What Do You Think?

[clakiep]

Originally Posted by lone_sailor

I was thinking to buy me a sailboat to sail around the Caribbean and South America but my friend says I'm growing older not younger and I should consider the strengths dealing with sails and lines...He says a powerboat could be good option but I don't know what to do now if I go for the powerboat I know people in D.R. and P.R. who can modified the engine to use gas and LPG.


Any good idea? I need your help guys.


Thanks!

By a small sailboat with a reliable inboard diesel engine. Getting older means less strength and stamina, but more time an less hurry.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by lone_sailor

I am looking for 30' max...eating well most of my life so I am OK. 135lbs 5'7''

in that case you should have no problems physically as hoisting a main by hand in that size range is easy enough and handling a furling genoa is the same.. a self tailing hand winch is sufficient and if you cannot hand crank it enough your over canvassed.
Boldly go where many have gone before..

[Gaia]

Benching? Running? Come on guys, this is not the Olympics. As everywhere in life it helps to be fit and even more so to be healthy. The two go together of course but we have met many in our 25 yr circumnavigation that were neither. Personally I am 82 and my partner is a little but not much younger. I weigh less than 60kg soaking wet. I stopped 'benching' 65 yrs ago and have never run. We have absolutely no qualms about sailing offshore still although at the moment we are locked down in the Rio Dulce with most surrounding countries still closed.We have never had any physical problems handling our boat inshore, offshore or at anchor. We do have a strong anchor windlass but a manual version would have been fine as well and might have added a 'benching' like benefit.

It is the boat that is most important. We chose a junk rig because it is so easy to handle and repair underway if needed. And yes we have 'needed' a few times. We also ran all her control lines to a pilothouse. Often while on passage, we felt guilty about not doing an inspection tour having spent days in the pilothouse or down below so we would foray out. These 'excursions' were much aided by high (hip high) and sturdy lifelines and normally they were done without tying ourselves to anything. If we did need to do a repair we would use harnesses of course. We called those efforts in our emails back home EVAs for Extra Vehicular Activity.

Our rig does not use winches to control the sails and we do not need to be Arnold Schwarzeneggers. Reefing, the most important activity on a sailboat is done from the Pilothouse noiselessly by the person on watch as is raising the sails. Easy peasy. No need to 'bench' underway or before leaving 😊

A year or two ago we crewed on a large cat across the Atlantic and I was surprised to learn how much more difficult it was to sail that boat. Luckily it had electric winches but still the effort required to handle the sails in a breeze and the tensions in the running rigging amazed me. The owner was not bothered but then he could easily 'bench' me. It was difficult to move around the wide open spaces as well and the short stanchions and flimsy lifelines were a joke. We also found the unpredictable jerky motion hard to get used to compared to the more natural movement of a mono hull. The comfort on board was nice but that is not the OP's topic..

We considered going 'the cat route' hence the trial across the Atlantic because of the added comfort and space when having visitors. We thought it would be doable if we added the complexity and therefore increased risk of in the boom or mast furling and electric winches but in the end decided that we enjoyed the safety and ease of handling of our junk rigged Gazelle more. On her we can also see 360 degrees from the pilothouse while on the cat, being 5 ft 8 inches tall I had to climb on something to see ahead. A major negative imo.

So, imho the most important parameter is the boat. Her seakindliness, the way she is outfitted and if desired her protection on passage like a pilothouse or some such.

Jim SV GAIA

[barnakiel]

Benching? Running? Come on guys, this is not the Olympics.


(...)


?



If your target is living aboard in a warm climate, it is not.

If your target is sailing, it is.


And the older we get, the more important our relative level of fitness becomes.


There is a lot of accidents resulting from unfit people taking to tasks they are not fit for. Sailing and otherwise.


Our marina is full of old unfit people (just like the adjacent town is). But only maybe 5% of these people ever sail any reasonable distances. And the sailing ones ARE fit.


