Maybe just use a little less...

For going on decades, I've been an advocate for electric propulsion. While I'm enthused that electric propulsion is no longer a freak show, I do have some reservations about an all-electric boat.

I grew up at a time where if you were on a boat, electricity was hard to come by and something of a luxury. I still tend to think of electrics on boats being somewhat 'iffy'.

Sure, we can now throw money at a bunch of solar, install a shitload of lithium batteries, and have an electrical system that will support a medium-sized village but, the question remains do we really want to?

Take a look at this solar array...

Having had electric propulsion on a similar sized boat (34-feet) I grok that the array is just about big enough for someone's idea of what normal power consumption should be for a modern convenience based lifestyle. The problem arises by the simple fact that a 34-foot boat is just not designed to carry a thousand watt array. Sure, it's possible but I shudder to think about sitting out a hurricane or big squall with that kind of windage over my head.

Then there's the vicious consumption spiral of adding an air fryer or whatever is the current must-have-amp-hungry-appliance on the must have list which requires even more solar. Which, as we all know, is the gateway drug to a bigger boat.

Throw in my general distrust of anything electrical on a cruising boat and you can see why I seldom think the answer to any issue on a boat is more power of the electrical sort.

Which is all a roundabout way of saying I'm currently considering adding Starlink to the boat but jumping through all sorts of hoops to justify it in our energy budget. Since I really don't have room for another 200-watts of solar it would seem the most obvious solution is to use less amps elsewhere and tighten the belt energy wise.

I expect I'll be moaning more about the process in the not too distant future.

Something that pisses me off...

So there's this guy who wants to buy a (new to him) boat to sail off into the sunset. As it happens, he also has a YouTube channel that has quite a few followers and more often than not his videos are both entertaining, as well as educational. 

Just to be fair, I'll point out that his last boat rehab/refit was sometimes painful to watch due to his rather steep learning curve and boat building skills but in the end he got the boat launched and cruising in a reasonable amount of time and it floated right side up.

He's a guy who learns from his mistakes which is one of the most important boat building skills and surprisingly rare. Thus armed, I expect his new boat will come together successfully in a reasonable amount of time and within a sustainable budget.

Apparently, there are a lot of people who don't share my opinion that his current choice of project boat makes sense as his comments sections are rife with naysayers telling him that he can't, it will all end in tears, and if he takes on the project they'll go watch some other channel more attuned to their idea of how to choose a boat.

From my experience, naysayers have seldom, if ever, built or refit a boat. There basic mindset seems to be "If I can't do something, nobody can" so they spend their time telling people how to live their lives and take exception when you go your own way.

The sad part is that the naysayers (AKA assholes) exert a relentless pressure that can be a real obstacle to getting a project completed. Back when I was building the first Loose Moose, I was getting so much negative input about the rig that I lost confidence and found myself in a depressed death spiral that turned a two-day job into a month-long stasis where almost nothing got done.

The project in question is a Wharram cat, that for me at least, seemed like a pretty good boat to fix up. Sure it looked like a dog's breakfast that would require some money and a serious application of hard work but it looked doable. Just for the record, I've built a Wharram, know how they go together, and have finished quite a lot of boat projects, so I have some idea of what I'm talking about. If his project boat was up for sale here for twice as much as he paid, I'd have bought it in a second.

Wharram cats are designed to be both affordable and easy to build. While they may not be the flavor of the month, they are good boats. Why they seem to offend so many is a mystery to me but then you just can't fix stupid.

Anyway, check out the project because I expect it will be a fairly interesting, educational, and entertaining series. I know I'll be keeping an eye on it and rooting for a successful end because I just love to see naysayers pissed off.

OK, I'll admit it...

I've got a bad case of bowsprit envy! While perusing the Craigslist I saw a fifty foot Bugeye going for $16.5K.

Now, I'll be the first to acknowledge that I can't really afford to cruise on a fifty-foot vessel no matter how much it's a work of art and sexy as hell. Adding in the fact that the sparred length is a whopping 65' and that's just going to make haul-outs, marina visits, and incidental cruising expenses a lot more than I can afford.

But, still, the prod on "So It Goes" at two feet compared the the magnificent bowsprit on the Bugeye makes me feel just that little bit embarrassed.

So it goes...

a great conversion...

 As always, Atom Voyager takes an outboard conversion to what I can only term as 'High Art'.

Seriously, this is the way to do it.

a survey worth checking out...

Jimmy Cornell has recently done an update of his 1979 cruising survey and it's quite interesting. Luckily, PBO has Jimmy Cornell's article about the survey. 

You're still here?   

A plethora of Columbia 26 Mk 2...

Perusing the Hawaii Craigslist I noticed there seemed to be an abundance (four!) of one of my favorite boats the Bill Tripp designed Columbia 26 Mk 2. Which, as it happens, is the little sister of the Columbia 50. 

