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Old 11-18-2009, 07:01 PM   #1
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Now that I'm living aboard one thing I've found frustrating is (obviously) travel on land... bicycles are ok but I've never been much of a biker, I'd really rather walk... right now since my fridge isn't working I'm walking 3 miles one way every day to go to the grocery for meat (i simply must have meat for dinner if I'm not at sea)... one option that comes to mind, and I've seen people with them on deck, is getting a motorcycle... aside from the dangers of having such a heavy high windage item up on deck the logistics of just getting a motorcycle from the deck to the dock seems like quite a feet.... the obvious method would seem to me to use a halyard to lift it and swing it off the boat to the dock.. but even this strikes me as a rather clumsy way to get the bike off the boat....

anybody here have any experience embarking/disembarking a motorcycle from the deck of a boat? any suggestions on how this might be more efficiently done than the way I mentioned?

just something I've been pondering lately.
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Old 11-18-2009, 07:37 PM   #2
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Wow, I'm really surprised that you're not just getting a bike. Three miles is nothing on a bike The Dahon (think I've spelled it right) folding ones are quite reasonable too. You can obtain bikes with small gas motors that are quite fast, too. I don't know if you've looked into this? It would achieve the goal of not biking but yet getting there pretty fast on something light enough to get on board. David has info about such bikes, I'll try and find it for you.

Regarding motorcycles or scooters--I can't imagine putting one on deck of even a large boat like ours. Moving it on and off would be something for a harness hooked up to a halyard or to your boom. If you can beef up your topping lift on the main boom--and you have the topping lift run so that you can adjust it at the mast, with a winch or a jig, rather than out on the end of the boom, you might be able to get it high enough to do the job rather than just working with a halyard. Our foresail is gaff-rigged so we can use the gaff-boom (the upper boom) with it's throat and peak halyards to lift something quite tall and heavy up onto the deck.

Good luck
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Old 11-18-2009, 07:55 PM   #3
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[QUOTE=name='redbopeep' date='Nov 19 2009, 06:37 AM' post='38197']

Wow, I'm really surprised that you're not just getting a bike. Three miles is nothing on a bike The Dahon (think I've spelled it right) folding ones are quite reasonable too.

We purchased two Dahon fold-aways and loaded them on our 23' sloop (2ft being bowsprit if you recall) for our sail from Perth to Cairns. All aluminium and stainless steel and incredibly light with their own easy carry bags they fitted neatly at the end of our quarter berth. Best non boating equipment we ever loaded aboard. 5 years later they travelled with us on part of our Blue Water on Mico (until we realised that there were no roads in the northern islands of Vanuatu!)

The added advantage of pedals over a motor is that you don't have to carry additional fuel. A real concern for us was storing petrol for long term cruising, and to have to carry fuel for a motor bike and the outboard would severely limit us. We eased this considerably when we sailed to New Caledonia by purchasing the smallest sea kayaks on the market with rudders. We hardly used our outboard the entire trip and also got plenty of exercise - not something you get when sitting on your bum in the cockpit for weeks at a time

Fair winds
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Old 11-19-2009, 03:59 PM   #4
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Yeah I've considered a fold-away rigged with a little electric engine... that may be the way to go, it would give better range for groceries and such and not take up too much room... the draw of a proper motorcycle is the long range it would provide.... before I lived on a boat I was a big hiker/mountain climber which is one of the things I miss most... if I can figure out a way to haul a full size motorcycle I'd be able to reach inland for some of the really good hikes which are out of walking/bicycling range...

trying to have the best of both worlds I guess.
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Old 11-19-2009, 04:07 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by atavist View Post
Yeah I've considered a fold-away rigged with a little electric engine... that may be the way to go, it would give better range for groceries and such and not take up too much room... the draw of a proper motorcycle is the long range it would provide.... before I lived on a boat I was a big hiker/mountain climber which is one of the things I miss most... if I can figure out a way to haul a full size motorcycle I'd be able to reach inland for some of the really good hikes which are out of walking/bicycling range...

trying to have the best of both worlds I guess.
Go for the little gas engines. They're cheap, small, light, and have more range than an electric engine that once the battery is dead...you're stuck peddling it back to the boat to charge it up on your gen-set or solar or wind or whatever. You can take those little gas powered ones quite far. As long as you have a source of fuel, that is.
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Old 11-19-2009, 04:54 PM   #6
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any recommendations on little gas engine brands that retrofit to a bike??... I'll do some googling but it's hard to know which is best just from adds and strangers reviews.
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Old 11-19-2009, 05:14 PM   #7
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any recommendations on little gas engine brands that retrofit to a bike??... I'll do some googling but it's hard to know which is best just from adds and strangers reviews.
try for one that has the sprocket or belt drive on the left side (opposite your regular gear cluster) as they transfer the energy in a way that should be less damaging to your bike. The ones that use a friction thing against wheel and or tire are to be avoided. There are a few with small Honda motors that look nice. However, since we don't own one we can only comment on design not reliability.

GL
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Old 11-19-2009, 09:14 PM   #8
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There are other ways to get meat than walk to the store every day. Canning meat isn't difficult, and it means one day to the store, several hours processing the meat, and then several weeks without having to travel to the store. I canned stew, ground beef, meatballs, chicken breasts, pork loin. Home canning enabled me to reduce the amount of fat and salt in the canned meats. Lots of meals one can make with the five choices I put up.

