Outfit a carbon fiber racing boat to cruise?

[heronspeak]

Hey all... so I have an opportunity to buy an offshore racing boat at what seems to be a great price, pending inspection of course.

I am wondering what people think... it's a mid-90's 42' monohull. Carbon reinforced, foam-cored hull. Carbon mast and double spreaders. Bulbed fin keel. Newer yanmar with saildrive and folding prop. As a cruiser, of course everything just screams SPEED!

If you have looked at offshore racers, the cabin tends to be rather spartan... which to me as a DIY craftsman simply = open slate.

My question is, though such a boat is built to withstand the rigors of offshore racing would it not hold up well through sustained global cruising and would repairs end up just being prohibitively expensive?

Anybody know of someone who has converted a racing boat like this for cruising?

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

[Suijin]

I've raced offshore in carbon boats. There is no way I would consider one as a cruising boat. Of course there are true purpose-built racing sleds and then carbon reinforced racer-cruisers, and they are very different, but if the boat you're looking at is a purpose built race boat I would steer well clear.

They are extraordinarily uncomfortable. They pound, the inside is like a drum and is extremely noisy. And the stiffness of the boat is completely unforgiving. Your butt will hurt from just sitting on the coaming, no joke.

These boats take 10-12 people to sail depending on how they are rigged..sometimes just for the weight on the rail, sometimes for managing backstays and other rig during tacking. If you don't have the crew and the skill to sail one of these it can be very dangerous. Wiping out while surfing off the wind at 15 knots is easier than you think and in a 40'+ boat someone is going to get hurt

You could cut the rig down and recut sails and do all sorts of modifications to make the boat able to be short handed, but it would cost a bomb and in the end you'd still have an uncomfortable boat.

And repairs are astronomical.

[Terra Nova]

Originally Posted by heronspeak

...I have an opportunity to buy an offshore racing boat at what seems to be a great price...

Got a good chuckle out of that one.

[Cheechako]

"My question is, though such a boat is built to withstand the rigors of offshore racing would it not hold up well through sustained global cruising "

What could possibly go wrong, it's Carbon Fiber!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Yau9A7XDHs

[djmarchand]

In addition to the valid comments above about graphite construction, I would never go long range cruising in a boat with a saildrive. Corrosion concerns, longevity and if it does break, the boat has to be hauled to work on the drive and no one in remote areas knows anything about them.


Give me a conventional transmission, prop shaft drive any day over a sail drive.



David

[Username25]

I would say why not? ANASAZI GIRL with 2 kids and a baby comes to my mind. If you keep bare hull it will be loud, but you can add extra few kg of insulation

[nwdiver]

Bulbed fin at what draft..........over 6 feet no way, some 40s are 8 feet, that's not a cruiser......

[tatomaceda]

Well I don't know you and I have not seen the boat. But your enthusiasm leads me to believe that you're about to go all in without having made all the considerations.
Don't take the criticisms adversely, they are not meant to kill your dream, but to give you pause. Purpose built boats are made for a specific purpose. If you are changing its function, there's certainly a lot to consider beginning with the fact that that race boat was meant to be crewed.
I wish you luck. Keep us posted if you do go through.

[Dave_S]

I don't know enough to comment, but that's never stopped me before. Anyway.......... my $0.02

I would be attracted to cheap and fast as well, rough and noisy can be good qualities too the right person. I would look at it with this in mind.

If it is a serious race boat designed to run up the pointy end it will be constructed to be just strong enough plus a small safety factor, designed to last a few years. If you add 30% to the weight and 20 years to its life you may be on the wrong side of that safety factor.

I'd get a specialist race boat engineer to survey it and advise you based on your plans.

P. Ś-. Will it still be fast at a cruising weight?

[psk125]

It would help for us to know exactly what the boat is. A "carbon fiber racing boat" could be a 12 Meter, something from a singlehanded RTW race, a crewed RTW race, or a foiling version of something else. They're each very different, and may be more or less well-suited to your plans.

[Jim Cate]

If it survived serious off shore racing then it is unlikely to be stressed beyond design parameters while cruising. You will add considerable weight in accommodations, but will loose the weight of 8 or more gorillas. You will feel ok about reefing sooner than a racer would (unless, of course, some yahoo is overtaking you from clear astern) and that will help keep stresses down. It will likely have a fairly abrupt motion, and will pound going to windward... but if you slow her down, that will be reduced markedly and you will still be going better than most cruising boats can do.

I've no experience with carbon hulls, so in your place I'd hire a damn good surveyor who does have the relevant experience. There have been enough carbon hulls that have had delamination issues that I'd really want a good inspection for such failures.

As to "cruisabilty", there's an elderly Serendipity 43 called "Wings" that in the distant past would race in the same events as I ... an all out racer from the mid 80s. It was turned into a cruiser and has circumnavigated and more. Not carbon, but at the design edge in its day and the owners are quite happy with their choice. Been some info on them in Lat 38 fairly recently IIRC.

So, depending on your goals and pocketbook, it could be a fun boat to sail. But approach the idea with wide open eyes and get outside help and opinion of the specific boat that you are considering... our generic thoughts are not focused enough to be much real help.

Jim

[Hasbeen]

I cruised a Morgan Giles inshore racer, designed to race on the Solent. I did 52,000 around the Pacific islands. Having a very easily driven very fast boat was the best thing I ever did.


I had heavy displacement yachts previously, tough things that could stand being swept by waves, & come back for more, like the old days of wooden ships & iron men. I preferred the light boat that danced over the seas by far.


I had only 2 passages in 6 years where I would have liked to go slower. On one I averaged 7.6 knots from Honiara Solomons to Cairns Oz, 1100 nautical miles, with just a 160 square foot jib up. As you can imagine it was rough, but another boat crossing at the same time took 9 days to my 6, & they did not find it exactly comfortable either, & for a lot longer.


With the light boat you can set much smaller gear, & can actually enjoy ghosting along in the doldrums.


The shape of the thing is more important than anything else. Many racing yachts have a fine entry, & a broad stern, suitable for beating to windward, & running hard while supporting a large crew. I would not take one of these. They are cranky boats in gusty conditions, not at all suitable for self steering or short handed sailing.


However a less extreme reasonably sea kindly racing yacht would be my choice if I went again.

[a64pilot]

The two things that I couldn’t get past is draft, and what I’d consider fragility of the keel attach points, that design screams high cycle fatigue failure to me.
Although you never know, I saw what I’d swear was an open 60 in a Marina in Sarasota a few years ago, but in truth I probably wouldn’t know an open 60 if it were right in front of me, but it sure had the look.
I don’t know how it got there or want it’s use was, cause there is a lot of water missing around that part of the world

[hellosailor]

I think Wotname spent a few years converting an ex-racer.

Among the things to beware:
A racing boat usually just has a docking engine. It won't push you against a storm.
It won't have water, fuel, or waste tankage for a cruiser.
It may have running backstays and other rig complications, that make it a PITA for cruisers.
Depending on how "purpose built" it was, it may be designed to carry a crew of ten or twelve--and not not the reserve buoyancy that a cruiser would have, to carry a couple of thousand pounds of "stuff".
You may want an anchor locker on deck. It may not have one. It may have a huge cockit, for all that working crew. You may want more cabin space below.

And then again if you want a real projectboat, there's a Swan (42?) up for $17,000, Just some pipe rail bunks below, owner passed away, estate would love to sell the boat. But basically you'd have to finish gutting the interior, finish restoring/installing the engine, and then go at it with the new blank slate below.