How Far Would You Go In a Hurley 24 ???

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Gelmaster

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Question for the sensible and experienced!
I have not yet sailed any boat and I am excited at the thought of no boundaries when I hopefully buy one this year. I am aware that nature and climate can be an overwhelming factor in the joys of sailing, but............
within reason, let's say if I attend all of the appropriate RYA courses and have prepared myself and my boat to all of the Health & Safety precautions and regulations.....and "IF" I turn out to be a fairly competent sailor after 12 months.......... would sailing around Britain, Spain or even up to sunny Scandinavia be a stupid idea for me in a Hurley 24 ?
 
Gelmaster said:
Question for the sensible and experienced!
I have not yet sailed any boat and I am excited at the thought of no boundaries when I hopefully buy one this year. I am aware that nature and climate can be an overwhelming factor in the joys of sailing, but............
within reason, let's say if I attend all of the appropriate RYA courses and have prepared myself and my boat to all of the Health & Safety precautions and regulations.....and "IF" I turn out to be a fairly competent sailor after 12 months.......... would sailing around Britain, Spain or even up to sunny Scandinavia be a stupid idea for me in a Hurley 24 ?
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I think the limiting factor would be the amount of time you can put in in 12 months. People sail all sorts of distances in all sorts of silly things, so if the boat is in good condition I doubt it would be the limiting factor.

How much are you willing to go for it? You can do the Zero to Hero Yachtsmaster in a matter of months, so 12 months isn't totally out of the realms of possibility, but as your driving instructor probably said, you pass the test, then you start really learning to drive...

If you are going to devote massive amounts of time over 12 months, then maybe around Britain is on, solo? I'm not so sure. If this is going to be an every other weekend thing then maybe. Don't underestimate how difficult even the UK can be in bad conditions.

Jamie
 
Gelmaster said:
... would sailing around Britain, Spain or even up to sunny Scandinavia be a stupid idea for me in a Hurley 24 ?
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No. We owners of smaller boats have to choose our weather a wee bit more carefully than the big boys, for the sake of comfort as much as safety, but that said there is no reason why you - we - shouldn't go to all sorts of interesting places.

If you want to set off for adventure in a year's time, though, you need to learn as much as you can in that time, both about sailing the boat and about where to sail it. Which latter means an RYA theory course, next winter. Day Skipper at a very minimum, or if you are happy to teach yourself the basics beforehand, jump straight to Coastal Skipper.
 
Get hold of a book entitled, I think, 'Blue Water, Green Skipper'. I read it years ago but it tells of the author's trip in a Hurley 24 in a race to the Azores, if memory serves. Boat was fine for the trip.
 
I read 'Blue Water, Green Skipper', thought it very good; wasn't the author a Stuart Woods ? That's from old & creaky memory so apologies esp. to the author if not.

Another book to read ( and read as much as you can ) is 'Very Willing Griffin' by David Blagden, about his taking a Hunter 19 in the 1972 OSTAR; a great book, but rare and expensive secondhand.

I did see a Hurley 24 with a VERY wobbly fin keel - like jelly when she was in the hoist - would want to be very sure any boat I went near didn't do that !
 
Seajet said:
I did see a Hurley 24 with a VERY wobbly fin keel - like jelly when she was in the hoist - would want to be very sure any boat I went near didn't do that !
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I'm pretty sure the Hurley 24 (certainly the 22) has a keel which is part of the hull moulding (with internal ballast), so if it was wobbling that boat must have had a catastrophic accident.
 
Gelmaster said:
Question for the sensible and experienced!
I have not yet sailed any boat and I am excited at the thought of no boundaries when I hopefully buy one this year. I am aware that nature and climate can be an overwhelming factor in the joys of sailing, but............
within reason, let's say if I attend all of the appropriate RYA courses and have prepared myself and my boat to all of the Health & Safety precautions and regulations.....and "IF" I turn out to be a fairly competent sailor after 12 months.......... would sailing around Britain, Spain or even up to sunny Scandinavia be a stupid idea for me in a Hurley 24 ?
Click to expand...

Didn't read all the replies but just from what you posted i think its viable.Go for it.
 
From the positive replies i conclude that it is feasible, but talking to people, the overbearing factor is time!
And we all know "time is money".
But my question has been answered, and i will look forward to digging a couple of the mentioned books out.
Oh, and i would hopefully take my beautiful fiancée along for the proposed adventure..........if ever i reach this dream.
It's very early days, but no harm in forward thinking ey !!
The 24 i would go for would be a bilge, even though they don' sail quite as well as a fin, but they do apparently have certain
advantages over a fin.

ps......... I am a sole trader (mobile South Wales) in Gelcoat & GRP Repairs, so i would be able to rectify (strengthen) any dodgey Grp work necessary!
www.apexboatrepairs.co.uk check me out !
 
