For want of a proper pantry...

I can't help but notice that the cost of gas/diesel keeps going up and, while I'll admit that the resulting lower traffic of weekend warrior cigarette boatfolk is kinda nice but, the resulting spiraling costs that higher fuel prices cause in other areas like transport is somewhat worrisome...

You might not be aware but quite a few people in the USVI do a lot of grocery shopping with Walmart. Online grocery prices at Walmart are scary cheap in comparison to Caribbean/USVI prices plus the fact that it is not hard to get free shipping (sent via US Mail) makes it something of a lifesaver. Which, I suppose, is something that boatfolk who visit and provision in the US Virgins when they're here should keep in mind as an option. For a USVI address all you need is to have stuff sent to General Delivery. It works just fine.

Which, in a way, brings us back around to the subject of cruising boat design...

If there is one single aspect of sailboat design that drives me nuts it is the fact that storage/stowage on a modern sailboat is simply crazy. It's almost like the designers involved never gave a thought to the idea that a cruising couple or family might actually need to store food, spare parts, fuel and other such needful stuff when they take off for an extended cruise.

This is actually important...

Being able to stock up when and where stuff is cheap is a major factor in being able to cruise on a tight budget. Having a full larder allows one to be able to cruise areas where the prices are silly expensive and, more or less, stay on your chosen budget.

The thing is, on a modern sailboat of say 30-36 feet, where do you put those cases of green beans you found at thirty-nine cents a can so you don't have to pay $1.39 or more on some paradisaical island? Most boats can handle a month's worth of provisions but to really start saving money you need a capacity of something more akin to at least six months of staples.

So where are you going to put it?

On the urge to build...

A lot of readers of Boat Bits/VolksCruiser, as well as the guy who writes it, have an urge to build a boat from the keel up. More than an urge really it's somewhere between affliction and an addiction...

        "Hi, my name's Bob and I'm a boatbuilder..."

The thing is, there are some reasonably good reasons to build a boat. I should also point out that there are a lot more good reasons not to.

That said, most of the nay-sayers who crawl out from under the woodwork and tell you why it's stupid to build a boat are idiots and could not find their butt with a map, flashlight, and both hands. The anti-boatbuilding brigade is problematic simply because they're so stupid that they simply cloud the issue and give you the false confidence that if they're against it your cause is both sensible and just.

Like most things in this world it's complicated.

So, why not build a boat?

In the current economy there are so many cheap boats for sale at giveaway prices that you can buy a reasonably good condition sailboat for considerably less than the raw materials a new boat would entail... Sadly, if you can't afford to buy an old fixer upper CAL/Columbia/Pearson/Whatever you're not going to be able to afford to build a new boat. The old wives' tale that it allows you to pay as you go simply does not work in the real world as prices keep going up and in the end you wind up paying even more, plus, the working in fits and starts scenario means that you'll slow your building down to a point that you'll simply never finish the boat.

The downside, for me, of building a boat from the keel up is simply the fact that it is not nearly as eco-friendly as rehabbing an older boat. Face it, the most sustainable system is to reuse rather than bring in new materials that deplete forests, require the use of toxic chemicals and various oil based resins. Seriously, this is really a big issue and one that keeps me up some nights.

The obvious downside is it takes a lot of labor/time to build a boat... not that you can't build one quickly (our 38' Loose Moose 2 was built in six months while our 26' Loose Moose took 4 1/2 months) but most people cannot work full time on a project and the less time you have to build the more hours it takes. Ten single hours of labor never ever equals a ten-hour day of labor... My guesstimate is it's something like a factor of five.

All that being the case, there still are some excellent reasons to actually build a cruising sailboat but that will have to wait till tomorrow...

there goes the neighborhood...

As everyone knows (I do go on don't I), I want to build a shoal draft modern scow of the VolksCruiser sort of easily built, adaptable, and affordable to folks of the blue collar sort...

You know the sort of people who actually work for a living!

The sort of thing that rich yachty type would turn their noses up in outrage and lock their daughters up because anyone in a scow, schooner or otherwise, would threaten the status quo.

Of course, now that the Mini was slam dunked by a scow and a rich dude is currently building a TransPac-beater scow, all of a sudden scows are starting to get hip...

You might want to check out the thinking behind these babies! The good news is that all of the uber-rich scow penciling I'm seeing are not shoal draft so there is still hope for the VolkCruiser scow concept... But, some more about that later!

2CV's, VW Bugs, and thoughts of a VolksCruiser...

Speaking of questions... How is it that a car built in the 40's is more fuel efficient than modern high-tech production cars?

As it happens, I've always been a huge fan of Citroens (I learned to drive on a DS) but reading about the 2CV got me thinking about how there's a real parallel between what is wrong with most sailboat design these days and the auto industry's lack of progress in the areas that count.

Tad Roberts with his new Future Cruiser series has the right idea in that he's getting back to basics. So, as it happens, does Mark Smaalders with his Simplicity designs... Both designers currently being very much on my shortlist for the next boat.

