Specify your dream-boat (DON'T JUST NAME A DESIGN WHICH IS ALREADY OUT THERE)

Greenheart

Greenheart

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I awoke today from a dream that I was a very minor crew-member aboard an old steel gaff schooner, loping across the Pacific.

However minor my position was on the yacht, the vessel herself seemed to be the ideal destination and the principle personality, such that anything occurring on board was a memorable, involving, pleasurable experience.

I can't help thinking a smaller boat wouldn't have had the copious charisma and relaxed long-leggedness that defies extended shore-stops and inspires global cruising ambitions; and a newer yacht wouldn't have the same weather-beaten rugged appeal.

It occurs to me that I really don't like very new, very flash yachts as much as those which are well-travelled and look 'broken-in'...

...not so tired that they're just a long list of maintenance duties, but not so damned pristine that every tyre-rub mark on the topsides sets off a tirade of fractious fuss from owners who only motor from one marina to another.

My dream-boat: (not very new or original, but rare in this plastic age)

Gaff Schooner, steel. Not new, but not rusted-through. Long overhangs. Timber masts and spars. Teak decks.

LOA: 100'
LOD: 82'
LWL: 64
Beam: 16'
Draught: 11'
Disp: probably over 60 tonnes

Biggish full-beam saloon. Forward of there is the galley, crew-mess, berths and two bathrooms for six crew. Aft of the saloon, three fairly compact ensuite double staterooms.

I'm going to have a nap and dream some more...
 
65' ( sail it on my ticket without hassles )

Deck Saloon, twin wheels, large sociable cockpit. Plastic decks ( no teak ) flush hatches all round.
Cutter rig. Hydraulic reefing genoa's, Slab main.
Fore and aft thrusters with position hold.
220v on demand, inverters, genset, watermaker, air conditioning, heating, pressure washer, central vacuum cleaner.
< 2.5m draft.
Aft garage with semi rigid tender ( stows under aft berth ) and dive gear.

Large master cabin with en-Suite.
2 cabins forward ( up/down bunks only - if you make visitors too comfy they stay far too long! )
Forepeak with large locker for spare/storm sails and 'workshop'

Have I thought about this? Well a little bit. :) I could start with a Malo 645 deck saloon but it would need rebuilding downstairs and the pilot houses don't look the way I want it too!
 
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I first wanted to sail round the world in the 50s when I was little and watching Hans & Lotte Hasse ... remember them? I once read what the boat was and her history but can't remember now ... anyone got the info please? I know she was interesting, and big ... I used to imagine myself sailing her across the Pacific and anchoring off desert islands. I've since managed the anchoring off desert islands bit but never made it as far as the Pacific! ... (I must Google it to get the info)
 
nimbusgb said:
I could start with a Malo 645 deck saloon but it would need rebuilding downstairs and the pilot houses don't look the way I want it too!
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Don't worry, if you've got the money, Malo will custom build the interior to almost any design so long as you aren't altering the main bulkheads. They will build a garage into the stern as well. All for a price...

I was discussing this very matter with one of the directors a few years ago. As the costs went skyward so did my chances of placing the order. He was pragmatic about it but if I win the lottery I know one of the places I will be visiting to discuss our new boat.
 
I am going to move the thought process over to the left field here as I have always been a speed freak.
My ideal dream boat would be a 10m long 10m wide trimaran. No accomodation. demountable for towing behind a car.
planing hull form capable of flying the main hull under complete control. All carbon fibre.
Rotating semi wing mast. Has to be capable of doing more than wind speed to windward.

There. Not quite the boat for a cruising forum...
 
There's much to be said for cruising catamarans as dream-boats, surely? Emphasis on the 'dream', though, because while I admired the Wharram Pahi 63ft, I'd prefer a substantially larger one, whose hulls would become properly practical usable space, and whose bridgedecks wouldn't have limited headroom.

View attachment 28976

Upscale to 84ft perhaps? One third bigger all round...

...or a shade more than that, so those 4ft-wide hulls from the Pahi 63 would have enough internal beam for a sideways berth. Say 100' LOA? Lavish...:rolleyes:
 
john_morris_uk said:
Don't worry, if you've got the money, Malo will custom build the interior to almost any design so long as you aren't altering the main bulkheads. They will build a garage into the stern as well. All for a price...

I was discussing this very matter with one of the directors a few years ago. As the costs went skyward so did my chances of placing the order. He was pragmatic about it but if I win the lottery I know one of the places I will be visiting to discuss our new boat.
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As did Nigel Calder - twice!
 
