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  • 11 Mar 2014 06:55
    Quote
    Reply # 1515152 on 1514911
    Anonymous member
    Matt Waite wrote:

    What's the standing headroom below on a Tom Thumb? Is she 24' or 26'?
    You mentioned "complexity" - in what way is Arion more complex than Minming II?
    Cheers,
    Matt

    Arion is a 24.  Headroom is about 6' 4" but only in front of stove and sink, due to the layout which favours storage above cabin sole area.  I'll email you some photos.  Ming Ming had no inbuilt systems, it was just a basic, unsinkable fibreglass boat without an engine.  He had a portable GPS.  MingMing 11 will have a tiny outboard motor but not much else.  Arion has a diesel motor, a 12 volt fridge, solar panels, two battery banks, electric lights, an autopilot (as well as a mechanical windvane), an electric macerating toilet to meet QLD regulations, and it all needs regular servicing and occasional repairs.  I have just spent $600 on the diesel, new glow plugs, rewiring the alternator, flushing out a blockage in the fresh water coolant system.  I sailed the boat for 10 years with just an outboard on the transom and it was simpler but Arion is a heavy boat and motorsailing on the coast makes life a lot easier.  Arion is a bullet-proof boat for ocean voyaging, but I now think I'd like to try a light-desplacement rocketship that sails to windward like a witch and doesn't need an engine, just a small outboard for sneaking into port.  Oh and steel is a high maintenance material, scrape and paint, scrape and paint.  After 17 years the boat is still in good shape but it is a lot of work.  I think foam bouyancy and postive flotation is a good alternative.  I think Roger Taylor's approach is spot on.
    Last modified: 11 Mar 2014 06:57 | Anonymous member
  • 11 Mar 2014 00:35
    Quote
    Reply # 1515011 on 1514213
    Deleted user
    Welcome back to the fold Matt.
    I imagine you bought a fine boat for the price. Can't imagine conversion of her reaching beyond $2000, only because cheap me avoids choosing an expensive custom extrusion for the mast.
    That plan of yours about SE Asia sounds like ours. Forgot about the English teaching angle, I spent several years doing that in my 20's. Got it down pat. Wonder how the demand is in Malaysia..
  • 10 Mar 2014 22:16
    Quote
    Reply # 1514911 on 1514213
    Deleted user
    Thanks for the welcome.
    Maybe i will take PJR on the kindle (i have the app on my ipad too) - sounds like the cheapest option, and i can zoom in on the pictures.

    And Graham, thanks for replying to my email. Now you've given me a dilemma! I lusted after a Tom Thumb at one time too.

    My Compass cost me $21,000 (plus $5k freight to Melb from Syd). Now if i set about converting her, i wonder how much $ I'll go through before she's all set up ready to go.
    Whereas Arion is tried and tested...

    Hmmm. I don't have $20k lying about, but i do have a boat worth about that much...

    My ultimate plan in a year or two is to potter about South East Asia for a few years. When the kitty gets low i plan to teach English, a job for which I'm qualified and is in great demand.
    I'm 47 years old and feeling like i better get 'out there' before the window starts to close.

    Could i do it in a Tom Thumb? Hmmm, ...

    What's the standing headroom below on a Tom Thumb? Is she 24' or 26'?
    You mentioned "complexity" - in what way is Arion more complex than Minming II?
    Cheers,
    Matt
  • 10 Mar 2014 09:56
    Quote
    Reply # 1514356 on 1514213
    Anonymous member
    Hi Matt,
    Just replied to your email then saw your post here.  The Compass 28 is a good seaboat but I know what you mean about the interior!  Since you'll be wielding the jig saw and mixing up epoxy by the bucketful when building your new partners and mast step you might as well re-model the interior at the same time!  Perhaps you will eventually come up for a winter in Queensland and we can compare notes.  As mentioned in my email, I am mulling over the possibility of selling Arion and getting a little fibreglass boat, something with less maintenance and complexity that Arion.  I passionately love my boat but am enchanted with Roger Taylor's approach to boats and think a similar boat would be ideal for my rapidly approaching old age!  Arion may not be easy to sell though.  Anyway, good luck with your project.  I have a copy of PJR and while I wouldn't part with it, I'd be happy to look up any info in it you may need.  Just email me with any questions.
  • 10 Mar 2014 09:11
    Quote
    Reply # 1514316 on 1514213
    Deleted user
    Hi Matt welcome back! Looks like a nice boat!

    I think you'll struggle for a paper copy at that price - even second hand they seem to go for more than that. Amazon.com.au have the kindle version for AU$55 which you can read on a PC using their free kindle app.
  • 10 Mar 2014 06:14
    Quote
    Message # 1514213
    Deleted user
    Hello,
    I just re-joined the JRA, it's good to be back.

    I was a member from about 2002 to 2008, and had the good fortune of being aboard Robin Blain's boat for the 2008 JRA rally, while I was on holidays in the UK.

    I live in Melbourne, Australia, and I've been an aspiring junkie for about 12 years.
    Alas, life, especially parenthood, got in the way, and I had to content myself with messing around in only small boats. Trailer sailers and the like.

    Now the teenager has been shipped off to University and the dog and I are free once more to pursue our frivolous goals, notably the wandering sea gypsy ambition.

    The boat i have chosen for my wanderings is a Compass 28, which look like this (this one isn't mine):
    https://picasaweb.google.com/110067382869082205933/Compasses#5297043006462491570
    I'm going to convert her to a junk rig as soon as I can. My timeline is that I'd like to be sailing her as a junk for the next southern hemisphere summer - say next Christmas.

    The kelpie and i live aboard at the moment, but for the second half of this year we're minding a friend's house, which will give me a good opportunity to have the boat out of the water and run amok with the jigsaw and epoxy, fixing things and making changes. I'm 6'1" and 1970's day sailers generally have 6 berths, all of them for humans under 5'10"! Major bulkhead surgery is needed to make me a comfortable bed.

    I enjoyed Annie's article on the conversion of her Raven 26, I was particularly inspired by the mast. I think even I could make one like that!

    I have the Van Loan book, have downloaded and read everything of Arne's, I regularly trawl the Yahoo group, but I never quite got around to buying PJR. I will do so if the group insists, especially if someone can recommend a place online where I can buy a copy for under $70 AUD - which is the cheapest i could find last week.

    Cheers,
    Matt
    Magpie
    1974 Compass 28
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