Low Cost Cruising Details

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by newhaul

incorrect most of us will happily tic off the miles offshore in weather that something like your beloved beach cats ( which are not designed for anything but kids to have fun and get bitten by the sailing bug ) they are fun and it does get fresh blood into sailing but you would be praying to Neptunis Rex for calmer weather.

Btw I own 2 MORC boats big deal .

Really?

I'm not seeing any kids breaking out thru this surf line sailing one of these badly designed beach cats

Actually, the first two guys that good through each weighted over 200 lbs each. Pretty big kids I'd say

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyFMTh1K7E8

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Really?

I'm not seeing any kids breaking out thru this surf line sailing one of these badly designed beach cats

Actually, the first two guys that good through each weighted over 200 lbs each. Pretty big kids I'd say

I didn't say idiots don't do it I said what the naval architect that designed it , the builders , the sales people, and the parents that bought these on a big enough scale to make them profitable to make. Had in mind .

Fact is you are never going to cross an ocean on those for fun. You can on a cruising type boat.

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by carstenb

North to Alaska, then down the inland waterway, south along the west coast of USA and next hurricane season in Sea of Cortez - after that?

We have no plan and - by golly - we're gonna stick to it!

OK your going to really enjoy yourself once your crossing is done. I've done that trip both ways 4 times, think I had one foot nailed down, lol. Used to sail up to Kauai and anchor out in Hanalei Bay, it's a good anchorage and is a great place to launch from. It's been awhile but back then we were able to top up our provisions there.
Make sure you have warm clothes out as after a week or so you'll be needing them, it will warm up once your crossing is behind you. The scenery in Alaska and BC will be a wonderful experience for you as you will be there in summer months.
Depending on whether you decide to go inside Vancouver Island or outside your experience will be very different. If your a nature lover, outside is a world class experience..try to stop at Barkley Sound if you go outside.
The ideal time to leave that area to head to California is the very end of August until the first week in September.
Anyways that's my home turf, we live on Vancouver Island. If your coming our way drop us an email and we will try to hook up with you on your way through...if it works, cheers, Robert.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by newhaul

I didn't say idiots don't do it I said what the naval architect that designed it , the builders , the sales people, and the parents that bought these on a big enough scale to make them profitable to make. Had in mind .

Fact is you are never going to cross an ocean on those for fun. You can on a cruising type boat.

Idiots? Why would you consider athletes that are at the top of any sport idiots?

A bit narrow minded don't you think?

Lots of the technology and know how learned from beach cat racing back in the day is now being used on the new America's Cup Cats like them or not.

As far as crossing oceans, many of us don't start out with that in mind.

Some of us start out simply wanting to get to where the big fish are.

And also to water ski back in the day. Who wants to sit around at anchor more than a couple hours fishing?

Then some of us move to sailing then to racing sailboats.

The thing about racing fast boats like beach cats is that it really makes you consider every possiblity if you don't win the race especially if you come in like 5th place out of 35 boats and are only 25 seconds behind the leader after a 40 minute race

Interesting stuff.

Plus it helps to keep you in shape to a point.....but you still have to do some type of aerobic exercise to really stay fit

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Idiots? Why would you consider athletes that are at the top of any sport idiots?

A bit narrow minded don't you think?

Lots of the technology and know how learned from beach cat racing back in the day is now being used on the new America's Cup Cats like them or not.

As far as crossing oceans, many of us don't start out with that in mind.

Some of us start out simply wanting to get to where the big fish are.

And also to water skiing back in the day. Who wants to sit around at anchor more than a couple hours fishing?

Then some of us move to sailing then to racing sailboats.

The thing about racing fast boats like beach cats is that it really makes you consider every possiblity if you don't win the race especially if you come in like 5th place out of 35 boats and are only 25 seconds behind the leader after a 40 minute race

Interesting stuff.

Plus it helps to keep you in shape to a point.....but you still have to do some type of aerobic exercise to really stay fit

I agree..
Drinking pints of lager with a lap dancer sure gets the cardio pumping...
Gotta switch arms with each pint though..

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Idiots? Why would you consider athletes that are at the top of any sport idiots?

A bit narrow minded don't you think?

Lots of the technology and know how learned from beach cat racing back in the day is now being used on the new America's Cup Cats like them or not.

As far as crossing oceans, many of us don't start out with that in mind.

Some of us start out simply wanting to get to where the big fish are.

And also to water ski back in the day. Who wants to sit around at anchor more than a couple hours fishing?

Then some of us move to sailing then to racing sailboats.