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Irrelevant point of interest....................
I love the outside styling of the 24, but i don't think it looks as cosy as the 22 on the inside.
So, what i am planning to do is emulate the 22 inside (on the 24) by removing the full size toilet, and bulkhead.
I will then construct a strengthening ring where the bulkhead used to be, and if need be, reinforce with a stainless dance pole to prevent mast compression!
I am not too keen on too much timber in on show, it all looks a bit gloomy!
I would also bring the galley to the portside entrance door, and put the sink opposite to starboard.
And "voila", a cosy looking boat !
 
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LittleSister said:
I'm pretty sure the Hurley 24 (certainly the 22) has a keel which is part of the hull moulding (with internal ballast), so if it was wobbling that boat must have had a catastrophic accident.
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Yes, encapsulated keel.

It didn't look like accident / impact damage, more like a failure of the grp in some way.

I first noticed it when following the boat as it was moved along the yard in the hoist; as it went over the gravel track the keel was visibly quivering a few inches side to side, when I said 'like a jelly' I wasn't exaggerating - I called others around 'hey look at this' and forever after that a small crowd would gather to watch as the boat was moved.

The owner was inexperienced, and I did try hard to impress on him he had a BIG potentially lethal problem on his hands, but the boat still kept coming & going for a further year or two; it hasn't showed up lately, so maybe something has been done; if a nasty accident had happened I should have heard about it.

Maybe CHRISSIE may care to comment, my guess might be massive osmosis inside the keel moulding ???
 
I've only been sailing about 12 years so far and I've found once or twice that, although it's fine when everything is under control and nothing unexpected happens, the problems escalate when you're in a potential "pear shaped" situation!
Hopefully you will have a few "near misses" in the first year, in safe waters, it adds a huge amount to your knowledge.

I had a completely unexpected situation yesterday whilst doing my mast (see posting). At one point, I had to lift the anchor in a hurry to avoid swinging round in the current to where I didn't want to be. Very familiar mud underneath me so I wasn't worried. Couldn't shift it! When I finally got it up it had about 8 old fishing lines (from the pier) around it, and a huge rock suspended from them. Luckily I'd just bought 30 quidsworth of safety knife the day before!

The point being that, some scenarios are very difficult to predict.

Good luck with it all.
Andrew
 
I spoke to a guy a few years ago who was sailing solo around the uk in a boat smaller than a hurley. He didnt like putting the sails up so mustly he travelled at night when there was no wind and he could use the o/b.
 
kenp said:
I spoke to a guy a few years ago who was sailing solo around the uk in a boat smaller than a hurley. He didnt like putting the sails up so mustly he travelled at night when there was no wind and he could use the o/b.
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Surely he could leave the sails down and use the OB in the day?

Or did he not want to be SEEN to use the OB?
 
Ooo Err

The DLW just saw the title of this thread and commented quizically "All the way?"! :)

I shall explain ... or perhaps I won't.

Anybody want to part-ex a Hurley 24 for an Islander 23?

edit:

to be serious, I would think twice and thrice about removing the heads. An open plan boat is all very well for day sailing and short trips but the seperate heads is a great boon for longer trips and appeals greatly to the ladies (don't know whether that's a factor but my DLW made it clear it was all but essential if she was to be spending any time on board)
 
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Brigantia said:
The DLW just saw the title of this thread and commented quizically "All the way?"! :)

I shall explain ... or perhaps I won't.

Anybody want to part-ex a Hurley 24 for an Islander 23?

edit:

to be serious, I would think twice and thrice about removing the heads. An open plan boat is all very well for day sailing and short trips but the seperate heads is a great boon for longer trips and appeals greatly to the ladies (don't know whether that's a factor but my DLW made it clear it was all but essential if she was to be spending any time on board)
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My DLF is in 100% agreement that openplan is for her even considering the toilet privacy issues.
If I ever get around to walking my talk, then a privacy curtain will go up, but soundproofing might be a problem!
 
Re the wobbly encapsulated keel, delamitation and stress fractures would be my thoughts, or steel / iron ballast which has rusted and expanded fracturing the grp. an encapsulated keel it's not all full of ballast, so there is an area above the ballast and below the floor which is just the grp shell, if such a boat was partially drying out on the mud each day, it would be subjected to enormous stresses. I would love to get my hands on such a keel, for my research.
 
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