Power vs Sail, is it just about the money?

[oldgit]

Isn't this just a reflection of the fact that all the yachts you are familiar with are small, old and tatty? Also, the majority of sailing boat owners that contribute to these forums seem to regard 35 foot as large. You certainly don't poo in a bucket on our boat and it's designed to sail at 15 degrees, not 45. It is true that we can't out run you, but it's a bit unfair to compare a modern forty foot mobo with a twenty five year old 23 foot sailboat for comfort!

My boat was home built by its first owner,he took delivery of the hull and top sides in 1973 and took 30 the next years to complete it.
We go virtually everywhere at a knot or two above what the tide gives for free.
Sailing boats frequently over take me.

 

[Elessar]

It is quiet enough to be able to talk and perhaps listen to music, without the drumming of engines to spoil it. I may be biased. I probably am.

I have a 20 year old mobo that I am refurbing. Some of the soundproofing is missing and I intend to make her much quieter. But at 20 knots at the helm the noise of the engines is completey drowned out by the sound of the water, and can easly talk and/or listen to music.

I think some sail boats have delibertely dreadful engines just to enhance the magic moment when you switch it off.

I love sailing, and sail whenever I can, but I wouldn't own a sailing boat as my wife doesn't like it.

 

[CreakyDecks]

With a sailboat there is always the thought that, if you had the inclination and ability, you could sail off to the other side of the world. The fact that 99.9% of us never do is irrelevant. How many power boat sailors have ever been where this guy has?
http://www.thesimplesailor.com/voyages.html

 

[ricky_s]

With a sailboat there is always the thought that, if you had the inclination and ability, you could sail off to the other side of the world. The fact that 99.9% of us never do is irrelevant. How many power boat sailors have ever been where this guy has?
http://www.thesimplesailor.com/voyages.html

But as you say, neither have most sailboat drivers so what's your point?

 

[CreakyDecks]

If you need my point explaining you will never understand it.

Edit. Sorry that sounds far more rude than I meant it to be!

 

[laika]

Several posters have mentioned that fuel costs are not that much compared to mooring and fixed maintenance costs. Have I mis-calculated? My finger-in-the-air calculation of diesel costs for a jaunt to cherbourg or the channel islands from the solent and back in a 10-ish metre motorboat was considerably north of £500, heading towards £1k. Am I badly out there?

If not, even if that's small (if only done once a year) compared with fixed costs, it's a rather hefty marginal cost.

 

[ricky_s]

Edit. Sorry that sounds far more rude than I meant it to be!

No problem, I wasn't offended

 

[Andy Bav]

For what its worth we are waiting for the delivery of a new "mobo" and as the father of a family of 3 active boys, a mobo suits what we want as a family at this time of our life. We are spending quite a lot of money on it and could have bought a similar length sailing boat for a lesser amount of money - but only one son would enjoy it.

However, my point is that money was less of an issue than what suits us at the time of evolution of our family life - and we all enjoy being out at sea for differing reasons.

When I retire running our mobo [financially] will be more difficult, but whilst I am fortunate to able to afford a mobo, my working life means that I am in a less priviledged position as far as time is concerned - and time is the critical factor.

In mt opinion, to enjoy a sail boat properly you need time to enjoy it but if you want to explore new horizons, are less fortunate as far as time is concerned and can afford the costs of running a mobo - to enjoy the sea and she has to offer - why not go down the mobo route ?

Enjoying the sea could be the same in any boat regardless of propulsion means, and to answer the question in the OP, my opinion is that time is a more critical factor than money ...

 

[blueglass]

well said old git. So far the thread has assumed all mobo drivers are obsessed with speed.
I guess with a mobo at least you have the choice. Personally I choose 7 knots over 27 and enjoy my time out on the water - just like you yotties. the engines are nothing but a gentle reassuring murmer and I will happily spend a whole long day on a 100 mile journey when I could easily choose to do it in a few hours if I wanted. During that long day however I am not heeled over, I can cook a meal, read a book in the sun (if offwatch), enjoy the scenery etc etc.
We all do what we want to do - where's the issue?
The big divide incidentally seems much more of an English thing - out in the med nobody seems to have much of an issue.

