Cruising on $500 per Month . . .

[Springbok]

Clyde, as my Springbok code indicates is South African. The point is that you stated that French medical attention was FREE, which is not the case. We cruiser's wish this statement had truth to it but alas no such proof for your statement was offered, which makes one question all the other ramblings. This thread has has some good input but discernment is needed to separate the good from the bad. If you kit your boat well before you begin cruising it can be done for $500/month even with electronics, semi-rigid, 15hp etc . We did it for 7yrs between 1997-2002.
Clyde

[goprisko]

I actually tried the paying crew bit... the problem I found is the customers expect the kind of service normally costing $2000 per week. Back packers were the worst.

If you do accept such crew, plan on being firm with them regarding the services offered and the duties you expect from them, BEFORE YOU LEAVE PORT !!

Insist on each and every one signing a crew agreement. Legal Matters for the ShipMaster, has such a form within, and is specifically geared for the UK shipmaster.

Plan on holding their passports, realize that you are responsible for repatriating each and every one of them, so insist they post bond, or their onward tickets.

Good Luck !

The Laptop driven camera is a neat idea.... but snorkeling gear... will prove more practical.. because you must be able to do underwater inspections and cleaning as you go...

Given the current rate of interest on long term bonds and CDs ~ 4% you'd need $150,000 to generate $ 6000 per year...

There are other ways.....

If you have your masters license:....

USA - 100 Ton
UK and commonwealth - Yacht Master Ocean

You will find many delivery opportunities in the West Indies for EU yachts, and in NZ for US yachts... the Pardeys made their living this way in the beginning..

Once you make it to Asia, you can work in China or Korea teaching english and earn sufficient funds to carry on... this is what we did...

If you are a skilled tradesman.. carpenter, welder, pipefitter, etc. NZ has many opportunities for you to earn money...

If you are a commonwealth citizen you can get a working holiday visa for NZ and AUZ..

If you are a US-UK trained MD, you can organize a locum... ditto for an RN...

If you are a university Prof... you can organize a sabbatical...

The main reason for keeping the boat simple is so you can manage on intermittent sources of income, without being pressured into criminal activities... and have sufficient extra funds for excursions and fun things.

If your boat passes the check list I'm posting next, and you have savings of $18,000, or so, which will cover you for 3 years... you have sufficient to carry you through the Caribbean and South Pacific to NZ with a comfortable reserve. Do some checking via the internet before you go, so you know what to expect, and scrounge up whatever work you can.... If you are a diver, check out the resorts along the way...
If you are a chef or have hospitality (hotel, resort) experience, definitely check out the resorts along the way..Ditto for mechanics...
If you are a teacher, checkout the remote communities along the way... they don't have much money, but if you hit it off, you can organize a sojourn which doesn't cost money.
Get your TOEFL before you go.. as most of the schools expect one... if you are a certified teacher, bring your credentials, too. There are websites geared for recruiting english teachers, that you can check out...

Of course, if you are of sufficient age, as I am now, you can rely on your pension...

INDY

INDY

[goprisko]

Am I ready Checklist

If you can answer YES to every item on this list, your boat is ready to go cruising and so are you…
Hull:

All through hulls removed, inspected, replaced as necessary, and rebidded
Rudder removed, all bearings inspected , replaced as necessary and rebidded and refastened
All sea cocks removed, inspected, replaced or lubricated as necessary, rebidded and refastened.
Cutlass Bearing replaced and rebidded.
Stuffing box removed, inspected, replaced as necessary, repacked with Teflon packing, reinstalled with new hose and hose clamps.
Propellor shaft removed, inspected, replaced, and aligned as necessary.
Propellor removed, inspected and replaced as necessary.
Mast step inspected, and refurbished as necessary.
Bonding straps inspected and replaced as necessary, with all connections refurbished.
Keel bolts if present removed and replaced with new ones properly bedded.
Bulkheads inspected to ensure all are properly bonded to the hull, and rebonded as necessary..
Hull deck joint refastened and rebedded or sealed with multiple layers of GRP tape.
DECK:

Hull deck joint refastened and rebedded or sealed with multiple layers of GRP tape.
All stanchion bases, including those for the pulpits and pushpits, removed, inspected, and rebedded and refastened to foundations rebuilt as necessary so the core in cored decks is hardwood, and the fastenings go entirely through the deck and into backing plates at least as large as the bases themselves.
All cleats removed, refastened and rebedded.
All portlights removed, refastened and rebedded.
All hatches removed, refastened and rebedded.
All track removed, refastened, and rebedded.
All winches removed, serviced, refastened, and rebedded.
All hinges and other deck hardware not mentioned before, removed, replaced as necessary, refastened and rebedded.
MAST:

