New Sailor Jumping Aboard

[R. Bush]

Greetings all. I have been lurking around this forum for awhile now, but have finally decided to take the plunge and jump on board.

I'm originally from the east coast of Nova Scotia and grew up around the classic Cape Island fishing boat. I come from several generations of commercial fishermen, but have never practiced the trade myself. I just have my family's deep rooted connection to boats and the ocean. Over the years I have owned a series of sailboats ranging from an ancient windsurfer to my current Nonsuch 26, and have done my best to be a true sailor. As I get older I am bowing to the realization that my heart just wants to go back to my roots - a simple, reliable, safe, and seaworthy "trawler" type vessel like the ones I grew up with.

I'm going to put the sailboat up for sale in the spring, but figure I should start researching it's replacement now. Hence my appearance here, where I will be asking for advice and guidance on what type of vessel will meet the needs of an aging single handed sailor of limited means.

Looking forward to receiving lots of seasoned and salty advice, and perhaps one day having learned enough to move to the "giving" end of the conversation.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings boyo,
Welcome aboard. Knew a boat builder in Shelburne NS at one time Wade G and for the life of me can't remember his last name. Goudin? Gouldin?

 

[Comodave]

Welcome aboard. Glad to have an ex sailor aboard.

 

[rgano]

Glad you're here. So it sounds like a fiberglass 35-40 footer with a single naturally aspirated diesel, maybe a 6-8 KW generator or just big battery bank with solar-assisted charging, an autopilot for sure for a single-hander, and normal GPS. Are AIS and radar of interest for fog and night running?

 

[R. Bush]

It would probably be Gouldin - that is a good NS name. I seem to remember something like that from my youth.

I will post a more detailed "wish list" in a separate thread. Just wanted to introduce myself here.

Thanks for the welcoming replies.

Greetings boyo,
Welcome aboard. Knew a boat builder in Shelburne NS at one time Wade G and for the life of me can't remember his last name. Goudin? Gouldin?

 

[Pete Meisinger]

Welcome to the "Dark Side", although I guess you were always one of us.

Every contributor of this forum can recommend the perfect trawler for you(.Personally I would recccomend the 36 foot Albin with a single diesel.) However the choice will be yours, here is where we can come in. Find a boat or a few boats you like and give this group some pictures and a list of features. Get specific, engine type, hours, flybridge, type of fuel and H20 tanks, age, etc, etc ?

We will then offer advice,Generally steering you toward a boat similar to what we own.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Welcome Aboard.

pete

 

[rsn48]

I am in another hobby, model railroading. There are similarities between boating and MRing, more than you would think. Lets examine how your average North American MR hobbyist gets into the hobby. About 99 % of these newbies go out and buy an HO engine, cars and track. They do this regardless of the fact they only have a 3 by 6 foot piece of plywood to fit a small space or a large basement.

There are many different scales, but the two dominant are HO, then N which is roughly half of HO, then Z which is roughly half of N. There used to be a group of people who for humour and fun sake, designed track on a toilet seat. You would be surprised at how many choose a larger scale and the engine could maybe run two inches forwards and back because the engine was almost the size of the toilet seat. In Z scale, its amazing how much track you can get on a toilet seat. In fact, you can purchase a brief case with a Z scale layout built in it so if you are a business person, you can take it to your hotel and run it after work hours while away from home.

The lesson is obvious to me, look at the space you have in MRing, then what kind of layout you want - a large empire, a switching layout, a continuous running layout - then decide on scale to suit the location and what parameters you want to check off on your wish list. And to this very day, almost no newbie MR hobbyists do this; they still go out and purchase that HO train first.

Boating seems to be much the same. The newbie first starts with the boat because of appeal or familiarity or because of popularity. But instead of sex appeal of the boat (I use this phrase in a broad metaphorical sense) to me it makes more sense to look at the location, distance between desired boating destinations, range of your boating opportunities, and the usual wind, tides, waves, storms parameters and decide based on who you are - a go slow guy, a go fast guy, and a sometimes go slow and sometimes go fast guy.

