Help with a fiction novel

[Buzzman]

While it's true that it is at least feasible to sail the route envisaged, the boat chosen would be happier if it could motor or even motor-sail parts of it.

In the post-apocalyptic world you envision, how long ago had the apocalypse occurred?

If it was relatively recently, like less than a year or two, fuels left in tanks and other vessels might be able to be salvaged. Perhaps a previous 'escapee' boat ran aground somewhere a bit remote, broken down but still with full tanks, that your characters could chance upon and thus acquire sufficent fuel? Hostile shoreline, hard to access, bucket chain required (of jerry jugs), tide rising makng it trickier.....

With electric power also being necessary, stripping other wrecked or abandoned boats of their solar set-ups might provide the 53' Skookum with some additional power - for water-making, electric light, nav systems, depth sounders etc, but could also be part of the overall plan for eventual resettlement - where lots more electric power might be required.

No doubt you will also have contemplated the notion of 'biofuel' which is certainly possible for a big older-style diesel engine. Perhaps a cargo of canola oil is found along the way? Perhaps an abandoned truck in a layby near the harbor? Or an abandoned truck in warehouse, that has a cargo of drums of Canola oil destined for a feedlot or grocery chain?

Diesels can start on diesel fuel, then be switched over to run on straight vegetable oil once warm. There needs to be separate tanks for both fuels, and the veggie oil tank needs to have hot-water pipes run through it to keep the veggie oil liquid (especially in northern climes) and hence why the diesel needs to start and warm up before switching over. Potential 'disaster scenario' plot line is the engine konking out due to the veggie oil fuel gelling and blocking the injectors. Much frantic action to drop anchor before running aground. More frantic cleaning of the injectors and switching back to diesel. Cause of gelling fuel could be a hot water pipe leaking, which doesn't affect the engine as it takes raw water for cooling, which goes to the veggie oil tank AFTER cooling the engine. Side sub-plot of major panic that the bilge is suddenly also filling with water - leaking from the heat exchange system in the veggie oil tank.

I mean, if you are going to 'provide' your characters with the fuel they need, why not give them some 'fuel-related disaster' to deal with also..??

While someone else suggested it, I certainly wouldn't want to have to tow a 53' Skookum with a couple of people in a dinghy..! When James Cook and George Vancouver needed to haul their old sailing ships, they had whaleboats with 3 or 4 banks of oars, specifically designed for rowing, and multiple boats on each vessel, so potentially three boats with three banks of oars required to tow a 75-100 foot wooden sailing boat. Any wind on the nose and it was a no-go.

If you haven't already read John Wyndham's famous post-apocalyptic novel, 'The Day Of The Triffids', it's well worth a read, especially for the scavenging trips and his detailing of what deteriorated over what time frames, as this was VERY well-researched. For example, in the final 'haven' they construct, at first they only need a Land Rover to get into the nearby towns for supplies, but as the roads disintegrate over the years, they end up salvaging a half-track to get around. He also records what supplies were available after certain periods of time. He was still able to find and use bunkers of diesel fuel several years after the apocalypse.

[ms.lau]

Originally Posted by Tetepare

As a non-fiction writer, I’m envious.

Just write stuff and make it up. Nobody is going to expect correct details or research them, so simply entertain.

I think Tetepare is oh so wrong about this 🙂

[AKA-None]

As far as Available boats you’ll get whatever is available you won’t be able to pick your boat
So pick whatever boat is most likely to be in the starting area
Find out what boats are in that area and figure it out from there

[Time Theory]

Have fun in Hawaii. Let us know if you see any Mercury Park Lane's.

[garyfdl]

Originally Posted by jordanbigel

From what I see of the Skookum 53 when I google it (here: https://www.boats.com/sailing-boats/...um-53-8050179/), I don't think its a good choice because it's not a "sailboat" so it would not be able to cross oceans without fuel. It is not a motorsailer either, it may have a small auxiliary sail, but it would not be realistic to have a boat like this in a story involving sailing thousands of miles on wind power.

This might be a better choice: https://www.yachtworld.com/yacht/199...nd-52-7104559/

This one is a sailboat...

https://www.yachtworld.com/yacht/198...um-53-8342950/

Looks like it would 'fit the bill' perfectly.

To the OP best of luck! Concept sounds good. Could make a good movie, or better yet a series!

As to not being able to use the wind in the NW passage: maybe they run out of fuel after they get through?

[SeanPatrick]

If you decide to include any celestial navigation, I can probably help with that. I'm certain I could answer any technical questions you might have. Even if it is super-basic emergency style (e.g. estimating one's latitude with an improvised tool).

[Tetepare]

Originally Posted by ms.lau

I think Tetepare is oh so wrong about this 🙂

Well if you find a fiction book that’s not loaded with errors let me know. Clancy gets close, cussler is an embarrassment. Patterson not particularly good, keeps vague to avoid error. That’s why I read non fiction, which is typically well researched.

Non fiction readers are looking for facts and data- education and entertainment. Fiction readers run the gamut from…well never mind, but they read for entertainment. Then there’s the series TV watchers.

I’m myself not a fan of writers who don’t know the subject. But clearly most don’t notice, or care.

