blue water length question

[peter.bomberg]

Ok, I have to admit I need help on this one, I am looking to get a Cat that can safely and comfortably cross the ocean, I have been told over and over look at 40+ feet the threshold so I have been looking at 4-50ft as the basis. However I am reading more and more people performing the crossing in a 35ft Cat, and the price delta is huge with a 35ft Cat in my budget and a 50ft requiring some serious thought, so please help with advice and knowledge.

For repeated Ocean Crossings (home base is in Bonaire, I know not a bad place to call home) but intended destinations include Australia and Asia (tech diver going re breather soon), what is the minimum length you suggest?

Current short list is the Spirited 480 or Waterline 1480

[Pblais]

I think you may be attempting to extrapolate too much only from the length of the boat. Equipment, skill, and planning all factor into to being able to do something like "cross oceans frequently". People do cross with cats 35 ft. as indicated correctly by your research. So why can't you?

Minimum boat for California to Australia is 8 feet 9 inches but it was a mono hull. Skill and planning add a lot to the length of the boat. Your ability to handle the boat makes many boats minimal. If you expect to carry a lot of dive gear you'll need to consider the weight and space requirements. If you use those numbers to compute what it's going to require to float all this stuff the minimal boat is not big enough. The minimal boat is really unimportant. If you can't afford a 50 ft boat then it would appear it is impossible to cross in a 50 ft boat since you won't be able to get one.

How much stuff are you expecting to haul around? If you are going to do "frequent crossings" I think the term frequent might require some additional details. Going half way around the world frequently from Bonaire leads me to conclude you may be based in the worst possible location on the planet as amazing as that sounds. Relocation to Thailand might improve the scenario a lot at least from a boat shopping perspective. Cutting 10,000 miles off the trip might save on the wear and tear too. Gets the costs down a lot as well. I'm not well aware of recreational boats that can do half way around the world and back on a frequent basis.

[Factor]

35 foot will do it - if its bult well and if you keep it light. So that means no aircon, freeze dried food, no cans, - really really slim it all down, the one of the biggest weighing items is water, so develop an option, either shower never or have a water maker or be really strict with consumption, and have a easily rigged tarp to catch water.

But yeah a well built 35 footer will absolutely do it. Particularly a fat hulled one. The spirited and waterline and very very fast boats, they are fast cause they have very slim hulls and are light. So the same story applies to them , keep em light. Though with 48 foot you have a little more to play with. Neither boat is cheap however. If you want to carry more (and go a bit slower) try a Lightwave 45 or a St Francis, If its cheap you want, fly to Australia and buy a seawind 1000xl and sail it to Thailand.

[JusDreaming]

here is a boat that would work for you
Catamaran for sale - Lagoon 37 1993

[peter.bomberg]

Hi guys, first off all thanks for your replies and yes I realize that there is no magic bullet (1 size fits all) I am just starting (ok who am I kidding, I am constantly reevaluating this) to rethink my decision to custom build a fast Cat, I am torn between the lower cost on a used COTS 35ft (affordable) a used 40-50 (doable but costly) or a kit where I spend a LOT of time but get a very fast Cat for about the same price but configured the way I want (of course now I am back to square 1 as I have not accounted for the helium gas I need, so maybe I will end up with 6 H sized cylinders or 2 cylinders and my own O2 making system, but my concern is all this stuff (and no AC) is pushing 2 tons (including engines, batteries, sails and so on), so I suspect I'll end up with a larger Cat so I can haul all my stuff around.

Paul, you have a point but I expect a fair amount of sailing in the Caribbean as well so while I would in many ways want to call Fiji home base, Bonaire is a much better fit as I have to get to work at times and that is mostly in Canada and the US