Voyaging on a small income... Started reading it... Shouldn't have...

CaptainBob

CaptainBob

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Voyaging on a small income... Started reading it... Shouldn\'t have...

So I bought "voyaging on a small income" on ebay and started reading it last night.

Seems like I absolutely MUST get myself a junk rigged, ocean capable, cruiser!

Exactly how bad to windward IS a junk rig? Seems like apart from a little drop in windward performance, it's otherwise the perfect setup.

Any recommendations for a reasonably priced, shallow draft, junk rigged, ocean capable boat?
 
Re: Voyaging on a small income... Started reading it... Shouldn\'t have...

Corribee's going to be way too small I think. I'm hoping to convince my girlfriend to come along too.

In the book, they reckon on something around the 30 foot mark.

Don't think I'd be happy crossing the atlantic in a Corribee.
 
Re: Voyaging on a small income... Started reading it... Shouldn\'t have...

Great book - though 'Badger' is distinctly not to my taste style-wise. Saw a more conventional small junk rigged (single sail it seemed) up close on Sunday going up to Fareham - that looked quite nice.

Junk rigs seem to have a fair bit of string for the sail controls according to a book on sailmaking that I have been reading, but the boat I saw looked very easy to handle.
 
Re: Voyaging on a small income... Started reading it... Shouldn\'t have...

THIS would appear to tick all your boxes . . . if she is as good as she looks and I had the money I would buy her myself and sail her down to the Canaries to use as our Winter boat / holiday home / gloom escape and maybe even consider a transat sometime.

- W
 
Re: Voyaging on a small income... Started reading it... Shouldn\'t have...

[ QUOTE ]
Corribee's going to be way too small I think. I'm hoping to convince my girlfriend to come along too.

In the book, they reckon on something around the 30 foot mark.

Don't think I'd be happy crossing the atlantic in a Corribee.

[/ QUOTE ]

See my blog, I'm about to live on one. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Seriously though, the Corribee is a proven boat and fits the small budget side of things. Going for a 30ft boat is my no means voyaging on a budget. Heck, I earn quite a lot of money with almost no outgoings, and I find the Corribee it pushing me, scaling up the cost to a 30footer would really hurt, if not be impossible for me to manage. I'd think twice about going for something that size.
 
Re: Voyaging on a small income... Started reading it... Shouldn\'t have...

Been there, done that: ended up with a 30ft junk. Just like that!
I agree that Corribee/Coromandels are a bit small perhaps the Kingfisher 26 or the Virgo Voyager would be better. Custom boats do come up occasionally. Often a serious bargain given the JR's lack of popularity. Contact Robin Blain at Sunbirds Marine, he's a very helpful chap and he'll be happy to discuss every details with you. They also used to offer test sail/tuition. Better to give them a ring though as they don't really do e-mail. There's also a yahoo discussion group but that can be a bit confusing. If you want further information just send me a pm.

Good luck!
 
Re: Voyaging on a small income... Started reading it... Shouldn\'t have

I am one of the sceptics re junk rigged boats. Yes anything smaller than about 28 ft will have too much movement ie too light and not enough room.
I reckon the choice of boat is the least of your worries. It is your own will to do it and enjoy it that is the unknown. ergo start on small voyages before you commit too much. olewill
 
Re: Voyaging on a small income... Started reading it... Shouldn\'t have

I'm in a 26 foot Centaur at the moment and it's tight enough for a long weekend with two of us.

The book also advises that a large amount of stowage space is economical for various reasons. Seems to make a lot of sense.

Wouldn't you be petrified going transat in something like a Virgo Voyager!! Eek! Had a look closely at one of those before going for the Centaur. Glad of the extra space I am.
 
Re: Voyaging on a small income... Started reading it... Shouldn\'t have...

[ QUOTE ]
Been there, done that: ended up with a 30ft junk. Just like that!
I agree that Corribee/Coromandels are a bit small perhaps the Kingfisher 26 or the Virgo Voyager would be better. Custom boats do come up occasionally. Often a serious bargain given the JR's lack of popularity. Contact Robin Blain at Sunbirds Marine, he's a very helpful chap and he'll be happy to discuss every details with you. They also used to offer test sail/tuition. Better to give them a ring though as they don't really do e-mail. There's also a yahoo discussion group but that can be a bit confusing. If you want further information just send me a pm.