Very little sister

Now, a lot of people think a 26-foot boat is far too small to live or cruise on. Then again, when I was living on a CAL 20 there were a couple of 26-footers that I both lusted for and considered palatial. One of them being the Columbia 26 and the other was the Lyle Hess designed Balboa 26 either of which I considered both seaworthy enough to head out for Hawaii or down to Baja to go on an extended surfin' safari. For the record, I also considered the CAL 20 just as seaworthy albeit it did constrain the surfboard quiver quite a bit.

Later, when I decided to build a Bolger Jessie Cooper while living in Paris I had no qualms about a couple cruising or living aboard a 25.5 foot boat sailboat but we lived and cruised it quite successfully for four years. Better yet it allowed us to live at a prestige address next to a film studio for just about $60 a month (including electricity and water). 

Fact is, the only reason we decided to build a bigger version of the Jessie Cooper was not about comfort but the need to carry enough boat-building tools, film equipment, and space for a dedicated office to run a business. If we only wanted to live aboard and cruise the 25.5-foot boat would have been just fine.

The situation with the plethora of Columbia 26 Mk 2s for sale, which all seem to be close to turn key is pretty awesome. So awesome in fact that you could pretty safely just fly to Hawaii with cash in hand knowing that you could find one at a reasonable price that would be a lot cheaper than a condo or hotel. Hell, a long vacation cruising a Columbia 26 around the Hawaiian Islands would just about pay for itself compared to doing the hotel/condo ting.

Something you might want to think about...

an affordable composting toilet installation...

Just another reason you need to be subscribed to Atom Voyager. 

Well now this is sorta interesting...

For someone with an urge to sail away to new cruising grounds this news story had me doing the happy dance. 

Japan has always been on my list of places I wanted to sail towards and maybe it's a good time get out the charts and take the idea off the back burner.

a siren call from afar...

 I've always had a love/lust attraction to Bill Tripp's Columbia 50...

What's not to like? It's salty, sexy, and has that awesome flush deck. Obviously it's too much boat for a couple on a budget but there is currently one for sale in Hawaii with an asking price of $35K that has me coming up with all sorts of compromises and justifications to make it a smart decision.

I mean, seriously, a boat as sexy as this going for $0.92 a pound is some kind of deal. Factor in the fact that the asking price is seldom, if ever, the sold price, we're talking about a such a deal situation.

The problem is I can do the math and no matter how much I try to fudge the figures, it winds up being a problematic situation with no good outcome.

Compared to a CAL 34, which in the same general condition would cost around $8K with a cost per pound of $0.83, it still seems cost competitive.

Well, until you do the real world math.

A friend we met in Los Palmas while we were waiting to cross the Atlantic who had a Gulfstar 50 told me many times that buying and cruising on their Gulfstar 50 was a big mistake. They'd had a Gulfstar 37 which he considered a nearly perfect boat but for the circumnavigation his thoughts were that bigger was better and the added room would allow family members to visit along the way.

Not only was the Gulfstar 50 bigger it cost a lot more on every front. More work to keep it up, more money for bottom jobs, marinas, and fuel with the kicker being it was also more work to sail it which sapped a lot of the enjoyment they had in sailing. Lastly, they found that family seldom visited and when they did, they preferred to stay in a hotel or resort.

I get that and over the years I've seen the same situation play out time and time again. Still the elusive siren call of the Columbia 50 still whispers in my ear...

A channel that is better than most...

 

A couple crossing the Atlantic in a 31-foot boat...

and in the "You get what you pay for" follies...

Ég hef kannski verið að tala á íslensku...

I like to think of myself as being a critical consumer. Sure, cost is always going to be a factor when I'm buying something for the boat but it's not the only factor.

The overall quality and utility of a product are the two biggest factors when I'm looking to acquire needful gear. You can be assured that anything I get for the boat is going to be a quality product. Which is a roundabout way of saying that I'm cheap but not stupid.

Now, about that tool roll...

Yes, it is only fifteen-dollars and yes, there are any number of tool rolls I could have bought for a lot more money like the Sailrite kit which cost a chunk of change and would have taken a couple of hours for me to sew up making it something like an $80 tool roll.

The big question is would the Sailrite kit be worth $60? Would it be worth four times as much as the Walmart tool roll?

For me, the whole idea behind getting the tool roll is to better organize tool stowage and improve working on various projects with better tool organization. As such, buying four of the Walmart's tool rolls would really make grabbing tools for a given project off the boat a helluva lot easier and faster than I'm currently doing.

That said, I don't know how you work or your process. What I do know is how I work and the tool rolls make a lot of sense. Because I'm fairly leery of all products these days, I bought one of the tool rolls from Walmart to judge its quality, utility, and price before I decided to buy more. Being pleasantly surprised by the quality of the product, I was able to ascertain that it would work for its intended use. The tool roll passed with flying colors.