I run 6 miles 3 times a week. I can press-up 100 (ha ha ha in 4 series ;-)


Not to go nuts about gym, just to get as fit as one reasonably can given our age.


Or else stay at the dock and do not expose those nice SAR people to dangerous work because you thought it is OK cross an ocean as if you were crossing a street.



b.

[Avionics_Joe]

If you are able to handle the sailboat now, get a sailboat, it will keep you younger longer. I retired at 58 two and a half years ago, lost 40 pounds and 6 inches from my waist, and am much more in shape now.

[alansmith]

My question would be: how do you know that you would like sailing? Silly as this question is... have you been sailing? They are expensive and if caught out in bad weather... terrifying.

The guy who asked what you can lift or run was just saying it as a joke. You are a skinny guy and that doesn’t matter that much on a boat. You’ll get by. Powerboats are wonderful but cost a fortune in fuel costs. My friends searay 40+ foot gas engine costs over 400 dollars per trip from Napa to San Francisco. It is only about 2 hrs one way. To me that is shocking amount of money.

Get some experience first. Take some classes. Find your local yacht club. Ask if you can hang out and learn the ropes. Offer your time to help do some maintenance with owners. Most yacht clubs have one night a week that they do beer can races. They are a lot of fun and you can meet a lot of guys and gals that love boats. You can learn a lot about sailing by crewing. For the most part guys are friendly and will mentor you. Be willing to help clean and maintain boats. Couple of 6-packs goes a long way. Many of us have crewed for other skippers.

This is a way for you to gain knowledge. Taking licensing classes for certifications is another. Boats are easy to buy. But boats are difficult to sell. So remember that. I am a trailer boat skipper. There are so many niches to think about before committing your funds. It is similar to marriage in a way. You have to pay huge amounts of money for the relationship. It can be bliss and the next day it is a rocky rolly anchorage. Sunsets can be fabulously beautiful and middle of the night you are up on the deck in the driving rain in your underwear vomiting on the foredeck bouncing around on the foredeck while you try and sew some leather onto the anchor line to aid in anti chafing. All of us have had freaking scary situations happen. That, Sir, is the truth about sailing. Single handed sailing deals with that stuff all the time. No one to help sort it out. You will need to sort it all out in your mind what is your nature and what is it that your soul is hankering for. Rather complex thinking. But before buying get experience and education. Then start the process of what type of boat. Good luck. Enjoy the learning process.

[joelhemington]

Originally Posted by lone_sailor

I am looking for 30' max...eating well most of my life so I am OK. 135lbs 5'7''

Given that you're not planning on crossing any oceans (at least not very far) I think you might consider a Gemini catamaran for the fact that it's flat and easy to move about on and would give you some extra space for guests. DO NOT attempt to take this boat around the horn or anything else in the 30' range - that's for crazy people and masochists

With the proper running rigging - electric wench and all sheets led back to the helm, you should be able to handle this boat yourself (two is always nicer if doing a lot of overnight passages) And don't forget the electric windlass as the anchor and chain could well outweigh you. Conventional fully battened main sail with three reef points and lazy jacks and a lazy jack bag should be fine (you only really raise the main about once a day) and I doubt you'll find in mast furling available in a smaller boat. In mast furling is one of those things that some people love (until they snag up) and other people hate. Oh. and don't forget the roller furling for the head sail. Single handling a hank on Genoa can be a chore you might not enjoy.

[lone_sailor]

Originally Posted by alansmith

My question would be: how do you know that you would like sailing? Silly as this question is... have you been sailing? They are expensive and if caught out in bad weather... terrifying.

The guy who asked what you can lift or run was just saying it as a joke. You are a skinny guy and that doesn’t matter that much on a boat. You’ll get by. Powerboats are wonderful but cost a fortune in fuel costs. My friends searay 40+ foot gas engine costs over 400 dollars per trip from Napa to San Francisco. It is only about 2 hrs one way. To me that is shocking amount of money.