The thing about racing fast boats like beach cats is that it really makes you consider every possiblity if you don't win the race especially if you come in like 5th place out of 35 boats and are only 25 seconds behind the leader after a 40 minute race

Interesting stuff.

Plus it helps to keep you in shape to a point.....but you still have to do some type of aerobic exercise to really stay fit

Your starting to lose it, LOL. Americas Cup races don't use Cats, been years. They are sailing supercharged moons...gotta get with the program, your livin in the past!

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by boatman61

[/I][/B]

I agree..
Drinking pints of lager with a lap dancer sure gets the cardio pumping...
Gotta switch arms with each pint though..

You shouldn't bring up drinking around a bunch of sailors......!

Beach cats racers tend to hide beers in the hulls of their boats so they can have one between races. So after 4 or 5 races ........

Then at the end of the day after we take our boats apart and get them on the trailers, we'd head to the bar to "discuss" the racing and eyeball most any female that happened to come in ...........then it usually went down hill from there pretty fast.

Repeat the following day or the following weekend.....

The races off the coast of Mississippi are about a 15 mile run offshore. To either Horn or Ship Island. It's the halfway point. Race 1 is the one on the way out

At the half there's beer and chicken then we race back in for race 2 and for some reason there are more pitchpoles on this leg as the wind is up and it's a spinnaker run and some of use skipped the chicken

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Your starting to lose it, LOL. Americas Cup races don't use Cats, been years. They are sailing supercharged moons...gotta get with the program, your livin in the past!

The weird thing is that I like watching the Monohulls during the Americas Cup.

I think 2007 was the last good one .....with New Zealand battling hard to win with Dean Barker and Terry Hutchinson as Tactician with the slower boat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okBs1mZq8zk

[DaLuz]

Low cost cruising.

Boat, 1979 Watkins 27 bought for $8,000.

Boat has the original YSM12r 10 hp Yanmar

Two months on the hard in Florida with pull and refloat $1650

New standing rigging, $1,000 (7 stainless swaged lines, all chain plates and turnbuckles were ok)

New one inch shaft $1,500 (had to cut out old due to corrosion, removed and cleaned stuffing box, new cutlass bearing)

New Nature's Head toilet, $1000 (removed old toilet, 20 gal holding tank, kept thru hulls, but they are all capped off with threaded brass caps)

New propane two burner house unit bought off Amazon, custom hose to rail mounted tanks, tanks are Walmart Blue Rino exchange bottles (no auto shut off, physically turn on and off propane at tank outside) $400

New STAKOL 54 quart portable 12v/110v fridge, $400

New formica galley countertops, backsplash, bath countertop, $400 (replaced all ply underlayment with new)

New galley sink $90 (bar unit from Amazon)

New faucet that has retractable nozzle, $100

All new waterlines (only have a galley sink so has about 20 feet of one in hose) and new water pump $170

All new 12v (anchor light, running lights, steaming light, small fresh water pump, portable fridge, toilet fan, 3 cig lighter plugs...one in cockpit, one in v berth, one in galley for fridge...rewired old Garmin 525 chart plotter, rewired old VHF, and finally the bilge, (Marine wire, connectors, heat shrink, fuses and holders as well as a blue seas fuse box) $350

Explorer chart book set of 3 for the Bahamas $180 (new)

Misc charts for the Caribbean, $60 (used)

Two new chips for the Garmin covering US/Canada and the Caribbean $300

Renogy 100 watt solr kit (two 50 watt panels, Voyager charge controller and wire kit) $350

PVC and fittings for solar panel cockpit rail mount with 90 degree tilt capabilities $120

New oil pipe for Yanmar YSM 12R, $60

West Marine 8 foot soft bottom roll-up dingy $600 (new)

Suzuki 2.5 outboard, $1,000 (new)

Various diesel, gas and water jugs $100

Rustoleum bottom paint, $80 (2 gallons)

Misc brushes, sand paper, tape, glues, sealant $500

Rocna Vulcan 27 pound anchor $350

Delta 27 pound plow anchor $200

50 feet 5/16 G4 chain and 200 feet ⅜ rode, $200

Replaced water level plastic through hull for exhaust with brass, $85

Replaced wet exhaust hose, $180

Currently have BoatUS insurance as we were in the US, but will not renew and go without. Cost was about $450 for the year, basic liability and a hull value as determined by BoatUS...never did figure it out but needed insurance for the dry dock.

Sails are in great shape, running rigging is okay.

Currently headed south through the Bahamas, will continue to South America. Need to repair a rudder post leak, will run $400 or so to pull out and $22 per day of the hard plus whatever I need to repair...so we will see.

