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Diesel Duck

Diesel Duck

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2014
Messages
471
Location
Colombia, South America and Huatulco, Mexico
Throwing out a question to all my TF brothers and sisters.

What would be your short list of boats in the 40 to 55 foot range that would make a good full-time live aboard for a single person, or couple, and be able to safely & comfortably handle an annual north/south, south/north (bash) migration from Mexico to Alaska and back again?

Requirements/necessities would include stabilization (active or passive), autopilot, radar, water maker, generator, A/C and heat.

Preferences/wants include full displacement, full keel, pilothouse, flying bridge, large full capacity, decent engine room access, fishable, diveable with room for solar panels. Nothing with huge amounts of horsepower.

Oh, I almost forgot the most important piece of the equation... A maximum purchase budget of $200,000 USD. Note: If boat is in need of a lot of upgrades etc. this amount would decrease accordingly.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

.
 
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We’ve done the trip twice from Alaska to Mexico. At 3,000 plus miles, one way, with no real side trips, I can’t imagine doing a round trip in a year.

That being said, a motorsailer would be my first choice. You can sail down from AK and have the power to bash into it on the way back.
 
Larry M said:
We’ve done the trip twice from Alaska to Mexico. At 3,000 plus miles, one way, with no real side trips, I can’t imagine doing a round trip in a year.

That being said, a motorsailer would be my first choice. You can sail down from AK and have the power to bash into it on the way back.
Click to expand...

Yes, a "motorsailer" is a good option... Any recommendations/suggestions of a brand, model, year etc. etc.

.
 
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I agree with Larry. There aren't many good stabilized boats of that size under 200k other than motorsailers. They tend to offer the best bang for the buck for a passage maker.

If someone wanted a classic trawler look, an Willard 40 motorsailer would probably handle it well.
 
For that price definitely a sailboat. Motorsailors are rare for a reason, typically because they don't do either particularly well. As others have noted that's one heck of yearly round trip in a slow boat.
 
I’ve been on two Dutch motorsailers through the years but can’t remember the designers. They all had the tankage, engine size, heating systems and creature comforts. Performance was good as they were designed as motorsailers as was the build quality being Dutch. On the route you mentioned, you don’t have worry about air clearance or draft which is a plus. I’d be looking in the PNW.
 
caltexflanc said:
For that price definitely a sailboat. Motorsailors are rare for a reason, typically because they don't do either particularly well. As others have noted that's one heck of yearly round trip in a slow boat.
Click to expand...

A bit off topic but I'll continue this discussion...

Estimating roughly 550 - 600 hours each direction this equates to approximately 20 to 25 full 24 hours days of sailing/motoring. Although not having done it before this certainly seems very doable in a 12 month period. :confused:

Note: Anyone... Please feel free to educate me if my brief analysis is incorrect.

.
 
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Using an average speed of 7 knots, then that's only 857 hours of boating a year to cover the 6,000 nm. We average between 900 and 1000 hours. Now, one question would be is he willing to deal with the fuel cost of a faster boat? At 12 knots, that leaves plenty of time at each end of the route, since the route only requires 500 hours. We average 17-18 knots over all situations combined.

While those hours sound like a lot to many, we did do a poll here some time back and 2 boaters here exceeded 1000 hours a year while 8 cruise 500 to 1000.
 
Diesel Duck said:
A bit off topic but I'll continue this discussion...

Estimating roughly 550 - 600 hours each direction this equates to approximately 20 to 25 full 24 hours days of sailing/motoring. Although not having done it before this certainly seems very doable in a 12 month period. :confused:

Note: Anyone... Please feel free to educate me if my brief analysis is incorrect.

.
Click to expand...

While you were asking, I was posting. It's very doable. I'd tend to look at it like this too. 5 hours every third day will do it. 7 hours every fourth day. Just over 8 hours every fifth day. 12 hours per day one day a week. It's not a daunting amount.
 
Diesel Duck said:
...Estimating roughly 550 - 600 hours each direction this equates to approximately 20 to 25 full 24 hours days of sailing/motoring. Although not having done it before this certainly seems very doable in a 12 month period. :confused:...
Click to expand...

