General question

[xort]

My boat would work perfectly! Encapsulated keel, so no worries about the gold keel falling off. With an external keel, you'd have to mold the gold into the shape of a keel. Not realistic. But loading gold bars into the keel sump is possible. Dropping the ingots into the access hatch of the water tank is easiest. Plot twist is that the boat now has little water supply left...do I get credit for co-writing?

[sailordave]

Just stash the gold in the keel, sump, water tanks, whatever...

And then SHIP the boat to wherever ya wanna get to!

Course that takes all the drama out of the story; Big storms, things breaking, pirates, etc.

For not too many thousands of dollars you can ship it across the ocean, probably for what you'd spend on outfitting the boat to actually sail it across.

[sailingdog]

Also, opens up the possibility that a nosy crew member on the ship that is carrying said boat will look and find the gold and steal it out from under you.

Originally Posted by sailordave

Just stash the gold in the keel, sump, water tanks, whatever...

And then SHIP the boat to wherever ya wanna get to!

Course that takes all the drama out of the story; Big storms, things breaking, pirates, etc.

For not too many thousands of dollars you can ship it across the ocean, probably for what you'd spend on outfitting the boat to actually sail it across.

[N0NJY]

Originally Posted by camaraderie

Ahhh...gold is heavy...could be used as ballast in the keel instead of lead.
Big problems:
30 years ago...no electronic navigation. Would need to use sextant and charts.
Can single hand a boat that large...say 35-40 feet full keel sloop...but need experience in sailing at least smaller boats to even attempt it.
Also need to be sailing in the right direction at the right time of year which may influence your plot.

If yer gonna do it...don't make a botch of it like Patterson recently did with SAIL!!

Actually, lead is heavier than gold.

The molecular weight of gold (Au) is 196.96 whereas the molecular weight of lead (Pb) is 207.20. So theoretically, you could melt down the gold into the ballast instead of lead... paint it gray and go for it.

[painkiller]

Guys, I just had an awesome idea. Let's write a book in which a petty criminal, in way over his head, attempts to smuggle about 2 tons of cargo one-quarter of the way around the world. I bet we could get it done quicker than Lubber and scoop him.

[blt2ski]

You might check out a book by Tood McCormick called "Vanishing Act" His book is more recent in that some open 60's are used as boats. Fast easy to single hand. There is one paragraph review on page 124 in the Dec 08 Lats and atts magazine. Also has teh same boat I do but on the east coast!

Some of the motor sailer type boats might work as an option too.

marty

[chucklesR]

Technology changes and practices in regards to sail controls, in particular those that allow a largish boat to be single handed have changed dramatically in the past 3 decades. Research would be required to get it right.

The idea of losing a keel in a storm is not a good one, most boats sort of capsize and sink when that happens, those nasty little keels ya'll have on your monohulls are actually used for stuff.

[N0NJY]

Originally Posted by painkiller

Guys, I just had an awesome idea. Let's write a book in which a petty criminal, in way over his head, attempts to smuggle about 2 tons of cargo one-quarter of the way around the world. I bet we could get it done quicker than Lubber and scoop him.

LOL

[RAGTIMEDON]

Originally Posted by N0NJY

Actually, lead is heavier than gold.

The molecular weight of gold (Au) is 196.96 whereas the molecular weight of lead (Pb) is 207.20. So theoretically, you could melt down the gold into the ballast instead of lead... paint it gray and go for it.

Minor problem with disinformation. Molecular weight refers to weight of one mole, which may or may not be equal in physical size to a mole of another substance. A more accurate measurement for ballast is pounds per cubic foot. Wikipedia says gold is 19.3 grams per cubic centimeter, which figures out to be about 1205 pounds per cu. ft. Wikipedia says lead is 11.34 g/cc which translates to about 708 lbs/cu ft. If I had my Handbook of Chemistry and Physics handy I might be more accurate and athoritative, but Wikipedia will have to do.

[sailingdog]

RTD is correct, density is far more important than molecular weight for solids. For gases, the molecular weight and density are basically related, so it doesn't matter... since a mole of gas takes up a fixed volume.