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Old 09-30-2006, 01:52 AM   #1
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Default Introduction & also looking for a heading.

Though I come from a family with a long sailing tradition, -I've been somewhat of a land lubber the last 20 years. On a recent photography assignment on Isla Taboga (Panama) http://foldingkayaks.org/albums/Panama/174_1.sized.jpg

I ran into a British couple just finishing line handling for another yacht in the canal. They were anchored in the bay.

This somehow dislodged a long dormant desire to cruise, much the way some of my forbeares had. My father had the desire to take us all to sea before he died in a fishing accident in the Bering when I was 9.

Anyway, somehow I always thought I'd go to sea. My first completed novel read was "Mutiny on the Bounty" and I was greatly inspired by Robin Lee Graham's, "The Dove", and Tania Aebi's "Maiden Voyage", etc.

Recent literature has included "Sell Up and Sail" and other how to's. This has started me day dreaming about the "perfect" yacht. (Those of you familiar with Kleppers will chuckle now about my current "yachts"!) Don't laugh too hard, Dr. Lindemann did an Atlantic passage in one in '54, -though he was a lot more ambitious (crazy?) than me!

The Coopers sail cruised it seems, for some time in a converted Dutch Barge. This surprised me, but also put another dimesion to my musings. The Coopers also state that it's really important not to get too small a craft, but that too big is just as bad, etc. They state essentially a 40', 12' beam, round (not V) hull is near ideal.

What are the practicalities of converting something so non-traditonal as a barge?

Like Footprints, building is also something occuring to me. Coopers mention building on an existing hull is a realistic option.

Any input?

-Andreas
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Old 09-30-2006, 02:08 AM   #2
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Welcome aboard Andreas.
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Old 09-30-2006, 02:25 AM   #3
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Round hull? I would think you'd roll so badly you'd abandon ship in a matter of days! Friends tell us of the lengths they go to in order to stop the rolling of their trawlers. It's one of the reasons that we have a power catamaran rather than a trawler - coming from a relatively deep fin keep that was very stable, we HATE rolling.

In my opinion, shipbuilding is a skill that doesn't come easy. It's rare that we've seen a nicely finished home-built boat. I've seen lots of badly built/finished ones, though. I've also heard/read about these fellows who built a sailboat in their backyard, and 12 years later either sell it on eBay or finally set sail. That takes a really long attention span - not my forte.

Just as we leave finish carpentry to those family members with the skill and training, we leave the boatbuilding to the pros.

Oh, well, to each his own.
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Old 10-01-2006, 03:23 AM   #4
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Thanks,

I'm not sure what shape hull the Collins really had in mind, I've only skimmed through their book. The essential point seems to be that the boat is secondarily a vehicle, but primarily a home. They go on to point out that a vast majority of their time living on board has been at anchor or in port. I don't have exact figures, but 80 days a year over the past 20 years seems to be average days at sea. They emphasize comfort over performance.

Though the outside profile of their converted barge Hosanna is far from my images of a cruiser, I'm very impressed with pics of the solon and pilot house. Their cruiser Farewellis closer to the outside profile I had in mind but they say the Bermuda rig was a bit more to handle than they liked.

Having completed a couple cruises in trawlers, I can appreciate "We HATE rolling." I'm very fond of the lines on traditional monohulled schooners, ketches and sloops; so I haven't gotten use to the idea of catamarans. I'm sure though, practicality is the utmost concern.

-Andreas
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