Beneteau 45f5 for Circumnavigation

[Sjora]

Some of the folks we have seen do it have a board fastened to the stanchions and then lash the cans to the board.

Cans in the cockpit wouldn't be so bad other than taking up room in a place where we spend most of our time. I'm pretty sure that if I tied down some 20L fuel cans in the cockpit they'd go overboard anyway as my wife is muttering "we're not having fuel cans in here"

[Kestrahl]

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[Kestrahl]

Originally Posted by Neptune's Gear

Just for those who say you can't, I've done about 40,000 NM on my 12m boat (40ft) with 220ah of battery bank, 100w solar panels and wind gen. No genset, no watermaker.

We hold 800 litres (abt 180 gals) water. That can last 2 of us 4-6 weeks depending on conditions.

I run a PC most of the time, with AIS, and a broadband radar a lot. Everything that can be is LED. In the higher lats, the wind gen is great. Not much good near the equator!

Over the last three year voyage we averaged just over 2 hours per day engine running. That included a hell of a lot of motoring in SE Asia because there was no wind! We hold 110ltrs of diesel, (25 Gall UK, 30 Gal US), we had twice that on deck in jerryjugs. I allways said I'd never do that! Once we motored 1300 miles due to no wind. Made it in with about 5 litres remaining.

Take a water separating fuel filter - like the baja - filter all fuel in SE Asia at least twice before putting it in the boat. It's cheap, but its dirty! We use 0.75 litre per hour at a fraction under 5 knots to get best economy. Normal cruise is 7knts. The boat is 8500 KG loaded, 5800 kg empty. She sails well in the light (its a Farr) but we still motored a lot. Can't sail when there is no wind!

Matt

We also only have 220ah. 160w of solar and wind turbine. next time i wouldnt bother with the wind and have more solar. 100 liter diesel tank, another 100 liters in jerrys in one of the aft cockpit lockers. 260 liters of water and watermaker but havent used it much as bimini catches rain. 2 people. and also averaged about 2 engine hours per day.

[SimonV]

We are 39 foot. 80gal diesel and 80gal water. 260w solar and air breeze wind gen and 120A alternator looking after 400A battery bank. We tend to use the water maker for about two hours each day around mid day or when ever the engine is running. We also carry 40gal diesel in Jerry cans 6 under the saloon table and 2 in the cockpit locker along with 2 for petrol. If doing a lot of down wind sailing I drag the tow gen. The last trip back from Vanuatu over 1000nm we ran the engine for about 1.5 hrs using 5 litres, and that was at each end.

[ullar]

What a nice thread! Lot's of useful information.

For my eyes the B45f5 is a beautiful boat (Pininfarina design, I think) and was on the top of my list when I was looking for a vessel for long distance cruising. Somehow it just feels right when you board it. That's mainly emotional, however. I've never had a trip on it. What cautioned me was it's draft (2.40m) and a huge sail plain on one mast (perhaps too much to safely manage by 2 persons). Also, it has a solid rode rigging so one really needs to know when and by who that was replaced last time.

Good luck,
Üllar

[Gerrycooper56]

Why would anyone want to go to the North Sea?

[Aquarius74]

Originally Posted by Gerrycooper56

Why would anyone want to go to the North Sea?

Trip up the Thames to London, unspoilt rivers of Essex and Suffolk, empty anchorages, huge sailing wonderland of the Netherlands, moor in centre of historic cities, wild "edge of the world" Frisian islands, access to the Baltic, being able to visit 5 countries in a few weeks, top safety infrastructure...........

[Gerrycooper56]

Very nice

[Emmalina]

Originally Posted by Sjora

Another sort of a hint that we've found with solar panels for onboard power - and it would be interesting to hear other's experiences with them - is that we get about 40-50% of their nameplate capacity for output during the day when under sail. So 1 kW of installed capacity will produce about 170-180 amp-hours per day under sail for a 24V system. They tend to work way better dangling on the hook than they do at sea because they don't get shading from the sails and tend to catch more sunlight with the boat at zero heel.

On overcast days it doesn't seem to make much difference, but they only produce about 20% of their nameplate on those days.

So I consider them a supplement and not your primary power source at sea. On the hook, they can easily power our boat 24/7 with nice sunny days. But the generator is primary - the solar panels just reduce how much the genset has to run at sea.

And the other thing is that solar panels are heavy. Ours weigh something like 50-60 lbs each (four 250w panels). We have ours on the aft deck and our boat is a ketch so the mizzen tends to be a problem with shading. On a sloop they might work better at sea due to less shading problems from the main'sl than we get from the mizzen.

It would be nice to hear others experiences with them on various boats. We talk to people, some who are happy with them, some that don't think they were worth the money. Overall, we're happy with them due to the fact that they allow us to have onboard power without running the generator on the hook - and we like to dangle on a mooring ball instead of renting a transient slip just to get shore power.

Bit off topic but maybe you should look at semi flexible panels these weigh 2.8kg for a 100w panel

[Sjora]

Originally Posted by Gerrycooper56

Why would anyone want to go to the North Sea?

Our home ashore is 15 km from the yard in Ellös Sweden where our boat was originally built in 1978. We haven't been back there in 8 years as we sailed to the North Atlantic, then turned south in Dec 2005. Sailing the North Atlantic off the NW coast of Norway bare pole in 40 kt wind with 30 ft following seas is a very memorable experience. After 4 days of it, though, you vow to sail to the tropics and never do that again.

[Gerrycooper56]

I've done winter North Atlantic and the Shetlands and wouldn't do the cold and wet again

[Sjora]

Originally Posted by Gerrycooper56

I've done winter North Atlantic and the Shetlands and wouldn't do the cold and wet again

Our original plan was to sail to Iceland via the Faroe Islands but we never made it there. It was just plain miserable and we decided to turn south and get out of there. Getting out of what we had gotten ourselves into was an experience I would not wish on any sailor. However, there are people that are much more hardy than us that do it all the time.

[Jimbo485]

Just to show the OP how all cruisers vary, we are the opposite to those that insist you will need a generator. We don't have one and we have only a very small 6A alternator on one outboard.

99.5% of our energy needs come from solar panels. We use a water maker, multiple computers, 2 fridges but foot pumps for water and muscles on the anchor winch. Typically we are 3 people, but sometimes we are 6. This is for cruising the Caribbean and the Pacific.

So ignore the arrogant assertions of those who insist their way is the only way. There are many ways and you have to find yours in amongst the many.

Buy something cheap, less than a month from purchase to going, and go cruising for a year, then sell it off and get what you really want. That year out there will be more useful than listening to so much BS here (including mine).

[savoir]

Just don't take your solar gear to the North Sea, OK ? Everybody knows that's the place where the sun don't shine.

[Neptune's Gear]

Here Here Jimbo! There are as many was to do things as there are boats out there! Just go! You are never "ready" and can never financially justify it (me anyway). Don't listen to the nay sayers, think about your situation, decide what level of risk you can accept, and go! It is getting more expensive and difficult in more places as time moves on. No time like the present!