Advice: cruising 3-5 years, without going around the world??

[Cherod]

Hi Rod , don’t know where you are heading out from , but ( from what I have seen of ) the Baltic is lovely , then up past Denmark and over to E coast of Scotland ( wouldn’t bother with England as not much there ) and either up and round the top or throo the Caledonian Cannal and that brings you to the west coast , a full summer there and down to S Ireland for the winter , there , that’s your first two years and you are still in your own back yard , enjoy ( another ) Rod . Pd , oh, and catamaran every time , for small sea lochs , inlets , sandy beaches etc , there are a few quite cheap ones on multihull sites round EU just now

[Roddu]

Thanks Globetrotter,
Indeed we would be looking at the Baltic region and the Swedish and Norwegian coast line... I am even dreaming of making the trip to Iceland in our boat.
As you provide a very specific time window (till fall) what do cruisers typically do outside of this? As I can imagine starting on the boat and even making short coastal hopping trips during winter....
Thanks!

[mvAlegria]

Marinas in the Med basically rent out space by the width of the boat as much as per it’s length as they all med-moor the boats to buoys attached to chains in the channel. So yes your cat basically takes the space of 1.5 or 2 monohulls. Plus a cat moored between two heavy monohulls can get banged roughly if there is a storm & surge.
Volvo makes fine land engines including truck ones, In the marine market they are known to be expensive to maintain (parts are outrageously expensive). And good luck to find parts in Turkey,Grèce, Tunisia, Sicily etc
Most if not all mariné engine are land motors which are marinized, basically water cooling with sea water heat exchangers but the core of the mother is a land motor, most any truck engine can be marinezsd. Such as Catterpillar, John Deer, Detroit Engine , I am more familiar at this time with larger engines but in France I’ve seen sail boats with Peugeot diesels but there many other which names I forgot but other forum member definitely know.

[Gobetrotter]

Originally Posted by Roddu

Thanks Globetrotter,
...
As you provide a very specific time window (till fall) what do cruisers typically do outside of this? As I can imagine starting on the boat and even making short coastal hopping trips during winter....
Thanks!

Hi Roddu,
cruisers do not much outside this window. E.g. in the south of Finland the sea is ice free from April on and the boats are put in the water. In October, they come out and are winterized. So the season is very short. Coastal hopping tours during winter are normally done by foot or ski on the frozen sea

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by Roddu

Thanks Globetrotter,
Indeed we would be looking at the Baltic region and the Swedish and Norwegian coast line... I am even dreaming of making the trip to Iceland in our boat.
As you provide a very specific time window (till fall) what do cruisers typically do outside of this? As I can imagine starting on the boat and even making short coastal hopping trips during winter....
Thanks!

First on the issue of engines, perhaps a bit of research. We have a Yanmar and wow what a great engine - and Yanmar has support all over the world -

Second as for the winter - almost all boats sit in the winter. The winds over here can be brutal with seas to match. And it is cold in most of the Med. We are in Israel and we sail here at least once a week for a few hours - just out and back. And as for cold - well I am still in shorts and a tee shirt and no socks - today is a bit chilly with a lot of wind - chilly is mid 60s.

Israel is one of the best places we have spent winter and would do it again if we were going to stay longer in the Med .

ALSO remember one thing - Schengen - 90 days in 90 days out - it affects how, when and where you sail and stay.

[Nelsons]

Roddu, it seems that you have not the 6 months Schengen restriction, I assume.

However we started with a 50 ft Mono in the Med, crossed the Atlantic and went back to the Med. Now we have purchased a cat and get delivery next year to start for a circumnavigation. Med is difficult for cats, expensive in marinas and less anchorages.

But if you are seriously looking for a cat, you should consider to check out the market in the Caribbean or US as that’s more a cat market and you can easily save a lot of money. Crossing in June is feasible. However Med is, as you probably know, still mono area.

It’s always a very interesting time until you know what you want. Have fun