Stabilised mono hulls/ or catamarans?

Hi jeva,

Fantastic looking boat.....it's wierd but I got outline plans from George Buehler for His smaller duck design back in '98, but I built a 18mtr barge instead

How did your costs work out in china, & how did you comply with EU RCD regulations?
It's a real genuine live aboard , and you are going to all the places I want to visit ......dam, very very jealous!
 
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We didn't do the china build, we bought 2nd hand in Europe (US flagged) and then did the EU importation ourselves - no sweat. If you're interested they now build DD's in Turkey with full EU ratings.
 
. I love trawler yachts, like swift trawler 34,but I like the idea of semi-displacement or cats so that's its possible to run for shelter if the conditions deteriorate. The problem is the semi- dep. drink fuel. I think the st34 does 1.5 mpg at 10kts.....yikes!

The real truth is most boats stay within a few miles of the shore on coastal cruises, so displ. Speed doesn't really matter. :)
 
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I'm intrigued to know how 3-4 mpg (1.5 to 2 GpH at 6Kts) works out cheaper than sailing.

Clearly I'm missing something quite fundamental - do please explain.
 
Hi Mash,

A good diesel will do 5000 hrs running, say 100hp costs £10k new=£2/hr or less (rebuilt). Fuel at 1gak/hr=£6....total =£8hr......full stop.

Sail boat has shrouds, running rigging, lots of lines, sets of sails, auto pilot, and potentially replacement mast from storm damage, shackles, winches etc etc......all needing maintenance plus replacement.

Every new sailboat is sold with some sort of engine, whether its used or not.

Plus when going to windward the actual distant travelled is nearly twice as far, at half the speed.

So mobo will cost less per mile or at least equal sailboat., with less than half the complexity.

Of course a planing boat...that a very different story.
 
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Cheap engine installation, that. Cost me almost that much for 27Hp but what the heck? And you imply that a sailing rig suffers from wear and tear whereas machinery doesn't? Hmm...

I hate to mention it but my sailing boat, despite all that inconvenient clutter of wear-outable rigging costs nothing to run per hour. Zip. nada. Not even a paltry £6. Unique sailing-boat depreciation and wear and tear aside, of course, even if inconveniently going in the wrong direction which incidentally is not allowed for on any accounts sheet I've ever seen.

Which makes your variable costs £6ph and mine precisely £0. Power cheaper than sail?

Perhaps I didn't have it so wrong after all.
 
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Hi Mash,

As you probably Realise I'm not a yottie.

But how much does that sailing boat stuff cost to replace?

I just costed a yanmar 110hp , retail full price £12000.....discounted about £10k.

Also remember you need a crew on a sailing boat (£100 day each ?)
 
Hi Ludd
Mash was 'diss-ing' mobo for the cost of running the engine..........

I challenge you to tie up to a busy pontoon in your sailboat,without crew, and without using the engine, down tide and downwind.
 
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rustybarge said:
I challenge you to tie up to a busy pontoon in your sailboat,without crew, and without using the engine, down tide and downwind.
Click to expand...
I cruise the Adriatic all summer alone and without crew 95% of the time - most of it under sail. Yes, I use the engine, perhaps sometimes as much as 50% of the time on a passage and certainly entering harbour and mooring up. But I often wait in an anchorage until there is a fair wind, or set my flexible destination dependent on the wind direction when departing.

Before laying up at the end of October I filled the diesel tank, repeating what I had done last year; it cost me just under €80 for the season - that's about €1.50 for ca. 10nm for my total distance sailed this year. Sails and rigging have cost nothing for the past five years. I would have gone further but was damaged by a dragging boat in a bora while anchored in Croatia and had to return early. I could, and did, sail all the way back to Italy, turning on the engine only to enter the lagoon labyrinth where my marina is located.

My Italian marina has many motorboat owners that have gone nowhere this year, complaining they cannot afford the fuel prices that have escalated enormously - agreed, they are all of the planing variety, however, fuel costs are only going to rise, and rise .....
 
Hi Rusty

as you know I am a recent convert from motor to sail.... I hate to say it but forgetting the costs of the fuel, ( I do believe that at displacement speeds there's not that much difference between sail and Mo Boat ) The thing about sailing is that with the sails up it is a very nice experience... thing is with a sail boat you can do both :-) mind you last two months up the Midi has been engine only cos mast is laying on the deck..... got say i am missing the sails

Stu
 
There are many people who cruise under sail and religiously refuse to use the engine. There are also many, many sailors in the med who motor more than they sail - I would guess that more than 50% of the sailing boats we see have only one sail up and to see a boat using a downwind sail generally deserves a comment or maybe a photo. The Med is also famous for the maxim ' either toomuch wind or none at all'.
So, for sailing boats who sail like this with limited size fuel tanks (less than 100Gals) they are paying premium price for fuel (up to 2 euro/litre).
A similar size sailing boat to us (14M) would often have an engine about 80 - 100HP, we have 125HP engine so if I'm buying fuel at less than half the price.............
By the way, I much prefer sailing, but to live aboard, trawlers have much more space.
 
One point I forgot to mention in my post above; it regards my conversations with mobo owners in the marina. A significant number mention the advantage of sails when mechanical failure occurs - a constant worry with them, it seems. To be stranded and immobile at sea when one of the sudden and vicious storms that we can get in the northern Adriatic arrives is ever present in their minds - more so in their partner's - from my conversations. "You can always sail back" they say. It is probably more imagined than real - I've never seen an immobilised mobo - but the fear is certainly there.
 
Those are some very good points of view.

I read Motor boat monthly, but they never mention the elephant in the Room; 99% of the boats they review are planing hulls....normally in the 10mtr range and above.

So exactly who can afford the fuel costs with declining wages and escalating costs......a fourty footer costs more than a helicopter to run and maintain....me, I can't afford a chopper!

The truth is we are left with sailboats and displ. Mobo's. is it apples or oranges....or basically a displ. Hull; with or without sails?
 
Hi Jeva

"By the way, I much prefer sailing, but to live aboard, trawlers have much more space."

Been on any 14M Cats lately :-) enough room for a full sized snooker table, oh and smooth enough to play :-)

Stu
 
A question to the cat liveaboards. I have been looking at monohull sailing yachts for liveaboard, I considered cats but I read a while ago that if you are living aboard you need to be looking at a cat above about 36' otherwise the weight of all the personal paraphernalia would have a detrimental effect on the performance. Does this make sense?
 
Windy_Stu said:
Hi Jeva

"By the way, I much prefer sailing, but to live aboard, trawlers have much more space."

Been on any 14M Cats lately :-) enough room for a full sized snooker table, oh and smooth enough to play :-)

Stu
Click to expand...

Used to have a cat and loved it, but the inconveniences of parking. Sailing was great and plenty of space but........
 
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