Hinckley Bermuda 40 Yawl good choice for bluewater cruiser?

[Don C L]

With solar powered LED reading lights being a dime a dozen now, one can be nautically romantic without fire. If one thinks in terms of cruising in a 30 footer and then gets the Bermuda 40, it will feel palatial!

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Don C L

With solar powered LED reading lights being a dime a dozen now, one can be nautically romantic without fire. If one thinks in terms of cruising in a 30 footer and then gets the Bermuda 40, it will feel palatial!

I'm thinking of ripping out all the LED lights on my boat and going with whale oil lamps - real nautical and authentic, plus in pinch I can capture my own fuel

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Paul L

I'm thinking of ripping out all the LED lights on my boat and going with whale oil lamps - real nautical and authentic, plus in pinch I can capture my own fuel

Oh, you haven't seen the movie "Heart of the Sea" yet? At least with LEDs you went end up adrift for 90 days with a mad whale chasing you!
oops.. spoiler alert

[barnakiel]

I can tell you one thing: I have seen dozens of boats very much like HB40 with very happy crews and living it to the full - from Las Palmas, thru Panama, to Australia and beyond.

It was actually that the "optimum" sailboats were in minority.

Off course, some/many sailors would upgrade to an optimum boat from whatever boat one might have. But not everyone can afford a JP54, an Amel or a fine Catana. We sail what we have and many of us have boats from the HB40 era. Some of us actually prefer older more romantic designs over modern box'ish boats. Romantic does not mean bad, nor worse, just different.

When someone claims HB40 does not make a fine world cruiser, then I say this person lives very removed from the everyday of Caribbean, Pacific and Indian anchorages.

Cheers,
b.

[jtsailjt]

I live and sail mostly up here in eastern Maine where Hinckley's can be seen in almost every anchorage. For several years, I sailed out of Southwest Harbor so I am very familiar with both the esthetics and high quality of these beautiful boats. My first "cruising sailboat" was a Hinckley Pilot 35 and I loved it for day sailing and occasional overnights. But the B40 is one of the very last boat's I'd consider for bluewater cruising. The reason I feel this way is that they are extremely small with very limited interior accommodations and almost no storage space, and they lack many other useful attributes of a good cruising sailboat. If you look at their ultimate stability numbers, they're frightening when compared with most other cruising sailboats (I was aboard one that was knocked down with the sails stowed while at anchor here in Maine where winds never exceed about 50 knots) and freeboard is so low that you'll feel like you're on a wet surfboard offshore (fun and exciting for awhile, but not day after day). They sail nicely in moderate coastal conditions, and are great "cruisers" for a couple and maybe a few guests who get out for a weekend now and then and want to look great at the yacht club docks. They were marketed and sold to wealthy east coast CCA sailors back in the 60's and 70's. They still look GREAT and hold their value well, but there are so many other boats out there that were actually designed with offshore cruising in mind and there have been so many improvements in yacht design (not esthetics) since the B40. Lest you think I have a vendetta against these boats or the Hinckley company, I definitely do not. I have one older friend who recently moved to the Chesapeake and sold his stunning wooden Concordia yawl and I have been doing my best to encourage him to replace it with a B40, perfect for his personality and the kind of sailing he plans to do. I have another friend who was looking at Alerions to keep on his Camden, Maine mooring to use as a daysailor on his days off and I tried to convince him to get a simply equipped but well cared for Hinckley Pilot 35 instead. I really do love a lot of things about these boats, but even taking the price and varnishing issues out of the equation, neither are very appropriate for long distance bluewater sailing. But once you're finished with long distance traveling aboard a boat, but want to look great and occasionally go "cruising" over a weekend when the weather looks fine, then it's the perfect sailboat.

[19Valiant79]

Also forgot to say on our Tartan Classic 37 sloop, Rockport ME, current survey is available. 603 582 1426

[sck5]

re: oil lamps. The thing I am most afraid of on any boat out in the ocean is fire. Any opportunity to replace a flame with something less dangerous is a trade I will always make. LED's dont take much electricity. An oil lamp? Tradition for tradition's sake would have us all using hemp cordage! Nobody would do that because we have a better way. We also have a better way to make light.

By the way, using a whale oil lamp as an anchor light might not meet the Coast Guard standards for visibility. I don't know that for a fact - I am just wondering.

[CSY Man]

Originally Posted by sck5

re: oil lamps. The thing I am most afraid of on any boat out in the ocean is fire. Any opportunity to replace a flame with something less dangerous is a trade I will always make. LED's dont take much electricity. An oil lamp? Tradition for tradition's sake would have us all using hemp cordage! Nobody would do that because we have a better way. We also have a better way to make light.

By the way, using a whale oil lamp as an anchor light might not meet the Coast Guard standards for visibility. I don't know that for a fact - I am just wondering.

He was probably joking about oil lamps, and about catching his own fuel.
(Go whale hunting to get whale oil for the lamps)

[RidgeRunner]

Actaea, 2015 Marblehead-Halifax

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by sck5

re: oil lamps. The thing I am most afraid of on any boat out in the ocean is fire. Any opportunity to replace a flame with something less dangerous is a trade I will always make. LED's dont take much electricity. An oil lamp? Tradition for tradition's sake would have us all using hemp cordage! Nobody would do that because we have a better way. We also have a better way to make light.

By the way, using a whale oil lamp as an anchor light might not meet the Coast Guard standards for visibility. I don't know that for a fact - I am just wondering.

I like my hemp cordage, it smokes well too when I run out of cigarettes!