Oceangoing for under $1000

[BigNickMontana]

Originally Posted by newhaul

Thread hijack
Nick now that you bought the 1966 spencer you need to join the classic plastic group
Hijack over

Where at?

[Teflonsean]

Originally Posted by exitdaemon

A friend of mine asked me if it would be possible to acquire a boat that could reasonably safely sail across the Pacific (from California to Hawaii, or to the Philippines) for under 1000 dollars. I'm sure there is the occasional amazing deal on such a boat, but that seems too luck based.

My idea is to get an old canoe for cheap (or free), and then build on decking and build flotation into it, so it is reasonably safe from being swamped, and even if it is swamped it would ride high. Then you could build on two outriggers (for relatively little it seems to me, not sure what to use for the crossbeams off the top of my head), add in a leeboard or build in a daggerboard if you want to be fancy. Cut down a small tree for a mast (build the mast step when you add the decking), and find a cheap used sail or just use a tarp sail (and bring extra tarp).

The more I thought about this the more it seems like this could actually work. You'd have good stability with the outriggers, and the canoe would give you decent storage capacity and an easy base to work off of.

Let me know what you guys think, why this is crazy, is there a better way, etc.

Darwin has already proved this is possible.

Read more Darwin and you will find it is not crazy...it is within every living thing to expand your boundaries...

Some win...some lose.