And this is me talking and my likes and desires. But if I had a boat out of TO, one place I'd look to go is Rochester as a possible interesting location (could be crappy, what do I a west coaster know). And based on an less than empirical calculation have found it to be roughly 100 K away from TO, straight as the Seagull flies. 100 K is roughly 50 nautical miles.

So in a sailboat I can take roughly 10 hours to get to Rochester, tacking and jibing, averaging 5 knots per hour. In a trawler averaging 7 knots, you can take roughly 7 hours to get there. With a boat that has a top speed of 30 knots burning a fortune of fuel can get there obviously much faster. With the fast boat you could do the first half hour at 30 knots, then slow down to 14 knots arriving at a little under three hours. The best choice for you is to decide how fast and how far you want to go then select a boat suitable for your weather conditions as well. There is no right answer for everyone, some love sailing and taking forever, some love slow boats and others prefer something faster to go further in a shorter time frame.

And give yourself time to think about this. I also came from a sailing background over decades and I was content to go slower, until I discovered faster. Now sometimes I want to go fast and sometimes slow, but I want the choice for safety, range, and convenience reasons. But this is me, who are you?

 

[catalinajack]

I have lots of S gauge track, engines, cars, and structures all of which are in storage now. Sold the dirt house three years ago.

I am in another hobby, model railroading. There are similarities between boating and MRing, more than you would think. Lets examine how your average North American MR hobbyist gets into the hobby. About 99 % of these newbies go out and buy an HO engine, cars and track. They do this regardless of the fact they only have a 3 by 6 foot piece of plywood to fit a small space or a large basement.

There are many different scales, but the two dominant are HO, then N which is roughly half of HO, then Z which is roughly half of N. There used to be a group of people who for humour and fun sake, designed track on a toilet seat. You would be surprised at how many choose a larger scale and the engine could maybe run two inches forwards and back because the engine was almost the size of the toilet seat. In Z scale, its amazing how much track you can get on a toilet seat. In fact, you can purchase a brief case with a Z scale layout built in it so if you are a business person, you can take it to your hotel and run it after work hours while away from home.

The lesson is obvious to me, look at the space you have in MRing, then what kind of layout you want - a large empire, a switching layout, a continuous running layout - then decide on scale to suit the location and what parameters you want to check off on your wish list. And to this very day, almost no newbie MR hobbyists do this; they still go out and purchase that HO train first.

Boating seems to be much the same. The newbie first starts with the boat because of appeal or familiarity or because of popularity. But instead of sex appeal of the boat (I use this phrase in a broad metaphorical sense) to me it makes more sense to look at the location, distance between desired boating destinations, range of your boating opportunities, and the usual wind, tides, waves, storms parameters and decide based on who you are - a go slow guy, a go fast guy, and a sometimes go slow and sometimes go fast guy.

And this is me talking and my likes and desires. But if I had a boat out of TO, one place I'd look to go is Rochester as a possible interesting location (could be crappy, what do I a west coaster know). And based on an less than empirical calculation have found it to be roughly 100 K away from TO, straight as the Seagull flies. 100 K is roughly 50 nautical miles.

So in a sailboat I can take roughly 10 hours to get to Rochester, tacking and jibing, averaging 5 knots per hour. In a trawler averaging 7 knots, you can take roughly 7 hours to get there. With a boat that has a top speed of 30 knots burning a fortune of fuel can get there obviously much faster. With the fast boat you could do the first half hour at 30 knots, then slow down to 14 knots arriving at a little under three hours. The best choice for you is to decide how fast and how far you want to go then select a boat suitable for your weather conditions as well. There is no right answer for everyone, some love sailing and taking forever, some love slow boats and others prefer something faster to go further in a shorter time frame.

And give yourself time to think about this. I also came from a sailing background over decades and I was content to go slower, until I discovered faster. Now sometimes I want to go fast and sometimes slow, but I want the choice for safety, range, and convenience reasons. But this is me, who are you?