Cockpit size for family bluewater cruising boat

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  • 18 Dec 2019 23:29
    Reply # 8321132 on 8301893

    Well, it looks like a comfortable, capable, seaworthy boat, Elizabeth, and I am sure you'll have a great trip home.  I'd go via the Azores myself if I was making that passage.  Maya will sail much better in the open sea, where the fetch is longer and you can sail with easy sheets, rather than trying to tack up the coast.   It also sounds like your partner is well-qualified to assess and maintain the vessel.  The foam insulation should provide good corrosion protection if it remains dry and intact, and it will keep you nice and warm!  I look forward to reading about your adventures in due course.

  • 18 Dec 2019 16:16
    Reply # 8317255 on 8313812
    The only other option would be the Canal du Midi, which would be quite pleasant in the Spring - but I think the draft is over the permitted limit.

    Bonjour

    I confirm that the Canal du Midi is not compatible with a 1.8m draft.

    Already, with a draft of 1.6m you may, sometime, push the mud with the keel!

    Eric

  • 18 Dec 2019 08:56
    Reply # 8314082 on 8301893
    Deleted user

    The wood looks to be glued on with sealant.

    Yes, the head lining was removed during the work on the deck.

    My partner has 20+ years of offshore NST inspection experience on ships and oil rigs. We spent 2 days taking out everything we could to inspect the interior of the hull and it looks absolutely solid. The hull is insulated down to about the height of the floor boards and the rest seems to have been epoxy coated way back (we found an old survey from 1998 mentioning that as well). The only little piece of rust we found was around the fuel tanks and it's very minor. There is a UT report that was done after the steel work was finished. Haven't seen that yet. The plan would be to remove all tanks, pumps etc from the bilge, give everything a good clean, remedy the small area of rust and epoxy coat the lot just to make sure.

  • 18 Dec 2019 08:21
    Reply # 8313812 on 8309505
    Elisabeth wrote:

    Yes, if we buy her the plan is to sail her home. Likely start end of February/March (I know, not the best time of the year to make the trip, but at that time we won't be in a hurry and can wait for weather windows, whereas it'll be harder to be away once tourist season gets in full swing here) and in stages. We were thinking we'd take the boys with us in short hops down the Spanish coast to Gib, hand them over to their grandparents there, then head out to the Azores and north from there to avoid going against the currants and the winds through the Bay of Biscay in early spring. Any suggestions for different/better routes are more than welcome!

    So she should be on Skye in the summer and we'd be happy to have you (I'm assuming you did mean you are headed to Skye, not Spain?)!


    I just had a look at Jimmy Cornell's World Cruising Routes, to remind myself of the timing. He says the best time is April/May to August, both for short-hopping up the Portuguese coast and going out via the Azores. Both look feasible in the early summer, but I wouldn't want to bash against the strong daytime headwinds of late summer up the coast, and I wouldn't want to go from Gib any earlier than April, either way. Against short-hopping up the coast is the rigmarole of having to check in at three different offices in each port that you enter, if they still do that in Portugal. The only other option would be the Canal du Midi, which would be quite pleasant in the Spring - but I think the draft is over the permitted limit.

    Yes, my still-developing plan is to come from Cumbria up to Orkney next summer, starting in May.

    Last modified: 18 Dec 2019 08:48 | Anonymous member
  • 18 Dec 2019 08:01
    Reply # 8313656 on 8301893

    In the first video, the broker says that the headlining was taken down to facilitate the outside work on the deck. I agree, a good survey would be a must, to look at possible internal corrosion issues. I don't see the cockpit as being particularly vulnerable to being filled by a sea. It would be if it were aft, but the after cabin is quite long, and would dissipate the energy of a wavetop. There's no hard dodger, just a canvas hood, but for very serious high latitude work, some work to protect the companionway would be a good idea. However, that's some way down the road yet, and this young family will have to get themselves up the learning curve of what they want from the boat, what they are capable of and what the boat is capable of. I see it as being absolutely able to take the first steps of W Scotland and Baltic cruising, without much modification. One thing that I'd do is to take off the foresail's gallows, the better to stow a good family-sized hard dinghy on deck.

