What makes the best offshore cruising yacht

Discussion in 'Sailboats' started by LEADGlobal, Sep 27, 2017.

  1. PAR
    Joined: Nov 2003
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    PAR Yacht Designer/Builder

    Engines generally are sized to just get it done, most not opting for the larger upgrade when they purchase it. This is a pure business decision by the manufacturer; why install something that only 10% of the customers will pay extra for. The same is true of tankage. Cruisers always complain about not having enough, but given their market share, again a business decision. Pilothouse or open cockpit, well as sailors get older, they tend to opt for the pilothouse, but the younger boned don't mind lounging around under a bimini or soft dodger.

    I have found draft issues a major concern. We're shoal as it gets down here, so my 8.5' of draft is a severe limitation. Even with 6', it's tight most of time. I agree you still need the dink, but getting in closer would be nice and would offer more opportunities to get in the lee of an island or something occasionally. Agreed simple is usually better, though displacement can be taken to unforgiving extremes. I've found hull form and moderate displacement a better compromise than a hefty hunk of yacht. This offers some performance, particularly in heavier air, yet can still be tolerable in a rough slosh.
     
  2. TwoBirds
    Joined: Aug 2016
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    Location: Gulf Islands

    TwoBirds Junior Member

    will you be building multihulls or are you sticking to monos?

    2b
     
  3. Nick.K
    Joined: May 2011
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    Nick.K Senior Member

    I have an elderly friend who has been an amateur yacht designer and professional boat builder all his life. His philosophy is simplicity and economy, his own (steel) boat has a lifting centreboard that can be lifted out straight through the deck if necessary. In the summer he lives on the boat but in the winter he leaves it in a mud berth outside the yard where I work. The berth costs him nothing and in the winter gales when the yards are putting extra shores under the hulls on the hard, his own, tucked behind the lee of a mud bank never moves...in fact half the time it's not even in the water. It's not glamorous! but it is safe, easy and free. I don't think he has issues with antifouling either.

    Phil, I'm sure it must have been you I chatted to in the summer unless you have a boat double...anyhow, such a good looking boat that when I saw the owner rowing ashore I had to go and say hello. You are understating the "done the thousands of miles" bit aren't you.. Hope the trip went well.
     
  4. Dolfiman
    Joined: Aug 2017
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    Dolfiman Senior Member

    If this can be helpful for you, these shipbuilders of semi-customised cruising boats sharing some of your specifications and with similar production rates :
    - Garcia yachting / ~ 300 boats in 40 years :
    Notre chantier http://www.garcia-yachting.com/chantier.php
    - Allures yachting :
    Notre chantier http://www.allures.fr/chantier.html
    Nota : Garcia and Allures are now in the same group Grand Large yachting including also the shipbuilder of cruising catamarans Outremer :
    Leisure Market http://www.grandlargeyachting.com/en/services/leisure-market/

    - CNB yachts / ~ 100 boats in 30 years :
    CNB https://www.cnb-yachts.com/semi-custom/bordeaux-60 , with 1000 l of water and 930 l of gas oil.
    Nota : CNB is now in the Beneteau group
     
  5. LEADGlobal
    Joined: Apr 2017
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    LEADGlobal Junior Member

    I have a trimaran design in my porfolio but not sure i will build it unless someone really wants us to. I have never built a multi but its something in the back of my mind. Dont think i will go the catamaran direction though, just personal preference. I know there are some really nice cats out there.
     
  6. LEADGlobal
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    LEADGlobal Junior Member


    Yes i am very familiar with these companies. Infact the Garcia yachts have had a great influence on my designs. I consider them to be one of the best built yachts. They sure have perfected aluminum sailboat construction.
     
  7. LEADGlobal
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    LEADGlobal Junior Member

    I think a good design is to have the outside helm that we all like when it is nice weather, but an adition of a inside helm in a deck salon would be a great benifit, but of course that stretches the simplicity concept a little :).

