Pilgrimage/Boondocking Boat

Discussion in 'Boat Design' started by Penitent, Feb 24, 2020.

  1. KJL38
    Joined: Jun 2008
    Posts: 107
    Likes: 16, Points: 18, Legacy Rep: 75
    Location: Tasmania

    KJL38 Senior Member

    A couple of thoughts.

    IMHO you first need to decide on your area of operation and time of year as that determines your SOR.
    As for trailering once you are beyond canoe weights it will be difficult to land without a boat ramp and land travel will be difficult without a good path. If you use a canoe or guideboat and the portages aren't long you could use a yoke instead of a trailer and reduce how much stuff you need.
     
  2. gonzo
    Joined: Aug 2002
    Posts: 16,790
    Likes: 1,714, Points: 123, Legacy Rep: 2031
    Location: Milwaukee, WI

    gonzo Senior Member

    Living simply is what the OP claims to want, but at the same time says 300 lb of supplies, a boat and maybe a bicycle to tow the whole thing with. Simply is a small backpack and you wits (they have zero weight).
     
    clmanges likes this.
  3. Mr Efficiency
    Joined: Oct 2010
    Posts: 10,386
    Likes: 1,042, Points: 113, Legacy Rep: 702
    Location: Australia

    Mr Efficiency Senior Member

    Hiring a cave would be the go ! :D
     
  4. clmanges
    Joined: Jul 2008
    Posts: 576
    Likes: 144, Points: 43, Legacy Rep: 32
    Location: Ohio

    clmanges Senior Member

  5. fallguy
    Joined: Dec 2016
    Posts: 7,598
    Likes: 1,674, Points: 123, Legacy Rep: 10
    Location: usa

    fallguy Senior Member

    I have a feeling you are a cheesed Catholic. But just the same, your point has merit. There is nothing simple about this plan.

    The only thing I can see is a challenge and the potential for solitude.

    I often wonder if my building an expensive boat is antithetical to my faith. But people of faith do things antithetical to faith all the time. This thread, now, has drifted into a territory of advanced polemics I fear. If I start sharing my deep spiritual concerns about boating with strangers....I suppose I digress or we digress here a bit; albeit understandibly.

    There is nothing simple about the plan. Just a man and a fancy boat and a tent and a bag and food and cooking gear and clothes and the good book and internet.;)

    This is not to beat up on Penitent. Part of the reason I enjoy boats is to enjoy the outdoors which my faith deems as God created.
     
  6. gonzo
    Joined: Aug 2002
    Posts: 16,790
    Likes: 1,714, Points: 123, Legacy Rep: 2031
    Location: Milwaukee, WI

    gonzo Senior Member

    I am criticizing the contradictions in the SOR. It is not different from someone claiming he wants to cruise in shallow waters but designs a deep keel sailboat.
     
  7. fallguy
    Joined: Dec 2016
    Posts: 7,598
    Likes: 1,674, Points: 123, Legacy Rep: 10
    Location: usa

    fallguy Senior Member

    I affirmed your point. Frankly, if you were a bit cheesed; it would be right. I don't know how you so quickly find argument where none exists Gonzo. I would like to buy you a beer someday even.
     
  8. gonzo
    Joined: Aug 2002
    Posts: 16,790
    Likes: 1,714, Points: 123, Legacy Rep: 2031
    Location: Milwaukee, WI

    gonzo Senior Member

    I wasn't arguing with you. Sorry if it seemed that way.
     
    fallguy likes this.
  9. KeithO
    Joined: Jul 2019
    Posts: 329
    Likes: 66, Points: 28
    Location: Michigan

    KeithO Senior Member

    Its very hard to beat the value offered by a used sailboat of under 30ft in length. Plenty room for 1 person to live in, can be had for a couple thousand.

    If you want to go ashore, do that. You can tent when ashore if it is more than just a run to the supermarket. If the sailboat has a 2.5-5hp outboard it will be fine for the time you dont want sail up like in confined spaces.