But, it's more than just going back to older designs. It's time to take a step back and look at just what really is needful and what's not... Something I've been thinking a lot about as we get rid of all the stuff on "So It Goes" that has not been used in the last couple of years.

Now, just for a moment, think about what an evolved 2CV or VW Bug would be if they simply had kept improving it, which I hasten to add is not the same thing as following market forces or trying to make it something it's not. It would get something like a 120 miles to the gallon, be stronger, be nearly indestructible, and very, very affordable!

I'm pretty sure the same could be done with your sailboat of choice...

Speaking of the dark side...

I've been getting a lot of mail on the subject of VolksCruisers and, it would appear a lot of folks don't quite get the fact that the volkcruiser concept is not simply about cheap boats...

You might say it is more a sustainable and affordable thing rather than just cost which is not at all about cheapness.

There are lots and lots of cheap boats available these days and the want ads are full of them. With the economy what it is there are any number of sub $10,000 boats just waiting to be scooped up.

For around that same $10,000 price tag you can buy the materials to build a boat as well and folks like Dix, Benford, Bolger, Parker, Buehler, Roberts, and Smaalders (and that's just to name a few) have some excellent designs that can be made for little money that can be sailed anywhere you want to go in a sustainable fashion.

That said, it's not always easy to rehab an older boat or build one new and keep the project sustainable or affordable... The marine industry, peer pressure, and the ever present need to conform makes the whole sustainable/affordable boat project one fraught with many a wrong turn and landmines just waiting to take you to the dark side...

More on the dark side soon come...

Well, will you look at this...

Tad Roberts kicking some serious ass...

You can read more about it here!

Some short list musing...

Remember I talked to Tad Roberts recently and how he's working on a new series of frugal Future Cruisers in 28 - 54 foot...

The 28-foot Future Cruiser is everything a couple needs but, I expect, most folks would be more interested in the 34 or 38 foot versions. Personally I expect the 38 footer would be on my short list (all those guitars have to go somewhere) but I'll admit that the concept of a really simple 54-foot design along these lines has me some kind of interested... That said, in the 38-foot Future Cruiser I'd more than likely make some changes (which is half the advantage of building your own boat as nothing is set in stone as long as you're willing to accept the possibility of getting it wrong)!

What changes would I make? Well for one, I'd look seriously at bringing out the coachroof to the hull sides as I've always wanted a flush deck boat (White Squall, the one-off CAL 40 is, and has always been, in my top five favorite boats) and the added strength would be no bad thing. I like the rig as drawn but I can't help thinking that a high aspect balanced lug schooner with jib would seriously rock the house and surprise a whole lot of folks on a performance level... That said, just as it is, it is some seriously awesome boat! But, nothing goes on the short list till I've seen what Mr Roberts has in mind for the 54-foot Future Cruiser! For those who want a glimpse at the wonderfulness that is White Squall...

VolksCruiser musings...

While it makes all kinds of sense to find a used boat and rehab it, for some of us it also makes a lot of sense to build a boat from the keel up... In my case, the most important factor revolves around draft because there are simply bugger all used boats with real shoal draft in the for sale category.

Our first Loose Moose drew a foot, our second Loose Moose drew around 14" so you may understand why I don't think a boat with four-foot+ draft is really a shoal draft boat.

Plus there is shoal, as in "we can motor into places that are shallow if we are very, very careful" and shoal as in "we-can-sail-pretty-much-any-damn-where-we-please" variety and if you want the latter you're simply going to have to build it yourself.

Which in my mind is a pretty good reason to build a boat...

Speaking of boatbuilding, a friend of mine I mentioned some time ago is starting to make some real progress on his Wharram Tiki 38 project...

A quick thought...

Back on the subject of a VolksCruiser... Of course, a cheap boat is going to have some issues but considering that for a lot of people it's a choice between being able to go cruising or only dreaming of going, which are you going to do? It's a simple choice...

VolksCruiser...

Several readers apparently want to know what I'd consider a VolksCruiser and the best I can seem to come up with is it all depends... Obviously, it has to be affordable and by affordable we do not mean affordable by someone with a trust fund or a Swiss bank account so let's just say something a blue collar worker or someone who works at the local Starbucks can put together with some hard work and a bit of sacrifice. So, for the sake of argument, let's say the VolksCruiser is going to set you back somewhere south of $25K. Ah, I can hear you saying to yourself "But, I can't get a boat for less than $25K!"... Well as luck (or the destruction of our economy) would have it, there are a lot of cheap boats out there... Go to Craiggers and do a search for sailboats under $10K and you will see lots of interesting boats there for a lot less... Because the VolksCruiser needs to be affordable to sail and keep up, it most likely would be under forty-feet in length and not a multihull (Hey, I LIKE multihulls but you're simply not going to find one or keep it sailing on a VolksCruiser budget). The smaller the boat the easier it is to keep things cheap and as the saying goes...  

"Small boat small problems"