I suspect after this my next little drama will be the exhaust elbow, is in a difficult spot to reach and has been neglected.

We have been on the boat full-time since April 2019.
So looks like I have about $19,875 wrapped up in the boat, call it $20,000

Monthly stuff on average so far looks like this:

Groceries $300 (will most likely go up while in the Bahamas, then back down in DomRep and repeat based on different islands) (Wife is excellent cook and culturally she usually does a lot of rice, beans, chicken, fish, veggies, fruits, soups and so on. Helps keep the bill as well as my waist in check)

Diesel (I burn about ⅓ gallon an hour at 2500 RPM and if calm and no wind or current can go about 4 knots) $35. On heavy motor days, I'll burn 2.5 gallons in a 8-10 hour day. Not here in the Bahamas we sail 80% of the time.

Gas for the outboard $9

Google Fi phone $50 (has been as low as 25 and have maxed it to 85)

Garmin In Reach mini $15

Beer/Rum $100

Dine out, $150

Water (so far in the Bahamas been here one month or so and several places have not charged) $9

Medical insurance, $150 (retired mil)

Girly stuff for wife, shampoos, creams and what not, $80

Based on this I will round us up and call it $1,000 per month.

Have not sold off all our worldly possessions and undecided what we will do later on. Right now just aimlessly wandering about.

Hope this helps, be safe.

[jmh2002]

Awesome

[contrail]

Thomm, you are a better beach cat sailor than you are a listener, and you do like to be listened to, yourself, to the point of beating things to death. We do get that you spent a long time on motorboats and beach cats, and a few other boats as well, and that you like to race and fish. You are far from unique in any of this, although you seem to feel that you are. And, lest any of us forget (how could we), you are eager to remind us, again and again. But, please listen to us when we say that what you have done and are doing has nothing to do with what we are doing. You repeatedly twist it to be the same or even superior. I am, in fact, quite familiar with the Worrell 1000, and I always admired those who did it. I, too, had an outboard powered wood ski boat when I was thirteen, likewise without comforts or electronics. My first sailboat was so simply equipped that to hold a course, I tied a string from a wheel spoke to a cleat and simply put pressure on it with my big toe. It was fun, and I am sure lots of other folks here have done the same thing, but you don't hear us constantly bragging about it. However, IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT WE ARE DOING NOW, nor with our current discussions. Nor do any of us use it to fuel demeaning comments about others, or the way they feel. For me, cruising has to do with going to a destination, whether near or far, and being relatively self sufficient including living aboard for the cruise. I realize that there are others who sail to a hotel, and if that is cruising, to them, that is fine. I have lived aboard for decades, which skews my view, and that would seem like cheating, but for many, it's the only way they would want or even be able to cruise, and that's great. No better, and no worse. However, equating going a good distance in a beach cat rally, and getting off the boat every night, would be a very limited class of cruising, and more like a long distance race or rally, and not cruising...sort of like what the french call a "raid", if you are familiar with that term. But, there are equally valid other ways to learn about what the sea is like offshore, how to sail without an engine, how to find an inlet, and a myriad other things. And many of us have done these things and are totally proficient in them. But doing them on a beach cat is just not our interest. Please listen to that! Unless, of course, your true satisfaction comes from demeaning and irritating people, by whatever means you can. There are people who do that.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by contrail

Thomm, you are a better beach cat sailor than you are a listener. We do get that you spent a long time on motorboats and beach cats, and a few other boats as well, and that you like to race and fish.

However, IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT WE ARE DOING.

For me, cruising has to do with going to a destination, whether near or far, and being relatively self sufficient including living aboard for the cruise. I have lived aboard for decades, which skews my view, and that would seem like cheating, but for many, it's the only way they would want or even be able to cruise, and that's great. No better, and no worse.

Nice!

I hope you don't mind that I cut out most of the "irrelevant" BS from your post

Btw, I don't really like to fish that much or race? Can you not read?

My point was simply that I have experience on the water since age 5 or so.

I believe that experience can be beneficial to future cruising.

My plan is when I do retire to acclimate myself to my small boat by sailing up and down the bay and not returning to a real onshore place for maybe a few weeks

Then I plan to take the ICW down to the Albemarle Sound-Pamlico Sound, visit Oriental then head to Morehead City where I used to live. Then up to Cape Lookout and hang for a bit sailing offshore and back and finally coming back up here on the outside around Cape Hatteras

Next trip maybe Bermuda and back then head South

So, yes it may sound strange to you, but I do believe that having boating experience, sailing experience, knowledge of how to live off the sea and shore with food such as crabs, clams, oysters, and fish is beneficial to someone that plans to cruise in their retirement years

I also believe my engine, computer, electronics, electrical, and battery knowledge will be helpful as this is what I do for a living.......