    There are abandoned sailboats at most shipyards and they can be had for nearly nothing since they cost money to dispose of. Plenty of single people use kayaks or sit-on-top kayaks to get back and forth from shore since they are easier to paddle and hoist out the water, while giving up some utility. Think about how to move a couple of weeks worth of water for instance... a 14+ foot kayak will usually have a designated storage compartment which may make hauling things easier. Combined with a wheeled dolly you could portage it if needed, but not marathon distances.

    Example of a $1000 sailboat
     
    bajansailor likes this.
  10. gonzo
    Joined: Aug 2002
    Posts: 16,790
    Likes: 1,714, Points: 123, Legacy Rep: 2031
    Location: Milwaukee, WI

    gonzo Senior Member

    In 1983 I met a German gentleman that was circumnavigating the Americas in a rowing shell. He had started in Alaska and by that time he had gone around the Horn and was in Rio de Janeiro. The shell was the typical recreational type. That is what I call simple.
     
    fallguy and bajansailor like this.
  11. bregalad
    Joined: Dec 2010
    Posts: 113
    Likes: 8, Points: 18, Legacy Rep: 36
    Location: Georgia

    bregalad Senior Member

    Some resources you might want to investigate.
    The most apropos is probably Colin and Julie Angus' book 'Rowed Trip'. They designed and built rowing boats in which they could carry broken down mountain bikes and trailers on which they could transport their boats overland. They rowed/towed their way from Colin's ancestral homeland in Scotland to Julie's in Syria. Sounds pretty close to what you want to do.

    Chris Duff circumnavigated Ireland by kayak. He then went on to circumnavigate New Zealand's South Island and then Iceland by kayak before customizing a Wayland Marine Merry Wherry and rowing from Scotland to Iceland. In each case he wrote books about his adventures. His web site Northern Reach Frameset http://www.olypen.com/cduff/Frames.html describes the latest endeavor and the modifications he made to the Merry Wherry for an extended open water journey.

    The book 'Rowing to Latitude' is Jill Fredstons' account of the many long cruises she and her husband made in small boats. She rowed, he paddled a kayak. In Alaska they cruised rivers and coast. They also cruised Labrador and Iceland.

    I'm sympathetic to these folks who have gone far with little. I could probably add another half dozen resources. My own current boat, that I call a rowing cruiser, is modeled along such lines and by quite a lots of boating experience (building, sailing, rowing, whitwater kayaking).

    My boat is an adaptation of John Gardners' 18' Light Batteua from his 'The Dory Book'. I used little except the table of offsets. Built to dimensions I made many changes to construction and added 5½' decked, watertight, accessible compartments at each end leaving enough room for me to sleep aboard when necessary. With outriggers I pull 8' 10" oars in a fixed seat configuration. Even with the added decks/bulkheads it comes in right around 100 lbs., still reasonable light for an 18' boat. This will be its third season of use. I intended to build a sailing rig since I have a suitable sail, I even built the rudder. But in use I enjoy rowing it and have never gotten around to building the mast, etc. that would only be clutter when rowing.
     
    Tiny Turnip and bajansailor like this.
  12. fallguy
    Joined: Dec 2016
    Posts: 7,598
    Likes: 1,674, Points: 123, Legacy Rep: 10
    Location: usa

    fallguy Senior Member

    I just want to add that rowing is really physically demanding. I am a well built man and my back cannot take it; so romantic notions of rowing are not always so.
     
  13. bregalad
    Joined: Dec 2010
    Posts: 113
    Likes: 8, Points: 18, Legacy Rep: 36
    Location: Georgia

    bregalad Senior Member

    I'll soon be 72 yrs. old. I've broken enough bone that one of my goals it to avoid any more orthopedic surgeons in this lifetime. I fell off my mountain bike a few years ago and broke my hip. That makes hiking less comfortable, but I was back on the bike 8 weeks after surgery. I find rowing easier on my body than paddling a canoe.
    My cruising routine is to start early, before it gets too hot, row for 3 ish hours, which usually means 10 or so miles, take a break during the hot part of the day and then do another few miles before setting up camp.
    I've known old guys who hike, old guys who paddle white water and old guys who sail, and some who no longer can or want to do any of it. As always YMMV.
     
