Boats

[Rillion]

It would cost about $1200 to fill the fuel, and probably 24hrs running time to burn it in a 400 mile jaunt. 

Gah!  Craziness.

This aught to interest you. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Loop

Indeed.  I want to do it.....preferably without spending over a thousand bucks every 400 miles.   

[Diogenes The Cynic]

Thats a beauty.  Good price, too.  The size is a little intimidating for a couple reasons - other than piloting it which is for the more experienced "driver".  Usually with something that size you need a reliable deckhand.  So a couple could get the job done but a single operator, probably not.  Twin diesels recently hauled, which is a great savings of about $10k, but those engines would drink fuel like a sonofabitch.  It would cost about $1200 to fill the fuel, and probably 24hrs running time to burn it in a 400 mile jaunt. 

This aught to interest you. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Loop

What does a deckhand do?

[Bill Brasky]

Ya, they're wildly inefficient.  I'd have to do some surfing to fact-check the numbers, and it varies with engine size mated to length at the waterline.  But something that big, its around there.  At these kinds of numbers, going from 1 mpg to 2 mpg, you're doubling your fuel economy.  So thats a pretty huge savings, even though both seem shitty.  

Not the sexiest aspect of an otherwise dreamy subject.  

[Bill Brasky]

Thats a beauty.  Good price, too.  The size is a little intimidating for a couple reasons - other than piloting it which is for the more experienced "driver".  Usually with something that size you need a reliable deckhand.  So a couple could get the job done but a single operator, probably not.  Twin diesels recently hauled, which is a great savings of about $10k, but those engines would drink fuel like a sonofabitch.  It would cost about $1200 to fill the fuel, and probably 24hrs running time to burn it in a 400 mile jaunt. 

This aught to interest you. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Loop

What does a deckhand do?

Mainly pull the lines and tie knots.  General boat maintenance.  Wash the deck, do little nuisance projects.  Although you'd probably do most of that yourself if you lived aboard. 

But when docking, thats the big thing one guy can't do alone - if its about the size Rillion posted pix.  Running up and down from the engine controls to throwing lines on the bow, tying to the piers, dropping those bumpers that cushion the spot between the dock and the boat. 

One extra set of hands makes a big difference.  Even if its your wife or whatever, until you shut the engine down.  The bigger the boat, the more ropes, and the less forgiving it is when it drifts from side to side in its slip.  It can really grind hard against wherever its touching the dock. 

Big boats, its not uncommon to have a professional crew.  And thats not just because you're a rich lazy snob, they know what they're doing.  And usually, you just get to hold the wheel when you can't ram into anything, and they do the more complicated steering. 

[freeAgent]

I don't think I'd ever want to live on a boat.  If I'm tied to a dock most of the time, I may as well live in something with a decent bathroom.  I like the idea of sailboats, and enjoy sailing (small stuff: Lasers, Sunfish, etc.), but they aren't incredibly practical.  It's annoying enough to rig a small boat, thank you very much.  Sailboats also have additional risks of tipping over, ropes catching you, booms hitting you, etc.  I've also had the misfortune to be sailing a boat when the mast snapped in two (it was carbon fiber mast and I was hauling ass in huge wind and decent swells).  There's not much scarier than that.

Of course, the upsides to sailing are also pretty big, IMO.  You can save a lot of fuel if you don't spend all your travel time on narrow, windless, inland waterways with currents, etc.  They are also pretty much silent under sail power, except for the sound of the boat slicing through water.  It's also a great feeling to harness the wind for propulsion.  They're less automated, similar to the difference between a manual and automatic transmission in a car.  I love manuals.  There are also a ton of sailboat races for all types of boats, if that's your thing.

[Bill Brasky]

I have no interest in sailboats whatsoever. 

[ForumTroll]

I have no interest in sailboats whatsoever. 

I don't have to prove how manly I am either.

[anarchir]

I've next to no knowledge on boating beyond rowboats, and the only bodies of water I've ever lived near have been ponds, lakes and small rivers.

[Bill Brasky]

I have no interest in sailboats whatsoever. 

I don't have to prove how manly I am either.

All that rigging is a huge pain in the balls, and you're at the mercy of the wind.  The ocean is dangerous enough with twin Detroits.  Putting your life in the hands of a piece of canvas?  No thanks. 

