40ft Container yacht?

[dllcooper]

Sheesh - Anyone would think Ascension is the like living on South Georgia with all concern over sea and weather conditions. Ascension island is virtually equatorial weather without any storm systems, tradewind, sun and sometimes cloudy with a bit of rain 80% of the year! Any swell is very predictable as arrives from thousands of miles away usually. Toppers and windsurfers have gone off the beaches, canoes go around the island when conditions allow and most the time the sea is around 1 metre swell. At leaswt with a couple of small boats we can do some racing and get some experience in, limited though it will be. current

It will be limited but at least we can get out on the lee side of the island most the time and get on the water and get some sailing done. Better that than nothing! Tradewinds are pretty constant and no storm systems here apart from when the ITCZ visiting at Easter.

I think a couple of Europas will be the answer, just need to source them in Cape Town and get a decent quote.

 

[Seajet]

That sounds like a fun idea.

Please excuse me / us, but all I've read of Ascension is big swells and difficulty getting ashore from visiting yachts...

 

[dllcooper]

Seajet - Your advice has been most useful and thankyou for all the contributions. Following your thoughts I have decided on either the Europa or a Drascombe. Two will help will help with safety, tuition and added entertainment with racing and things. Presumably sailing wise they will be like large dinghies with a little added equipment? I am sure if you lived here Seajet and most others on here, you would be trying to do the same thing as me!

Yes swell is an issue only because there is no harbor protection so even a slight amount of swell presents problems which would not register with a harbor protection. Swell itself is generally negligible compared to North Atlantic. Tenders must be landed against exposed pier head or directly onto beach. A solid tender will be a good idea I think also!

You mentioned the 22foot version earlier, do you think these could be loaded end to end with trailer into 40foot container? Thanks again to everyone who has contributed, I am without much sailing camaraderie out here!

 

[Kurrawong_Kid]

I agree that you ought to consider a Vega. A very seaworthy boat and a fairly shallow draught. Have you thought of deck cargo?

A Vega might fit. Oodles of them about, cheap and cheerful. Quite low weight which is probably a consideration for getting it in and out of the container.

Can't help thinking that, especially now you're thinking of a larger boat, it would make more sense to sail it to the destination!

 

[sailorman]

I agree that you ought to consider a Vega. A very seaworthy boat and a fairly shallow draught. Have you thought of deck cargo?

Does the Vega go backwards :disgust:

 

[Seajet]

dllcooper,

yes I suppose you could get two Anderson 22' or Hunter 701's in ( did you see that Container 39 quotes containers as max 8' beam not 7'6", any idea which is right ? ) - I only know of one early keelcase - see ' Buyers Guide ' on the website in my signature ) A22 for sale at the moment, an early very sparesly equipped boat but she might suit your needs - haven't seen her in the flesh.

I don't hear so much about Hunter 701's but I expect one could be found, maybe more.

Do you need trailers ? They would be harder to find, especially in decent condition, and tend to push prices up a fair bit.

If you envisage sailing with more than one good friend and / or staying on overnight, it would be worth going for the A22 / H701 option, as the Europa is really small inside.

The Europa would happily take 3 maybe 4 adults day sailing but only sleep 2; The larger sisters would take 4 - 5 daysailng and sleep 4.

I'll be at my club on Sunday, there's a Europa triple keeler there so I'll try to measure how high she is and take lots of pics - though the fin keeler ideal for you would be a bit higher, can work that out from the plans - and measure the height of my 22, the 701 will be near identical.

One thing brochures don't say is height from tip of keel to highest bit on coachroof !

Andy

 

[JumbleDuck]

If you are not planning overnight sails or stays, why waste space on a cabin? If I were you, I think I'd be considering a pair of Drascombe Longboats (22') or, even better, Drascombe Gigs (25'), if I could find them.

 

[Seajet]

Jumbleduck,

the OP is talking about fun racing - two words which don't usually appear in the same sentence as Drascombe - and inexperienced crews; I'd suspect the shelter / buoyancy of a cabin might be useful, and I think there was mention of overnighting at one earlier point.

The A22 cockpit could seat 6 I suppose, if anything it's too big and after a couple of poopings I fitted a gas box which helps reduce volume, though carrying crowds is something I try to avoid, I start thinking in lbs weight with more than one skinny crew !

I exect the 701 is much the same, but haven't seen one in the flesh for a long time.

 

[Lakesailor]

You mentioned the 22foot version earlier, do you think these could be loaded end to end with trailer into 40foot container? Thanks again to everyone who has contributed, I am without much sailing camaraderie out here!

I managed to dock a 15 ft boat and a 12 ft dinghy in the boathouse with about 25ft available by overlapping.

 

[Bajansailor]

Just wondering, did you ask about the possibility of using a 40' flat rack rather than a closed container for shipping the boat(s)?
No restriction on height then, and they would have to be very pedantic (or money grabbing) to charge you for any sideways overhang into adjacent container spaces on deck.

Probably wouldnt be a very good idea to ship a boat this way on a winter north atlantic run, but should be safe enough if going from Cape Town to Ascension?
(or from the UK even, with a small risk of gales in Biscay in winter).

