Need logisitic advice help in buying a boat

[Capt Andy]

The situation is I am on the wait list for a 32' slip and have been for the past 1.5 yrs. the marina has 28' slips available now and allows for 2' overage. I am interested in a Tartan 30 but the owner measured it and with bowsprit it's 30' 6" and the marina says they are strict with overage. I can not keep the slip the boat is presently in and there are no 30' slips available in this region (Seattle/Everett) that I can come up with. I am new to sailing and don't feel comfortable anchoring for a long period of time. Any ideas of where I could keep it until a slip opens or do I just pass on this boat and concentrate on 28' boats?

[JPA Cate]

Yes, it looks like you'll have to pass on the boat that is 6 inches too long to be squeezed into a 28 ft. berth. Imo, you're looking for a 30 footer w/o a bowsprit, max. Which you could then move into the 31 ft. berth when one becomes available. It's always nice to have a little extra room in a berth, and not have the stern hanging out, vulnerable to inept docking procedures.

Ann

[Shrew]

Are moorings an option in your area? Are they more available?

We had to a take a mooring for the first year we bought our current boat (about 6 yrs ago).

[Capt Andy]

I'll have to investigate this. There are moorings but when I've talked with the harbor master he told me most of them were illegally placed and would be removed "at some time".

[maine50]

Normally- Tartan 30's (from the 70's) don't have a bow sprint. Could you remove it and attach forestay to deck.? A Tartan 30 should measure just under 30 ft.

[Chris Cringle]

maine50 is correct. The Tartan 30, as designed, does not carry a bowsprit. It extends only six inches? Is it a true bowsprit, with the fore stay attached to it and a bob stay under it, or merely an extended anchor roller support? Remove it.

[TrentePieds]

Andy:

As others have said, the T30 does NOT, in its native configuration, have a bowsprit, and it seems unlikely that someone would have fitted one because that bespeaks a necessity of making other modifications to the rig — modifications from which the benefit would be minimal if indeed there would be any at all.

I do believe, however, that the 30 foot measurement as given here:

https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/tartan-30

is from a vertical raised at the extreme aft end of the forward raking transom to a vertical raised at the stem head. A vertical raised at the extreme forward extension of the pulpit will make the total length between the extreme aft and forward verticals more than 30 feet and my eyeball tells me that it will be just about 32 feet exactly.

Because the T30 is such an excellent cruising boat for the waters in which I you will be sailing, I would, if I were in your shoes, take my trusty measuring tape to the boat and actually measure the absolute over—all length myself. If the LOA turns out to be, say, 32'3" it would NOT be difficult to modify the pulpit a bit, if indeed that is the offending part of the boat,

Similarly, if the offending bit is the chain roller for the ground tackle and the stowed anchor chocked in the rollers is problem, remove or modify the roller brackets. There are lots of ways to handle your ground tackle :-).

If you can be a bit more specific about just why this particular boat is "too long" we will be in a better position to help you :-)

All the best

TrentePieds

[basssears]

Have you considered other marinas further afield? Bellingham usually has a bit of a wait list but maybe not a big one right now, Blaine always seems to have open slips. Start there and move closer to Seattle / Everett as slips become available.


Have you inquired at your preferred marina if anyone is subleasing their slip that your boat would fit in? You could play the sublease game until a slip you could lease directly comes available.

[Capt Andy]

Originally Posted by Chris Cringle

maine50 is correct. The Tartan 30, as designed, does not carry a bowsprit. It extends only six inches? Is it a true bowsprit, with the fore stay attached to it and a bob stay under it, or merely an extended anchor roller support? Remove it.

I misspoke...it is the bow pulpit and chain roller that extend out. The boat does not have a bowsprit.

[Capt Andy]

Could I could just move the pulpit back the necessary distance (6") and remove the chain roller until I get into a bigger slip?

[TrentePieds]

Andy said: "Could I could just move the pulpit back the necessary distance (6") and remove the chain roller until I get into a bigger slip?"

Yes, you could certainly do that, but it would require some forethought. The easy bit first:

You do NOT need a chain roller at all on a Tartan30. It's nice to have, but you don't NEED it :-) To the best of my knowledge the T30 has an actual "chain locker" forward of the "V" berth — a separate compartment for stowing your anchor rode. How you handle the rode in "real life" depends on whether the chain locker is accessed via a deck hatch or via a capstan and spurling pipe.

TP has a few thousand dollars worth of capstan which I ever use because it's more trouble than it is worth. There are things in life that just don't "scale". Emulating in a cockleshell like your boat and mine the way ground tackle is handled in grown-up ships just makes life unnecessarily difficult.

So you can remove your chain roller altogether, but if you do, you should make sure that the holes in the hull for the attachment bolts are filled with "sleeper" bolts that are there just to seal the holes and keep water out. You would save the entire chain roller gizmo, of course, so you can put it back in place when you get a longer slip.