South bound you should be ok time but you’ll be missing BC. Northbound, the weather can really slow you down since you are “going to weather”. They don’t call the trip from Cabo to San Diego the Baja Bash for nothing. San Francisco to Noah Bay you can kill a lot of time, again against the wind. You can get lucky but we waited three weeks in OR for a south bound window. I don’t know how much blue water experience you have but beating or going to weather sucks and very hard on the boat and crew. Just my 2 cents.
 
 
BandB said:
A little searching, but I used $150k as the maximum price to allow for readying the boat. Just examples:

1989 Californian Cockpit Motoryacht Power Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

1985 Hatteras Convertible Power Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

1978 Palmer Johnson Custom Power Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

1996 Carver 500 Power Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

1987 Chris-Craft 501 Motoryacht Power Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

1988 Jefferson Marlago 46 Sundeck Power Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

1990 Bayliner 4588 Motoryacht Power Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

1990 Californian 45 Motoryacht Power Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com
Click to expand...

Thank you for your efforts.

Me thinks an 1800 horsepower Hatteras sportfisher project boat is not in my future. Several of the others are geographically undesirable not to mention I can't see any of them doing the northbound bash from Mexico to Alaska. I'd really have to watch my weather window and use extreme caution since all boats listed were unstabilized.

Note: I'm more inclined towards an older KK42 (or something similar) or possibly even a motorsailer like a Seahorse Marine Mandarin 52.

.
 
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The real reason motorsailors are rare is that the people who understand their strengths are rare....

The uneducated cruisers see their weaknesses more than their strengths.

Like swiss army knives and clones, they exist for a reason.
 
A photo is worth a million words .
5952435_20160928064659178_1_XLARGE.jpg
 
psneeld said:
The real reason motorsailors are rare is that the people who understand their strengths are rare....

The uneducated cruisers see their weaknesses more than their strengths.

Like swiss army knives and clones, they exist for a reason.
Click to expand...

Everything exists for a reason, some things have more reasons than others.
Why are Swiss Army knives popular while MS boats are the opposite?
Why are people who value the strengths of an MS rare?
 
caltexflanc said:
Everything exists for a reason, some things have more reasons than others.
Why are Swiss Army knives popular while MS boats are the opposite?
Why are people who value the strengths of an MS rare?
Click to expand...



I think there needs to be a lot more commitment to owning a MS they are not a turn key and go way of boating .
Maybe when one is old enough and has funds to purchase a larger MS the body has worn out and cant keep up lol
 
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As I read through this thread I was feeling that the only attractive boats (to me) were the motor sailors. Beautiful.

But then the Ocean Alexander Mk I was introduced. That is an amazing boat that we almost purchased an example of before Blue Sky.

This one, with good engines (the one we were looking at had triple nickles) and Naids looks very promising.

Look luck on your quest!
 
I really like the look of a motor sailer but one thought from some green wood... Do you have the skills to sail? Do you know how to sail? Just not as easy as turning the key and push the lever. For me this is the question to ask before going to a MS.
If I take myself as an example, no I do not have the skills for this and I do not see me sailing while getting old.

L
 
Lou_tribal said:
I really like the look of a motor sailer but one thought from some green wood... Do you have the skills to sail? Do you know how to sail? Just not as easy as turning the key and push the lever. For me this is the question to ask before going to a MS.
If I take myself as an example, no I do not have the skills for this and I do not see me sailing while getting old.

L
Click to expand...

Great comment!

My background is based in the powerboat arena ever since I was a wee one, however, as a very young man I was a member of a sailing club in SoCal where I learned how to sail on a 21' Victory and from there I've also sailed a 24' Columbia. Not an extensive sailing background to be sure but I'd feel comfortable tackling and learning to sail something larger and more complicated.

.
 
IF you're going to spend a lot of time on the ocean traveling, and under power, the engine(s) need to be part of the consideration. Reliability and economy, fuel and maintenance will have a big impact.
 
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