Yeah, I know we all have that inbuilt knee jerk reaction that cost defines both quality and utility but in our current world of profit led consumerism it just no longer applies. 

Especially where boat stuff is concerned.

The whole central issue of the VolksCruiser idea is that you really have to be a critical consumer which simply translates to doing your homework and never, ever take things at face value.

Nóg sagt.

regarding two tool rolls...

So, Sailrite has a great instructional video on making a tool roll that really impressed me. It also rocked my thoughts on my ongoing effort to better get control of tool stowage aboard "So It Goes". 

You might want to check it out...

It's really a killer tool roll for sure.

Of course, being both lazy and cheap I explored affordable ready made alternatives and found that there were a couple of reasonable facsimiles available between $10 and $15 and Walmart had this one...

It's a real killer of a tool roll as well. The one I bought was well made with excellent materials. So good in fact that I may buy a few more which will go a long way to better organize my tools.

While I really like the Sailrite kit it's just a bit too expensive when compared with what the Walmart tool roll is going for.

That said, I just may use their basic construction guide to make a more specialized tool roll for my rigging kit which seems to defy any sort of organization I've attempted to wrangle the rigging gear into a civilized form.

Two exercises in simplicity that won't cost you $5K...

I've always liked this windvane self-steering gear...

Back in the day it worked very well for a lot of cruisers.  Sure it can be improved by making t more complicated but for a well balanced boat and a sailor who knows what they're doing it does the job just fine. Pretty much anything you need to know to build it can be sussed out from the photo and a couple of hours of thought.

While a kiss more complicated there's a lot to be said for the Moitessier inspired Trismus self-steering vane.

Great  if you have a transom hung rudder or adding an auxiliary rudder to the mix. Anyone interested can find some very simple plans that tell you everything you need to know here.

Either vane gear will get you across an ocean and at a DIY cost of a couple of hundred bucks it's well within even the most frugal budget.

A film well worth watching...

I've been wanting to watch "The Sailor" a film about sailor and sailboat designer Paul Johnson ever since I heard that they were filming it.

There's even a five-part making of series and now The Sailor is currently streaming for free on YouTube.

Need I say more?

All the wrong questions...

One of the things I've noticed with the advent of YouTube cruising video channels is that they seem to inspire all the wrong questions about getting a boat and sailing off into the sunset. Which is hardly surprising as most of the YouTube videos seem to fall into the cinema faux zone. Which is not to say there isn't some information to be gleaned from some but they are mostly covering a non-existent sanitized reality.

Now, books on the other hand...

Books can be just as bad or worse than a YouTube video but most of the books that have become staples are just about the best investment one can make if you need information you can count on. So here are some books that I have on the book shelf aboard "So It Goes".

•  World Cruising Routes by Jimmy Cornell
•  World Cruising Handbook by Jimmy Cornell
• Tropical Cruising Handbook by Mark Smaalders and Kim des Rochers  
•  Self Sufficient Sailor by Lin and Larry Pardey
• Cost Conscious Cruiser by Lin and Larry Pardey
• The Voyager's Handbook by Beth Leonard
• Spurr's Boatbook Upgrading the Cruising Sailboat by Daniel Spurr
• Cruising as a Way of Life by Thomas Colvin
• Practical Yacht Joinery by Fred Bingham
• Blue Water Countdown by Geoff Pack
• The Sailors Sketchbook by Bruce Bingham
• Cruising World's Workbench by Bruce Bingham
• The Complete Riggers Apprentice by Brion Toss
• The Sailmakers Apprentice by Emiliano Marino
  
• Practical Junk Rig by Hasler & McLeod
• The Chinese Sailing Rig by Derek van Loan
• Seaworthiness by C.A. Marchaj
• The New Cold-Molded Boatbuilding by Reuel Parker
• Buehlers Backyard Boatbuilding by George Buehler
• The Windvane Self-Steering Handbook by Bill Morris
• Self-Steering for Sailing Craft by John Letcher Jr 
• Voyaging on a Small Income by Annie Hill
• The Captain Nemo Cookbook Papers: Everyone's Guide To Zen & The Art of Boating in Hard Times by Hal Painter
  

I actually, as our waterline attests, have a lot more books of the boatbuilding/design/cruising ilk but the list are the ones I pick up on a regular basis for problem solving or inspiration and they've earned their place on my bookshelf.

Even more important is the fact that they have all saved me a lot of money over the years and even made me money from time to time which is why they're still on the boat and continue to be.

For starters, I'd make an effort to get a used copy of "Spurr's Boatbook" and Pardey's "Self Sufficient Sailor" as the books that will answer most all of the needful questions you might have. I'd then follow up with Annie Hill's great "Voyaging on a Small Income" as it's the most reality based book you'll be able to find. I'd also make a point of getting a copies of "The Riggers Apprentice", "Sailmakers Apprentice", and "Practical Yacht Joinery" as they cover just about anything you'll need to sort out during a refit or when you need to fix something.