Apart from not being able to dry out I already have my ideal boat but a dream boat if I didn't worry about protecting wood masts/decks wood be a 30' gaff rig cutter is my dream even if I won the lottery I wouldn't want anything else or bigger. Big boats don't do it for me... keep it small and simple, bigger is just more maintenance and complexity, more to go wrong, no thanks! If you can pump water by hand great, if you can pull your anchor up by hand great...

So my dream boat is already out there a Heard 28 or lifting keel Cornish Pilot Cutter (3'6" keel up!) for my sailing area. I would like a bit more wood fit out like some of the Heards. Hmm I wonder how much a hull is :D

pilotcutter30_profile_zpsaa5cfe9c.jpg


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crabber30pc-ashore_zps78dc0a55.jpg


Sorry Dan but my dream boat is already out their. Next choice would be something of the Tradewind ilk but the Gaff cutters are just glorious on the water - a real classic with bags of character and interest!
 
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You dream of a boat, I dream about what im gping to do with mine.

So the answer is: what I've got but in about 6 months time! By then the work should be over and all the bills paid.

Then it's on to minor stuff like fit out for the type of trips I dream of. Once the boat is capable I can start to stretch my sailing area and you never know where that may lead to.
 
Zagato said:
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Sorry Dan but my dream boat is already out there...
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I'm glad you're content. She's certainly a blissful bit of design.

I love big gaffers, but I'd be irritated by the necessity to house & feed a lot of crew, so possibly it's just as well those schooners are only in my dreams.

Maybe I'd be perfectly at ease on a fifty-foot compromise - proportionately beamier than bigger sisters, but with all the teak and brass of a Nauticalia shop. Assiduously neglected of course, to look less amateurish.

I'll continue these happy thoughts as I try to sleep dreamlessly in a puddle on the bottom-boards of a leaky GP14 or similar, this summer...:rolleyes:
 
dancrane said:
I love big gaffers, but I'd be irritated by the necessity to house & feed a lot of crew,
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I thought in your dream you were one of the crew? :)

The picture you paint here reminds me somewhat of Steel Boatbuilding by Thomas Colvin. Mostly it's a deeply technical book about weld patterns and suchlike, but it constantly refers to commercial sail in medium sized steel schooners, which seems to have been what Colvin spent a lot of his career building. Don't know what timescale he's talking of, I guess 70s and 80s, but apparently there were still small sailing vessels freighting and fishing in the Carribean, mostly because without an engine they sidestepped a lot of regulations.

Maybe that's what you were dreaming you were doing? :)

Pete
 
If we're going for dream but with one eye on practical!

I'd go 45-50 foot, monohull, longish fin keel but with a bulb to keep her stiffer.
Ketch rig, but with high aspect ratio and generous sail area. Self tacking staysail then with two further headsails on rollers, good to go.

Centre cockpit, but without the space wasted on a huge aft cabin, that pushes the cockpit too far forward. Small pilothouse. Plenty of stowage for 4 for extended period.
 
prv said:
I thought in your dream you were one of the crew? :)
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Ah! Very true, I'd overlooked that. But as an owner, all those greedy crewmen eating my salt beef and drinking my fresh water...very irritating.

I'll look up Colvin's book. My dream was certainly set in that sort of under-developed world where urgent schedules don't necessarily drive sail out of the machinery of supply & demand. Actually, in my dream, I had spotted smoke on a supposedly uninhabited island, and was respectfully insisting that the captain started the engine, turn back and see if there were castaways there. So, the schooner had an auxiliary. A very detailed dream, unusual for me. :rolleyes:
 
oldbilbo said:
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...if I bought that, who'd come with me to sail it?
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Not I, sir. How narrow must the accommodation be in those hulls?

Like a Lamborghini Countach, it's built to impress and look sexy, but it doesn't offer a comfortable sheltered space to be alone with whoever one attracts...:(
 
Start with this:

Farfarer1.jpg


But in (unpainted) aluminium. 50' long or so - big enough for comfort at sea, not so big as to be really tricky to deal with in marinas. Good deck saloon, with good views when seated. Lute stern to break up the transom a bit. Dashew -style spec, for high latitude cruising.

Lute-stern-detail.jpg


And a woodburning stove.

robertscod.jpg


(Oh, and a 35'ish boat for shorthanded RORC racing.)
 
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