Live aboard

Just like to say thanks to everybody who contributed ,i will take the advice i have been given,the idea about buying in Spain or portugal sounds very good advice,so we will see what happends,,if some time in the future a sail boat with a Norwegian flag on it pulls up and asks for some advice then its probably me,,,thanks again to everybody ,,,regards Chris
 
Spoof or not I don't agree with some of the comments. I have been sailing a HR 46 for five years now. The boat is 48.5' on deck 54' overall with davits and bow sprit. I live on the boat and sail for six months of the year quite a bit of it single handed. With bow thruster and FB furling main and genoa/cutter/gennaker and cruising chute. I don't regard the vessel as a handful she is well mannered and light on the wheel with all the toys and a pleasure to sail alone, plus I have all the storage for the bikes, dive gear and compressor. I asked the opinion of this forum six years ago and was given some very sound advice however now I wish I had purchased a HR 53'.
 
Hi there Mocruising,,,very interesting the things you say about the HR 46,was up most of the night on the web loooking at boats for sale in the Med,maybe a quick trip down there in a few weeks to look at some,my other half has made the point that space MUST be a priority,space and comfort,
 
The other thing that I don't think anyone has mentioned is the insurance aspect of tackling Biscay single handed. Some insurers impose conditions of two or three crew, plus time constraints. Another good reason to consider buying in the Med.
 
And another aspect - as a non EU resident, if you bought a boat in the Med, you could be exempt from VAT, and benefit from temporaay importation - this means you get 18 months VAT free cruising in the EU, after which time you could pop over to Turkey / Croatia/N Africa and reset your VAT clock
 
As a complete tyro, I notice no one has advised out friend to go via the French canals to the Med., it certainly obviates the stressful Biscay passage - any reason?
 
Beam and depth.

As I understand it, maximum draught is about 1.4m and maximum beam is 4m through the canals (I've not done it but would like to someday).

We thought about this when we bought our boat - draught 1.3m, beam 3.99m /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

We may be cutting it a bit fine /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
 
With a max beam of 4m there must be a little lea way so to speak ,so i would imagine that 3,99 would be fine,,this is something i am going to have to consider,but right now the idea of buying in the Med sounds much better than buying here in Norway and sailing down there,,might be a silly question but here goes,will there be any restriction on length of the vessel,
 
Thanks Kioni, Certainly Chris many with modest sized boats go that way and generally enjoy the experience..believe you need an ICC
Chris don't worry about being accused of being a troll, I have been by someone who described himself as a Real Clerk in Holy Orders, when I mentioned the fact that I was a pastor, when discussing burials at sea.
 
None that I am aware of, although extending the length usually comes with a corresponding increase in beam /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

For what it's worth our boat is a bit beamy, she's an Island Packet 370, about 11.4m length. Other boats for this beam may be somewhat longer.

You must remember to take your mast down by the way - that's the other restriction! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Part of the fun and experience is the Biscay crossing, choose your time of year and study the available weather and you can have a great few days sailing. When we crossed in 2004 we got it wrong and blew out a head sail and tore the clew off the main but it was still fun. The boat never let us down it was my mistake in not replacing old worn out sails.
 
Reginaldon,i would have loved to have read the forum on burials at sea,ive seen a few of those myself,and these attacks on me by others is just something i will have to tolerate for the next few months until people do realize that i am genually looking for advice for my big adventure ,ie retirement and liveing aboard,99% of people in here have been very helpfull and i look forwards to meeting them on my future travels,,thankyou for your advice Kioni,and yes Mocruising i know the bay can be fun good weather permiting,ive been over it a few times when i was working for Mersk,but as you can imagine that was in a rather large container ship,which boat did you have when you did the crossing ,was it the HR 46, ?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top