My little piece of peace

Engines are not eaten alive like sails are, in the tropical sun covers are as important as sun screen. You can reckon 5 years tops. Your engine will do 20 years and more.

If its not sun eaten its rot and mould. Rigging needs replacement 5 years if you want insurance and winches need cleaning along with ropes, sheets.

Iron sail cloth sail,- same same.

My point was beggars cant be choosers, if it wont go anywhere because of lack of confidence then the boat is not finished.

If its a rig or no rig at all then whats the answer. The other point was that if its not had a mast on it yet then any mast will fit as well as the designed one would.

A mast its just an alluminium stick it squeezes out of an extrusion machine in some Sydney industrial area then it is made to fit your boat. Get a second hand one and fit that in the same way.

I understood that the money was the fly in the ointment here.

Obviously some some psychological attachments here I am not aware of.

 

Oh Frosty of the "stink-boat" faith... Have a look at the masts in the vicinity of your water-chariot.... the stays are all attached to the MAST by holes drilled thru, and fittings inserted and riveted or otherwise fastened, one each side and one midships fore and aft... A hitch-hiker has two close to the centreline forward and similarly placed two aft... NONE midships (on either side of the mast)... This means that the mast is already weakened by the holes and other un-necessary bits hanging about the place and halyard tensioning winches, and who knows what other stresses have been exerted in order to shape the mainsail into something that will do some useful work in its previous life...

The new mast extrusion is not all that much more expensive, but the swaging, the stainless wire, Halyards (if I opt for hanked on sails) or the roller furling/reefing systems should be new to handle the 45 sq metre sails, so there is not much by way of a "saving" in using a discarded mast...

So, as an old age (67) pensioner on Au$500 odd per fortnight, are you going to give me the money? Au$40,000 should see me under way again if I can find a crew or three?

You are affirming what I was suggesting sail or engines are about the same cost when all things are considered... Both still cost money... To effectively, (read with a bit better safety when manoeuvring in tight quarters), motor-cruise, I need to get a pair of fixed 3 blade propellers 15" x 11.5" to replace the folding 2 blade ones fitted at present...

 

You can weld holes in Alluminium. You can get used rigging and cut them back with Sta locks or Noresmans.

I saw Pakistani once in Lamut that had sailed from Uk with scaffold pipe as a mast and he had built his boat from just sheet steel,- he was not embarrassed.

But I dont think the mast is the problem is it?

 

No, mast is not the problem - it is lack of money... Simple ... and only Au$40,000, and no way to get any more, I am sort of "defeated" for the moment... I will eventually find a work-around...

A used mast is not much of a saving over a new one as pricing is pretty competitive now...

55 years ago I would have been bold enough to sail of in a boat made of second hand jam tins or bent sheets of well abused corrugated iron sealed with road tar... (I actually had a canoe made as such.)

 

Mas, Queenslanders are never defeated!

A while back you said something about the family home being deemed to be half yours, so there must be a legal connection and entitlement for you in it. If your wife doesn't want to go cruising, then why don't you discuss with her to downsize the house - she won't need as big a place if you're cruising, and it should free-up the bit of cash you need. Yes, I know the market has come off a few %, but its only a small amount really. Don't let time march on waiting for better conditions, just go for it now.

 

Even if the AU sails are so poorly made to last only 5 years, all the more reason you should keep it simple and less expensive. Putting a cover over the furled sail is also easily done. The difference is you don't need a constant flow of cash to keep moving and you're not dependant on trade winds... which can be a bugger if you miss AU by a km or so

 

Hi B@B,
Not as simple as it seems, a non starter...

Hi Fanie,
It is not the poorly made sails, more the quality of the fabric in resisting the harsh Australian sun, and ALL cruising sails are fitted with the furler shield nowadays...

http://yachthub.com/list/boats-for-sale/used/power-boats/oram-c39-ms/96270

 

The is it cheaper to motor or sail thread has some great stuff in it on this. What it boils down to is how often are you sailing VS how often are you motoring compared to the purchase and maintenance costs of the motor vs the sails/rigging. Turns out in most cases, depends on what area of the world your in, motoring is cheaper. Specially if you consider that its not that hard to find sources of alternative fuels rather than be paying $6 a gallon or whatever marina prices are these days. One sail can cost as much as one engine, add rigging and an auxiliary and it gets pretty easy to see how sail power $ adds up fast. Someone mentioned rigging maintenance being tied to insurance as well. New twist that only adds to the costs stacking up against sail. To bad though cause sailing is so much more fun.

my two cents
cheers guys
B

 

Hi Boston,
Where is the "is it cheaper to motor or sail" thread - the internal search function failed to find it? A link please...

 

Hi Mas, Boston,

It is exactly for that $ reason one will want a basic sail that functions well enough.

Motoring is of course a lot easier, and a sail setup does clutter a boat. Motoring does however require a constant $ flow, while sails are a once off every say 5 years.

In your case Mas, if you had small el cheapo outboards and sails instead, would you be limited in where and how far you can go now ? Personally this is what I would like to have, both.

 

The google search works better for phrases. >>> http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/boat-design/cheaper-motor-sail-31976.html

 

Hi Nurb, Thanks...

Hi Fanie,
I looked carefully at outboards and
= 1) access to clean & fresh petrol is not reliable in Melanesia and
= 2) the propellers are too high revving and
= 3) small in diameter to be effective in pushing a 6 tonne boat at 'displacement' speeds,
= 4) particularly on a more than moderate seaway where cavitation and spinning in the air will likely cause damage to the engines...

Hence "runs in Coconut oil", as that can be made in almost every village where coconuts grow... - It may take a while but requires very little technology - which most have anyway - a scraper that removes the meat from the freshly opened coconut, - sort of like a heavy steel spoon with "scratching teeth" mounted on a simple wooden stool...

 

Yeh!! and then what do you do with the flesh?

 

Hi Frosty,
That requires a "confidentiality agreement"... or Ask your lady how she makes the coconut oil for cooking...

Here is a couple of pictures of Douggies boat... Sam walked out - ? - - caught in the glow of a setting sun...

 

A young nut has soft slimey flesh that gets thicker with age. After a few years it turns into a hard fibrous thick layer of 3/8 or more.

This hard flesh is used for curries and is removed by a machine that many people have here in thailand consisting of a motor sticking through an alluminium washing bowl with a horrendously dangerous knob of spikes, it makes light work of the most stubborn nut flesh.