Greetings from Alabama

[TrueBeginner]

Greetings, soon to be friends!

My name is Bobby, but my friends know me as True. I am 62 years old, and as my name implies, a true beginner to the art of sailing.

I have been diagnosed with inoperable and incurable Stage 4B lung cancer, and I am looking forward to spending my last years sailing the rivers that I have loved all my life; the Tennessee River, and the Mississippi River.

I am currently searching for a vessel I can single-hand and live aboard, while slowly sailing back and forth, from Alabama to St. Louis, Missouri.

I have no idea what type of vessel would most suit my needs, which is why I am hopeful I will be able to get the advice I need, to make these last few years the most pleasurable.

As I am on a fixed income, I am searching for something affordable, primarily. (Something in the $3000 to $5000 range maximum, and hopefully with financing available—- $300-$400 monthly payments is affordable) I am looking for something immediately seaworthy, and as long as I am able to live aboard, the cabin condition is not too much of a concern, as I am quite capable of doing interior restoration work on my own. (carpentry has been my livelihood for 40+ years.) I’m not looking for anything too large, 20 to 25 feet maximum, as long as I can sleep 2 to 4 comfortably, over a weekend, and a small motor for docking, as well as a radio, is a must.

Any suggestions and/or advice will be greatly appreciated.

I thank you all, for taking the time to read this introduction and look forward to making your acquaintance and learning from you.
~True

[SeanPatrick]

Welcome aboard!

[grantmc]

Welcome to the forum Bobby.

And sorry hear about cancer.

I do tough hope that you'll gain help and useful information from joining and posting here. Obviously the more you post yourself, be it questions, ideas, advice, the more you gain from being a member. Wishing you the best from Wellington, New Zealand.

[TrueBeginner]

Originally Posted by SeanPatrick

Welcome aboard!

Thank you, SeanPatrick. Pleasure to make your acquaintance..
~True

[TrueBeginner]

Thank you, grantmc, for your kind words. I’m pleased to make your acquaintance., and look forward to learning from you all.

I’ve come to realize, after reading a bunch of the community’s posts, that I may actually be in the wrong group, as I am more concerned with intercoastal waterways, rather than ocean going sailing.

I don’t mind as I have already picked up some knowledge in the limited amount of posts that I have read.

I hope to be able to continue to learn what I can, from you all, without being too much of a nuisance.

Peace,
~True

[TrentePieds]

Welcome to the forum True. You have my sympathy in regard to your medical problems.

You are right that most people here are ocean-going types, but on the other hand, boats are boats wherever you use them. I'm not all that ocean going myself, spending my time in water where 30 feet from shore you can have 300 feet of water under you. That's clearly not the case on the Tennessee and the Mississippi, so the sticky-down keel of a sailboat may be an impediment to going where you want to go. On the rivers you don't often get 4 foot waves, so you don't really need the stability that a ballast keel confers. In short you might, for your purposes, be better off with a power boat.

Your budget is mighty low, but as you say you'll be satisfied with little, and as you say you have four decades of carpentry behind you, interior condition is neither here nor there. What needs fixing you can fix - PARTICULARLY in a powerboat.

Hull condition will be the biggie. Stay away from wooden hulls! As someone said: Wooden boats are on life-support from the moment they leave the builder's yard. Fiberglass boats you have to ASSASSINATE! So make yours a "frozen snot" boat :-) Power boats are FAR cheaper to own than sailboats because you don't have the cost of upkeep of the rigging to worry about.

Unless you want a PLANING power boat, the engine requirements for sailboats and power boats are about the same. An engine of 4 HP per ton displacement will do the job nicely.

In NON-planing hulls it is the length on the waterline that governs the top speed. There is a formula for calculating it. In a power boat with a 25 foot water line you can expect to go at a speed of a little less than 7 knots. Call it 7MPH. The Tennessee, I would expect, flows most often at 3MPH. Therefore, going downstream, you'll be going "past the land" at something like 10MPH whereas going upstream, you'll be going past the land at only 4MPH. On my local river the Fraser (BC Canada) there are times when I simply CANNOT go upstream :-)!

Engines are expensive. To replace the engine in a 25-foot displacement hull with new 20HP machine will set you back about $10K so be careful what you buy.

Lot's more stuff to tell you, but start thinking about those things, and feel free to ask us any question you like. There'll be someone here who can give you a sound answer.

All the best to you :-)!

TrentePieds

[TrueBeginner]

Truly a pleasure to meet you, TrentePieds.

You make a very compelling case in sail vs power. Your insights have shed light on quite a few of my original concerns. Expenses being chief among them all. To be frank, I, having absolutely zero experience in owning a sailing vessel, thought “wind power” would be cheaper than “gasoline” powered.

Your advice with regard to hull type (wood vs frozen snot), and power plant sizing WILL be easily remembered, and passed along, as well as the simple calculation for speed of travel.

I have come to know one thing about myself, in my 60+ years: I am, without a doubt, a romantic by nature. The idea of “sailing” my own house, along whichever rivers I chose, has been a dream I have yet to realize. The movie “White Squall”, is one of my Top 5 favorites.

I also know that time and money, are, both, in short supply, in my case. Reality vs “fantasy” must take precedence. Thankfully, it’s the journey that counts.. not the destination, so much, or, in this case, the mode of transportation.

I am truly grateful for your informative response, and appreciate the time you spent in giving it.

I will be looking into motorized vessels now, but I will be sticking around in hopes of learning more.

Many, many thanks,
~True

[OldManMirage]

Hey Bobby, kudos for taking charge of what's important. As someone who is also turning 62 I feel a certain kinship, although I do not have your woes.

Anyway, I'm not familiar at all with the stretch of river you'll be sailing. Are there bridges to deal with ? That will be something you need to know of course. If they are not opening you need something that will go under. I would check into that first.

You can always still have a sailboat and just use it without the mast. Sailboats are very fuel efficient, way better than any powerboat. Powerboats also do not do well at slow speeds, they tend to wander back and forth.

You can find certain power boats made to go slow, like a trawler of course. But those are normally going to be out of your budget.

So I looked on Craigslist to see what might be in your area and found these 2...

https://chattanooga.craigslist.org/b...721627195.html

https://atlanta.craigslist.org/eat/b...725420230.html

So the Catalina 25. It comes with a trailer which may be good, help keep expenses down since you don't need to rent a slip. It has an outboard that needs work, and outboards are not very fuel efficient. And it doesn't have standing headroom, which is always a deal breaker for me because who wants to live hunched over ? Launching a trailer boat that size is not easy either, especially putting the mast up and down. Things to think about.

The Columbia is a little out of your range, but if you want a nice sailboat this is one to consider. The Atomic 4 is a gas engine and some people frown on them but I have heard they are reliable, just use caution because hey - its gas ! But this boat has standing headroom, it look like its in decent shape which means you can go sailing now ! And this is big enough you could live aboard if you wanted to.

I didn't really see any powerboats that would fit your bill, especially wanting to sleep a few people.

Hope this helps the thought processes....

[Adelie]

Welcome to CruisersForum!

I would suggest updating your profile with your boat make & model or “Looking” in the "Boat" category. This info shows up under your UserName in every post in the web view. Many questions are boat and/or location dependent and having these tidbits under your UserName saves answering those questions repeatedly. If you need help setting up your profile then click on this link: https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ml#post3308797

I would happily help more if the link above is not enough.