  • 18 Dec 2019 03:20
    Reply # 8311768 on 8302978
    Deleted user
    Anonymous wrote:There didn't seem to be an issue with the old teak. The owner sent me a picture of what the cockpit looked like before the exterior work was done.


    how did they fix wood to steel?
  • 17 Dec 2019 23:47
    Reply # 8310239 on 8301893

    Maya looks like a robust blue water cruising boat, though it is a bit of a stretch of the imagination for the broker to say it is based on Moitessier's Joshua.  They are both long-keeled steel boats, with similar keel profiles and outboard rudders, but the similarities stop there. 

    I was interested to see that the overhead liner on the underside of the deck is missing, and wonder if it was removed or never fitted.  It looks like the steel deckhead has been sprayed with foam, and I assume that means the hull has been too.  This may be a good thing, but I'd want to investigate the inside of the steel hull.  From my long experience with steel boats, internal rust will be your major long-term maintenance challenge.  And like many steel boats, it looks like inspecting the inside of Maya's hull may be difficult.  You should try and carefully inspect everywhere it is possible.  The problem areas are often at intersections of frames and stringers, anywhere moisture, including condensation, can be trapped.

    The cockpit is indeed tiny and will not be a good place to socialise in port, though you do have lots of nice deck to lounge around on!  The major problem with the cockpit design from my perspective is that the companionway entry forms the front face of the cockpit well, which means any water in the well will seek to invade the cabin.  With the board in it will be limited, and such a small well won't old life-threatening amounts of water, but entering and exiting the cabin in extreme weather (you talk of high-latitude sailing) will need careful timing.  I really don't like this feature.  Joshua also had a tiny cockpit well, but the hatch was well above it.  Even then, Moitessier was very careful about opening it in Southern Ocean storms.  You could rebuild this though you'd have to also redesign the hard dodger.

    The boat has a lot of potential otherwise. 

  • 17 Dec 2019 22:08
    Reply # 8309505 on 8301893
    Deleted user

    Thank you for the insight David, very helpful!


    Yes, if we buy her the plan is to sail her home. Likely start end of February/March (I know, not the best time of the year to make the trip, but at that time we won't be in a hurry and can wait for weather windows, whereas it'll be harder to be away once tourist season gets in full swing here) and in stages. We were thinking we'd take the boys with us in short hops down the Spanish coast to Gib, hand them over to their grandparents there, then head out to the Azores and north from there to avoid going against the currants and the winds through the Bay of Biscay in early spring. Any suggestions for different/better routes are more than welcome!

    So she should be on Skye in the summer and we'd be happy to have you (I'm assuming you did mean you are headed to Skye, not Spain?)!

  • 17 Dec 2019 08:22
    Reply # 8303319 on 8301893

    Looks good, Elisabeth.

    It's a long time since my two daughters were that age, but as far as I remember, they were happy to be below in bad weather, and roaming around the deck in good weather, when we borrowed a boat of that size. More recently, when I crossed the Pacific in 2009, in company with a lot of other boats on the Coconut Milk Run, it was clear that those boats with pre-teenagers aboard were content to have them swinging from the rigging, running about in dinghies, etc, much as you'd expect.

    I don't see this cockpit as a problem. It's a good size for two watchkeepers, and when they've got used to being aboard and on passage, most pre-teenagers will be below with their earbuds in for much of the time, listening to the latest heart-throb, but ought to able to stand their watch when asked to do so. JR means that you spend much more time below, warm and dry, than is the case with other rigs. The deck looks well protected, so in good weather, with jackstays rigged and harnesses on, I doubt whether they'll want to be in the cockpit. With a watch system of one parent + one child on watch and having first dibs on the cockpit, the others either below or on deck, four hours on, four off, it'll work out, I think.

    PS I see that the boat's in Mediterranean Spain and you're in Skye - would the first thing be, if you buy, to sail home or have her shipped home?

    I'm planning to sail up that way next summer, and would be interested to have a look if she's there.

    Last modified: 17 Dec 2019 16:58 | Anonymous member
  • 17 Dec 2019 07:29
    Reply # 8302978 on 8301893
    Deleted user

    Thank you for pointing that out Annie. Yes, that is teak on steel. It has just been replaced as the whole hull and deck have been sandblasted down to bare metal, any steel work done and then two pack epoxy painted (plus copper coat after that). I'm assuming they did isolate the wood properly. There didn't seem to be an issue with the old teak. The owner sent me a picture of what the cockpit looked like before the exterior work was done.


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