Get some experience first. Take some classes. Find your local yacht club. Ask if you can hang out and learn the ropes. Offer your time to help do some maintenance with owners. Most yacht clubs have one night a week that they do beer can races. They are a lot of fun and you can meet a lot of guys and gals that love boats. You can learn a lot about sailing by crewing. For the most part guys are friendly and will mentor you. Be willing to help clean and maintain boats. Couple of 6-packs goes a long way. Many of us have crewed for other skippers.

This is a way for you to gain knowledge. Taking licensing classes for certifications is another. Boats are easy to buy. But boats are difficult to sell. So remember that. I am a trailer boat skipper. There are so many niches to think about before committing your funds. It is similar to marriage in a way. You have to pay huge amounts of money for the relationship. It can be bliss and the next day it is a rocky rolly anchorage. Sunsets can be fabulously beautiful and middle of the night you are up on the deck in the driving rain in your underwear vomiting on the foredeck bouncing around on the foredeck while you try and sew some leather onto the anchor line to aid in anti chafing. All of us have had freaking scary situations happen. That, Sir, is the truth about sailing. Single handed sailing deals with that stuff all the time. No one to help sort it out. You will need to sort it all out in your mind what is your nature and what is it that your soul is hankering for. Rather complex thinking. But before buying get experience and education. Then start the process of what type of boat. Good luck. Enjoy the learning process.

Thank You for your advice alansmith. I know the gas will be an issue but I know people who can make the engine runs on LPG but I don't know how this will impact the speed on a powerboat.

[Tillsbury]

Originally Posted by NorthernMac

Works 100% of the time 80% of the time

I haven't had one fail in my experience, but you do realise they have a socket for a winch handle on top don't you? Electric winches aren't for doing something you can't do otherwise -- they just make it really easy and hence something you do more often and quickly.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by joelhemington

With the proper running rigging - electric wench and all sheets led back to the helm, you should be able to handle this boat yourself.

Don't forget to install a solar panel and get rechargeable batteries for the wench..

[JPA Cate]

I dunno, Boatie, some of us run on beer and chips, others, on champagne and caviar!

[NorthernMac]

Originally Posted by Tillsbury

I haven't had one fail in my experience, but you do realise they have a socket for a winch handle on top don't you? Electric winches aren't for doing something you can't do otherwise -- they just make it really easy and hence something you do more often and quickly.

As long as you can crank that up in short order

[CassidyNZ]

Originally Posted by tilostahl

Get in-mast furling and you'll never need an electric winch. Just something else that can go wrong.

When an electric winch stops working (something else that can go wrong), putting a normal winch handle in the top of the winch provides an immediate and effective over-ride.

How do you over-ride in-mast furling when it goes feral? And whilst I’m not suggesting in-mast furling is systemically troublesome, please don’t say that it never goes wrong.

I agree with others, a 30ft boat has very little that requires heroic strength. Worry more about your ability to cross oceans than to manage the physical demands of what is a relatively small boat.

[CassidyNZ]

Originally Posted by Tillsbury

I haven't had one fail in my experience, but you do realise they have a socket for a winch handle on top don't you?

We were living aboard in a marina some years ago and upon coming home from work one evening, I heard a whirring noise from the boat alongside. After a few hours I went to have a look and an electric winch was happily spinning. When I tried to stop it on the deck switches I couldn’t. The winch was hot to the touch.

By the time the owner came down, all the grease in the winch had melted and run into the boat but the winch seemed OK. Not sure if it was a dodgy switch or a dodgy winch. Probably the switch. With boat being on shore power with a battery charger, if I hadn’t been living alongside the winch would probably have run itself to death.

There have been reports in the past of people losing fingers and stuff on electric winches that never stopped as expected. So they do fail but not always as one would expect.

[Paul J. Nolan]

Just get a small boat. A Triton or Contessa 26.