I also think the many years of maintaining and sailing just this one boat I have now allows me to know that boat and what it can do and what it can handle

This may really sound strange to you but to me it's a better way to go than what many here recommend to the guy that has never been on a boat or sailed which is to JUST GO

That is when we get the complaints about banging halyards, wakes along the ICW, and heaven forbid having to sail in and anchor without an engine

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

OK your going to really enjoy yourself once your crossing is done. I've done that trip both ways 4 times, think I had one foot nailed down, lol. Used to sail up to Kauai and anchor out in Hanalei Bay, it's a good anchorage and is a great place to launch from. It's been awhile but back then we were able to top up our provisions there.
Make sure you have warm clothes out as after a week or so you'll be needing them, it will warm up once your crossing is behind you. The scenery in Alaska and BC will be a wonderful experience for you as you will be there in summer months.
Depending on whether you decide to go inside Vancouver Island or outside your experience will be very different. If your a nature lover, outside is a world class experience..try to stop at Barkley Sound if you go outside.
The ideal time to leave that area to head to California is the very end of August until the first week in September.
Anyways that's my home turf, we live on Vancouver Island. If your coming our way drop us an email and we will try to hook up with you on your way through...if it works, cheers, Robert.

yeah - after two years in the tropics - don't know if we are looking forward to the cold - but we'll survive. REally looking to seeing Alaska. we do plan on reaching SF by mid september, then heading south after a couple of weeks there

we'll drop you a line when we get there

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Nice!

I hope you don't mind that I cut out most of the "irrelevant" BS from your post

Btw, I don't really like to fish that much or race? Can you not read?

My point was simply that I have experience on the water since age 5 or so.

I believe that experience can be beneficial to future cruising.

My plan is when I do retire to acclimate myself to my small boat by sailing up and down the bay and not returning to a real onshore place for maybe a few weeks

Then I plan to take the ICW down to the Albemarle Sound-Pamlico Sound, visit Oriental then head to Morehead City where I used to live. Then up to Cape Lookout and hang for a bit sailing offshore and back and finally coming back up here on the outside around Cape Hatteras

Next trip maybe Bermuda and back then head South

So, yes it may sound strange to you, but I do believe that having boating experience, sailing experience, knowledge of how to live off the sea and shore with food such as crabs, clams, oysters, and fish is beneficial to someone that plans to cruise in their retirement years

I also believe my engine, computer, electronics, electrical, and battery knowledge will be helpful as this is what I do for a living.......

I also think the many years of maintaining and sailing just this one boat I have now allows me to know that boat and what it can do and what it can handle

This may really sound strange to you but to me it's a better way to go than what many here recommend to the guy that has never been on a boat or sailed which is to JUST GO

That is when we get the complaints about banging halyards, wakes along the ICW, and heaven forbid having to sail in to an anchorage without an engine and back off later

all irrelevant to low cost cruising

Post your numbers man we want to know the facts and just the facts

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by newhaul

all irrelevant to low cost cruising

Post your numbers man we want to know the facts and just the facts

Boat $2,000

Upgrade over 8 years $10,000

New:

Mainsail (replacement)
Mainsail cover (replacement)
Dodger (replacement)
engine (repelacement)
autopilots (2x)
bottom jobs (3X)
custom 6" settee cushion (for sleeping)
outboard bracket (2x)
Inverters (400watt/1500 watt)
Solar (4 controllers, one Victron MPPT 75/15. 4 panels 155 watts total
two 90 ah 12 volt batteries in parallel
2 fans. one dc. one ac
2 led cabin lamps
4 shades
paint interior and exterior
bilge pump (replacement)
HDTV/Monitor
Raspberry Pi 4 Computer
Chart plotter w/AIS
SH GX2200 GPS/AIS/VHF
Handheld VHF / GPS (2X)

I'll cruise for around $1,000 - $1,500 per month while also maintaining a home for family and several vehicles, but I will not be putting it on an excel spreadsheet as I do that every day to track numbers and budget at work

Plus maybe $500 here and there when I want to do something else or leave the boat for a while

As I said, experience helps. Be that experience with boats, marinas, living in different coastal areas ........it all helps

I guess you guys are tired of beach cat videos so.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COiI...&start_radio=1