All cleats removed, refastened and rebedded.
All wiring removed, and replaced.
All Mast steps removed, inspected, replaced as necessary, rebedded and refastened.
All tracks removed, refastened, and rebedded.
All winches removed, serviced, refastened, and rebedded.
All tangs removed, refastened and rebedded.
All spreaders removed, refastened, and rebedded.
All lights removed, serviced, refastened, and rebedded.
Gooseneck, disassembled, inspected for wear and serviced or replaced as necessary.
BOOM:

All cleats removed, refastened and rebedded.
All tracks removed, refastened, and rebedded.
All winches removed, serviced, refastened, and rebedded.
All tangs removed, refastened and rebedded.
STANDING RIGGING:

All wire older than 10 years reterminated or replaced.
Bobstay if present, replaced.
All rigging pins older than 10 years, replaced.
All rigging screws of closed type, or of stainless construction replaced with open barrel bronze screws.
All toggles, shackles, link pins, link plates, diamond plates, and other rigging hardware, removed, inspected, and replaced as necessary, with all pins or bolts replaced outright.
All tangs removed, inspected, replaced as necessary, rebedded and refastened.
All chainplates removed, inspected, replaced as necessary, rebedded and refastened.

Running Rigging:

All halyards and sheets which show hardening from the sun replaced.
All blocks removed, serviced as necessary, and or replaced, including masthead sheaves…
All winches removed, serviced, refastened, and rebedded.
ANCHOR:
Chain regalvanized, and end for ended as necessary, or replaced as necessary.
Pawl installed or serviced.
Anchor chock modified so it is closed, or can be closed.
Anchor roller removed, inspected, refastened and rebedded as necessary.
Spare anchors properly chocked on deck and below.
SAILS:

All sails opened, inspected, replaced if they fail the poke test, restitched, patched, and cleaned as necessary.
All sails set to verify sheet leads and fit.
RUDDER:

Rudder removed, bearings, or gudgeons and pintles, removed, inspected rebedded, and replaced as necessary.
Cable for cable steering replaced.
Tiller removed, inspected, and replaced as necessary.
Hydraulic steering inspected for leaks, which are fixed, generally via replacement of defective components. Cylinder rebuilt. Helm pump rebuilt, control valves removed and inspected.
GALLEY:

Cooker opened, inspected and defective parts replaced as necessary.
Sink, removed, inspected for excessive thinning due to corrosion, replaced as necessary, rebedded and refastened.
All plumbing replaced with new.
All pumps removed, inspected, and refurbished or replaced as necessary.
Insulative capacity of ice box or refrigerator assessed via the ice block test, with insulation replaced if test fails
Refrigeration system inspected, checked for leaks, and refurbished as necessary.
EMERGENCY RESPONSE EQUIPMENT:

Fire extinguishers serviced and mounted in strategic locations.
Flares examined, and sufficient purchased which are in date to meet regs.
PFDs inspected and sufficient maintained aboard to provide each crew member with a serviceable unit.
All PFDs equipped with strobes, and whistle
Bosn’s chair inspected and refurbished as necessary.
Safety harnesses, inspected and refurbished as necessary.
Throwable PFD, (horseshoe ring, lifering, lifesling) inspected, strobe verified as working, line verified to be in good condition, and mounting verified to be solid and to permit rapid access and deployment.
ENGINE:

All zincs removed, inspected, and replaced as necessary.
Impellor replaced.
Oil changed.
Compression checked, and engine problems assessed if check fails, with defective items refurbished as needed.
Injectors refurbished.
Inspect engine mounts, refurbish or replace as necessary.
Injection pump refurbished
GEARBOX:

Oil changed.
Operation checked, with special emphasis on slippage, if found, replace clutches.
If leaks are found, replace seals.
If rear seal leaks, suspect improper shaft alignment.
Align propeller shaft.
Navigation:

Navigation skills appropriate for the voyage have been acquired via coursework or self study, including coastwise piloting, dead reckoning, speed estimation, deck log entries, celestial navigation, weather prediction, and tide and current prediction.
Pilots and pubs covering the area to be cruised are aboard, including:
BA pilots covering the area, cruising guides covering the area.
Admiralty List of Radio Signals(Vol 3(2) for the Americas for met broadcasts
Admiralty Light List for the area
Admiralty tide tables for the area.
Nautical Almanac covering the time of the cruise
Charts or facsimiles thereof covering the area to be cruised.
Duttons or Bowditch
Plotting sheets
Weems Plotter
Dividers
Pencils
Pens
Log book
Hand held VHF or VHF
Grundig or similar HF receiver.
SPARES:

