Power or Sail

[Statistical]

Originally Posted by koyote

I have no desire at this time to cross big oceans, or even island hop the Caribbean. I'll be happy with eventually extending the range from the bay and ICW to - Maine to the horn of Texas and maybe some inland bits- coastal cruising.

By rights, that's a powerboat choice. Shallow draft, blue water on a weather window. Or a classic Taiwan looper.

However, we're the bohemians. And the truth is, if you aren't in a hurry, there are few ways to motor with as little fuel usage as sailboat. (I'm not going to bring up buehler and demasting and making elephants out of horses- not here)

If I had the money to motor around the Med, you betcha I'd be in a diesel duck doing my 8 or 9 knots under diesel power and banging around without a thought to the timing of the afternoon breeze.


But I don't, I'm not, and I'm okay at 4 knots with a 9.8 outboard and running up the jib and main when it's time.

Thing is- and this is important- I can change my mind. No boat is forever.

(still wish I had me a little albin 30, though. Maybe I'll go find a local Virginia deadrise and put a sedan on her)

Power boats optimized for range and efficiency will have similar fuel consumption as sailboats. Mid displacement trawlers are probably the closest to sailboats in terms of hull shape and efficiency. When we get to old to sail or too old that it is no longer fun that is likely what we would look towards. Depending on the exact boat and engine something around 35 feet can usually do something like 6 knots all day at <2 gph.

Most powerboats though are short range toys for fun and a bigger engine and higher top speed is fun. You just pay for it at the pump.

[Open-d]

Originally Posted by SV_Wanderer

YouTube has a lot of people on sailboats who enjoy the lifestyle, rather than the sailing itself. Their literal jobs are to make content.

If you look at some of the older channels in that vein, especially boats with electric motors and limited range under power, you will see that they sail more often than not. Their sail inventory is a bit larger - for a cruising sloop, that typically means a fully battened mainsail, a #2 furling genoa, and a light downwind sail (for example, a drifter, gennaker, or a spinnaker).

Learning to trim to the conditions isn't especially complicated, but knowing when to do things such as using the outhaul to flatten the mainsail, or easing the vang to allow the mainsail's to twist a bit aloft, and so on are skills that we rarely see on the typical YouTube cruiser. Maybe they're doing it off camera.

It's a different style of cruising, for sure. It's slower and more technically hands-on. But boats under sail can and do circumnavigate without motoring - I believe the Pardeys circumnavigated both ways without an engine on board.

I wonder how many hours he was becalmed.

[sailorboy1]

The "cost to" between sailboats and trawlers is a frequent topic at Trawler Forum due to sailboaters looking to change.

All I can say is that I crunched the numbers for me and I feel that it would have cost me about $1500/year to have cruised on a trawler the last 7 years. If I had replaced my standing rigging in that time frame it would have been a wash.

[Open-d]

Originally Posted by ranger58sb

I haven't looked to see if Hatt LRC tankage and ocean routing can co-exist.

I know that we (2x900 MANs) can slow down and achieve up to around 2 NMPG, though, and maybe some of the LRCs/DDs could be similar.

Stabilization would probably be important, though, and I suspect you might have to look a long time to find an LRC that already has stabilizers... so adding those might have to be part of the plan.

Might be more comfortable just shipping a boat to the Med for cruising there... or buying a boat already in the Med, cruising, selling, buying the next boat wherever, cruising, etc.

-Chris

Possibly (but we would like to do the Bahamas for a year or so first, and then tackle the big "A".

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by Open-d

Possibly (but we would like to do the Bahamas for a year or so first, and then tackle the big "A".

Ranger58 makes a good point. If you're just planning on the Loop/Bahamas, stabilizers are optional. If your're planning on sustained open water (Atlantic, Med, and Caribbean both come to mind), I'd place them in the must-have category. I believe many of the older Hatt's have stabilizers so finding one so equipped may not be too bad.

[Open-d]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

Ranger58 makes a good point. If you're just planning on the Loop/Bahamas, stabilizers are optional. If your're planning on sustained open water (Atlantic, Med, and Caribbean both come to mind), I'd place them in the must-have category. I believe many of the older Hatt's have stabilizers so finding one so equipped may not be too bad.

I'll bear that in mind.

[GordMay]

FWIW: By island hopping the old North Atlantic ‘Viking Route’, it’s possible to cross West➛East, from the Caribbean to Europe, with much shorter legs [requiring much less fuel range], and with less than a week at sea, at any one time.
Starting in mainland North America sail ➛ to Newfoundland ➛ to southern Greenland, ➛ to Iceland, ➛ to Faroe Isles, then south ➛ to Europe.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Open-d

Possibly (but we would like to do the Bahamas for a year or so first, and then tackle the big "A".

Bahamas is easy. Getting there not the same as real ocean crossings.

Originally Posted by mvweebles

I believe many of the older Hatt's have stabilizers so finding one so equipped may not be too bad.

Didn't know that. Good info.

-Chris

[nofacey]

If you’re only doing the Med, a LRC powerboat makes sense……just check the price of fuel beforehand, as you have no alternative 😎

[Stewie12]

I have sailed both in the Med and for a sailboat either there is no wind, or it is blowing hard on your nose. Definitely a power boat for the Med.

[delphys44]

To sail or power is not necessarily a cerebral decision.
It comes down to an adventure versus transportation.
It’s that simple.

[NBs]

We would have stopped boating if we hadn't discovered motor boating. For a number of reasons, we are happy with trawler boating.

NBs

[Shaneesprit]

People motor sail or note often motor with the sails up.
Those numbers 1/3 are very dependent on you.

I only sail on weekends and the odd week my fuel use is around 60 Litres a year.

Yet I see others motoring when both wind and current is in their favour.
If you are full time cruising, I don’t understand why you would rush, where as sometimes I have to ensure to make my mooring in order to return to work, and other times I can’t sail because I am away from my boat.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by ranger58sb

Bahamas is easy. Getting there not the same as real ocean crossings.




Didn't know that. Good info.

-Chris

Yep - seemed to be a very common option once the boats crested 50-feet or so. I pulled six Hatt MY's/LRCs around 50-ish feet. Four of the six were stabilized (listed below).

https://www.yachtworld.com/yacht/198...yacht-8403131/

https://www.yachtworld.com/yacht/198...uiser-8600352/

https://www.yachtworld.co.uk/yacht/1...uiser-9444509/

https://www.curtisstokes.net/trawler...r-2799076.html

[CaptainRivet]

Originally Posted by Open-d

I have been considering cruising the Med or similar venue. I watch a lot of YouTube videos and have "learned" that in a sailboat you can expect to sail 1/3 or the time, power 1/3 or the time and sail under power 1/3 of the time.
Being becalmed appears to be a perennial problem.

If those figures are roughly accurate, it seems you would be better off, or nearly so, on a power boat such as a Hatteras LRC.

Is there a consensus on the desirability of an LRC or similar vessel, vs a single or mono-hull sailboat?

Just get a cat with bigger engines, so you have both. I got a FP Lavezzi 40ft with 2x50hp instead 2x20hp. Does 15kn WOT under engine...so if you can sail you sail (its light so needs not much wind) and if windstill you motor with one engine 7-8kn easily, in a hurry or your miscalculated the tides in the strait of Gibraltar and need to push through because bad weather will show up the next days (guess how I know) with 2 engines on 2300 and 12kn you go even against 5kn tidal current then 7kn...forget that with a normal euqipped sailboat. Cat means you don't heel and rock around from side to side on anchor. Need much less marinas which gets very expensive in the med.