Experienced couch sailor

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Once you do some sailing I think your plans will probably change a bit. These are nice dreams right now though. Seriously, it really is good to ponder what the perfect boat for you will be. Once you get to Florida, go visit a steel boat that is being built and ask the builder about it. If you want to be a boat builder, that is one thing, if you want to sail, that is another.

Exactly that. Sailors aren’t boat builders and vice Versa , it’s two distinct hobbies. If you desire to sail be a sailor

You’ll spend years and it will cost you 2x a decent professionally built boat.

[Fore and Aft]

Nailhead432 I have been thinking about this all night and even with 40+ years in the marine industry I cannot think of any successfully completed 60-foot home-built yachts. I know plenty of smaller home-built boats. But 60 foot is another realm all together.
Don't fool yourself into thinking that if it all goes pear shape you will be able to recover your costs and still get $85,000 for the steel hull. Home built boats are usually worth what the buyer is willing to pay. I have seen plenty of amateur built hulls end up being crushed and taken the dump or metal recyclers.
I was asked to survey a brand new empty 40-foot home-built steel yacht hull with a new engine that my client had purchased for a $1. The catch was the yacht was behind a house, so a monster crane was needed to load it on a truck then truck it hundreds of kilometres to a yard that allowed DIY work. Then he had to fit out the interior and purchase a rig for the yacht.
The brand-new diesel engine in our yacht came from an abandoned boat building project. When I picked up the engine the owner offered to pay to truck the hull to our property. He was that desperate to get rid of it.
The wife kids and I built our 32-foot yacht in 18 months part time. I am a boat builder, so I had a fair idea of what we were getting into. But it still involved a 110% commitment and at the end of the project we were shattered.
Cheers

[DragonflyBob]

OP, as a fellow native Alabamian who learned to sail on Mobile Bay and have been sailing, racing, and cruising for over 50 years, I’ll offer the following which reinforces some of what has been stated.

1. Go ahead and take the ASA sailing course and then shop for a small 16-18 foot daysailor (buy new so it works, check out RS Sailboats) and take at least 1 year to sail that boat as much as possible and really learn to sail. Small boats are WAY better than big boats for learning as they are easier to sail and much more responsive and you are focusing on learning to sail and not distracted by building or fixing a boat. If you invest in some cold weather sailing gear, you can sail on most all days on the Gulf coast.

2. Treat sailing like learning to fly because both water and altitude can kill you. When you start, limit yourself to sailing only days where the wind is 10-12 knots or LESS. If you go out on a windy day with little to no experience, you will scare the crap out of yourself and your wife. Become proficient in light to moderate air and then venture into sailing in bigger wind. Better yet, find an experienced sailor that can go with you or take you out on their boat in bigger breeze (I’m talking 12-18 knots) to get you comfortable with the conditions.

3. If you progress above, after a year consider going on an offshore sailing training cruise. There are several companies that offer these type of trips on 40-50 foot boats. The crew size is typically limited to 5-6 sailors and everyone is part of the crew so you will cook, clean, trim sails, helm, be on watch, etc. It will be REAL WORLD training that will be invaluable.

4. At that point, you are probably ready to consider buying (as recommended) a new or very well maintained 30’-35’ cruising sailboat. If you make the move to the Gulf coast, it would be an excellent training ground for coastal cruising where you can sail from P’Cola to Destin or Panama City. You can then graduate to a longer passage like P’Cola to St. Pete. You can even coastal hop to the Keys or a destination like the Dry Tortugas as you build experience. The point is start small with 2-3 day trips and figure out what works and what does not work.

5. All of the above should translate to at least 3-4 years of building a foundation and learning what will work for you. At that point, maybe you will have enough experience and knowledge to buy a bigger live aboard and consider going offshore. I would even consider still limiting yourself to coastal and do a couple more offshore sailing training trips as suggested in (3) above before you venture into the open ocean for long distance passage sailing.

I wish you the best of luck with your dream. Have fun but be smart and safe.

[landsend]

Buy a 100 foot boat, sail to the Arctic and play hockey with the polar bears to your heart's content! It's that simple.

[SV_FlyingTigress]

Originally Posted by Nailhead432

Thanks for all the wonderful advice. I have been mulling it over some time now with the wife and this is the plan thus far.

