New Sailor, going East to West Coast...advice, thoughts, opinions?

[chuckr]

i usually take a serious look at this type posting and try a bit of encouragement - but not on this one
i have done that route and it can take a while to get the right winds to get around the corner just to head to the canal -and the wx can be brutal at times - we sat in the vivoriso(sp) for 4 days before we got a wx window to head on down and we had to sit one or two other places to wait out some wx --
this one is just silly
if you really want a the boat that bad hire a delivery capt and let him pick a crew and you get on when he delivers

[Steve Olson]

IMHO it comes down to this: don't fall in love with a boat until it's in your slip (in other words, you own it). I think you've fallen in love with this boat already to the point that you're over looking all of the obsticles and costs that it would take to get it to SF. You are looking for a unique boat, but another one will present itself to you in time. Even just the thought of all the extra financial costs this would take is major - and you can bet that no matter how much you estimate, it will be much more. There's always other fish in the sea...and boats too!!

[BIGA13X]

Well, thanks for everyone who chimmed in. When i first asked this question I had done Zero research. By now I see I totally underestimated this...

I think ill wait till something comes up on the west coast

[Cheechako]

about 6 months should do it. hell, you'll probably spend 2-3 weeks waiting to get through the canal alone! Also that is a rough trip from the canal to SF. You need the boat and rig to be very good and solid.

[gamayun]

Originally Posted by BIGA13X

Well, thanks for everyone who chimmed in. When i first asked this question I had done Zero research. By now I see I totally underestimated this...

I think ill wait till something comes up on the west coast

Good on you for asking for advice, thinking this through, and considering your options openly. It took me 3 years of looking and I'm a very impulsive person. Waiting till the right boat speaks to you is very difficult. But she will.

[Dale Hedtke]

I'm glad you are so excited about buying a cruising boat and expect to learn to sail soon. Something to think about, and not to be taken lightly, is that the sailing part of a delivery is a very small part of the effort. Like in all other endeavors, preparation and judgement count for very much. SailorChick's comments only scratch the surface of issues you should be thinking about. Since you say you have little experince with boats, your learning curve will have to be very steep or you are going to have some unpleasant experiences. The advice to buy a boat on the west coast makes huge sense.

[beswanla]

Big1A3X, I wondered how your plan is going? I have been admiring the boat you are buying but don't have the time to do what you are planning. I'd be interested in seeing your progress. Hope you are living the dream!

[BIGA13X]

Beswanla-
Progress has unfortunately stopped. On the one part being the journey is just too much effort to accomplish in my short timeframe. The other actually being the boat owner has been rather uncooperative with me. I get the cold shoulder it seems when owners learn of my age/experience and when I am not local.
Im still looking everyday for a multihull to come along locally but there just isnt anything. That trimaran is the Basis on what im looking for, its hard to settle for something less. And I really dont want to settle on a monohull which there plenty around.
Im also contemplating a power boat, single or twin diesels.

[pistarckle]

Boy am I glad yuse guys talked him out of that trip ! Cheechako has it correct when he said that the wait at Panama could very well be longer than two weeks .
Years ago , maybe 30 or thirty five , a friend bought a Wetsnail 32 in California . He sailed it down to Baja and had it put on a train across to some other port on the Gulf of Mexico .Has anyone but me ever heard of this . The guy worked in some kind of shipping of fruits and vegs so he had a head start .

[sailorchic34]

Originally Posted by BIGA13X

Beswanla-

Im also contemplating a power boat, single or twin diesels.

Be very sure your up on how much fuel a power boat uses. Good mileage in a 35-40' single engine trawler is about 4 MPG. Twin engines power boats can be 1 to 2 miles per gallon, depending on boat and speed. Some can be more then 1 gallon per mile specially at go fast speed.

My dinky 34' sailboat on the other hand gets 12 miles per gallon on a 12,000# boat. Of course that's 2 hours run time too. But I'm never in a hurry. Sailing can be 6-7 knots, though I've hit 8.5 knots a time or two close hauled. For a old heavy live aboard sailboat, its not too shabby.

[Azul]

As a further cautionary tale for anyone contemplating buying a boat far from home, I met the owner of this Ted Hood 42 footer (a one-off prototype for the Little Harbor 43) while he spent TEN DAYS in October waiting for better weather in our marina in NC, as the tall mast wouldn't allow him to take the ICW route south. He is not a new sailor, but an ocean sailboat racer from California who participates in the Farallon Islands race. He found the boat on eBay, bought it sight unseen and picked it up in Rhode Island with the intention of delivering it single handed to California and was not limited by a time schedule other than being away from his family. I know he spent money to add a CPT autopilot and other expensive items before and during the trip. He was still a little shaken when he got to Beaufort after trying to navigate into Ocracoke Inlet which can be treacherous and is quite shallow and was already missing his daughters.

