What Is Different About Cruising for Thirteen Weeks ?

[dougdaniel]

Having done a lot of dreaming about buying a cruiser that I can use for three months a year in the Med, I am looking seriously at the new Lagoon 450 and dreaming about a 560. I need to know how to equip it.

Most of my sailing has been for one week at a time. If we are to truly live aboard for months at a time, I can image that there are a whole new set of problems that I have never thought about. So if any of you older and wiser heads out there can give me advice, I would certainly appreciate it.

Also, there are a lot of items that really look good to me, but I wonder if they are really worth it. For example, a 20,000 EUR generator vs a 2,000 EUR inverter.

How about a water maker? Is the harbor supplied water in North Africa safe if I filter it and chlorinate it?

I have thought about a washer/dryer vs. doing laundry ashore.

I am sure there are other issues that I have just not thought about.

Please help me learn from your experiences.

Doug Daniel

[Charlie]

I have two kids and we usually bring along extras kids when we cruise. I fixed the waher sot that it works and over ~five years of ownership cruising from Canada to La Paz Mexico we have yet to use it. 20k euros is a lot of moneyI repowered and installed a generator on my 41' boat for less than that.

[dougdaniel]

Hi Charlie, Thanks for the quick response. I agree that 20,000 EUR is a bit steep but I saw a 9.7 KVA quoted at the price, installed. At one third the price, it still seems excessive.

Would I be correct in saying that you consider a generator, the right way to go?

Also, you wrote, "waher sot." I am not quite sure what that is. Could you explain?

Thanks,
Doug

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by dougdaniel

... How about a water maker? Is the harbor supplied water in North Africa safe if I filter it and chlorinate it ...

Where, in N. Africa, do you plan to cruise?
N. Africa (and the Near Middle East ) is variously described as arid to semi-arid; and undeveloped.
I wouldn't count on a copious safe water supply.

[speciald@ocens.]

Cruising is "fixing your boat in exotic places".

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!
I've never cruised where you intend to go so can't really help with your question. If there isn't much rain then it might be a good idea to install a watermaker.
kind regards,

[ozskipper]

Washing can be done as you sail along. All you need is a paint drum (empty and clean of course) filled with water,detergent and the clothes. Tie the paint drum/s to the bow and let the boats motion create the agitating effect. Rinse in salt then fresh water, dry on life lines.

Water maker? Check some of the other threads here. there is no shortage. But a big bucket and a tropical downpour will provide plenty of water. Wait a few minutes for the salt to be washed off the boom, then collect the water and store in empty drums. Dont mix it immediaty with the vessels tanks untill its tested that it isnt tainted with salt residue etc.

Genset vs Inverter. Add up the total watts you will be consuming. Double that number and you will know how much maximum juice you will need. Microwave, Nav gear, Lighting, autopilot, frigde etc. Obviously they wont all be used at once. But few long term cuisers rely soley on a genset (running expensive deisel) to provide a constant source of electricity. Consider solar and wind. much cheaper.

As someone else here said recently "Some people take so much stuff that they end up bringing along the problems that they are trying to escape from"

[delmarrey]

If your going for a 450 or 560 I would go with the washer and dryer especially if there are woman aboard and then of course you would need a water maker AND a genset to power it all. But I'd get the inverter too.

If you use a lot of power the inverter should reflect your basic usage (at anchor) and the genset should be able to keep up with all your electrical at once. What is nice is if the genset kicks on automatically when the batteries get down to a certain point. That makes it so you can run on the batteries while the genset only runs when it needs to. If the genset runs a lot then by adding more batteries will give you more quite time.

You would need to calculate how much usage there will be before buying the inverter and genset. IMHO

[Roaring Girl]

It would be helpful to know more about your projected plans, including how many aboard, and why North Africa - compared to the European coasts of the Med.

We might be unusual (on these boards) but we've spent since 2006 in western Europe (northern Spain, Morocco, Southern Spain, Med France, italy and Malta) and do not have a watermaker or a diesel/petrol generator. We spend many weeks at a time at anchor. We do have wind and solar power, 800 litre tanks and several large buckets. We have only once paid for water (and that was about 80 litres got in jerry cans during a specific on-board emergency). We are two women on board - so this is not strictly a gender-related issue!

Our boat is 12m and we don't have room for a washing machine. Aforesaid buckets plus local laundrettes, particularly in the southern Med will do you fine. It's not the machine itself but the power and water requirements which will ppay for a huge number of trips - and you meet local people while you're at it. (The Pardeys have an excellent essay on the value of using the facilities somewhere in their books. We agree.)

The money is better spent on good ground tackle and sails IMHO.

[imagine2frolic]

If you can afford a new large Lagoon. Then you can afford the accesories, and have the room. Be like Magellon, he left with every new, and high tec item he could get his hands. And have a large capacity to make ice. Nothing like the tinkle tinkle sound of ice in a glass while watching the sunset.......i2f