[Bill Brasky]

I've next to no knowledge on boating beyond rowboats, and the only bodies of water I've ever lived near have been ponds, lakes and small rivers.

I don't have any first-hand experience either.  Mostly all I know is from about 2 years of online research. 

Theres a real lot to know, I've just skimmed the surface.  I don't pretend to think I could jump aboard and run a boat with any proficiency.  I'd take lessons from a captain.  You have to.  They're huge and expensive, and theres just a ton of operational details.  Going out a greenhorn, you're begging to sink the fucker, or smash it to pieces on a pier trying to dock it.  Experience has to come from somewhere, and if you didn't grow up on one, or work on one, or been in the navy, you gotta take lessons. 

The big ones are sorta like flying, except for some reason theres very little license requirements.  Instead, you've just gotta obey the maritime laws, and if you do, they don't mess with you.   

[Riddler]

cool story:
a bunch of us were drinking at the ''Naswa'', a lakeside beach bar at Winnipesaukee years ago.
theres a big dock there, next to the beach...and this dude comes in w/ a big cabin cruiser...
place is packed & everybody is eyes on this fucker, as the only open slip available is WAYY on the inside...a real tight fit..
this fucking guy was an artist w/ the throttles, as, in this situation, you don't even touch the wheel...it's useless anyway..
he took about 10 minutes to slick this barge into an impossible slot, without touching anything....like a hand sliding into a glove.....
when he shut the engines off, the entire beach erupted into applause....the dude was a fucking movie star.

[mikehz]

Sailboat. The nice thing about a sailboat is that you can run it without worrying about the cost of fuel. You can go all the way around the world using hardly any fuel at all, as 16-yo Abby Sunderland is currently doing.

http://abbysunderland.com/

[Riddler]

Sailboat. The nice thing about a sailboat is that you can run it without worrying about the cost of fuel. You can go all the way around the world using hardly any fuel at all, as 16-yo Abby Sunderland is currently doing.

http://abbysunderland.com/

great, if you wanna be worked like an african slave.....
plus, you need xtra hands on deck, like in a storm-type setting, for instance

[freeAgent]

Sailboat. The nice thing about a sailboat is that you can run it without worrying about the cost of fuel. You can go all the way around the world using hardly any fuel at all, as 16-yo Abby Sunderland is currently doing.

http://abbysunderland.com/

great, if you wanna be worked like an african slave.....
plus, you need xtra hands on deck, like in a storm-type setting, for instance

That's why sailing is fun.  One of my favorite things to do is take a Laser out in heavy winds and 6+ foot waves and do shit like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-e4RYbI07M

and this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CygXhiYpfKU

[Bill Brasky]

I should have titled this thread "Live Aboards" so I didn't have to have this conversation every two pages. 

Sailing is a hobby.   Sailboats have tall masts that prohibit their passage in many cases.  Their accommodations are day-sailor style, with extremely small storage for wastewater and freshwater.  They are impractical for comfortable living conditions, and are rarely fitted for permanent living.  The few examples that are fitted for permanent living still have the undesirable high mast and deep keel, putting it into the realm of much larger motor cruisers in regard to maneuverability. 

So believing you can go anywhere you want with free wind power is incorrect.  In most cases people would want to cruise the coast and adjoining tributaries, half of which becomes off limits to sail power.  The interior of the United States is for all practical purposes, unnavigable. 

It may be true that you can have a virtually unlimited range in ocean conditions, but its worth mentioning crossing into other countries territorial waters has its own problems - not to mention the dangers associated with trans-oceanic travel in a small boat.  Having those immediate thoughts usually indicates the person has given about five minutes of consideration to the topic - because a person who has advanced to the true logistics usually abandons it to folly.  The few noteworthy adventurers who have successfully traversed the major oceans are exactly that - few.  Its a fairly exclusive club. 

This is somewhat ironic in the similarities that brought about much scorn to the Christopher McCandless trek into the Alaskan wilderness.  I have to admit, I don't fully understand the thought process of the person who automatically leaps to the maximum extreme end of a boats potential.  I find it somewhat short-sighted and immature, and liken it to giving the keys to a car to a kid who says "Wow, I could drive all the way to the tip of South America!"  I suppose you could, Junior.  But you probably shouldn't.