|
Budget
To be clear, I'm not expecting to have an open ocean worthy boat for 15k, I am looking for something I can live on periodically for the next year and prepare it. I can save about 8k a month working in alberta, so I'm sure it wont take more then a few months to pay for a boat. I dont think apprentice Ironworkers are treated as well anywhere in the world as in fort mcmurray alberta. I will take my time, learn to sail my boat and learn what it needs. I think I have a fairly good idea of what is required just because I have lived on my dads 30' planning hulled fishing boat during the summers for 7 years. That said I didn't realize crossing the pacific was at all feasible until recently. But I know what its like to be in rough weather, or sweeped away by the current, I would feel vary nervous about going over ripple rock in any sailboat, in any tide. The current and an aggressive autopilot busted our ruder there.
I would be doing most of the work myself. Some people look at it as, "I get paid $30 an hour and this refit will take me 1000 hours, therefor it costs me 30000", which is fine, but I see it as training, experience and fun. So I'd rather spend my time then my money. I realize that often a fixer-upper ends up costing more in the long run, but if you survey it accurately you end up with something more personal for not much additional cost. And this is what I want, my requirements are not typical, and finding a boat that meets my needs perfectly isn't going to happen.
sailingdog, because I plan on living on the boat 30' seems like a pretty good size to me, if I can't get something that is at least 28' for 15k then a may as well just work a few months until I can afford it. But from what I've seen on yachtworld and other places that shouldn't be a problem. And because I would eventually like to cruise in Asia and beyond, a fin keel is almost out of the question. I do like speed though, and I think it is a matter of safety as well on the open ocean so elongated fin and skeg would do, I think. A full keel would of course be fine, it would be easy to steer, ride rough weather well, protect the ruder, I could use tidal ways easier, etc.
As for the electric engine thing, the only reason I mention it is because, if the engine were aging, I might be ok with it because I would consider replacing it with an electric. A good friend of mine worked on the University of Calgary solar car, so I have some idea what it is capable of. Many of the cruisers I have read in magazines say they use very little fuel, there was even one guy who had been cruising on a 30' boat for years without a motor. He just sculled in and out of ports. You would need some serious gahonas to try that in some of the anchorages around vancouver island though. There are lots of ways to die on a leeward shore, if I have to put my life in the hands solely in a temperamental old diesel then I shouldn't be sailing. If you have weather reports, gps, a storm jib, vhf and a sea anchor/drogue you should be fine without a diesel. That said, anyone can make mistakes, and a diesel could save my ass. I would definitively want a diesel until I was comfortable sailing.
|