What makes a boat a go-anywhere blue-water cruiser?

[double u]

...first & foremost the crew & their attitudes...

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

tbrgld, and others who might ask this question:

I'm not sure what would help you the most. Boatman 61 was the first to mention the how heavy small steel boats are.

How you feel about slow as a concept is one thing, but slower means more days at sea, which means you need more room to store drinking water. To understand more about slow vs. faster, look up "Sail Area to Displacement Ratio".

I am from an older generation, when it was common for sailboats to have small engines, and for the owners to expect to use the engine little, and to be flexible as to when they might arrive somewhere. If you expect to arrive "on time", then you need more engine power and more fuel storage, and that cuts into life support supplies. Boats are all compromises.

Protection from the elements is very important, both against cold and wet, but also against sun. Ventilation is important.

The boat should be easy to singlehand. If a ketch, the mizzen sail should sheet to its own traveler, just like the mainsail. When you go to buy a boat with a partner, the winches should be large enough for the weakest crew person to be able to sheet in hard on the wind, hoist the heaviest sail. Can you reach the primary winches from the steering station?

Anchoring gear is really important. Have a look at the CF threads "Pictures of Anchors Setting", and "Videos of Anchors Setting."

Ability to work on the boat is critical, unless you have lots of money to spend having others work on them, and then you have to be crafty about selecting who it is that you are going to hire to help you.

Self steering is also important. Most people use electronic autopilots, however, wind steering is wonderful, silent, needs no battery power, and simple.

While a ketch can indeed "go anywhere", assuming it keeps the water on the outside and the pointy ends up, I'd rather have a cutter (better overall performance, imo), but it really does come down to a choice of what you, the buyer, prefers.

The whole boat must work well in a seaway, you have to be able to get about on it safely, handholds are important, cooking should be pretty easy, the stowage should work, you need good sea berths. This is where the older design boats are often superior. If you're looking at older boats, grp is probably a better idea for a newbie than steel, because the kinds of trouble old steel hulls develop can be hard to see, but still sink you. If you buy steel, you will soon become intimate friends with paints and brushes.. chipping hammers, wire brushes, grinders and rust treatment products...

You need few through hulls. All accessible.

And that's enough of an answer to start with.

Ann

That's better..

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by boatman61

That's better..

Ah, yes, heed the voice of experience.

Ann

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

The most important thing is your boat is admired by people on the internet forums.



Mark

Post #2 had saved me from wasting my time reading the thread :-)

[hpeer]

If by go anywhere you mean remote places then you want something rugged but also simple. The hull should take a hard knock and stay intact. It also there needs to be redundancy to any crucial systems. That includes taking care of you. Think heat. You are a crucial system

[JPA Cate]

I'm going to add one more thing here. We have two things juxtaposed here: it's a steel boat and the interior needs re-doing. For me, this leads to a question: is the reason the interior needs re-doing because it must be removed to get to areas that need new plate welded on? Steel boats rot from the inside out, therefore the bottom paint can hide the thinning plate.

Ann

Ann

[daletournier]

Ok , something I've come to think is important is comfort. Comfort in a seaway, easy sail plan not needing to be on deck, ability to cook/eat well underway, easy to sleep, shower etc etc......the better fed, rested and showered the captain and crew are the less mistakes. The better you can live while on passage the better you deal with stuff, the more you can go anywhere.

Sent from my vivo Y35 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[hsi88]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

The most important thing is your boat is admired by people on the internet forums.

Loved this answer! LOL That certainly did not affect my personal boat buying decisions, but I have to be honest, having a boat that looked and felt like it was more of a boat than it really was certainly played a factor.