We didn't/don't carry bikes or scooters. We have a refrigerator, however, and that makes a huge difference. To try to do a daily run for protein for that day's meals consumes a lot of a person's time that I would prefer to spend some other way. When we meander around sightseeing, visiting museums, etc., I also check out local grocery or specialty food stores that might be in the area we are visiting. That way I could often postpone another food run for a couple more days.

Do you at least have an icebox? That would also help reduce the number of food runs you need to make.

Have you been able to find public transportation? The Internet is often a better source of information on local transportation than the locals themselves. I learned that when we tried to find bus service in the Florida Keys. It's there, but nobody at the marina we were berthed in waiting out bad weather knew anything about the bus. The internet to the rescue.
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Old 11-20-2009, 12:03 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by atavist View Post
any recommendations on little gas engine brands that retrofit to a bike??... I'll do some googling but it's hard to know which is best just from adds and strangers reviews.
Hi There,

No problem lifting a minibike onto the boat - The Spinnaker halyard lifts it easily over the lifelines onto the foredeck. The problem is then to lash it securely and vertically under a purpose made made canvas cover.

There are plenty of options - the best known mini bikes are :- Honda and Yamaha,

I have recently restored three, The Honda 'Chaly', The Yamaha 'Chappy' and the Yamaha 'Bop'.

Original engines are 49cc - which I removed and replaced with 107cc engines.

Here is a snap shot of them :-

Click image for larger version

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The US has many Honda minis - different brands - the Honda Dax and the Monkey, good ones for a boat, here is a forum worth exploring :- CLICK

Here is my best rebuild- A Honda Chaly, can carry 3 people :-

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Old 11-20-2009, 12:06 AM   #10
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I thought that atavist did have a 'frig but was converting from one R-12 to something else? Is that right?

I was sort of wondering about going every day for meat. I know how to can, but haven't done any aboard our boat yet. Even so, when I see a sale on a particular meat, David and I load up on it and have whatever it is for a few days. We keep an ice chest and flip on the icemaker if we've loaded up on fresh meat. I'll tend to cook part of the meat first day and cook the rest second day but it's usually 3 or 4 days of meat we're getting with one shopping venture.

We love having bikes on board and recommend them to anyone. We have one folding bike and one regular bike. The new, small, gas motors (both 2 stroke and 4 stroke) make for great extended biking for those who want to use a bike for transportation, too.

I think I'll go start another topic about buying and keeping groceries!
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Old 11-20-2009, 02:14 PM   #11
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good memory.... unfortunately the old R12 compressor still isn't running... after talking with several frig shops they all want too much money to charge and test the system for it to be worth doing... so the answer is a new frig... but I can't bring myself to invest the money in a frig at the moment, so the frig is just an ice box for now.... but I don't even use it as that very much it's been such a cool summer here on the east coast...

see you on the other thread.
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Old 03-01-2012, 01:16 AM   #12
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I was just wondering about the sort of bike that someone can fit on the boat if taken apart while underway. Lots of boats seem to have space in out of the way but hard to get to places that maybe it would work to put a regular bike. I don't know about a motor bike.

I'm just wondering how many people have regular bikes on their boats. And if a couple of people do they have two or more bikes.
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Old 08-17-2012, 02:43 AM   #13
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If you are traveling to foreign countries, forget anything w/ an engine. It must be imported into each country & even if you do not end up paying duty, it will need to be registered and you will need to be licensed there, too.
It is a real headache.
We use the local buses here in the West Indies, not taxis. Usually less than US$1.00 each way & you meet so many interesting folks.
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Old 08-17-2012, 03:30 AM   #14
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I agree with the no engine philosophy. The electric jobs with a 200w motor are becoming very sophisticated and have a reasonable range these days. But still, you end up with a full sized bike slowly going rotten on your deck.

I'm going to invest in a fold up treadly..but not until I get sick of walking.
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Old 08-17-2012, 03:53 AM   #15
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anybody here have any experience embarking/disembarking a motorcycle from the deck of a boat? any suggestions on how this might be more efficiently done than the way I mentioned?

Oh you are such a wimp!

If Steve McQueen can jump his motor cycle over 3 runs of barbed wire at a border crossing without a single hair out of place, surely you could manage to clear some lowly stancheons and a couple of fenders


Now that would be a great escape

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Old 08-17-2012, 04:57 AM   #16
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You could always rig a 'flying fox' from the masthead to a well buried anchor on the beach.
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Old 08-17-2012, 06:42 AM   #17
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I've considered this. Have a 125cc Suzuki in storage in Melbourne, but disembarking it would be a major headache in most places in Australia, and the licence issue mentioned above makes it totally impractical in any other country.

Bicycles aren't much good as pack mules but they would probably beat walking so I may get one eventually. Meanwhile I'm planning to move the yacht up north then fly back to Sydney and drive my VW van up to the same town. Probably only a good idea if I decide to stay in one area, but for working ashore it would be a necessity anyhow.

Rob
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Old 08-17-2012, 01:36 PM   #18
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So little room to walk on board that when We can we walk or skate with a two wheel shopping trolley....There is always an alternative....You just need to find the one that suits you..
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