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theller · 19-10-2014, 17:27

Hello everyone, I may have said hello once, but now i have real plans forming up and I want to introduce you to me, my girlfriend and our plan.

We're both millennial's, I literally just found out that I apparently belong to a "generation". I'm 29, and took a slow boat to becoming a mechanical engineer.. I'm also massively in debt. (God love our education system). The GF is 27.

So, in an effort to live a life thats worth living before dying and maybe even using the live aboard life to make paying off student loans easier, we're going to sea. In short, I picked up an 83' o'day 28, for a $100 a foot with some heavy rot damage to the cabin top that I'm going to repair. Next winter (2015), were putting into the illinois river and heading south, doing a cruise through the Caribbean, the Canal and landing in Seattle to live on board. We're going to try and move up to something bigger when we get to the final destination, but for now, we think the O'Day is just enough boat to get us there.

I'm going to have a bunch of questions going out in the forums about equipment and necessities, the cost of living aboard (Like broke assed college students) and looking to buy used gear.

Also, were going to film this whole fiasco and try and do some sort of documentary.

Cheers and thanks in advance for everyone's patience and input!

SkiprJohn · 20-10-2014, 20:00

Aloha and welcome aboard!
If you follow the coastline as much of the way as possible and watch your weather the O'Day will do fine. It was designed for coastal cruising. Do all your repairs with structural integrity in mind and look at some boats of the same size that have done some ocean crossings to see what you might want to add or change to your O'Day.
If you have not had sailing lessons of some sorth I'd recommend at least a basic sailing course and some navigation courses as well.
kindest regards and the best of luck.

Victor Frank · 26-10-2014, 08:46

Hello from Quincy IL!

So cool to see some one else with the same aspirations even though we are twice as old.
We are starting off with even less experience and no boat to boot. Just a $ 100 worth of books a lot of surfing and day dreaming so far.
I've really enjoyed reading your posts and the replies you have gotten. A lot of good advice! I would have never guessed that the west coast was such a dangerous trip going north.
We are on a 5 year plan to make this happen.
Currently we have family in Florida gulf coast side and hope to use that as a launch point. Going on a charter or 2 and taking lessons as part of our next few vacations.
The goal right now is to save save save!
Looking forward to hearing about your progress!

V

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theller · 26-10-2014, 11:54

Victor, keep an eye on Carlyle lake for good deals on boats. Its about a 60 mile drive from there to the Mississippi, so the right boat could be brought to the river and then to a marina in your area. Its also not all that expensive to get a boat moved that distance. My current quote is ~1k if I don't mind waiting for a run that has something hooking up another direction. 2k for a solo. Given I bought the boat 10k under market value and know its history, im happy with it. The great lakes also presents a lot of opportunities to find low priced boats. They loose their value not being on an ocean. They also have seen no salt water, so they should be in much better condition in terms of corrosion.

IF you want to save money on the boat, deck repairs are common. Water penetration into fixtures causes rot in the deck core (end grain balsa generally). Repair this involves cutting the top section out, clearing the rotten material then re-epoxying in new core material. It sounds terrible, and it really is a terrible job with the fiberglass dust, but easy on the technical side. If your boats mast is through deck (as most cruisers are), your deck repair does not have the same structural impact that a deck mounted mas dictates. There are also methods for making a casting of the deck surface so you can re mold back to original deck texture. I haven't researched this much though. My total material costs for the repair will be under $500.

People may tell you that you need to buy "marine grade epoxy". Its epoxy... im a mechanical engineer, and I can tell you that this notion of the epoxy being so drastically different is ********. The material is tested to a ASME standard, it has a stated tensile strength and modulus of elasticity. You may find a 10-15% variance in tensile strength or flexural strength (strength under bending loads), but most repairs are going to be in low load bearing regions. A 5 gallon setup of epoxy I purchased is $265 with hardener. West system is a $100 a gallon without hardener. These epoxies will set slower, but this just requires a little patience, a sheet of black plastic on a sunny day and a heating blanket. Problem solved.

If you would like to make the trip over next spring when I am doing repairs, I would be happy to go through it with you. Sailing is generally a rich mans gig, and rich men pay rich men's prices for repairs, no matter what the technical requirements are. I believe its accessible and at low costs.

Victor Frank · 28-10-2014, 16:04

Very Cool!
Feel free to send pics of your progress.
Thanks for getting back with me your info was very helpful.
Back to being a sponge!
V

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