 

[dllcooper]

I have messaged a few boats on South Africa Gumtree and will post any on which are looking likely to be goers for any comments but as Seajet mentioned, any suitable for South African sailing waters should be just right for here also. I think will need to flexible to what is available. Cant see any Hunter Europas for sale in the whole of South Africa apparently!

 

[Seajet]

I just tracked down the UK Hunter 19 / Europa owners association, at

http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Hunter19/conversations/messages/1456

- There happens to be a South African owner there as last message left so I have sent a reply asking if they should happen to know of ideally two Europa's for sale, of course will pass on anything I get back.

It's free to join, just requires inventing a username and password; then any messages would be repeated to you.

 

[dllcooper]

Bless you for your help to a stranger trying to get a boat

Will wait to hear

 

[philip_stevens]

It was all going so well until someone said ' motor sailor ' !

In fact I think you've got it Ric, though I suspect funds may be an issue...

I note they are quoting Max beam of 8'; may be worth checking, dllcooper ?

This gives container dimensions http://www.foreign-trade.com/reference/ocean.cfm

A standard container has a door width of 7'8" but a flat bed has full 8' width - although the list only shows 7'3", the unit is 8' at the twist-locks.

Someone mentioned box height. There are high cube boxes of 8'10", and I have seen even higher boxes.

MSC give sizes here http://www.mscgva.ch/containers_specifications.html

Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermodal_container#Specifications shows 45' containers.

 

[rhumlady]

If you are looking for a sturdy day sailor without a cabin then how about a Hawk 20? Not sure of the beam but you may get 4 in a 40 ft container if the height is right.

 

[onesea]

A thought for the OP. I think before rushing off and looking into particular boats you might want to clarify in your mind what the boat (s) is (are) going to be used for.

Over night sailing? Day Sailing? Teaching?
Is there crainage available? Is it expensive? how often will you have to lift?
Is the boat going to be recovered on a Slip? How sheltered is it? Do yo need road legal trailer or just yard trailer?
Are there any other boats out there? What are they being used for what perceived issues are there?

the OP is talking about fun racing - two words which don't usually appear in the same sentence as Drascombe - and inexperienced crews; I'd suspect the shelter / buoyancy of a cabin might be useful, and I think there was mention of overnighting at one earlier point

Racing can be fun in any boat, X boats are a prime example, wet not particularly fast expensive to run yet popular, IMHO the same could be said for Sigma 33's. There is nothing wrong with them as such, they suited the location/ budget at the time. That I think is what the OP is looking for?

So if he decides fro Drascomes is the way to go, they may not provide the fastest racing but if there are no other boats to compare with is that a problem?

If you are looking for a sturdy day sailor without a cabin then how about a Hawk 20? Not sure of the beam but you may get 4 in a 40 ft container if the height is right.

I like, are they not a tad pricey?

Another advantage of multiple boats is if you break one piece you can borrow from another I guess spares are not readily available out there?

I hope the thoughts help...

 

[Seajet]

Onesea,

unless things have changed those points were covered in dllcoopers' earlier thread;

Boat to be craned on and off jetty esp if heavy swell is forecast otherwise possibly on mooring to be laid

Inexperienced crews, possibly quite a few

Offshore sailing

Overnight sailing / staying

That was the original idea, but we know how long original ideas last where boats are involved...

 

[grumpy_o_g]

Unless AI has drastically changed since I was there (during the conflict) then I would strongly recommend the Drascombe over the Hunter - the swell and "beaches" mean that I'd be thinking about hull strength over speed. You also have got a long way to ship stuff to fix any problems so the simpler the boat the better and I suspect they'll be getting a fair amount of hard use. You'd also want something you can hose down as I seem to remember that bloody dust getting everywhere.

I wouldn't have thought you wanted to overnight unless you're willing to do a few thousand miles given that St Helena is several hundred miles and you've only got the West coast of Africa if you have problems. You would really need to prepared for weeks at sea, especially since the area doesn't really have a prevailing wind, never mind a steady and decent prevailing one.

You can have just as much fun racing a Drascombe as any other boat - it's about going faster than the other boat, not absolute speed. You can also get more people in the cockpit of big Drascombe and, if you get a cutter yawl, you'll have lots of pieces of string to keep people occupied. The main thing I'd have thought was a plus would have been some kind of sun protection but biminis and small day-sailors don't tend to be compatible.

If you're thinking of tenders then maybe a polyethylene one or whatever the plastic is? Something that stands up to being dragged about on rough surfaces (but not one with the twin hulls and foam in between - they can get waterlogged). If you could get one with a simple sailing rig then you'd have something else for folk to sail as well as a tender.

Nothing against Hunters - in fact I really like just about all of them - but I can't help feeling that the circumstances call for a tough, simple and fun daysailer just like the Drascombe. Another option would be Swallowboats or maybe a Hawk 20 - very nice but starting to get more complex and expensive.

http://www.swallowboats.com/our-boats/open-boats/bayraider-20

http://hawk20.co.uk/index.php/hawk-20-dayboat/

 

[single]

The main problem seems to be size so as i said before why not get the RAF welders to knock up a shipping frame to suit the boat? I managed to get far bigger projects sorted out with the RAF. Maybe just ask the right people?
Something like-

View attachment 38495

 

[ex-Gladys]

These are designed to fit in a 40' container...

http://www.extreme40.org/

I'll close the door behind me on the way out...