For Sale: Great 30' Cruiser / Racer / Liveaboard! Just Sailed from St. Thomas to Grenada!

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by captsam54

Look at the bottom... fin keel, cruiser/racer... The difference between a full keel boat and a fin keel boat is known to all knowledgeable sailors... Which style hulled boat would you rather be on during an ocean crossing?? One that is light and tender in wind and waves or one that just stays on a straight course and slog's right through the same sea conditions that would have the fin keeled boat being a lot more work to control... I have had both.. Just saying.. His boat is great for Island hopping down there..

3 Solo W to E Atlantic crossings.... 2 Beneteau's and 1 Hunter.... all fin... all great... taint the boat its the man at the helm....
and I'd rather have a tiller than a wheel..
Just saying...

[u4ea32]

Originally Posted by captsam54

Look at the bottom... fin keel, cruiser/racer... The difference between a full keel boat and a fin keel boat is known to all knowledgeable sailors... Which style hulled boat would you rather be on during an ocean crossing?? One that is light and tender in wind and waves or one that just stays on a straight course and slog's right through the same sea conditions that would have the fin keeled boat being a lot more work to control... I have had both.. Just saying.. His boat is great for Island hopping down there..

I don't agree. Not that I'm doubting your experience, but this does not match my experience. I think I am an experienced passagemaker. I've covered well over 80 thousand miles at sea on sailboats, and over 80 thousand miles at sea on powerboats. Less experience than some, but I think I probably do fit into the knowledgeable sailor category.

I have found no correlation of suitability for ocean crossing with length of keel. I have found the opposite in several cases: I have been on yachts with spade rudders that tracked brilliantly, and full keelers that were squirrelly when the wind came up. I've even been on a yacht where the keel was lengthened and control became dramatically worse. I've been on a full keeled yacht where a spade rudder was added to improve (dramatically) the directional control. I have been on extremely stable yachts with fin keels, and very tender yachts with full keels.

If you ever do hydrodynamic studies on yacht hulls, you will quickly realize that buoyancy deep and on the centerline makes roll (healing) stability worse. And full keels might have a long shoe of lead, but there is an awful lot of buoyancy between that lead and the surface: all that buoyancy down low near the centerline hurts in every way.

If you ever go sailing on a centerboard boat with a lot of deadrise, or a keel centerboard boat, you will see that dropping the centerboard makes control much better, not worse.

One year I crossed the Atlantic on a race boat, and a couple of friends did the same crossing on a full keeled boat. There was no question whatsoever that my crossing was substantially more pleasant. They were so slow they were caught in several storms, whereas we could get to the right side of storms and surf instead of beat. I did it in weeks, they did it in months!

[Cheechako]

hull shape, keel and rudder are a a matter of choice, how well a long keeled boat or a fin is constructed is what's important. generally though I would say the long keel is more likely to be better constructed if you're rolling the dice and will track well. My experience is that it will be heavier and go through chop wetter and slower.

[Randyonr3]

Originally Posted by captsam54

Look at the bottom... fin keel, cruiser/racer... The difference between a full keel boat and a fin keel boat is known to all knowledgeable sailors... Which style hulled boat would you rather be on during an ocean crossing?? One that is light and tender in wind and waves or one that just stays on a straight course and slog's right through the same sea conditions that would have the fin keeled boat being a lot more work to control... I have had both.. Just saying.. His boat is great for Island hopping down there..

and so the saga continues Captain Sam, between the full keeled boats and the fin keeled.. Not to knock your history or years of sailing and crossing oceans, but many of us would chose that "Island Hopper" over a full keeled boat for "Crossing Oceans"

[captsam54]

LOL... well I opened a "Can O Worms" here on Poor Richmond440, just trying to sell his boat.. Sorry.... I take back everything I said about fin keels and wish you the best of luck selling her....

NOW: having said that.. I will say that my favorite is a Gulfstar 50 ketch center cockpit.. (with wheel steering)

[richmond440]

Ahh! Sailors are an opinionated bunch! I guess thanks for the help on keeping the thread twords the top of the list!

She is still for sale and I've lowered the price a bit. I'm stuck up here in Colorado now and she is only a bunch of fond memories and a storage bill each month to me now! I'd really like to have someone else enjoy her!

Any offfers?

- Rich

[Randyonr3]

Just a note Rich, and using some creative thinking here..
In your last post, you mentioned "memories and a storage bill"
If you could get rid of the storage bill and add to your monthly income slightly, it might be a positive thing..
Many a couple have come come to CF with looking for a boat to move aboard with future plans to cruise the islands and maybe more.. and yours might fit the boat they are looking for..
sell your boat on "TERMS" with a favorable down payment and carry the ballance for a couple years.. Many couples that would normally be paying rent could afford a grand or more a month if living aboard...
you still hold the title, until its paid off..
and you'd be selling your boat, and some lucky couple would be getting they're dreams off the ground.....
Just a thought...............

[richmond440]

I'm kinda open to anything. Been talking to a few people who may be serious and A LOT of tire kickers! Some of the e-mails and questions have been pretty commical! Its just a bit of a long process I'm assuming. Where do you think I would even advertise something like what you are proposing? Grenada is sort of the end of the earth for most people not living on the island or on one of the neighboring islands, I feel. I would have some reservations about not having money up front and the deal would have to make sense for me and I think it might be difficult to actually work out the contract. Almost like an absentee landlord, only more complicated...

Thanks for the thought though. I'd be interested to hear any comments or more detailed ideas you might have about your idea.

And anyone else out there. The boat is still up for grabs! Anyone want to go cruising this winter?!! ;-)

Cheers.

[richmond440]

Still for sale. :-)