Cruising boat - how simple can it get?

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Obviously having a very similar boat one completely agrees with this :) - >
http://sailingsimplicity.com/best-features-of-a-blue-water-boat-part-i/

Cutter rigs are great :cool:
And simple to begin with on deck, little bits along the way happen to get even simpler though mixed with hi tech , jib and staysail sheet tracks next to go to be replaced with low friction rings. Extensive use of Marlow d12 max dyneema cos it just amazing, extremely chafe resistant and too strong for words. Nearly all connections are now soft shackles. Slab reefing at the mast with some dyneema to be spliced in so less weight and close to no stretch so very little movement. Aries wind vane with dyneema controlling lines though they need a bit of polyester spliced in to give it a bit of stretch .

So how simple is yours? Or how simple can you get?
Half in jest of course. Every boat's a compromise though simpler does mean less to fix at the other end :)
 
I read about a guy who trailed a wayfarer (14ft?) to Scotland, and then sailed to the Faroe Islands and Norway. I doubt any of us are cruising in a simpler manner than that.
 
I do not think that example of a boat is very easy to sail at all. Certainly would not want one. In my view just a heavy old tub that someone is trying to talk up so they can sell it. Look where that guy is sitting & the height of the tiller next to him. Most uncomfortable stuck up in the air like that. Just one example. As for mast mounted winches- forget it. Let's not talk about head room inside . Tacking a cutter rig is a pain if short tacking & running backstays for the lower forstay is a nuisance when on the run. What is the point of splicing dynema into the Aeries control lines? A bit of slack is no problem (I have an Aeries so i know)
But to each his own & if that is what you want then so be it.
 
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I had a 27 footer ex motor sailer designed by Angus Primrose,a Commando class....took the engine out re rigged with stiffer mast and every thing that had to move moved easily,good anchour stowage but asit was light displacement nothing was too heavy to handle and with no wind a sculling oar served.These days would be improved with solar panels for charging batt.It was Boat that worked and had no problems as it was so simple.
 
PabloPicasso said:
I read about a guy who trailed a wayfarer (14ft?) to Scotland, and then sailed to the Faroe Islands and Norway. I doubt any of us are cruising in a simpler manner than that.
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Frank Dye, c.1966, sailed his 16ft Wayfarer from Kinlochbervie to Iceland. A year or two later he did a similar trip via Faeroe and on to Norway, but got hit by a f9 gale, and was rolled and dismasted. All recorded in his excellent and understated book. There's also a film floating around somewhere about the Norway trip.
 
I reckon every sailor thinks his boat is best for ( ....whatever). He thinks it is the ducks nuts until such time as he decides to sell it when of course he has to talk it up. After it is gone he might be more realistic. Every boat has it's compromises. olewill
 
William_H said:
I reckon every sailor thinks his boat is best for ( ....whatever). He thinks it is the ducks nuts until such time as he decides to sell it when of course he has to talk it up. After it is gone he might be more realistic. Every boat has it's compromises. olewill
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Probably true for occasional weekends / 2 weeks in the summer boats, but the link is talking about tough as old boats go anywhere blue water - very different. And driven more by what actually works. Wandering around town after another crossing trying to get bits fixed by back street fabricators hundreds of miles from any kind of yacht chandlery focuses the mind more on having a boat where not so much breaks and being more self sufficient when things do break . Then if you do decide to sell your home it's more likely to sell quickly than something not up to the job . :cool:
 
At the extreme - simple to me is washing in cold seawater, bucket and chuck-it, meths or paraffin stove and minimalist engine.

Its the 21st Century and few wives (mistresses might accept, until they become wives), no children and certainly no grandchildren are going to like any yacht without an ability to charge a variety of electronic devices and have 2 hot showers a day. We might extend this list to include electric winches, in mast or boom furling and a hydraulic lifting keel. Swallows and Amazons had their day - and sad though it may be they have largely gone.

Today a modern Benny, Jenny or Bav will sell quickly (if not overpriced)

Its got nothing to do with saleability and everything to do with what the owner wants (and he includes the needs of those with whom he wants to sail). Many like the latest gizmo and are happy to throw money at any issues, many cannot afford the ideal and knowing this ignore conspicuous ostentation (and are PBO subscribers) - so their perfect yacht includes the compromise they have a limited financial resource (which might exclude investing in soft shackles and using what they have) - others like an even more simple style and some, a very few, go for real simplicity = the cold sea water showers. We use some soft shackles and I know I could use some more - but its not critical and replacing with them would not make sailing any more pleasurable.

We have fond memories of cruising a J24 - but though I'd happily sail one as a day boat - I would not want to go back to cruising in one.

What is the ideal for you, or me - or them are all different.

There is no 'one' answer.

Jonathan

Fortunately we are all different.
 
>I read about a guy who trailed a wayfarer (14ft?) to Scotland, and then sailed to the Faroe Islands and Norway. I doubt any of us are cruising in a simpler manner than that.

A couple sailed a Wayfarer from the UK to the Med coast hopping, they had a cover and slept on the boat at night.
 
So electronics/nav kit - how do people cope with plotters cruising , must cost a fortune for new chart folios every time you move to a new cruising area and be stuck anchored in an oily port for weeks waiting a new card to arrive overnight delivery?

Raspberry 0k has transformed that area very recently, high end nav and boat monitoring for very little money or power. Very :cool:
 
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