In the Salish Sea you'll not be anchoring in hard weather. When Neptune gets huffy you are best off finding a hidey-hole, of which there are many, and it is rare indeed that you are more than a coupla hours from one, so that means that all you really need is a fairly small anchor (your choice as to style) and forty or fifty feet of 5/16" chain spliced to about 250 or 300 feet of three-strand 5/8" or 3/4" nylon rope.

When you are away from your marina and you want to have your anchor "at the ready" you can lash it to the after end of the pulpit with a couple of "gaskets" ( short lengths of very light cordage). When alongside in a marina, stow the anchor below decks.

So that gets around the chain roller problem :-)!

If you would like to hear how I handle my ground tackle in a boat that is functionally the mate to yours, sing out and I will tell you :-)

Now the pulpit: Moving it back physically would be a lot of work and would require new holes through the deck for the bolts for the foot pads. I've no idea of the material used for the core of the deck, but whatever it is, the making of new strongpoints in the deck for the attachment bolts could be a fairly extensive and rather unpleasant bit of work. If you'd like to know what's required to do it, just ask:-)

Furthermore, moving the pulpit would require modifications to the life lines. Better to leave them as they are, since you can do that if you proceed as follows:

No doubt your boat has a roller furling headsail as most boats do these days. You will not, therefore, have to go on the foredeck to "reef" it, and the pulpit in its present configuration is therefore not really required for safety's sake. If I were in your shoes I would cut the top rails at a point vertically above the stem head while leaving the rest of the pulpit in situ. A crossbar can then be clamped or welded from top rail to top rail at the new forward end. This cross member could even be made from wood. If you save the cut-off bit, it can be welded back in place when you get a longer slip.

I hope that helps you to think about your "problem". It really isn't much of a problem, and as many others have said, don't let a rather trivial thing like that get in your way of acquiring a boat that is eminently suited for cruising the Salish Sea — providing the price is appropriate for the condition of the boat in general, of course.

Cheers

TrentePieds

[grantmc]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

... I would, if I were in your shoes, take my trusty measuring tape to the boat and actually measure the absolute over—all length myself. If the LOA turns out to be, say, 32'3" it would NOT be difficult to modify the pulpit a bit, if indeed that is the offending part of the boat, ...
TrentePieds

I would do the same, but I wouldn't bother changing anything, and I would BS. I would simply tell the marina that I've measured the boat and the length measured was whatever you need to get in the berth you need for the moment. So if they require the boat be under 30 feet then I would measure 29 feet 8 inches. They're not going to climb all over your boat trying to measure, and they'd need your permission: declined. (Oh feet and inches are so quaint, I learned all that crazy measuring system as a young kid, but fortunately the country changed to metric).

How to measure a boat's length is an age old question; please other posters share your thoughts. But in my experience it's like whether multis are better than monos, or are guns a good idea, and which anti foul is best. Because you get in to whether or not to include added extras such as bow rollers/anchors and sugar scoops etc. So whatever you measure up Andy, the marina basically has to accept (or not).

But on the where you you might moor your boat why not google that as this is after all a forum where people gather from all over the world (grief there was a time I'd have looked up the Yellow Pages)?

And in respect to the Harbour Master saying most moorings are illegal and they'll be pulled up. I think, respectfully, you asked the wrong question. Ask what is the process I need to follow to gain permission to put down a legal mooring.

Here in my part of the woods you pay a $60 application fee, state where in the harbour you prefer, if they agree with your choice (and they usually do in existing mooring fields) then they give you a renewable 4 year permit for $200. They also detail the minimum specs for the mooring itself, that you buy and put down. Basically a chain and something like an 800kg concrete block on the seabed. At the end of the four years you have to pay for someone certified by the Harbour Master to dive on or lift to check the condition, (replace any tired chain as needed) and pay another $200 for the next four years. (I may be a little out with the fees, as it may have gone up since I checked.)

And having your own mooring is a great deal less expensive than having your boat in a marina, obviously. But there are drawbacks too, you need to dinghy to/from the boat, store (hide) the dinghy somewhere, you don't have plug in electricity, and water can be a hassle. No security or marina facilities either. But of course when you do need to work with power tools, say a bit of welding or something, then I just book in to the yard per normal.

I can add, that for my boat in Wellington I have what is called a fore and aft mooring (so a block and chain at stern and bow so all the boats remain facing the same direction at all times. The alternative of course is a swing mooring (single chain at bow). But when I took up the mooring I was paying about $320 per month at a full service marina. The marina is great by the way, highly recommend, but it was too expensive for me. My mooring was actually quite easy to organise. The chain and swivels etc cost about $800, the blocks were $150 each and I hired a little barge with a crane to drop the blocks, I think was $200 for the day. So all up after 6 months my mooring cost nothing.

[MikeHoncho]

I’d at least measure it myself and not depend on the technique of someone else