  14. Penitent
    Joined: Feb 2020
    Posts: 18
    Likes: 3, Points: 3
    Location: USA

    Penitent Junior Member

    Thank you Tiny Turnip for your words.

    Used sailboats:

    Hmm. I had no idea that getting used sailboats at that price was possible. I have looked up prices, but apparently I didn’t know where to look. The used sailboats I had seen were all tens of thousands of dollars, even for 26 foot. Discussions I have seen on the matter all seemed to fit that.

    Well that could change a lot.

    I am still at the level that I probably have all kinds of false assumptions without even knowing it. So while that means my knowledge is currently too low to give a meaningful SOR, I think this thread has still taught me enough to make a “boat learning plan” that, over the course of months and longer, can give me that knowledge.

    I will read the references you all have given me. And things that are similar enough in spirit that’s it’s clear I should. And watch lots of video.

    I will specifically study rowing, paddling, sailing, cruising, micro cruising, single handling, liveaboard life, various forms of trailering, and Angus style expeditions. And boat repair/kit building.

    I will borrow as many boats as I can, not just to boat with, but to fill with different loads, haul different amounts ... generally train with beyond travel on the boat.

    I plan to get a used canoe for a few reasons. One, many set ups described in this thread were canoes or similar enough that I believe lots of canoe experience would give me significant translatable knowledge regardless of which set up ends up chosen. Two, borrowing can give me breadth, but I think only owning can give me depth, and a used canoe is easiest to own. Getting depth in canoe camping will still give significant skill translatable to micro cruising in a different set up. And it can be used as a platform for different set ups. An outrigger and/or sail can be added. All around in many ways it just seems like the right set up to learn.

    What proportion of sailing and rowing? The more I think the more I realize is: Until I get more knowledge I have no idea. I don’t yet know the relative strengths and weaknesses of each. So right now I’m at the point where I should just have a specific plan TO learn those things, and then I will be able to restart this planning with more knowledge, and minus false starting assumptions.

    I promise I will not do anything before I can do so safely. Yes I’ve kayaked and canoed now and then since childhood, but this was summer in area MEANT for total novices. I couldn’t just float down a river today without probably killing my self in a strainer or by hypothermia or who knows what, unless it’s specifically intended for novice use. As such I will not do anything new without someone more experienced whose knowledge I trust, and who I know takes safety protocol seriously. For certain parts I won’t try it without formal instruction. I will not try anything solo before I have significant experience, and even then I will only do something solo that is very well within my then current bounds. And yes I will always follow basic protocol like having a PFD. I will properly learn things like unswamping a canoe and later heaving to. I will not just “learn the fun part.”

    I do not think that alone will logistically enable long term sustainable independent religious life. However I DO think it will allow me to then accurately plan without false starting assumptions.

    What I just described seems to make sense as a process to proceed, but maybe I’m missing something.
     
    bajansailor likes this.

  15. KeithO
    Joined: Jul 2019
    Posts: 329
    Likes: 66, Points: 28
    Location: Michigan

    KeithO Senior Member

    https://portsanilacmarina.com/abandoned-boats/

    This is just an example from mid Michigan, not a place with a huge inventory of sailboats.... but even here they can be had. If you go to Virginia, Florida, Chesapeake bay and surely many more places, there seem almost to be more boats than people, with very few of them being used.
     
    bajansailor likes this.
Forum posts represent the experience, opinion, and view of individual users. Boat Design Net does not necessarily endorse nor share the view of each individual post.
When making potentially dangerous or financial decisions, always employ and consult appropriate professionals. Your circumstances or experience may be different.