Why sail over power? Why power over sail?

Age old question: Which is a better boat powering method-Power or sail (Sail, of course, with a motor auxiliary!)? Why? Just want to see what happens. My intention is another "Secrets of Yacht Design" or "TP52" thread, but any response is acceptable. Let's get discussion and impassioned debate going here, fellow boaters be you powerboater or sailor.

 

power & Sail

There are many reasons to have a boat. The hard part is to determine what you want to do with it and design it accordingly power or sail.

 

If you want to go a DISTANCE , sail is the most reliable and least expensive.

If your on a TIME sked , marine motorist is the choice.

The Aux in a sailboat is frequently for std of living items ,as the genset on a motorboat is.

FAST FRED

 

That is a huge question ain't it.For a work boat you would like a motor so you don't have to wait for mother nature.Or for a productive day of sport fishing you would like some motor.In shallow water a sail boat is a pain in the ***.But for peacefully goofing off a sail boat is cool It is quiet and beutiful.Sailing takes skill and work you my not want to do. You my want to sit on your *** in a trawler with a bottle of rum.A trawler may not be at the mercy of the wind but it is relying on a engine that will fail at some point.A motor sailer is a option .To me they seem like useless pigs.but they do look cool.The ultimate cruiser to me is a large catamoran thay dont draw to mutch ,they go good under sail ,they go good under power ,plenty of room to party,they look cool,IT is the ultimate goofing off boat.A power yacht is good to get somewere fast some folks don't want or need to do that,I could see how sailing could be more theraputic to the sole.A cigarete boat or huge magnum is cool for hot doging and showing off .Any high performance boat is awsome power, or sail, or rowing, performance is sexy.All of that said i'll take the catamoran and the rum thank you.

 

"All of that said i'll take the catamoran and the rum thank you."

Take a great life preserver if you venture far from shore ,

sail or power Cats can and do Capsize , and are Quite stable inverted.

"A motor sailer is a option .To me they seem like useless pigs.but they do look cool."

In the grand old daus of 50/50 MS were indeed pigs.

Today with lighweight engines , feathering props , and fully battened sails the 90/90 is a reality.

The best of both worlds to be able to voyage at good speed , efficently , and with many creature comforts.

You DID want ice in that rum , and a hot shower once in a while ,didn't you?

FAST FRED

 

By the question: Which is better..., I mean that it's your opinion backed up by any facts/design theory that you can muster.

 

Actually, the sail boat will have higher operating cost that a displacement power boat unless you use a Junk sail.

Either way, I’m getting too old for handling sails and I’m tired of sitting in an open cockpit in bad weather. I’ll take mine with a pilothouse and an engine, thank you very much.

As for the catamaran, they are wide and hard to fit into a marina. They ride rough in a beam sea and twist apart in quartering seas.

Regards;
Mike schooley

 

Hi Portager.

It's interesting to note that just about no one manufactures a pure displacement power boat. Even the 'trawler yachts' seem to be moving to full planing performance.

This I find very sad. I find it sad because I am convinced that the days of cheap energy (oil) must some day end. And there seems to be little refuting this idea. The issue for debate seems now to be not if but when.

I imagine designing something that will last say 20 to 50 years only to find it useless well before its time.

My suspicions that this will happen sooner rather than later are based to a large degree on the squirrelly behavior of my own country's government. I fail to be convinced that anyone in the US government was fooled by WMD. And many well respected senators voted for war authorization, knowing full well (as even I did then) that doing so all but guaranteed a war.

It occured to me that maybe it wasn't Saddam that they were frightened of.
Or even Osama.
Maybe it was something worse.

I bring this up even at the severe risk of being chastised for being political. In my veiw, this is not a political issue but a design issue. If, in fact, the days of cheap oil are comming to an end, then boats are going to have to be designed to reflect that fact.

