As I read the thread of Dauntless's ocean crossing, I wonder just how many powerboats are really used as they are designed.
I can say that coming from the sailing world, the answer is "few..."
Take a stroll up and down the docks of any marina and you will find "off shore capable" sailboats that have literally never been out of sight of land.
For the record, I have no problem with how any person derives pleasure from any boat.
If you want to own a globe crossing yacht and use it as a comfy place to nap on Sunday afternoon, more power to you!
Being less familiar with the powerboat/trawler side of the equation I'm not sure what the norm is. I could easily have found myself attracted to a big sport fish, given the means to pay for fuel and never fished. They are simply beautiful things to look at!
So, is this offshore capable mindset prevailant here too? I see lots of full displacement vs semi displacement discussions happening on this forum and I wonder the same thing. How many people simply like the boat and then rationalize the design?
When we decided to move to power, we listed the ways we wanted to use the boat and tried to find designs that would allow us to fulfill them. Then we got aboard boats and imagined what life would be like...
Next we refined a list of features we liked/admired/wanted including a flybridge (mandatory), maximum length overall (a hard line in the sand as there are limits to the size boat we can keep in our slip), colors (surprisingly high on our list) and build quality a few amongst the many.
We have a lot of time on the water, almost all of it sailing. Ocean crossings, offshore racing and coastal cruising yet we both understand that this decision is a bit of a leap of faith.
We will use the boat. Will we love it? Will it be well suited to our likes? Time will tell but I am guessing that we will love the boat, we always do...
I am still curious, do we as power boaters (still strange referring to myself that way...) follow a similar pattern that I have observed of sailors? Do we use our boats as designed or do we live a little closer to fantasy?
Bruce
I can say that coming from the sailing world, the answer is "few..."
Take a stroll up and down the docks of any marina and you will find "off shore capable" sailboats that have literally never been out of sight of land.
For the record, I have no problem with how any person derives pleasure from any boat.
If you want to own a globe crossing yacht and use it as a comfy place to nap on Sunday afternoon, more power to you!
Being less familiar with the powerboat/trawler side of the equation I'm not sure what the norm is. I could easily have found myself attracted to a big sport fish, given the means to pay for fuel and never fished. They are simply beautiful things to look at!
So, is this offshore capable mindset prevailant here too? I see lots of full displacement vs semi displacement discussions happening on this forum and I wonder the same thing. How many people simply like the boat and then rationalize the design?
When we decided to move to power, we listed the ways we wanted to use the boat and tried to find designs that would allow us to fulfill them. Then we got aboard boats and imagined what life would be like...
Next we refined a list of features we liked/admired/wanted including a flybridge (mandatory), maximum length overall (a hard line in the sand as there are limits to the size boat we can keep in our slip), colors (surprisingly high on our list) and build quality a few amongst the many.
We have a lot of time on the water, almost all of it sailing. Ocean crossings, offshore racing and coastal cruising yet we both understand that this decision is a bit of a leap of faith.
We will use the boat. Will we love it? Will it be well suited to our likes? Time will tell but I am guessing that we will love the boat, we always do...
I am still curious, do we as power boaters (still strange referring to myself that way...) follow a similar pattern that I have observed of sailors? Do we use our boats as designed or do we live a little closer to fantasy?
Bruce