I'd also recommend a copy of Hal Painter's "The Captain Nemo Cookbook Papers: Everyone's Guide to Zen & The Art of Boating in Hard Times" because life is just too short to take things too seriously.

As for the others on the list, they are all worth reading but more of a "get them when you need them" but still highly recommended.

I'm sure everyone else will recommend something from Nigel Calder who has written good books and I'm sure I have a copy of his "Boatowners Mechanical and Electrical Handbook" somewhere on the boat or it may have been purloined by someone I loaned it to (and folks wonder why I no longer lend books or tools) but to tell the truth I've never actually found it all that helpful and I'd much rather have a copy of John Muir's "How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive" as a problem solving aid if I was having mechanical issues.

Lastly, another book some speak highly of is "Sensible Cruising- the Thoreau Approach" by Casey & Hackler which was sorta OK but not a book I'd recommend.

back to basics...

Back when I was building a catamaran in France just about everyone I knew (and many I did not) shared their opinions that catamarans were a death trap. Yachting Monthly, PBO, Sail, and Cruising World were all running articles and editorials telling me that cats were just not the sort of boat any sane person would want to take cruising.

Today, most of the advice I get is that monohulls are history and that I Need (yes with a capital "N") to cruise on a cat because all the cool kids are on catamarans now.

Different times and fashions...

Which brings me around to the thing I like about boats and cruising is the freedom to do your own thing in spite of the prevailing fashion and its related pressure to conform. In short, it's the freedom to do your research, homework, and fulfill inner desires to come up with what works for you within the realm of what's possible.

Now, while I'm more focused on long term sustainability and affordable boats, I have no issue with folks who cruise on a $750,000.00 catamaran and the lifestyle it entails. That being the case, I'll point out that there's not a whole lot that I find interesting or useful that I can take away from someone cruising within that envelope.

On the other hand, I can learn a lot from a couple cruising full time on a Westerly Centaur with a limited budget. Which is not to say I'm advising you to cruise on a Centaur but simply that you get to choose what sort of boat best fits you rather than what the current fashion or fad decrees is the right or best way to go.

Which, considering the whole peer pressure and keeping up with the Joneses aspect of things, is not always an easy road to follow these days. Still it's not impossible to sort out a course through the noise with a bit of study and critical thinking based on what makes sense for you and your situation.

Next up, a reading list and a homework assignment.

Putting together a VolksCruiser on a budget...

I'm sure if you're considering getting a boat and going cruising on a budget you'll be getting a shit load of push-back from just about everybody that it just can't be done. Kind of a bummer that.

The truth is, there's a plethora of good inexpensive sailboats just waiting for someone to find them and get them back in cruising trim. Of course, they'll tell you that a cheap boat is just a hole in the water that you throw money in while you get too old to go cruising.

Sound familiar?

I'll point out that there is, sadly, plenty of fodder for those opinions. I've seen boat projects take twenty years to get to a point where they're abandoned. Way too many projects that lost control of their spending and become an economic ball and chain that insures the project will never come to fruition and let's not forget the boat projects that led to the breakup of relationships. So, yeah, there's a lot of evidence that building or refitting a boat can become a clusterfuck of epic proportions.

But, does it really have to be that way?

The thing is, while I've seen lots of failed projects swirl down the ceramic bowl of disaster, I've seen lots that didn't. Have you ever wondered why so many people fixate on things negative rather than the positive where boats and boat projects are concerned?

Most folk I've known with projects that went south made fairly obvious mistakes that, with a bit of forethought, could have been easily avoided. As they say, hindsight is 20/20.

For the next few posts we'll be delving into various positive and negative situations and how not to fall into the various traps and pitfalls that lie in wait for an intrepid soul embarking on a boat project.

 

a non-diy dinghy option...

I just saw that WEST marine is clearing out their Sportyaks and I expect that at $349.88 it's just about the cheapest dinghy you're going to find. Granted, a Bolger Tortoise would be both cheaper and better to build but if you're averse to cobbling your own dinghy together the Sportyak is not a bad choice

another design in the same vein...

Yann Quenet's Skrowl 900 is something of a TARDIS when it comes to the most livability and comfort in a minimal envelope (just under 30-feet) shoal draft world cruiser.

Pretty much everything I want in my next boat.
 

an interesting boat...

Certainly not the same old same.

There's more info on the boat on the Oddity blog and Yachting Monthly that's worth checking out.

Well worth reading...

The new Latitude 38 is out and it's a pretty good issue.

There's great article on anchoring physics that just may have changed how I anchor in the future and it even explained the origin of the word "nylon".  Seriously, it doesn't get better than that and Cruising World really could take a lesson.