manta trimaran

I remember Damian....you probably have the most fun contemplating boats! You might go sailing if you actually acquired one. Now don't pick on that Nicol you guys until you see how well the work was done, someone has been busy.

 

I agree entirely, didn't mean to bag it out in any way, just curious as to whether it was the same boat, looks 1000 times better now

DAVE

 

Quite right, and much cheaper aswell.

I don't know if I've mentioned it but perhaps I should explain:

My partner has a chronic illness. Between a full time job and 2 houses, and my own medical problems I'm rather time poor. I haven't been out sailing nor riding a motorcycle in over 2 years. We have no social life apart from eating out a few times a week. I suspect many of my friends might no longer recognise me

When in new zealand a few years back we suddenly discovered she has a chemical sensitivity. This has left us reluctant to holiday in hotels etc due to the possibility of arriving and finding she can't stay.

I have one of my properties in Brisbane on the market. My intention is to go bush and consolidate our properties. I hope this will do us both some good.

Understand none of this is complaining. We are very lucky in other ways, but:

If we have the right boat we can use it as accomodation while we travel, whether it's a bigger boat and sail to the destination or a trailer sailer used as either overnighter or caravan. It may even suit as accomodation while we look down south for that property when the time comes.

If I spend signifigant $ on a boat that's money not available for the property. Many unknowns on the property issue.

To make the boss comfortable I (not her) deem certain minimum accomodations, aswell as the chemical thing. She couldn't be inside the J5 because of the ply/mould/chemicals etc

So you see I have rather more things to consider than you might normally. If there were no woman involved it would be much easier, but on the other hand I determine she is worth the trouble. The consequence though is that I think a lot about the options. There are a lot of close boats popping up, but nothing quite right. Nothing close enough yet to open my wallet. I'm now boatless, and historically that doesn't last long. I don't want to jump on anything rashly though, the potential for it to become trouble is large.

I could have made the mitchell what I wanted and more easily, but getting it here was overwhelming and risky. The manta could be a good solution and appears in good order, but no proper double and potential inside for chemicals that might affect her. The $38k Nicol is odd looking and I can't see how the accomodations are laid out. The $25k nicol may have now or will develop hull problems. And 36' of any boat is a lot to deal with. If it goes wrong the bills!

So yes I do a lot of naval gazing. I apologise if it bores you.

I do keep comming back to a mini bridgedeck though. It just seems to tick more boxes than anything else. The trouble here is most are ply and I don't have time to build a glass one. Perhaps a little barrier will come up at a good price. Even a red baron. Both have design elements I don't particularly like but then there is never an absolutely perfect boat

 

Taking her along to look seems an idea. After a candidate passes your muster put her in it for an afternoon to see how she likes it and if there are any sensitivity issues. If you can identify the chemicals she reacts with, perhaps by consulting with a specialist you'll be able to narrow your list down. Any boat can get mold- it can be cleaned, but if the problem is the synthetic fibers on cushion covers you may only need to make a few alterations to a candidate.

 

You're quite right of course.

The thing is the boss is basically bed ridden. She gets up for medical appointments and the odd bit of shopping, but if she has a hard day she's in bed for days afterwards. Thus I have to be picky about dragging her about doing "extra" things.

A plastic surface can be cleaned well. The J5 wasn't lending itself to that. It's possible the interior wasn't even epoxied (sp?) just varnished. It was built early 80's and people did different things then.

I'd like to discover exactly what is affecting her, and as you say it would make life generally easier for us. I could check hotels for example. We haddn't had the trouble prior to NZ and it really messed up our holiday. We spent a LOT of time looking for somewhere she could sleep without suffocating. Trouble is it's another thing to organise, and every little thing she is involved in is a struggle.

Anyway this is mostly why I've been leaning toward plastic boats. I can replace soft furnishings as required as you say. Exposed ply inside may be a problem. I guess I'm looking for a "pot of yogurt" boat

The manta has a glass hull but signifigant ply/timber interior, which worries me a bit. Pity it's 2000 kms away. The beds are far from ideal aswell.

Oh well, maybe that perfect boat is just around the corner

 

Make sure it isn't the cleaning products she is allergic to.....they usually contain the most chemicals.

 

Epoxy "should" be better than polyester for MCS. I had a freind with MCS and she couldn't do laminex, chipboard, new computers, new anything plastic but she could live on an epoxy coated Hitchiker.

Polyester continually gases off which is why poly boats always smell plasticky. Epoxy doesn't flash off the styrene monomer so a ply boat should be better if your partner is allergic to plastics. I know you don't like ply but an epoxy boat could be the best bet for your partner.

Go stick your head in a locked hatch on a poly boat and do the same on an epoxy boat. The poly hatches smell of good styrene.

cheers

Phil

 

If plastics are the problem natural fibers on the cushions etc....should be used too. Different types of foam have different off gas rates, recovering old cushions can help as they've already given off their worst.

 

It SEEMS to be mainly cleaning chemicals, insecticides, that sort of thing.

I had thought that of polyester, and thus prefer epoxy. The trouble with old west type boats is the epoxy is often breached and then you get both rot and mold but also the plywood chemicals comming out.

Oddly "natural" stuff like dust and mold don't seem to bother her as much. I mentioned mold before because it was rife in the jarcat.

The boss was using tea tree oil the other day, and frankly it made me sick, but that stuff doesn't seem to bother her. She washes with vinegar, soda and hippie detergents. I wash my own clothes in "normal" detergents and she burns when she touches the fabric, despite extensive rinses in the wash cycle.

Thank you for the thoughts.

 

When in Rome.....time to embrace the hippie life, those "normal" detergents and scrubbers are toxic. Now if you want to singlehand it won't matter if she is allergic to you....but those things aren't good for anyone, she just hit her threshold first. Burn some sage and chant at your astral aura and contemplate that the only thing beside wood in ply is resorcinal. Do a species test with samples, Meranti may be out, fir maybe neutral, just hope you don't have to look for all okume.