Cost of needed items/ long distance cruising

[roverhi]

Here is a boat that looks to be thoroughly prepared for long distance voyaging. The boat is affordable but not cheap. Surely you can find cheaper Alberg 30s but could easily put the cost of this boat into equipping/refurbishing a cheaper boat.
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...go-128708.html
Go to the capehorn.com website and buy/download Yves video of his sail around the world to get the real life performance of this design.

One thing you need to go single hand cruising is a self steering vane. Don't leave home without one. Autopilots are nice in limited circumstances but are electron hogs that will require constant battery charging if used for any length of time. If they fail, you are at the mercy of some tech. geek who is going to want your first child to fix. Self steering vanes will go 10s of thousands of miles without a complaint. If something does wear out, it's usually sheaves that any idiot can replace. Have done 5 figure miles under windvane and have virtually zero time at the helm. With a little ingenuity, you can have them steer to a compass course using a tiller pilot at VERY VERY low current drain. My vane steers the boat if the sails are up. Have never had any issues with the vane being able to steer the boat no matter how unbalanced the sail plan. One reason for that is possibly not having to go through a wheel to get Self Steering input to the steering rudder. Pendulum Servo to a tiller works great or an Aux. rudder steering vanes work, period.

Have never had refrigeration and really never missed it. About the only reason I can see for it is a cold beer and you can get that at most bars ashore. If you drink other than the slightly colored water that passes for the big guys brew, beer is actually are quite drinkable at water temperature.

Our first long cruise, we had oil lamps, a Walker Taff Rail Log, sextant, chronometer, depth sounder and ''Nick', our trusty Aries self steering vane. Got us all the way to SoPac and back. Had a ball and didn't miss any of the modern 'necessities'. Last long passage was solo to Hawaii from SF. Had SSB, digital modem, electronic log and depth sounder, Epirbs, LED lights, 260 watts of solar generating capacity, AIS, and a couple of GPSs.

The solar is nice because I never had to run the engine to charge the batteries even with heavy overcast most of the way. Epirb(s) are great if the **** really hits the fan. The GPS actually made the trip a bit of a bore as I had a fix at the press of a button whenever I wanted it with no effort. HF Ham Radio and Pactor modem were a comfort for my wife to get daily email updates and for me to check into the MM Pacific Net but not a necessity if you don't want or need to reach out. Still didn't miss refrigeration. The AIS told me the course, speed and destination of the ships that passed and they knew who I was but would have lived without knowing that. Have never really watched videos or TV so that wasn't an issue. A Kindle would have been nice as books are hard to hang onto 0ne handed in a seaway and fall apart in the damp atmosphere of a boat. Electronic log was nice for bragging when I hit 9.2 knots surfing but didn't really add more than the good old Walker Log did still keeping track of the miles covered after more than 40 years. The LEDs are great to cut down on electrical needs. The running lights barely made the amp meter move. Oh yes, the WindPilot Pacific Plus Vane steered the whole way DDW averaging slightly more than 140 nmd. Only issue was doing a repair that not properly tightening the fasteners caused.