SeaPipers - Why?

[DDW]

Both will probably easily go 25,000 hrs between rebuild....Where ya planning on all the hours of use?

I would not bet on 25,000 hours. But let's say with good maintenance the Kubota will go 10,000 and the JD 15,000. If you use your boat to go places, 1000 hours in a season is pretty easy to put on, and 10 years not that long.

 

[mvweebles]

Sea piper is a constant advertiser pop-up for me too. From the pictures, I like the boat. It's different and would suit a modest couple well. Reminds me of the old Alberg 24s with an aft cabin sleeping quarter (which was similar to the Lyle Hess designed NorSea 27 sailboat, also trailerable). If you really enjoy outdoor space, which I do, this is an interesting design. The seating and berths look narrow, and the seating in saloon doesn't look long enough for a someone to stretch out and take a decent nap. Shallow depth seats seem common on boats - wonder why? A slow boat especially needs comfortable seating.

The Beta is essentially a Perkins 4.236. Its reportedly an excellent engine and, being under 100hp, avoids the common rail requirement.

Is the JD4045 still available as an NA? Without common rail?

Peter

 

[psneeld]

Albin 27?

 

[mvweebles]

Yea, that's the one - I blew it on size and name (always liked Carl Alberg designs). I thought it was a 24 footer, but definitely the aft cabin thing. I knew a guy and his wife from Vermont who spent summers in the NY canals on one. They had a blast.

Thanks for the thumbnail and correction. Cool little boat.

Peter

 

[FF]

There is no way to guess at engine life as maint. and operation will decide.

What is far easier to assess is weather an engine swap is a overnight affair (lobster boat or most boats with engine under the after deck .)

Eventually many boats will need to refresh the engine ,R&R time should be part of the new boat sales brochure.

 

[ssobol]

Yea, that's the one - I blew it on size and name (always liked Carl Alberg designs). I thought it was a 24 footer, but definitely the aft cabin thing. I knew a guy and his wife from Vermont who spent summers in the NY canals on one. They had a blast.

Thanks for the thumbnail and correction. Cool little boat.

Peter

Albin also made a 25 foot version with a similar layout.

On the 27, if you put canvas over the cockpit area you end up with a boat with a lot of enclosed space given the size.

 

[MurrayM]

Funny how peoples comfort level reference points are so different.

We all start out as kids, willing to camp rough and go on adventures. The experience was more important than how comfortable we were.

My wife and I still chuckle once in a while, sitting in our heated and dry pilothouse with coffee and hot chocolate in hand, thinking back to our sea kayaking days.

This boat is pretty much perfect for its intended use, and users.

Some people might shake their heads at the SeaPiper, but that's only fair because we laughed our heads off while paddling out of Lund on BC's south coast while a motor launch from a 100' or so yacht came into the marina. The crew had cute sailor boy outfits and 'She' had a Texas sized hairdo, 'He' had white freshly ironed slacks and a white sweater tied around his neck, and their dog, a fancy clipped standard white poodle stood triumphantly at the bow.

To each their own

*Edit* We'd still be sea kayaking, but for my wife's shoulder getting wrecked in a car accident.

 

[JLD]

I like SeaPiper's outside the box thinking with this design.

However, I'm somewhat surprised with the decision to have an 8'6" beam. Yes, it can be trailered without a permit. but with a 36' LOA and a 17,000 lb displacement, this must be at least 42' on a trailer and >20,000 lbs. I think few people (including myself) would be comfortable trailering a load this heavy.

I think a 10' beam would make the boat more appealing. It would give more room and still be a relatively easy boat to have transported (hauled).

Jim

 

[DDW]

17,000 displacement is full load. Dry, is is quoted as 12,500*. That will probably put it below the 15,000 lb limit for even needing a special drivers license (with gooseneck trailer). This is about the same as a large 5th wheel RV which are ubiquitous throughout the continent.

But even if you choose to have it professionally moved, the cost will be far less because permits and escort cars aren't required. When I had my 34' trawler moved from east to west, the escort and permit fees added 60% to the bill.

* I say "quoted as", because all builders lie about weight, we just don't know how much.

 

[rsn48]

At least with Albin pictured above, you don't have to go out into the wet miserable weather to use the head.

As I type this and look out the window in front of my computer screen, it is half raining and half snowing.

 

[MurrayM]

...As I type this and look out the window in front of my computer screen, it is half raining and half snowing.

We used to sea kayak in winter. Your discomfort is someone else's normal.

 

[Northern Spy]

At least with Albin pictured above, you don't have to go out into the wet miserable weather to use the head.

As I type this and look out the window in front of my computer screen, it is half raining and half snowing.

Well. You do if you are sleeping aft...

I find it interesting that the Albin 27 was on my short list when looking for boats (along with the Willard 30). The only reason I have a Nordic Tug 26 is because it was available at the right time when I had to fill my slip. I would include a seapiper if it were available as a used vessel.

The Nor'Sea 27 made the short sailing list, as well as a Fisher 25 and 27 ketchs.

 

[MurrayM]

A short 10' walk in the elements from SeaPipers pilothouse isn't so bad compared to paddling to shore, tying up the kayak, scrambling up the seaweed/slime covered rocks into the trees, then being able to take a crap.

On that note...do not eat a Lipton Rice & Sauce pack just before getting into a kayak. About 1/2 hour later you may need to make a desperate race to shore

 

[MiltonP]

Camano Troll vs Seapiper

I live aboard a Camano Troll in Annapolis. It is a Pacific Northwest design and I love my 360 degree view with all that glass in the salon. However, all that glass, even with tint, leads to a hot cabin in the sun. Not ideal as a Florida boat in my opinion.