Good luck!

[/ QUOTE ]

Ooh, some nice looking boats on there! Thanks for that!
 
Re: Voyaging on a small income... Started reading it... Shouldn\'t have

[ QUOTE ]
Did you look at that Varne 850 I linked to?

- W

[/ QUOTE ]

I did, it looks fab. Have emailed them for more details.

Thank you!! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re: Voyaging on a small income... Started reading it... Shouldn\'t have...

Deadly book! Certainly started me down the liveaboard path - though we aren't nearly as purist as she is. (We have 40' ketch, and an engine, for a start!)

The point is, it inspires you to realise what you can do on v little money, and if you've got a bit more, well, you might choose a bigger boat, or more meals ashore, or just to save it!

We have some v good friends who built their own modified junk, called Mudskipper, written up a couple of years ago in YM. (There is actually a picture of it on our blog, at http://www.sailblogs.com/member/roaringgirl/?xjMsgID=60517

To borrow a description from someone else who met them and gave quite a good description at www.el-lobo.co.uk/html/mike_s_page.html#May2008) "It is a ‘swing wing’ ketch, best described as a combination between a junk rig and freedom rig in that the sails are on both sides of the mast with internal foils or battens which give the sails an aerofoil shape. But Pete’s thinking went further. The masts were unstayed yet instead of being keel stepped as ours are, they were mounted into a steel frame and pivoted as if in a tabernacle with a winch system for lowering them. He had arranged the system so that both masts when lowered were contained within the length of the boat, ideal for canal travel."

We haven't sailed on Mudskipper but have drunk a lot aboard her in harbours and at anchor. They've sailed her from Oz up the Indian Ocean, and teh Red Sea, across the Med, up to Norway via Ireland, and now South again and planning to cross the Atlantic this winter. Their junk certainly goes to windward, and, as Pete says, they're often sailing when others have turned the engine on.

So - really your imagination's the limit!
 
Re: Voyaging on a small income... Started reading it... Shouldn\'t have

I tried to sail in company with a junk rigged boat once.. It was so slow it was painful. Because the mast is unstayed it's just not possible to get much sail up nor to get that close to the wind because the leech falls off.
 
Re: Voyaging on a small income... Started reading it... Shouldn\'t have

Maybe it's a mindset. Reading about on the web it seems that those who try junks rarely look back. Perhaps none of the junkies are in a hurry.

Thanks for everyone's posts and links - all making great reading. So many little problems to overcome to make permanent liveaboarding a reality - but they're "nice" problems to overcome unlike a lot of life's woes. Like, "what kind of heater should we go for and which rig should we get and where should we travel to and from".

I'm currently living aboard 50% of the time on my Centaur but do find it a bit cramped after 3 or 4 days. Hence the thought that something a little bigger would be preferable.
 
Re: Voyaging on a small income... Started reading it... Shouldn\'t have

I've never heard that you can't get much sail up on a junk, Normally the opposite is true: being so easy to reef they tend to be overcanvassed. Comparing them to more conventional boats is difficult as they've often been converted by amateurs. Obviously some hulls are quite unsuitable! So yes, there will be some dogs out there - as with any other design.
It's a bit like bilge vs fin keel /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Re: Voyaging on a small income... Started reading it... Shouldn\'t have

With modern flexing battens the windward performance is not too bad at all although hardly race winning and you can always have just the right amount of sail.
 
Re: Voyaging on a small income... Started reading it... Shouldn\'t have...

I read 'The £200 millionaire' over 35 years ago.....very subversive!

I used to have a Coromadel. Performance to windward wasn't really too bad against bermudian rigged Coribee.

A very easy rig to handle short-handed.

I sold it 'cos I found it boring. Tacking, reefing etc all little effort from the cockpit. I bought an old gaff cutter to give me something to do.
 
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