Buying a 55ft Azimut in Italy and driving to Canada?

[Uricanejack]

Where to in Canada. East or west Coast?
Why this particular make?
Lots of nice big Mobo available in US at better prices.
25% import duty plus sales around 12% sales tax.
NA Free trade agreement, Boats built in Canada, US or Mexico no import duty.

To just get across the Atlantic. rough guesstimates for distances.

Lands End to Cape Race Newfound Land is aprox 1600 nautical miles. even if boat has 1600 mile range you neeed at least 25% reserve so 2000 mile minimum range required
Stornoway to Iceland around 600 miles
Iceland to Newfound land around 1800 miles
Where would you get fuel in Greenland west coast I think. Over 1000 miles from Iceland
West bound N Atlantic any time of year seriously dumb idea. even if boat has range weather is likely to be bad and against you. Damage to boat probable.

Gibraltar to Azores, approx. 1200 miles
Azores to Bermuda approx. 1800
Bermuda to Bahamas approx. 900 miles
Minimum range required 1800 x 1.25=2250 miles
then up the inter coastal.

May be possible. might require adding addition fuel tank for long range.
Rough Guess, Displacement speed around 8 or 9 knots.
Best economic speed(max range) around 6 or 7 knots
At 8 knots only 192 miles per day ?
Fuel consumption?
Cost of skipper plus crew per day ?
Probably a minimum of 3 person crew.

55ft motor boat across the Atlantic. Realistic?

According to stats 58 gal per hour at cruising speed 28 knots
580 gallon capacity about 2400 liters

To big 600 Hp cats rough guess about 4 gallons or around 80 litters per hour running slow. at maybe 8 knots
about 145 hrs at 8 knots 1160 mile maximum range. Maximum safe range with a reserve is only about 900 miles.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Not a hope. Ship it.

 

[Wansworth]

Ben Carlin drove his jeep from the US to Europe via the Azores!

 

[l'escargot]

Hegge could tow you if you run out of fuel :encouragement:

 

[Ric]

First post on this forum, so please forgive if I'm in the wrong section.

I'm looking at getting a 2003 Azimut 55 in the spring potentially and at the price point I'm looking at, I have yet to find anything comparable on my side of the pond.

With the addition of a hired captain, how practical of an idea is it to drive it back after an extensive mechanical inspection and a few long drives before hand? I know there is the shipping option, but wanted to evaluate this as well.


Also, any input on the 2003/2002s would be great!

Yes, you can most definitely do this. Just take it down to Canaries, drive a few miles westwards, then turn off engines and wait for a few months - you will arrive in the Caribbean. It will be a boring, rolly-polly ride, but you will eventually get there.

To speed things up, and make the ride a bit more comfortable, you could rig up a sky-sail. I would estimate you would get 5 knots or so, so cross in a few weeks. It would be a lot cheaper than taking it across on a ship. There is/was a company in Antibes a few years ago touting the system to owners. Even large ships have used the system:

http://www.treehugger.com/corporate...ransatlantic-voyage-of-kite-powered-ship.html

 

[RichardS]

To speed things up, and make the ride a bit more comfortable, you could rig up a sky-sail. I would estimate you would get 5 knots or so, so cross in a few weeks. It would be a lot cheaper than taking it across on a ship. There is/was a company in Antibes a few years ago touting the system to owners. Even large ships have used the system:
]

Cross in a few weeks? Probably a few dozen weeks 'cos without a keel unless the wind is blowing directly westwards you might well find yourself heading for the equator ....... or the North pole.

Richard

 

[jordanbasset]

As you are in Italy why not make a real trip of it and go via suez and the long way around. That would be an adventure to tell your kids about:encouragement:

 

[Heckler]

Cross in a few weeks? Probably a few dozen weeks 'cos without a keel unless the wind is blowing directly westwards you might well find yourself heading for the equator ....... or the North pole.

Richard

We used 90ft "speedboats" as the Coonasses called them. Used in the Gulf of Mexico as crew change boats in those days. They had 3 turbo, supercharged, two stroke 16 cylinder Detroit Diesel engines in them. Could do 30kts. They were aluminium hulls.
Ocean Inscape Ltd, OIL were the company.
They brought a brand new one across the Atlantic. Spoke to the skipper about fueling for the trip. They knew that they coudnt do it on the tankage but worked out that using one engine gave up to 8kts and that by carrying drums of diesel on deck they could do the trip. So they did. Was a bit wallowey he said.
S