One of the most common problems on cruising boats is broken/clogged heads. Below are the items that I completed before heading off as a permanent cruiser:

1. Replaced the forward anchor windlass with a stronger horizontal windlass.
2. 300 ft. 5/16” galvanized chain.
3. Replaced all standing rigging.
4. Replaced all running rigging.
5. Replaced lifelines.
6. Replaced sails with custom made cruising sails.
7. Installed a wind generator.
8. Installed solar panels.
9. Replaced gaskets on all portlights.
10. Replaced both heads. Electric head forward and manual head aft.
11. Replaced holed aluminum sewage holding tank.
12. Installed SSB/Ham radio and backstay antenna. ICOM M-802
13. Installed AIS that transmits and receives.
14. Installed GPS.
15. Installed water maker.
16. Installed new AGM batteries.
17. Installed 2000 watt inverter.
18. Provided Honda 2000 generator.
19. Rebuilt the reefing system.
20. Installed two additional winches where needed.
21. Installed new reefer system.
22. Provided a Hooka diving system.
These are the major things that I did on my boat, which may be different for other types of boats, age, and degree of maintenance. I would suggest walking the docks, finding the type of boat that you want, and see if you can talk to the owners to see what problems they have had with their boat and would they make a different choice in vessels. I would also suggest using the resources of NWR and see what types of sailboats are available to go out sailing. When I was in Diego Garcia, I joined the Yacht Club and had a great time sailing their day sailors around the lagoon. What else am I going to do at a remote tropical island like Diego Garcia?!!

If you are interested, here are a couple of blogs of people who are cruising. One is a retired Air Force couple from Canada that have three kids and one is a single handed sailor that sailed around the world via the five southern capes non-stop unassisted in 212 days at the age of 70. They both talk about their repairs and challenges.

S/V SAILORS RUN
Jeff and Debbie Hartjoy
Baba 40 Ketch
www.sailorsrun.com

S/V FLUENTA
SV FLUENTA
Max, Liz, Victoria, Johnathan, & Benjamin

Ken & Nancy
S/V Gitane
Island Packet IP-38

[Olddave]

Originally Posted by sapient sue

Dear Noahsrejects

Firstly welcome to the forum and thank for your service - helping to keep the world a safe place for those of us already enjoying the cruising lifestyle.

Your plan seems sound, however, you will receive lots of seemingly conflicting advice from members of this forum, (because we are all individuals and quite opinionated) and opposing advice can be confusing I know.

'Unclivilised' recommended you stay away from Volvo engines and sail drives. I have to tell you that the previous owner of our home, a 40ft Joe Adams design, took this boat around the world with a Bukh engine with a saildrive. Since we have purchased Yaraandoo II we have sailed her more than 90,000 nms and we fitted a 55hp Volvo in the same space as the Bukh 36 still with a sail drive and we have never looked back.

Enjoy the learning experience, gather as much information as possible, take all advice, and apply it to your circumstances, which as Jim says will change with time and experience. We jumped from a 13ft sailing dinghy to this 40ft yacht, but we had years of sailing experience and My Captain is a naval architect.

Cheers Sue

Hi SS
I echo your approval of Volvo engines. I have done approx 27,000hrs under power with 6 cylinder Volvo penta engines in commercial fishing boats. We only once had a breakdown and Volvo couldn't have fixed it quicker and at no cost under warranty. It was partly the vessel owners fault IMO. He came along for the last day of the season and put the hammer fully down while we were heavily loaded with fishing gear and heading home. I had just finished telling him I would never push it that hard fully laden when "clatter clatter". Anyway it got us home ok & Volvo sorted it for free.

I have an old 2000 series 18hp saildrive in my 1987 S&S 34 sailboat and it is running & starting well. My family previously had a Volvo in another sailboat for many years.
I don't understand why people knock them. Maybe a few have had problems through being poorly maintained or abused, I really don't know.
D.

[chuckr]

OK -- you can sail and probably pretty well - that is the good news

Now 8 years to go don't get in a real hurry - boats come and go and instead of making a list of boats perhaps a list of what you want on the boat and then begin to narrow the range down a bit -

ONE very important item - get the girlfriend involved early and often - if she likes the boat it will make for a much more pleasant environment as she will have bought in to it - does not mean that you should compromise a very sound structural boat for a not so sound boat just because it is pretty - we think structure comes first -
One idea is when you get back to the east coast if that is your next assignment begin to attend boat shows not to buy but to look at structure and the gf can look and say I like that but I don't like that -
when we started I had a page and half of items I wanted on the boat and we got lucky as we met a broker who was an excruiser and understood and applied no pressure and helped us understand our list and what was possible and what we needed to think about - he worked with us for almost 2 years and never pressure to buy but take a look and actually talked us out of a couple of boats that we thought were what we wanted but in the end we went through the structural issues and in one case the history (guy hit a bridge with the mast well it was not good) but let us make up our own mind -

as for long voyages - hum - not a lot of those - a few yes - crossing the Atlantic took us 21 days - across the Caribbean 5 days - from Russia to Ukraine 3 days - but we have been at this 9 years and long voyages are there but not that often - we are also by the way full time liveaboards

good luck

[Rising Tide]

First, thanks for your service. It’s a lot of hours, at low pay, probably with some of the best folks you’ll ever know. So hats off to you.

Agreed with uncivil. Do not buy a Boat now for 8 years down the road. Boats decline in value. Save the money/monthly payment you would make on a boat and then spend it closer to departure. You will change your mind over time. If you would like sailing experience before then, join a sailing club that has cruisers.

[noahsrejects]

First and foremost, thank you everyone for taking the time out of your day to answer some of my questions and all of your thoughtful comments. Even though this thread is only two pages long, you have given me quite a lot think about. First to answer some questions......

Someone asked me about my budget. As it stands right now, I can afford a $180,000 boat, with about 20% already saved for down payment. The beauty of the military, Or at least with the military has given me is my ability to plan in advance, which has saved me from quite a few headaches.

As far as my job in the military, I am a sonar technician working aboard submarines. It is one of those jobs where are you really have to be a jack of all trades. Being a center technician means that you're an electrician one day, admin guru the next, and then you're crawling into a cramped spot on the boat, trying to troubleshoot why a sensor isn't working correctly. Aside from that, being on a submarine definitely makes you think on your toes. Everybody on board is required to know DC, so you become pretty well rounded at self-sufficiency.

I also appreciate extra boat recommendations. I immediately started looking at some of the boats suggested and added a couple to my list. I do agree that eight years out is still quite a while and I am a very patient person at finding the right thing. As of right now, I am trying to involve my girlfriend in the buying process as much as possible. We grew up together in the Midwest, but the only difference is, I joined the military and saw the world, and she stayed in Minnesota. Her ocean and sailing skills still require some work but she is in it for the long haul.

I have about 1 1/2 more years in Hawaii before I transfer to the east coast. When I do transfer, I will most likely transfer to Kings Bay Georgia or Norfolk Virginia. The unfortunate thing about being a submariner is not having a lot of options in choosing duty stations. Both locations however give me a close access to a large variety of boats that are available and keep me on the mainland which is nice.

If you have any other questions guys and girls, Please let me know. I like the back forth and I always learn quite a bit based on everybody's experience. thanks again for your time

[UNCIVILIZED]

Guys, for the record, it's not me that has a dislike of Volvos. I was saying that some other members here do.

noahsrejects, is Groton an option, or are your choices limited by type of sub? As when I was on the Dallas we were in New London. There are a lot of boats in New England that are only lightly used due to their short sailing season. Not to mention the big seafaring history, & associated wisdom & sailing/learning opportunities in Mystic.