27ft cruising reality

[boatman61]

Get that totally.. used to kid myself I should get myself another Tiki 26 open bridgedeck cat as I'd owned one in the very early 90's.. had a ball on and sailed to France, the Channel Islands and all along the S Coast for a couple of years.. sitting head room in the hulls.. dome tent on deck for marina's, anchorages..
Then in October 2015 someone asked me to deliver one 370nm from SE Portugal around Finisterre and up to the top end of W Portugal.. I leapt at it.
Had a great time but.. learnt that 67yr old bodies cant handle what 42yr old bodies easily can.. despite being the same weight and build..
Also.. the deck pod this Tiki 26 had is only any good for storage and batteries.. to small for anything else.. had more room under the dodger on my Tiki 21.. could stretch out and sleep underway with that..

[Don C L]

I'm gonna get fish-eye glasses. For a few bucks those'll turn my skinny 29 footer into a palatial mega yacht!

[oldragbaggers]

Go on Youtube and search Cruising LeaLea. They are on an Albin Vega 27, have been living on it for many years and have cruised it from Hawaii to Alaska. Check out what they have to say.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by oldragbaggers

Go on Youtube and search Cruising LeaLea. They are on an Albin Vega 27, have been living on it for many years and have cruised it from Hawaii to Alaska. Check out what they have to say.

Nice to see you guys are still around.

Ann

[TernEggs]

You will always "degrade performance" when you load your boat for cruising. That's the compromise you make.

That said, yes, you can put 40 days' worth of food on an Albin Vega and still be able to sail it. Matt Rutherford was at sea for like 300 days in his.

I agree with people saying you need a watermaker, though. And a manual backup watermaker as well.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by TernEggs

You will always "degrade performance" when you load your boat for cruising. That's the compromise you make.

That said, yes, you can put 40 days' worth of food on an Albin Vega and still be able to sail it. Matt Rutherford was at sea for like 300 days in his.

I agree with people saying you need a watermaker, though. And a manual backup watermaker as well.

Matt R did a great job sailing his Albin Vega 27, but he also got resupplied a few times offshore along the way

[Gene Neill]

Great thread! Especially for us, since we happen to be refitting an Albin Vega for the purpose of a two-year Caribbean cruise.

We're pretty confident we'll be happy on 27' LOA. We were tent-campers for years before we sailed, and our only sailing experience is on our Catalina 22 - which we are perfectly comfortable on for a week at a time.

We don't come back after a week on our C22 because we're tired of it and longing for our king-size bed and walk-in shower ... we only come back because our vacation time is over. We don't stay in marinas, and there is never any feeling of "relief" when the cruise is done. And the boat always feels bigger at the end of the week than it did at the start.

My greatest concern involves lack of shade. The Vega's boom is only 5' 6" above the cockpit floor, so there'd be no headroom under a Bimini. This fact eluded me prior to purchasing the boat. Had I known, I actually might have gone another way, given the latitudes we hope to sail in.

[TrentePieds]

Not a problem at all!

Next time you have a chance, fit a RUNNING topping lift. Most likely you only have a STANDING one. Or perhaps even one of those sorry excuses where the end of the boom clips to a rat tail on the back stay.

With a RUNNING topping lift, you raise the boom end enuff that you get standing headroom at, and aft of, the companionway. Then you sling a boom tent over the boom and Bob's yer uncle.

IMO biminis should be left behind as you depart Bimini :-)!

TP

[thomm225]

You can always rig something.

I use an old tent peak cover and a couple forespars to make shade while sailing or at anchor if necessary

[TernEggs]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Matt R did a great job sailing his Albin Vega 27, but he also got resupplied a few times offshore along the way

did he actually take on food & water though, i thought he just got replacements for things that broke like his watermaker?

[overthehorizon]

What a lot of good information from people who have long distance experience on shorter boats. I lived on a 27' boat for 5 years and spent 3 of those years completing a solo circumnavigation on it. In my late 20s and early 30s it was a great adventure. But even back then, in the early 1980s, it would be difficult to keep a cruising lady comfortable on that small boat for any great length of time. Now, 38 years after living on that 27'er, we have a comfortable 40'er ....but 43' would be better!

[Don C L]

luxury is having just the right amount of enough.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by TernEggs

did he actually take on food & water though, i thought he just got replacements for things that broke like his watermaker?

I'm thinking he did take on food and water (and beer) when the boats would come out to resupply him.

His engine died also and he sat here on the outside for a few days trying to get into the bay

After he made it in, he sailed into Little Creek and anchored maybe 1/2 mile from where my boat was and still is. He would for sure have resupplied again here


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