And the 'end of cheap oil' thing seems to be going the same direction the 'global warming' thing went. At first it had few die hard supporters, but then, as time went on, more and more experts and public policy people quietly stealt on board. Why, even the 'W' himself has at least one foot on the gang plank.

I think that this thread is the appropriate thread to bring this up on. I think, that between us all, we can introduce fuel sipping pure powerboats, comfortable and conveinate to use sail boats, and even boats that fit in the broad space in between.

It may, in the end, be our partriotic duty to do so.

Bob

 

Portager, how old are you? 40? 50? Even 60? That's not too old for a daysailor with self tacking jib or even a sailboat like a nauticat (with enclosure)

 

I don't want to go were the water isn't warm and clear.I'm talking nice days swinging in the hamok ,radio on chilling.kids snorkling,prety girls in bikinys,Keg on Ice ,ancore out,sails doun.I don't want to cross the world I know were the good times are.shoot a trimoran might even be beter yet.

 

Sharpii2, Patriotic Duty has not existed since Vietnam. Americans can not afford to keep paying the extortion prices of the deregulation of everything. That is closer to the real reason there is rapidly becoming the excessively rich and everybody else that is left to pay for their toys. Do not insult all of us. Reduce the use of gasoline so prices will go down? Cars get 2X the mileage of the ARAB OIL EMBARGO period. It costs 6X as much now. Gangs of deregulators control your life and future. Everyone, please, "stay the course", I can see all the "points of light" ahead. Funny how 99% of the boaters can not see bright lights or good times ahead.

 

With oil at a high point it will be interesting to see how quickly the sand tar oil can be brought on line.

Canada having 3 or 4 times as much oil as Saudi , and new processes bringing the tar sand oil in at about $10 or $11 a BBL the price will head back down soon enough.

In the past OPEC has lowered the price to blow out the competition , but with so much US cash floating in China , their energy demands are temporarly high.

Its only a temp thing as the Chinese have stolen an unwanted (by the US) method or using fission with NONE of the polution or radioactiv "Melt Down" scenerios possible.

Invented years ago by a group of MIT grad students , it has not even had the grace of a tiny test reactor in the US. Thank the LOONS !

The Loons that have aluminum foil piramids on their heads to ward off overhead power line juice , and the "Death Rays" from cell phones had sway with the focus group run administrations in years past.

With at least another 20 years of "research" funding dissaperaing into politically correct studies FUSION is still a great future dream.

WE now have the ability to power cars with ZERO hydro carbons and ZERO emissions , the only thing in the way was the Trial Lawyers Union.
That's thankfully over as class action suits are now fed rather that done by 3 groups of imbeciles in selected "courts".

Sails last on adverage 5 years of exposure to direct sunlight , plenty of time to circle the globe at a leisurely pace.

300sq ft is about all a single person can handle (reef) easily. A 300 sq ft main is well under $2K with full battens , that lasts a long time.The addition of a roller furling sail will go another $2k with roller gear at $1000 mac.

So a $5K investment will take a boat the usual 30,000mn for a single trip.

$5000 is only 2000 gal of diesel today , hardly enough to get out of sight of land.

Many pennyless circumnavigators have had a grand time , ever come across a traveling marine motorist that was pennyless?



FAST FRED

 

kids snorkling,prety girls in bikinys? Your kids? Pretty girls meaning your wife? Just kidding.

Patriotic duty is felt by everyone, whether you like your nation or not. I may not like the current Administration, but I'm still a patriot. Why waste $ on a big, expensive v-hull planing yacht when a sailing yacht or an efficient, diesel semi-planer will do as well?

 

"will do as well?"

Define "as well".

FAST FRED

 

as well: (grammar is incorrect because I can't find another way to put this) just as good, an equivalent job

In this case, I think that "a big, expensive v-hull planing yacht" is wasteful "when a sailing yacht or an efficient, diesel semi-planer" can do the same things, albeit slower, but in a safer, more efficient manner.