Long cruise in a "woody" yacht?

[jimi71]

Has anyone made any long cruises in an older wooden-hulled motor yacht (not a sailboat)? Like a Chris - Craft Connie or similiar?

Was wondering how a 45 motor yacht (circa 1968) would fare on a long ocean cruise... (600 gallon fuel tank and twin deisels)?

Would love any and all input!

Thanks.

[Guesser]

huh? Not a sailboat? That's Blasphemy! On Easter no less.

Seriously though, when I was a kid, my father had an old chris craft and as I recall, when rough seas came around it was pretty scary. In heavy winds and big waves those old flat bottomed, top heavy boats are pretty dangerous., just ask Gilligan and the Skipper....

[Sailormann]

As long as you don't go offshore you should be okay, there are a lot of folks doing the Caribbean thing..

[jimi71]

Originally Posted by Sailormann

As long as you don't go offshore you should be okay, there are a lot of folks doing the Caribbean thing..

Exactly what I was thinking, Florida to Virgin Islands....Tortolla, etc..

But I guess my general curiosity is (hypothetically)....has anyone sailed one of these trans-atlantic?

[Sailormann]

I guess someone, somewhere probably has. It dould be a problem though if you were to take the standard deep-vee hull with big superstructure. As nice as some of the cruisers are, they are not very stable. There are trawlers that do it successfully, they tend to have a lower house and more weight concentrated in the bottom of the boat. I would still think that they are less safe than a ballasted sailboat.

If you look at the Nova Scotian and New England working boats - try Googling Cape Island Boats - you'll see a hull form that is pretty seaworthy with a very high bow and a pretty flat bottom. Notice that there is no real superstructure to add weight or windage.

[jimi71]

Originally Posted by Sailormann

If you look at the Nova Scotian and New England working boats - try Googling Cape Island Boats - you'll see a hull form that is pretty seaworthy with a very high bow and a pretty flat bottom. Notice that there is no real superstructure to add weight or windage.

I see what you mean about the Cape Island Boats...I also see a similiarity in the bow shape with those and some trawlers.

[Sailormann]

Gives the boat some buoyancy up forward and breaks the seas. The standard deep-vee break the waves nicely but are a little top-heavy to be ideal for offshore...no reason not to go south in one though. If you are going down there in a wooden boat, you need to take some precautions against the worms. Google 'Teredo Worms' for more info - I don't know a lot about them, or how common they are but I have heard some real horror stories. I believe it's a underwater termite type of thing that is difficult to get rid of.

[hellosailor]

'Teredo Worms'
Heck, you don't need to go south for them. Since the water in NY Harbor has gotten cleaned up--they've even eaten the pier pilings that far north. Big deal some ten years ago, that all the pier pilings had to be relined with plastic/concrete sleeves and many replaced as they were so badly eaten.

The Law of Unintended Consequences!

[sailingdog]

Cool... pollution as anti-fouling and worm protection... LOL

[Sailormann]

I wonder what effect the bacteria they turn loose on the oil spills to eat them up has on fibreglass ???