[PUP] The boat you own....

[Peter Pisciotta]

> Our plan is to sell our Defever 38, travel to
> Florida next year and buy a capable power boat, 
> and take 4 years to bring her back to Alaska.

I was on a friend's Willard 40 this past November for
the Baja-Ha-Ha. We were one of 4 powerboats, one of
the other three was a Defever 38, a slightly smaller
version of your boat (tri-cabin trawler). The owner
and his wife were from Alameda (San Francisco), but I
seem to recall they'd been up in the PNW at some point
too. They were in their early 60's I'd guess, and
traveled with an adult friend for crew. They seemed
pretty comfortable on that boat - basically the same
itinerary that you are contemplating, just in reverse.
The owner had spent a couple years doing a lot of work
on the boat - rebedded every window, installed
batteries, alternators, SSB/Pactor modem for wx,
watermaker, new electronics, etc. It's not the boat
they would have selected for the trip (they'd have
liked a pilothouse for the long passages), but its the
boat they owned when they decided to make the trip,
and they succumbed to the advice of the great sailing
magazine Latitude 38: "don't wait for the boat you
want, take the boat you own." I think he was a
teacher, and she was a nurse and they retired slightly
young.

I think weather risks can be reliably mitigated along
this route through patience, planning, and prudence.
I'd select a boat as much on its ability to suit my
needs at anchor as underway. Let's face it: you'll be
gone for 4-years - 8-months a year, about a 1000 days
on the boat. The last delivery I did through the
Panama Canal (California to Florida) accumulated 500
engine hours - roughly 20 sea-days, or 2% of the time.


Peter
www.SeaSkills.com