As far as a post apocalyptic novel, One Second After is pretty good, because it’s sort of accurate and detailed. I think there are few who’d have the stomach to read an extremely accurate post apocalypse account.

[AKA-None]

Originally Posted by Tetepare

Well if you find a fiction book that’s not loaded with errors let me know. Clancy gets close, cussler is an embarrassment. Patterson not particularly good, keeps vague to avoid error. That’s why I read non fiction, which is typically well researched.



Non fiction readers are looking for facts and data- education and entertainment. Fiction readers run the gamut from…well never mind, but they read for entertainment. Then there’s the series TV watchers.



I’m myself not a fan of writers who don’t know the subject. But clearly most don’t notice, or care.



As far as a post apocalyptic novel, One Second After is pretty good, because it’s sort of accurate and detailed. I think there are few who’d have the stomach to read an extremely accurate post apocalypse account.

Problems with Issac Asimov?

Or maybe Cory Doctorow?

[garyfdl]

Originally Posted by Tetepare

Well if you find a fiction book that’s not loaded with errors let me know. Clancy gets close

I'll say! In 'Red October' he put forth info that I, as an ex-submariner, was told I would be jailed for divulging - just 7 years earlier.

[EngNate]

Just for you-never-know-what, you might follow the R2AK, a power-less race up the inside passage to Alaska. It is going on now.

[mcarthur]

Here's a different option from the Skookum: characters find an abandoned Silent 50 and travel on it. No diesel, solar-power only and a power boat - that is going to be going about 4kn at most in the north at 24h use.
I think you're going to have some trouble in a post-apocalyptic world if that apocalypse is climate change - sailing boats are likely to be going nowhere a high percentage of the time with no wind, and then it's blowing a gale with little in between (according to some possible futures - extremes get more extreme and more regularly so). So do away with sails and - since you'll be publishing in a year when diesel is $100 per decilitre - an "old" solar powered boat will win kudos with readers (those who aren't dyed in the wool sailors , which are plenty on here but few over the planet ).

Oh, and I give permission for you to use the idea without reference (as an aspiring writer myself, I'd need that).

[michaelzargona]

So I'm really digging into this portion of the book. Again, thanks everyone for the help. I ended up keeping that experienced sailor alive; it just seemed too unrealistic for them to make this journey without him, conduct repairs, etc.

The variable pitch props in these sailboats --- can they be replaced in the water or are they a strictly dry dock sort of thing? What about a damaged rudder?

Are the radars just for weather and storm detection? Apologize in advance; these are probably Sailing 101 type questions but important.

[Apollo366]

Variable Pitch props, out of water only, in the high latitudes the water is too cold to do any meaningful work, unless you have full diving rig, not found on sailboats.
Same for the rudder.

Radar is both weather detection & other boats as well as for navigation near shore if you have charts of the area.

Good idea on the experienced sailor, worth his weight in gold.

Apollo Wayne

[FatBear]

Originally Posted by michaelzargona

I've published two books and am working on the third. As part of the story, the main group of 8 adults and 3 children must journey from the Puget Sound, WA area up through the Inside Passage, across the Bering Sea (avoiding Anchorage area), along the Aleutians, and then finally stop near Vladivostok, Russia.

What are the first books? Sounds like they might be a good read.

You should probably ignore the opinions of those who are not familiar with the Skookum 53. It is an excellent boat for the north Pacific because it was designed for those waters, and especially a post-apocalyptic north Pacific where there is nobody to come and get you when you get into trouble. This boat will keep you out of trouble. This area is far more rugged and the seas more dangerous than the vast majority of sailors have ever experienced. (I have been out in 45' seas with 65' reflection nodes south of Atka Island.) These boats were designed for distant offshore fishing in those waters and where you could not carry both fish and sufficient fuel to get home. They are built to take just about anything a 53' boat can possibly take. They are probably not ideal sailboats by the standards of someone who sails in lower latitudes, but it is the boat you'd want to be in if one of those Atlantic hurricanes hit you. You'd just think it was a jolly good ride and convenient because you could drop the spinnaker. (Winds of 100MPH +/- 20 are not unusual in the north Pacific. You just never hear about them because nobody in his right mind goes up there.)

Having worked on tugs in the Aleutians, I would suggest that your trip is plotted in exactly the wrong direction for sailing, though. You'd have headwinds all the way and this isn't really an upwind boat. If you want to get to Vladivostok, you'd probably do better to go via Hawaii.


A sailboat transiting from Japan to Seattle stopped in at Adak once when I was there. They were exhausted and they were going the "right" direction. It is very rough up there. That and the exhaustion that it can cause will probably be the biggest threat to your crew. Kind of boring for an adventure book, I suppose.

[FatBear]

Originally Posted by Ike

As for the boat, I would suggest something very rugged. More like a fishing troller or a trawler, (look up the difference between a troller and a trawler) I can't imagine a 53 foot motorsailer surviving a storm in the North Pacific or Bering Sea.

Actually, you described the Skookum 53 pretty well. It was designed as a far offshore troller in the north Pacific. They were so good and so rugged that the company started fitting some out as yachts for people who wanted something really competent for PNW and Alaskan waters.