Off Shore

[rnummi]

Sheesh, I thought we were having an academic discussion. In any event, I'm quite pleased with my little cruiser. Can it be made better? Sure thing. As JT points out, it would then cost a fortune. I think the design of the A27 is brilliant. Perfect proportions, easily customizable. If I had to do it all again, I'ld still buy it in the condition it was in. I've learned more from this board and this boat than all previous boats I've owned combined. Were it not for the deep knowledge base on AOG I would definitely be up the creek though. Anyway, if Robin Lee Graham can circumnavigate in Dove, I'm guessing the little A27 could do fine out of the box. I'm running through the issues one at a time. Solving each one with the advice and comments from the AOG crew. Haven't hit a roadblock yet. By the time I'm finished, it probably will be able to go anywhere anytime.

[smacksman]

Keep it up Rick, you're doing great.
As I was once commadore of a yacht club, I learned that skippers are all individuals, with their own ideas, on boats, boating, life and The Nature of the Universe.
No matter how you try to organise them to do a collective event, like a criuse in company, they are Captains of their own world with responsibilities to their craft and crew and end up doing their own thing!
You continue to ask questions; get a dozen different answers; then do your own thing.

Roger

[cvsailor]

Ahoy there

First and foremost, Thank you.
Thank you Smacksman for the videos on your trip with Free State. Enjoyed them, and wit of your narratives.

I sense from some of these comments that many of you are dissatisfied with some aspects of your boats. I also get the sense that these boats haven't been taken offshore by the commentators. However from your perspectives (some) they were not built to withstand seas given their many flaws pointed out. Some prefer the peace of mind of being at the dock. All in all great input.

Well, I am lucky enough to work on and around Nantucket sound, and it provides a great platform to put it to test. Eventually this boat will end up at the Archipelago of Cape Verde where I hail from and intend to return for winter in years ahead. The intent is to used to leisurely cruise the 10 island nation and its atols. Will she go on her own keel or carried over there is what remain to be seen.

Thank you all

Capt Monteiro

[DesertAlbin736]

Apropos of nothing, since I don't really have a dog in this hunt, but once upon a time I owned a Montgomery 15 pocket cruiser sailboat named "Scamp", as pictured here motoring up St. Leonard's Creek off the Patuxent River in Maryland. I also once sailed this boat from Marina Del Rey in L.A. to Catalina Island, a distance of 30 NM offshore. More to the point, back in 1982 when these boats first came out, there was a fellow who sailed a Montgomery 15 single handed 2,200 miles from Newport Beach to Oahu.

Story about it is here

http://msog.org/yarns/hawaii15.cfm

Point being, I guess you can do anything you're brave (or foolish) enough to try. After all, you don't scare anyone until you scare yourself.

[JT48348]

I will be fascinated to hear your success ( which I don't doubt for a second). I've thought of the same thing. So please report back or pm me your findings. I think a lot has to do with the skippers ability more so the boat --and so I may trailer across, but I like to hear what you find.

Very exciting

[Jay Knoll]

Well at least we've got inboards!

http://groverbuiltboats.blogspot.com/20 ... board.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcxzB1HPsmQ

[smacksman]

Do you get seasick cvsailor? I've just checked out the youtube clip above posted by Jay and the motion looks pretty violent even on a calm day! It looks as it felt when dropping sails mid-ocean in a sailboat to do some maintenance - hard to stay on deck!

[cvsailor]

Do you get seasick cvsailor? I've just checked out the youtube clip above posted by Jay and the motion looks pretty violent even on a calm day! It looks as it felt when dropping sails mid-ocean in a sailboat to do some maintenance - hard to stay on deck!

Have gotten couple times at my early age while in the Navy. Always the first day out port. To this day I don't know if it was from the motion of the sea or the heavy drinking the night before.
Did watch the videos, bring back the memories of open fisherman dory back in Cape Verde.

These are two different boats that I suspect would behave very differently on the same sea conditions. I am hoping to put the Albin to test on Nantucket Sound at some point. It gets pretty nasty with winds of norther quadrant and opposing tides...

[Beta Don]

We had 3 or 4 hours of very bumpy ride on our Gulf crossing between Apalachicola and Cedar Key. Very irregular 4 footers really wore us out before things subsided around 10 PM. I've done that passage 3 or 4 times in my 34' sailboat, but this was the first time in a powerboat . . . . and a small powerboat at that. Offshore in an A27 is not a comfortable place to be, unless you have unusually calm weather and we all know you can't count on that for too long

Not very comfortable, I can assurel you. Compared to the sailboat with it's sails steadying the ride, my A27 bobs around like a cork. To be honest, I'm glad that portion of this trip is behind us

Don

[DesertAlbin736]

Think an A27 is a bumpy ride, try an A25 with a 3 ft chop on the stern quarter. Wish I could post a video of crossing the Chesapeake as we did last year on a choppy day. 20 deg to 20 deg heels. Maybe one of these days I get around to setting up a YouTube account. Suffice to say A25's don't like beam seas.

[smacksman]

Glad you made it Don.
Did you go out of Government Cut when it was lumpy? What was it like?
I had read that it was not advisable in bad weather.
Fair winds, Roger

[Beta Don]

Yes, we left via Government Cut. There had been small craft warnings for a week or so, but they lifted them the day before. The winds were near calm, but the seas hadn't laid down yet evidently. Things smoothed out a bit by 9 or 10 PM and the Gulf was really smooth after midnight, so the last half of the crossing was uneventful


We've had following seas for much of this trip. The A27 with her broad, flat backside really doesn't like them. Waves pick up the stern and move it left or right and set it back down and you're headed in a new direction! I can't imagine an A25 being much worse

So far, my offshore opinion is . . . . I *really* miss my sailboat!

Don

[DesertAlbin736]

Speaking of lumpy rides, here's a couple frame grabs off a video of our rock 'n roll Chesapeake Bay crossing from Solomons to Vienna, MD

[rnummi]

What would the addition of an ODay 23 centerboard do to resolve the Rock and roll ride? You can buy a brand new centerboard from D&R Marine for same?

https://www.google.com/search?q=oday+23 ... tSfdWbM%3A

It seems that it would fit perfectly into the hollow keel trunk. Especially interesting for the folks considering adding a mast.

[smacksman]

You only need a centerboard if you are trying to beat to windward and as the old cruising saying goes - 'Gentlemen don't beat to windward'! And trust me, with a hull form like an Albin 25;27;28;32;35 etc. you would always be embayed on a lee shore!
What would help the motion is a mast+sail+a few tons of lead in a bolt on keel. Wait a minute! That's a sailboat!