I noticed the boat is now for sale in Charleston, SC. The boat is strictly a racer due to the interior and rig which is best suited to a large crew, but he planned to outfit the boat for cruising when he got to California. The lure of a $600,000 (initial cost to build) boat for a bargain price made him underestimate the obstacles. BTW, it would be a great buy for someone that wants a racer- it is a really nice boat!

http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1976...s#.UzRPUJqPJdg

The boat's name is ironic.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Azul

As a further cautionary tale for anyone contemplating buying a boat far from home, I met the owner of this Ted Hood 42 footer (a one-off prototype for the Little Harbor 43) while he spent TEN DAYS in October waiting for better weather in our marina in NC, as the tall mast wouldn't allow him to take the ICW route south. He is not a new sailor, but an ocean sailboat racer from California who participates in the Farallon Islands race. He found the boat on eBay, bought it sight unseen and picked it up in Rhode Island with the intention of delivering it single handed to California and was not limited by a time schedule other than being away from his family. I know he spent money to add a CPT autopilot and other expensive items before and during the trip. He was still a little shaken when he got to Beaufort after trying to navigate into Ocracoke Inlet which can be treacherous and is quite shallow and was already missing his daughters.

I noticed the boat is now for sale in Charleston, SC. The boat is strictly a racer due to the interior and rig which is best suited to a large crew, but he planned to outfit the boat for cruising when he got to California. The lure of a $600,000 (initial cost to build) boat for a bargain price made him underestimate the obstacles. BTW, it would be a great buy for someone that wants a racer- it is a really nice boat!

1976 Ted Hood Two-Tonner sloop Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

The boat's name is ironic.

wow, cool old boat and shoal draft too. Might be (?) a great deal for someone looking for a fast bahamas boat!
OTOH, there were a lot of limited run boats from that IOR era that dont seem to command much $ on the market. Cored hulls, light construction etc and other issues abound. But some were good too!

[Azul]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

wow, cool old boat and shoal draft too. Might be (?) a great deal for someone looking for a fast bahamas boat!
OTOH, there were a lot of limited run boats from that IOR era that dont seem to command much $ on the market. Cored hulls, light construction etc and other issues abound. But some were good too!

This is not a light one, it was built with an open pocketbook by the ball bearing magnate Timmons, with Kevlar reinforcement etc and was previously known as Nike. I have seen pictures of it on Sailing Anarchy where guys were reminiscing about classic old IOR boats. This one is also from before the time when building to the IOR rules got out of hand making for difficult downwind handling. It is from the same mold as the Ted Hood Little Harbor/Hinckley 43 boats. The boat wasn't raced very much as the rules changed after it was built and it was deemed to be not competitive enough by the owner. The boat was then used by the Naval Academy for training (how is that for history!) and later owned and babied by an FBI agent.

When I saw it for sale, I lost sleep for a while trying to figure out how I could justify buying it and spending another year or two on a project before I came to my senses (with a little help from a CF member with a similar boat.)

The rigging is massive, although one should consider that the rod rigging is expensive to replace and may fail unexpectedly (like $8K for the forestay for example.) Someone pointed out the winches are not self-tailing, which means $1K per winch to replace (and there are a lot of winches.) Unless you have wood working skills (the present owner is a wood worker by trade) and have a lot of time and resources, the boat is best suited to someone that wants to race a classic boat with a lot of their friends on weekends. My girlfriend went on the boat when it was here, and she said there was nothing I could do to the interior that would make her like it with the centerboard cluttering up the living space. Also, the cockpit is not designed at all for cruising especially due to the placement of the traveler. Sigh. Still, a ready to go 43 foot Ted Hood for this amount of money is enough to make a person go insanely mad.

BTW, Me Fui translates to "I left."

[BIGA13X]

Hey everyone... First off thanks for all your input! Ive moved on since that 45' TriStar for the better. After talking with different people ive decided that a faster, better sailing, cheaper, still fairly comfortable, multihull is what im after.

Here is the link to a 34' searunner that just so happens to be right here in my local area... It was just recently posted, i jumped all over it, and am seeing it in person this saturday.

I know this isnt the appropriate place to start a new thread but i was hoping to get anyones opinions about it.


http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/boa/4399547771.html