 

[maby]

well said old git. So far the thread has assumed all mobo drivers are obsessed with speed.
I guess with a mobo at least you have the choice. Personally I choose 7 knots over 27 and enjoy my time out on the water - just like you yotties. the engines are nothing but a gentle reassuring murmer and I will happily spend a whole long day on a 100 mile journey when I could easily choose to do it in a few hours if I wanted. During that long day however I am not heeled over, I can cook a meal, read a book in the sun (if offwatch), enjoy the scenery etc etc.
We all do what we want to do - where's the issue?
The big divide incidentally seems much more of an English thing - out in the med nobody seems to have much of an issue.

The only time it is anything like an issue to me is when a mobo goes hacking along the narrower sections of the Medway (6 knot speed limit) at twenty or more. I have several mobo-owning friends who are reasonably responsible - though most of them still overtake me when we are doing the regulation 6 knots!

 

[oldgit]

That speed limit applies from the forts up,anybody doing 20 knots needs to be reported to Medway VTS.
If reluctant to call them direct a useful sideways moan is to get on the radio and call.....

*Boat Name* are you aware there is a speed limit in this part of the river old chap ?.....on CH74.

Announces to all within earshot on the entire river ,inc VTS, to keep an eye out for the boat concerned.
The small speed boats or jetskis do not bother me its the big buggers which create the wash.

 

[interloper]

I hesitate to jump into this thread because I doubt that anyone looking for a serious answer will read this.

Time can be a bigger issue than money. I used to own sailboats, but then I got married and had a child. Now, I might have a couple of hours free on a Saturday morning before the rest of the family gets up. It's not enough time to get anywhere with a sailboat, but a powerboat is a different story, especially since I can keep a powerboat at a pier behind my house that is inaccessible to sailboats due to a low bridge.

When I retire and have more time available, I'd like to go back to owning a sailboat. I've already started scoping one out.

In the meantime, I've been considering a bigger but slower powerboat. Compared to my present powerboat, it would be able to travel a similar distance for a given amount of fuel, but the speed would be half.

 

[grumpy_o_g]

What is she? Looks a bit like a Duellist but nicer, if you see what I mean..

 

[interloper]

^^ Island Packet 26 Mk I
http://sailboatdata.com/viewrecord.asp?class_id=827
http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/198...9742/Deltaville/VA/United-States#.UfGpydLVA98

 

[Tomahawk]

There is the majic moment when you turn off the donk....
Bear away a bit
The wind fills the sail and the rig tightens
you hear her creak just a bit
and she becomes a live creature of the waves and wind...

 

[maby]

There is the majic moment when you turn off the donk....
Bear away a bit
The wind fills the sail and the rig tightens
you hear her creak just a bit
and she becomes a live creature of the waves and wind...

Yes, I like that description!

I don't think I would get the same kind of pleasure out of a mobo - it would just be a means of going places. The sail vs. mobo question is similar to the car vs. horse question. Go back a couple of hundred years and the horse was the only kind of transport - then we developed affordable, reliable cars and everyone switched to the car for day-to-day transport, but the horse is still popular for pleasure transport. I drive my car every day to get from A to B, but there's no pleasure in it - it's just a fast and reliable way of moving around. I enjoy riding - ok, it's slow and the horse can be a stroppy son of a bitch (mare?) but there is real pleasure in it which is not there in sitting behind a wheel.

The same applies (for me, at least) to mobos. For me, they are functional methods of transport - they get you from A to B reasonably reliably and you are far less at the mercy of the tides and winds, but there is no particular pleasure in the travelling, it's the getting there that is the objective. I do agree that many of the sailing yachts you see around are pretty basic, but that is not unavoidable. Ours has all the facilities and comfort of a mobo - and is larger than many of the mobos in the marina. I've never seen it touch ten knots and you need one hell of a breeze in exactly the right direction to make nine - but the travelling is pure pleasure.

 

[interloper]

There is the majic moment when you turn off the donk....
Bear away a bit
The wind fills the sail and the rig tightens
you hear her creak just a bit
and she becomes a live creature of the waves and wind...

Yes! Not only that, you can hear the birds. I've even been able to hear the underwater creatues making clicking noises. It's a very different experience than being in a powerboat.

 

[pheran]

The sailors leave first and arrive last .

Based on personal observation over very many years, that is absolutely true, especially in foreign ports. They arrive last....and more importantly, after The Havenmeister has been round to collect the harbour dues. And they leave first, and before the HM clocks on again at 0800 and thus avoid paying altogether. No wonder sailing works out cheaper!