Budget Go-Anywhere Boat

J

Jim Schofield

Well-Known Member
Joined
26 Aug 2014
Messages
78
Location
Dublin Bay
liffeysailor.blogspot.ie
On quiet moments, I design boats in my head. I always come back to building a tough go-anywhere boat. Able to carry a couple across a small ocean, coastal cruise or equally explore big rivers or inland waterways.

If money wasn't a problem, it would be a Boreal 44 with tabernacle stepped mast, if such a thing is possible.

So, semi-realistically, it has to be between 30-36 ft long, GRP and a mast that can be dropped easily. A good motor and either bilge keel or lifting keel.

I could build something but having built two 16 footers, I know the hull is less than half the building. So it has to be a second-hand vessel, with the possibility of changing the mast arrangement.

Given a budget of say, € 30 K, to get on the water, I can only see something like a Westerly or Sadler fitting the bill. There is probably several French boats that are like this, but I don't know them.

Is it possible or will I keep day-dreaming ?

Jim

http://liffeysailor.blogspot.ie/
 
Golden Hind ticks all those boxes. Usually a good choice for sale and you will get a ready to go later GRP hulled boat for that money.
 
Dropping a mast on that size boat without a crane is not really a DIY exercise even with a tabernacle. You need at least 3 people and a well set up arrangement of an A frame or a pole plus windlass to control it. Going into the canals there are always cranes available to drop masts and a single spreader mast in a tabernacle like a GH is easy to drop. I do a similar size mast on my Eventide using a self operated derrick and 2 people.

If you look back in PBO over the last couple of years there is a series of articles by Richard Hares on cruising his GH all the way to Greece and back using the canals. Plenty of the same design have done transatlantic and indeed circumnavigations. Bit slow and heavy by today's standards but still one of the best deigns for the job.
 
Tranona said:
When a new boat of that size is at least £100k, 30k euros is at the budget end of the market. However, plenty of choice of suitable boats in that price bracket.
Click to expand...

I had a look at the new Bavaria Easy at the London Boat Show. That was really quite nice for the money (50k Euros) if you need to buy new.

You'd have to go some to strip another 20k Euros out though.
 
Tranona said:
Dropping a mast on that size boat without a crane is not really a DIY exercise even with a tabernacle.
Click to expand...

There's a bloke just upriver from me who does it, singlehanded, on his 35ish footer every time he goes out for a sail. He anchors for the few minutes it takes to complete the operation, in the middle of the river just next to our pontoon. Not sure what the boat is, but it's a fairly conventional GRP sloop with aluminium mast, possibly an 80s Moody. He has an A-frame that runs along the side-decks to just inside the stemhead; not sure of the exact arrangements at the mast foot, but if there's a tabernacle it's not a large one.

Pete
 
st599 said:
I had a look at the new Bavaria Easy at the London Boat Show. That was really quite nice for the money (50k Euros) if you need to buy new.

You'd have to go some to strip another 20k Euros out though.
Click to expand...

First the Easy is not new. The hull dates back to 2009, and that version has been on the market for nearly 3 years. However, it is not 50k Euros, but even the most basic version is £65k including VAT and commissioning. Not that many people buy them, and certainly not for go anywhere cruising.

I have the "full fat" model, the 33 Cruiser, which does sell well, but a well specced version is over £100k.

An excellent coastal cruiser, but would not be at the top of the list for the OP. The reality is that there are no new production boats of that size that would meet the OP's criteria and unlikely anyone would consider building one. Most people who consider ocean cruising on that size of boat are unlikely to have the money to buy new, but guess the nearest from production builders is an HR 310 that is likely to cost well over £160k. Not a big selling boat.
 
prv said:
an A-frame that runs along the side-decks to just inside the stemhead; not sure of the exact arrangements at the mast foot, but if there's a tabernacle it's not a large one. Pete
Click to expand...

We had the same arrangement on a previous boat (28ft) when we lived in Holland, it's (or was!) quite common over there due to the inland waterways and bridges. It might be worth trying a few Dutch brokerages, especially for lifting keels.

Mast arrangements apart, for 30k Euros and with a lifting keel, could a Dockrell 37 come in for that price perhaps? For bilge keelers, Moody 33/333? Countess 33 or 37? Seadog? Colvic Watson with bilge plates?
 
Around here bridges are a real problem between a dozen or so yacht clubs on the Swan estuary and the ocean. About 6.5 metres of clearance. So all large sail boats have to be able to lower the mast on the run.
Many boats are bought from elsewhere with no mast lowering provisions and must be modified. While the standard hinged base is very common some boats have as part of their design a keel stepped mast.
The mast is cut half a metre or so above the deck usually at 45 degree angle. Flat plates are welded to the 2 open cut surfaces with holes for cables halyards etc if necessary. The flat plates have hinge facility at the aft surface and bolt together facility at the front. This makes the mast design (ie for bending) consistent with original design. A frames using spin poles are common. Another approach is a bow rail that extends back to abeam the mast and becomes a built in A frame.
One person with a 32 fter has fitted an powered halyard winch to make mast lowering/raising easier.
With mast head rigs the cap shrouds go to a chain plate extended to the abeam location of the mast pivot so that cap shroud stays tension in the traverse vertical to horizontal.
Another system for fractioanl rigs (Especially big rigs) are poles that pivot on the gunwhale at a point midway between mast base and transom. These poles attach to a car which runs up the mainsail track. So as mast comes down the car goes up the track. The mast does not go to horizontal but can be lowered enough for our bridges. This system provides sieways stability to the mast through it's traverse. I think I would also use an A frame at the front on the forestay but mast can be lowered and raised by dragging the car up or down the track. So it is not uncommon to see 70fters going under the bridges for a days sail and returning the same day lowering a huge mast both ways. But yes it takes some organising.
My point is that any second hand boat can be made self mast lowerable. One local old guy does it on a 43 fter single handed on the run.
Regarding shallow draft my little trailer sailer has a vertically lifting ballasted keel. Very much like a dinghy with a flat bottom and keel extending out of the hull. So she will float in about 20cms of water. This concept could be extended to a large cruiser I think. Cut off the cast iron fin keel cut a foil shaped hole in the bottom. Make a GRP centre board case extending hull to cabin top. Drop the keel down from the top stopping on the shoulder of the top of the hull. The keel can be cast iron or wood GRP lead like mine.
All doable and easier than building from scratch. good luck olewill
 
I had a Prout Quest 31/33. Normal tabernacle but strong with large diameter fulcrum pin. The wide beam allowed two seperate main sheet blocks from the end of the boom to port and starboard aft mooring cleats.

I would lower the goose neck as low as possible just above the tabernacle. Push the mast forward a few degrees then release all rigging. Lower the mast under perfect control until it rested on the pulpit.

Job done. Single-handed. Did it many, many times. Once just before Hurricane Klaus in the Bahamas.
 
William_H,
Fascinating to hear that dropping masts is so normal in Perth and not so on this side of the world. It probably was in times past for sailing barges but not now. I tried googling for images but in vain.
 
Last edited:
One of the most inspiring sailors I ever had the pleasure of knowing had quite an ingenious system. His engineless 28ft boat was equipped with two huge sweeps- this was his auxiliary propulsion- and he could lash these into an A frame to use in raising or lowering his mast. The mast was wooden so heavier than the equivalent aluminium one, and came down for maintenance i think every other winter.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

B
Halberg Rassey 31
2 3 4
Replies
71
Views
2K
ashtead
ashtead
Frogmogman
My next boat.
2 3
Replies
40
Views
1K
fredrussell
F

Share this page

Top