Sufficient spare parts are aboard to maintain the critical systems of the ship at sea, including:
Spare line
Spare blocks
Sail repair kit
Engine oil and filters
Fuel filters
Spare set of Injectors, with copper washers and torque wrench.
Cable cutter capable of cutting the largest rigging wire on the boat, and the anchor chain.
Hack saw
Hammers
Drill and bits
Wrenches
Screw drivers
Come along
Axe
Panga
A spare piece of rigging wire sufficiently long to replace the longest stay on the boat, with one end terminated, and a staylock or other field installable terminal for the other end.
Hose clamps
Hose
Hose fittings
WATER:

Sufficient water storage capacity in tanks, jugs, or bladders available below decks to provide each crew member with 1 gallon per day over the longest passage envisioned.
DINGHY:

A hard dinghy of sufficient size to carry the entire crew and emergency provisions, including water, and emergency navigation equipment, including sextant and compass and charts, with a set of oars for each man, and preferably with a sailing rig, to provide means of escape in the event of sinking, and assess to shore when in port.
Chocks and padeyes, and ratchet tiedowns to secure the dinghy on deck.

[goprisko]

Dear Spring Bok:

Thanks for sharing that you are from RSA...
Now, exactly what medical care do you need?

INDY

[goprisko]

Dear SpringBok...

And...
Where are you exactly????

It is important !!

INDY

[Springbok]

Definitely not circumnavigating around a plastic World Globe on my desk
This thread is definitely unravelling:banghead :
Where am I from This World with all its problems but I will check with Al Gore first, he knows everything
Clyde

[Jim Cate]

G'Day Indy,

Well, that is indeed an impressive pre-departure check list! And I reckon that if only boats that had completed it were out here cruising, YOU would be the only one present... that is, if YOU had actually completed it!

While most of the items you mention are laudable, I strongly doubt that any boat out here has done all of them, and to say that one must complete that list to be ready to go cruising is just silly! Do you really think that replacing the keel bolts on spec is a requirement for cruising? Or checking the shaft for trueness? And where do you think one is going to stow this hard dinghy that has a rowing position for every crew member?

What you propose as a requirement for safe departure would have surely prevented Ann and I from ever leaving, and then we would have missed out on 24 years of delightful voyaging.

I would propose that the employment of a competent surveyor to examine ones vessel, and the addressing of any areas judged lacking is surely enough to satisfy even a conservative sailors worries. Let us be reasonable!

Cheers,

Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable II on the hard at Bayview Slipway, Pittwater NSW Oz

[Eleven]

Surely one of the issues is to plan the end of the cruise. It will be necessary to sell up and retire ashore. OK if the pension is adequate, and a lump sum from the sale of the boat may give a starting float. If the boat has any significant value by then!
Taking a careful stock of all the skills you may bring to the places you visit has to be realistic. It would be too easy to get tied to a nine to five job or work cash in hand and take a risk. Doing favours in exchange of goods or supplies also counts as income and is taxable.

[Brent Swain]

Good luck proving and taxing favours.

[Strygaldwir]

I think the point Indy was making was that if you handle all the longterm maintenance cost up front, it MAY be feasible to do the $500 per month. If you have to handle any of the maintenance while on the trip, it will surely exceed your budget.

Keith

[Eleven]

Good luck proving and taxing favours. Brent Swain

Don't expect the locals you've taken business from to worry about proof.
There are enough bad 'cruisers' around to make us intruders a suspect bunch already.

[goprisko]

Staihless Steel is a wonderful material... BUT... it is prone to crevice corrosion... which
goes on unseen and for some reason prefers to progress ACROSS the diameter of
fastenings... You learn about this two ways... a) you pulled the offending item and found the crack b) the offending item lets go under load and all hell breaks loose.

If you buy one of the boats suggested... good boats all... you are buying a boat that is between 30 and 40 years old... This means the fasteners have been in service for anything from yesterday to whenever the boat was built.

The time to pull the fasteners and replace them is when you still have a good paying job, a house with a garden, and weekends to do the work, and most important, a source of bronze or 316 Stainless fasteners....

The time to not do this is swinging on a hook in BoraBora...

Don't think so??? Well,, one fine day enroute to the Marquesas under cruising spinnaker, a gust came along, the cleat holding the halyard let go, and lodged at the tang for the lowers at the spreader, the chute refilled while sagged way out ahead and sheared off 4 of the 6 feet of the bow pulpit. This required an emergency repair on arrival in the Marquesas, and a permanent one at Port Phaeton later. I did rescue the chute, and did replace each and every fastener when I painted the stick in NZ a year later... The fasteners were only 8 years old!!

Regarding Hull Deck joints... if you read your Hal Roth... it is very evident he had a miserable time aboard until he bit the bullet and bonded Whisper's deck to her hull using 6 layers of tape inside, and out...

