Maximum Reasonable Draught

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Weyalan

... my dad always told me there are no stupid questions, only stupid offspring, or something) ...

If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask?

Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?

The next time you hear someone ask a stupid question just say “Man, that was a stupid question.”
Remind the person that the U.S. First Amendment gives him a right to show us he is stupid.
But, also remind him that the Fifth Amendment can help him keep it a secret.

[Pelagic]

There is nothing so stupid as the educated man if you get him off the thing he was educated in.
Will Rogers

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Joli]

Jim, right now we are in the Great Lakes and the boat resides on the 2nd shallowest of them, Lake Erie. We are unable to get into some ports but it's not much of an issue, we go where we can. On the Great Lakes we are sometimes 2-300 miles between marinas we can enter, We anchor, drop the rib in and go get what we need.

We plan on taking the boat to the East Coast, Caribbean, then the med in 4 years. It is what it its but we truly enjoy the boat and live within the limitations.

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

G'Day Joli,

Yep, that's the ticket! But, just curious -- where are you cruising? 9 Ft would limit you a bit around the Qld coast where 7'2" is only an inconvenience at times.

Cheers,

Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable II lying Manly, Qld, Oz, trying to paint the decks in between showers.

[MarkJ]

To the original poster,

I read the first few replies then skipped.

What Dave, Bash and Jim have said is fair to be fair

We are lucky that we have 1.8 meter draft so we can park furtherst into the beach!
However a person with a 3 meter draft would only have to park a few meters further out in any place we have dropped the pick.

I understand the Bahamas are quite depth challenged but thats the only are people speak about.

The boat we would think most dandy to do a world cruise is a 46 to 50 foot modern production boat. These draw between 2.10 m and 2.50 m.
That range is totally fine wherever we have been.

In the Pacific coral the depth, per sey, isnt the problem. The sand is deep where you anchor but the coral bommies are shallow. So any boat can anchor and any boat will run aground on the bommies!!

Where we are just at the moment is tied to a town dock wall in the Med and it just goes vastly down sheer. But yesterday some guy in a big new racing boat had a look next to us and then went way up the other way. I asked him why, later, and he said he draws 3 m. It was about a 60 footer. Few would have to worry.

My thought would be not to buy a shallow draft boat unless there is a compelling reason for it.

By the way I have noticed, and maybe some cat people can confirm: Some cats can be beached.... but I have very seldom seen a cat beached (unless for scrubbing). I would guess that though beachable who wants the bottom smashed up and down in the waves as the tide goes out?
So in reading publicity try to work out what is going to be useful and what isn't.

A deeper draft is fine. A shallow draft is little or no advantage imho.



Mark

[HHNTR111]

Originally Posted by Bash

Oh... Gosh... I specifically asked that last broker to sell me a moderately sized boat.

Actually, I had this current boat designed around the refrigeration system, and then asked them to derive the specs for length, draft and displacement from those design parameters.

I'm going to have the next boat designed around a wood-burning fireplace.

or a hot tub...

[Bash]

Originally Posted by HHNTR111

or a hot tub...

HHNTR111, I see you have a Cambria 46. The deep keel on that boat is listed at 8'6". Did you opt for that or the shoal draft?

I helped with a delivery of a yacht that had a hot tub and stabilizers. What a lovely thing to come off watch and enjoy a soak.

[HHNTR111]

Ours has a centerboard. Board up, she draws 5'6'', down 10'6''. It's a good board, we go very well to weather.

[HHNTR111]

Originally Posted by Bash

HHNTR111, I see you have a Cambria 46. The deep keel on that boat is listed at 8'6". Did you opt for that or the shoal draft?

I helped with a delivery of a yacht that had a hot tub and stabilizers. What a lovely thing to come off watch and enjoy a soak.

also, no hot tub...

[Curmudgeon]

Maximum reasonable draft is always 6 inches less than what you have.

[stark]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

To the original poster,

I read the first few replies then skipped.

yeah, I don't blame you.

Mark,
Thanks for your post. That is the type of answer I'm looking for .

Saltmonkey,
I agree, there are a lot of factors that go into choosing a boat. Trust me, I have a huge list. But as Paradix pointed out, what I'm trying to figure out (since I have little personal experience outside a few isolated areas), if I have a 9 foot draft, are half the coves/harbors/bays in the world off limits to me? Will I not be able to easily find anchorages in certain regions?

I wish I could be more definitive in describing my route than 'traditional', but as you can see, I don't even have a boat yet. And as early posts pointed out, I should have used the word 'cruise', instead of 'circumnavigate'. I'm still learning the terminology.

My dad also told me that there is no such thing as a stupid question. But even if there were, I don't think this would be on that list. Although some of the responses...

[estarzinger]

Originally Posted by stark

...what I'm trying to figure out (since I have little personal experience outside a few isolated areas), if I have a 9 foot draft, are half the coves/harbors/bays in the world off limits to me? Will I not be able to easily find anchorages in certain regions?

I wish I could be more definitive in describing my route than 'traditional', but as you can see, I don't even have a boat yet. And as early posts pointed out, I should have used the word 'cruise', instead of 'circumnavigate'. I'm still learning the terminology.

I can tell you this. Our first boat was a centerboarder with 4' 3" draft with the board up. We sailed that boat around the world and only used the shallow draft perhaps twice (Panama and Aitutaki). We had a second boat custom built and specifically put 7' draft on it as the deepest we were comfortable with. We have been round the world on her (and more) and think 7' is pretty much perfect unless you want to spend a lot of time in the Bahamas.