I think the Seapiper would be a much better tropics boat as the split v-berth/head as a separate cabin would be much easier to cool down at night. I have a box keel in the Camano and like the lower engine placement it provides. I do wish it had a little more beam as that v-berth looks a lot tighter than the Camano's.

 

[MRRiley]

http://https://www.seapiper.com/4299/seapiper-hull-2-and-3-launched/

While digging through the blog these photos turned up an extensive canvas framing arrangement. Seems to be designed to be used while underway based on the forward views and height above the cabin.

With something like this setup, one could rig some side curtains, sort some heat and while away the chilly wet hours. Might even be pretty pleasant...

 

[Nomad Willy]

Going fwd to the head could easily be avoided by just using a pee bottle.

 

[Blissboat]

It's quirky and sort of charming, but at $190K plus, it just doesn't spark much joy here. Must be profitable though - the builders are certainly marketing the heck out of it.

 

[rsn48]

Going fwd to the head could easily be avoided by just using a pee bottle.

I was an officer in the reserves working in Whitehorse. The officers were housed in one bed barracks dorm rooms and the washroom and shower facilities were in another building. Getting up in the middle of the night around June 21 (most light) was brutal because it wasn't dark but sunny. I ended up using a pee bottle.

 

[Solly]

If I wanted to move one I'd find a contractor with a low boy trailer and pay. Travel lift to load and unload. Make up a steel cradle to bolt to the trailer.

Even if it cost $5000 each move you could move it 10 times for the cost of a truck and trailer and the aggravation to do it yourself.

 

[ssobol]

At least with Albin pictured above, you don't have to go out into the wet miserable weather to use the head. ...

You just have to stand out in the wet miserable weather to drive it.

 

[MurrayM]

You just have to stand out in the wet miserable weather to drive it.

But being designed by and for hearty Viking stock, they'd just laugh into the heart of the storm and ask for more

 

[DDW]

I think the Seapiper would be a much better tropics boat as the split v-berth/head as a separate cabin would be much easier to cool down at night. I have a box keel in the Camano and like the lower engine placement it provides. I do wish it had a little more beam as that v-berth looks a lot tighter than the Camano's.

A door on the stateroom fixes that problem for any boat. You don't need a separate house. In my version (with a full house) I'd use some of the space devoted to the cockpit to move the berth aft a foot or two. The biggest compromise to the plan on the Seapiper isn't the beam, it's the large center cockpit. That drives the rest of the plan.

Going fwd to the head could easily be avoided by just using a pee bottle.

Kinda makes a mess when you take a dump in it though .

 

[ssobol]

Some people here have complained about the aft helm and the lack of visibility and think the house should be forward. Then there are those who are drooling over this boat which seems to be of similar layout (as far as the helm goes). Of course, the people complaining and drooling might not be the same.

https://skagit.craigslist.org/boa/d/anacortes-42ft-camano-offshore/7267796300.html

Yes it has a flybridge, but it the weather is poor you probably aren't going to be using it. (Personally, I'm not a fan of flybridges.)

 

[rslifkin]

Visibility with an aft helm depends a lot on how high the helm is and what's in front of it. If the helm is up a bit and there's no tall cabin structure in front of it, visibility is fine. But if you're barely above a chunk of forward cabin that sticks up, or the boat runs at a high deck angle, then an aft helm can have horrid visibility.

 

[rsn48]

You just have to stand out in the wet miserable weather to drive it.

These people are called sailboaters.

Optional joke:
What do BC Ferry officers call ocean kayakers? Speed bumps!

 

[MurrayM]

...Optional joke:
What do BC Ferry officers call ocean kayakers? Speed bumps!

When we were just about to Vancouver, we sat in our kayaks for a while before crossing from Bowen Island watching the traffic. Pretty intimidating coming from the north coast

 

[rsn48]

When we were just about to Vancouver, we sat in our kayaks for a while before crossing from Bowen Island watching the traffic.

Depending on what year this was, the Captain of the Bowen Island Ferry, now retired, was and is a buddy of mine. He was the one who told me that joke. When he was on the bridge I could go up and spend the trip with him. This was when I learned how amazingly stupid boaters can be. I've watch a sailboat pull right in front of a departing ferry. I've seen boats leave the harbour in heavy heavy fog, only to stop in the path of a ferry.

Another joke:
On the Spirit ferries and some others, on the internal wings of the bridge, the part sticking out on the side, there is glass looking about three inches thick. The purpose of the glass is to see down through the wing and know where the hull is in relation to the dock. What these guys would do (they do a lot of practical jokes on each other) is have a newbie go stand on the glass. One of the crew had a paper bag blown up and would smash it making a loud pop while the person was standing on the glass.

They did this to my son when we were on the bridge of the Spirit of Vancouver, a ferry my buddy use to work for years.

 

[PNW Drifter]

You just have to stand out in the wet miserable weather to drive it.

Optional joke:
What do BC Ferry officers call ocean kayakers? Speed bumps!

Careful, a good friend of mine is a Captain w/BC Ferries - Tsawwassen-Victoria route.

As an aside, he complained that too many small vessels have AIS, clogging up the the nav display.

 

[Dick Geving]

That is not a Northwest boat.

 

[PNW Drifter]

Another joke:
On the Spirit ferries and some others, on the internal wings of the bridge, the part sticking out on the side, there is glass looking about three inches thick. The purpose of the glass is to see down through the wing and know where the hull is in relation to the dock. What these guys would do (they do a lot of practical jokes on each other) is have a newbie go stand on the glass. One of the crew had a paper bag blown up and would smash it making a loud pop while the person was standing on the glass.

They did this to my son when we were on the bridge of the Spirit of Vancouver, a ferry my buddy use to work for years.

Ive been on that glass, and thankful that the bag prank wasn't played on me.