Take your prospective new boat on a hard thrash to weather on both tacks and look for leaks... nothing ruins morale worse than a wet bunk...

Now let's talk about rigs...

In a boat of this size, unless it is a Cat Schooner with Chinese Lug Sails or fully battened sails, in which case it will have free standing masts, the most practical rig has one mast. There is no need with today's sailcloth to have two sticks.

This means either a cutter or a sloop, or a knockabout....

The Kiwis love knockabouts.. and they have their place...

However, the cutter provides several advantages over the others.

The sail area is divided across 3 sails so each one is smaller than for the other rigs
The mast is further aft where the boat's beam is greater, so the shroud angles are better.
The foretriangle is divided up and actually carries the same sail area as the sloop with a 130 Genoa, but handling the sails is much easier.

If your cutter has hank on sails, two staysails and two yankees provide you with a great deal of flexibility regarding sail area to better match conditions

Further, when changing down or up, you don't denude the foretriangle of sail. this is because you do one of them at a time...

For example:

In moderate conditions you will be setting your full working rig ... full main and #1 staysail and #1 Yankee. if the wind pipes up, your first change down can be to the #2 yankee, your second to reef the main, your third to the # 2 staysail, and your fourth to hand the yankee altogether. Your fifth to reef the main further. Your sixth to reef the staysail, and your seventh to put the third reef in the main.

By the time you get to the seventh reef it will be blowing 40 knots.. yet you only handed the yankees and a staysail.

Would seem that Clyde is home in RSA. . he should stop at St. Helena, buy the mandatory health insurance and "discover" his illness, while he is covered..
The island is nice, the people wonderful, and the hospital, according to my MD wife is first rate.

INDY

[dana-tenacity]

Originally Posted by goprisko

The Kiwis love knockabouts.. and they have their place...




INDY

That's funny, I'm a Kiwi and I've never heard of a rig called a knockabout.

[goprisko]

Actually, I know quite a bit about life after the cruise (circumnavigation) is over...

BECAUSE

I am living it NOW!

Before I went i did get my 40 quarters in so I now have Social Security and food stamps... While crossing the Pacific in 2000, the dot com crisis hit... caught me off guard.. actually with I was fed a line of baloney by one of my stateside friends... and I liquidated the last of the endowment to get Pegasus out of the Yard and finish her refit..

So I had to work my way back... I know a lot about that too...

What I know at the moment is the economy has tanked, and the best strategy for me is to refit Pegasus and continue living aboard... because my combined Federal income is $1000 per month, and there is no way I can afford a house, car, etc...

Then there is the small matter of Peak Oil.... When I set out... I was Peak Oil Ignorant... I am now Peak Oil Aware... When I set out... fuel expense was a minor thing... I am facing $900 to refill the ship's tanks in St Croix... sure I could get cheap fuel in Venezuela,, If I survive the trip... no thanks...

Anyone setting off now, and planning a multi year cruise... must be capable of doing without fuel... because he may be forced to ....

I'll say that again... capable of doing without fuel.. because you may be forced to...

This means you need a boat that sails well... not a floating condo... you need a southern cross 31 not a Westsail 32... for example...

You need a simple boat with as few powered systems as possible.. because the power may not be there....unless you install solar panels, or a wind generator.....
and the power may still not be there... if something breaks and you can't fix it..

You may decide that NZ is a great place to live, the girls are gorgeous, they are more practical, certainly, the country is beautiful, the cops don't wear guns, everyone is very polite, Auckland has opera, symphony, theatre, low crime rate... in which case going young and single has it's advantages..

Regarding earning your way along... (this applies only to US citizens) sorry guys...

If you are a vet.. and still an active reservist... don't short change the reserve as a source of funds for your cruise... If you are enlisted.. use the GI bill and get your degree... talk to your reserve CPO about what you are doing... wrangle a commission in supply, Corps of Engineers, or Medical Corps.. which ever is your cup of tea...

My best buddy's son did this.. He is stationed in Alaska,.. that is his overseas posting... the Army paid for hauling all his stuff up north... yep all of it..

So.. while you are fixing the boat,, you get yourself a great career, that is recession proof.. you add to your satisfactory years.. and no you don't have to wait until you've all 20 because you can organize your drill time into 90 days ACDUTRA, and wrangle transport on the embassy flight back to CONUS to do it.. IF you look at the pay for an E7 or O2 you will definitely see what I mean...

No, I didn't do this, like a fool I quit after 10... over a bloody farm no less..

INDY

[goprisko]

Knockabouts are what you downunder call a fractional rig, or 7/8 rig..

INDY