1. Get ASA 101 - 104 for both of us. This will give us some experience and time on the water.

2. Move to Pensacola. Why Pensacola you may ask? Not fond of big, crowded cities. Also, we both play ice hockey...so, there needs to be a rink within the vicinity. Mucho closer to the water than I currently am. There are some cheap housing options available which will allow us to downsize our lives and live on a much tighter budget.

3. Having been a diesel mechanic for 25+ years, maybe I can find work at a boat yard and get some hands on experience with other people's boats before I get a chance to screw mine up. Obviously, I'd secure a job before moving my family to another state. I'm crazy, not stupid.

4. Buy a <$20k sailboat, pick your flavor, and take it out on the weekends, day sailing and maybe a couple of overnighters on anchor. Once again, gives us more practical experience on the water.

Now we are reaching the territory of Lala land in my grand scheme. But let me know on a scale of possible to nuck'n futs you think this is. A lot of pieces would have to fall into place, tons of logistical issues and what not. I get all that, but follow along on this crazy dream. Though it goes without saying, but this is with the understanding that somewhere along the way, either of us doesn't decide that this is crazy and neither of us like it.

5. While gaining experience and living on the cheap, save buckets of money. Buckets of money needed to build our own boat from scratch. The more I research, the more I like the idea of a steel hull boat. Just doing some napkin math and the current cost of 1/4" steel plate, I calculated that it would take somewhere around 55 plates of 4x12 to build the hull of a 60 foot boat. Why 60? Why not. This is Lala land. So, I think that's around $85,000 in steel. I heard somewhere that the hull is 1/3 the cost of a boat. So, budget somewhere around $300,000 to $400,000 should be enough. Whatcha think?

If you are looking for a great learner boat, my wife and I used our Catalina 27 (google that one) on a trailer to do exactly what you have done (ASA 101-104, the whole lot). We now own a catamaran in Guatemala. I was planning on putting our Catalina27/trailer for sale (northeast Missouri @ Mark Twain lake) this spring. It is somewhat unique because it has its own mast stepping mechanism. It basically has an old, spare mast tucked under the trailer that can be mounted on the trailer tongue and has a cable/wench and pulley at the top to allow you to wench up/down the boat's mast from the correct angle. The former owner used to trailer it around the US to do races and he wanted to be able to step the mast himself quickly. It is the perfect learner/overnight camper for a couple and big enough for a couple of pets for weekend or longer campout sails. I am seeing if my brother in law wants it (he lives in AZ and could take it down to Puerto Pinasco) but if he doesn't we bought it cheap and are going to sell it cheap.


It is the perfect set up for a family looking to transition into cruising and I would love to see it go and serve that roll again. If I had to do it over again, I would do ASA101 Then sail the crap out of my C27 for a few months at least, then do 103 and then 104. Fire hosing all three in one week .... a LOT of content was lost that could have been more effectively captured and this classes are EXPENSIVE (but probably help with insurance).

[MicHughV]

I just want to see pics of the finished 60' hull....is that too much to ask ???

That's what it will take to make me a believer.

Heck send me pics of the frames and longitudinals and I'll be a believer.

No wait, send me pics of the steel plates laying wherever this boat is planned to built, and I'll be a believer.

That's not much to ask, is it ???

[Nailhead432]

Thank you all once again for the replies. It's easy to talk big sitting at a computer, wishing away. Completely different to actually do it. I warned y'all I was going off into Lala land. I like the idea of the 30 to 32 footer and putting some miles under our keel. As has been previously mentioned, what we "want" in a boat will likely change dramatically once we get out on the water. After having seen several catamarans at the boat show, I know exactly what my wife finds ideal. I'm not in love with them, but they do look comfortable. But first things first, take the ASA courses.

If y'all are interested in discussing the importance of having planks, crows nests, and cannon ports....wait, scratch the last one, on my current steel dream yacht, then I can go on to include such details of a full dingy garage with 2nd story owners suite above it. No garage would be complete without a small lathe and mill. I can go on and on about such wild dreams that will have some of you giving up on me completely, and others rolling on the floor. I have a dream.

[goboatingnow]

La La land. Nails being hit on heads