[PUP] Top 5 boats - and draft issues

[Truelove39 at aol.com]

Hi  Bob,
 
I  did see Champion, the boat Larry Briggs first circumnavigated in is for  
sale on Yachtworld. When we met him last year, he couldn't say enough about 
this  boat; in fact it seemed to us as though he might consider going back to  
her. A reasonable price, indeed, but a wood hull.
 
>  Unless the budget is high, as it often seems to be on this list, I  would
consider an older boat, such as the Choey Lee LRC--there are a number  of 
these
which have the range to make extended passages.  There is one  on the market
which has just finished its 2nd circumnavigation and I believe  has a range
close to 6,000 miles.

 
*********************


Just  a comment, here; not to argue, but to present a different view of deep 
draft  experience. 
 
Seahorse  draws 7.5 feet when trimmed, and we cruise the East Coast annually 
from  Lake Champlain to New York via the Champlain Canal and Hudson, then 
along the  Jersey coast and up the Delaware, through the C&D Canal to  the 
Chesapeake. We have been up most of the rivers to places like  Philadelphia, 
Baltimore, & Washington and usually visit Annapolis, Solomons,  and other places, 
including small creeks on the Bay. We then travel the ICW  from Norfolk south, 
visiting friends in New Bern before back-tracking to  Morehead City, where we go 
offshore to Mayport, FL, perhaps stopping in  Charleston, before heading up 
the St. Johns to Jacksonville where we lay up for  winter. Ninety percent of the 
time we anchor out in the same anchorages everyone  else uses; of course 
there are some into which we cannot go, but that is no big  deal as there are 
plenty of other spots which are deep enough. Although we are  often in 9 feet of 
water at low tide, we have not had a problem (OK, of course  we have run 
aground once or twice in the ditch) and whereas we watch where  we go, we are not 
slaves to the tide tables. 
 
The  upsides of deep draft are several, but basically, because Seahorse has a 
 sailboat hull with a wide cut-away full-keel, the ride,  without 
stabilization, is much better than in a "trawler" hull. If we do  touch bottom, it is 
touching a few feet below the hull on a substantial  keel where damage is 
unlikely. That is unless you are on coral or rock, but most  of the areas we cruise 
in have silt or at worst hard sand. If we need to, we can  anchor in water 
where there is more of a fetch, and therefore larger  waves, and be more 
comfortable than a smaller boat would be. We are also  able to travel comfortably in 
weather that smaller boats would  not put up  with, and in the spring, when we 
are anxious to get back to the Lake, we can run  offshore from Mayport to New 
York at 7.5 knots through the water and with the  help of the Stream, be there 
in 4-5 days. 
 
We  have not been to the Bahamas with Seahorse, but the PO cruised her there 
many  winters; he tells me that you just have to watch where you go. 
Personally, from  what I have heard, I'll stick to the Eastern Caribbean.



> One  of the problems which folks get into is to buy a deep draft boat--and  
then
try and cruise the East Coast and Bahamas.   So look at the area where you 
will
be doing the first coastal cruising.


Regards,
 
John
"Seahorse"




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