    I have been caught in the doldrums before and had to power my way for a week to find a breaze. Sure was nice to have plenty of fuel onboard.
    Your right about their business decision, after all 95% of yacht owners are coastal cruisers, thus no need for extra fuel.

    My 45' design with the keel up has a 5 ft draft. i think that extra foot of clearance will help a lot. I also have dragged bottom a few times trying to get into some nice bays :)
     
  8. PAR
    Joined: Nov 2003
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    PAR Yacht Designer/Builder

    I used to charter in the USVI on an all teak 53' ketch, with 6' of draft. Some areas are fairly deep, but mostly it's just shoals and constantly moving bars. I had found a way to plow a 12" wide groove through most of them while I was there. I was fortunate the boat had considerably mass (340 D/L), so was able to carry on, even when I kissed the bottom. It would literally shudder a bit, I'd immediately tack and she'd just plow on through. One of the most comfortable boats I've ever owned, for deep water work, though she was slow (10.2 SA/D) and not particularly weatherly. She did have good tankage (400 gallons water, 500 fuel), but that 130 HP Ford diesel did like to drink.
     
  9. Phil Christieso
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    Phil Christieso Junior Member

    Yes Nick July 20 to 24. Presently at Tory Island.... great cruising here in Ireland
    All the best Phil and Lynda Yacht Windora
     
  10. Phil Christieso
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    Phil Christieso Junior Member

    I thought he didn't want to build more ugly boats
     
  11. Phil Christieso
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    Location: Nelson NZ

    Phil Christieso Junior Member

    What is different about Windora is not the HP but the prop diameter of 28"x17"x 4 blade. This is very unusual for a 43' yacht. We burn 3 litres per hour at 6 Knots
    But when the **** hits we can punch into 30 to 35 knots of wind and 10 foot seas and do 6 Knots at 1500 rpm very comfortably.
    What is hard to understand is why dragging this prop has no detrimental effect on the boats sailing performance.
     
  12. Angélique
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    Angélique aka Angel (only by name)

    I guess you let it spin freely . . ?
     
  13. Phil Christieso
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    Location: Nelson NZ

    Phil Christieso Junior Member

    Correct. Less drag. It turns an alternator - the pulley ratio is 8-1. At 5 knots under sail it makes 20 amps, at 7 knots it makes 35 amps.
    The gearbox is a PRM and the cutlass bearing is still the original fitted over 40 years ago - a great bit of engineering.
    Up until 5 knots of boat speed we lose around 1/4knot when charging. Once we are over 5 knots there is no detectable drag from charging.
     
    Last edited: Sep 28, 2017
  14. LEADGlobal
    Joined: Apr 2017
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    LEADGlobal Junior Member

    Haha well.. there is lots to benifit from technology and from the past. I think the best yacht would have some of both.

    A while back they made a replica of the Schooner Yacht America. From the waterline up she was a beautiful classic, but from the waterline down she was a rocket ship.

    I love he classic lines of my old William Garden, but there is many things on her that is not practical or even dangerous for offshore sailing.

    Pasport yachts try and make a pretty good example of beauty and technology, but i think there is still much to be improved on. Bristol yachts was a good example, too bad they went out if business.

    I think what scares me with the new style of buyers is their lack of understanding or
    care about craftsmanship. Ive walked into the interior new boat that i would consider a Wallmart special, to see people walk out and say, "Nice boat" and im looking at it trying to figure out what in the... they are talking about!
     

  15. Angélique
    Joined: Feb 2009
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    Location: Belgium ⇄ The Netherlands

    Angélique aka Angel (only by name)

    Maybe swop the 65' Mac for this 53' Wittholz (Cheoy Lee) in Nova Scotia, and have some money left I think, although she still has almost 8' draft, and a broken engine, and it could be a desperate seller (?), which makes it a bargain right now I believe . . :cool:

    Perhaps best first inquire for the condition of her 1981 foam cored deck though . . :eek:

    Anyway, good luck . . :)

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    P.S. - Some more, for comparison.
     
    Last edited: Sep 29, 2017
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