[PUP] PPM, Convergence, narrow boats, etc.

[Ross Anderson]

I agree that there are some excellent production boats out there that
fit the bill and used are a good buy with systems sorted out. Before I
built a semi-custom boat in the U.S. after selling the used Skookum
that had carried us for so many years, I looked at some of them
including the venerable Nordhaven 46. Most did not fit the bill
because of the low headroom and tight quarters in the engine room not
to mention the access. I think that many first time trawler owners
with circumnavigation hopes forget how important it is to have
accessible systems throughout the vessel. It may not be a problem in
the marina but caught out in a blow when suddenly there are problems
you will appreciate  a work area that is safe and systems that can be
accessed easily. Granted I'm rather round and at 70 a senior with
joints not quite as flexible as twenty years ago but please take this
into consideration.
Another area is fuel/range. 1000 gallons of fuel I don't believe is
enough even at @ 7 knts and 3gph. Leaving a 50Gal safety that only
gives one about 2100 mile range not including using other systems off
the pto such as hydraulics, active stabilizers, and diesel heaters
etc.
Carrying increased fuel ads weight but also some flexibility to fuel
at more advantageous ports.
One area I forgot to mention was the rudder. My male ego has always
felt that if one could not effectively "Spring" the boat into a dock
you should give up the helm so we have no thrusters in our boat but
did install an "Articulated rudder" which is amazing. My wife still
wishes we had gone for the thrusters but we have never failed slipping
into crazy berthing areas and we saved some bucks in the process.
God Bless - Ross - 10&2

On Sat, Nov 8, 2008 at 11:55 AM, John Marshall <johnamar1101 at gmail.com> wrote:
> What continues to impress me are the folks who buy a production
> trawler-type boat and then cruise the world, and then find a ready
> market for their boat when they return. There are lots of folks out
> there doing it on Krogen's and Nordhavns.
>
> They might not have the ultimate passagemaker as defined on this list,
> but if they take their time and wait for the weather windows, its not
> that hard to circumnavigate. You just have to keep going, bit by bit.
>
> The first couple I heard of that did this, the Sinks on a Nordhavn 46,
> didn't think it was a big deal. They are a very unassuming, retired
> couple. Came home after their circumnavigation, tied up the boat and
> went on to do other things. Boat sold easily and I think they got all
> their initial capital out of it. Lots of others are out there now
> doing it as well.
>
> The Flanders, who are currently cruising on Egret, another N46, are in
> the middle of their journey (after going around the horn a couple of
> times) and their statistics on number of "weather days" is
> interesting. They'd completed 7+ years and more than 41,000 nautical
> miles of world cruising. Out of 2639 days at sea:
>
> 1) Only 3% of the time (86 days) have they been more than a day's run
> from a safe port.
> 2) Only 9 partial days of really nasty seas (.003%) when they couldn't
> take shelter. Four of those days were by choice (working to a schedule
> and ignoring the forecast) and five days not by choice.
> 3) None of those nasty days even approached survival conditions.
>
> Even though their average speed has only been 5.8 knots (and thus they
> couldn't outrun or avoid weather) the state of weather forecasting
> (they hired a private forecaster, Omni) has improved to the degree
> that you can avoid most of the nastiness these days. As long as you
> let the forecast be your sole guide of when to start a passage.
>
> While it seems very sexy to have a purpose-built ultimate passagemaker
> that can cruise through a hurricane, those boats tend to be very hard
> to resell and often at great losses. In contrast, the mid-range
> production boats ($500-600K range used) often return most of their
> capital investment after a number of years and still get you there
> just fine. I've been unable to find record of a single incident where
> a Krogen or Nordhavn has been lost at sea due to weather (hitting the
> shore is another matter).
>
> You have to also consider the ease of resell and return of capital
> when you look at costs. Few people buy a boat and keep it forever.
>
> John Marshall
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