Atlantic crossing

ulava

ulava

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ked up in wester ross
plockton.com
Can any one recommend web sites or books for making the crossing mainly south routes ,provision calculations, weather sites etc lso wondering if there is such a thing as fuel bags that could be made to measure that would line water tank (600 gallon) . Just any help steering me in the right direction of any practical info please
Cheers A
 
Its only a dream, but no harm in doing the calculations in the mean time and i think to do the crossing i would require to convert the water tank (six hundred gallons) to fuel rather than have it on deck sloshing about in bags or drums.
With this option i can still make my own water take bottled but also when you arrive you could convert the tank back to water by removing the bag from the tank, all of this to give range with a 15% margin built in, yeh i know buy a sailing boat trouble is wife says she hates cooking at 30 degrees /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Please dont be flippant with me she always says that. One thing i have not checked out yet was regards baffles in the tank to reduce sloshing ie stability
Cheeers for the help so far A
 
Not being 'flippant', but it would probably be more economic to ship it over if you want to cruise the other 'side'. Bill.
 
Would it be feasible to put a small steadying sail rig on your fine Malahide trawler?
I have some friends who arrived here from the Canaries in the mid 70's on an old MFV type Scottish pilot cutter called Traprain Law - she was equipped with a venerable Kelvin diesel engine that produced all of 66 hp (swinging a large propeller though, with a hefty reduction gearbox), and I think it ran more or less continuously during their crossing.
They also had a basic ketch rig for steadying sails, and could rig a square sail on a yard for downwind work, which helped a lot apparently re fuel conservation.
 
As i said at the start bit of a daydream, but i will never know if the boat is capable of a crossing without working it all out on the back of a fag packet first, well at this stage , any web sites worth looking at ? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Just get rid of the other 'arf.. trade her in for a newer, far eastern model..
or as KBT 'Bill" says.. ship her over, maybe you ar'nt cut out for it.. if the tart thinks cooking at 30 degrees is a raggie thing, then you aint taken her offshore, she will try to cook in a rolling pig of a boat for 3000 miles.. the sailing boat is FAR more stable.. heel is heel.. rolling like a pig is a mobo on engine.

basically.. forget it or trade her in.. or, buy a real boat... lol /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

and of course, this is only the planning process... /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
Please excuse Capn Farty, he's not known for his command of polite English on this forum. On this occasion he does have a point (about the rolling). The 'Trade Wind Roll' is a well known phenomenon, not enjoyed by almost every transatlantic sailor. Unless you have some form of stabilisation system your boat will roll. 30deg could well be right!
Seems to me your plan for the fuel tank is overly complex. I assume you're thinking of a one-off crossing to cruise the Caribbean so I would have thought having done your fuel calculations then a system of cans on deck with a portable electric pump system would be cheaper and easier.
On the 'traditional' route you should have the wind and sea behind you, so apart from the roll you should make reasonable time. Canaries to Barbados is approx 2800nm, so at a steady 10kts I guess that's about 12 days continuous motoring. If it were me (well, actually my boat has sails so it wouldn't) ,I'd be looking at carrying about 3300nm total range, but you could go with 3000nm and keep a very careful eye on consumption.
 
Its only a dream, but no harm in doing the calculations in the mean time and i think to do the crossing i would require to convert the water tank (six hundred gallons) to fuel rather than have it on deck sloshing about in bags or drums.
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More of a nightmare than a dream!

600 gallons = approx 2.7 tons

How big is your boat?

Water is MUCH MORE important for survival, should you have problems with rig/engine etc. Preferably segregated into several smaller lots.
 
Sounds like a good adventure. Would anly add the following notes of caution:

1 Fuel calcs - Unless you know for sure that your existing tanks are spotless, you must take into account that perhaps 10 -15% of capacity will not be able to be used.

2, Running an engine non stop for 14 days or so - alternate the revs up and down periodically.

3, Carry an awful lot of spares for if/when it all goes very quiet!

4, I wouldn't arse about with bladders in water tanks but make absolutely certain that all temporary fuel storage is WELL secured. A full jerry can flying about coukld reek havoc or worse!

The planning is great fun though isn't it.
 
[ QUOTE ]
...buy a sailing boat trouble is wife says she hates cooking at 30 degrees ...

[/ QUOTE ]There are three types of sailing boat:
- a catamaran
- half a catamaran
- a cat and a half.

The first type doesn't roll
 
What do you think your range is? If you crossed from Mindelo in the Cape Verde's to Barbados the distance is 2100 miles. Fortaleeza, Brazil, is less, about 1800 and you might be able to jerry-can fuel in Fernando de Noronha, about 200 miles offshore. The rolling is very much true though.
 
There are three types of sailing boat:
- a catamaran
- half a catamaran
- a cat and a half.

The first type doesn't roll
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Maybe, but they DO have a sickening sort of shuffle movement, which can put many people off them for good!
 
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