New guy
Hello everyone, my name is Todd. My wife and I are soon to be retired and are doing careful and relentless research before purchasing our new liveaboard home.
We wish to cruise from Florida to the Bahamas frequently and seem to have settled on a Mainship 400. I have concerns over the models that have the single engine as opposed to two. Any helpful advice on the 400 or the liveaboard lifestyle in general would be greatly appreciated.
Look forward to learning from all of the experience you guys can share. Thank You!
One engine or two? What kind of anchor is best? Blondes or Brunettes?
I'm kidding because all of those questions will get you more advice than you bargained for.
Here's my two cents worth:
When I was searching for my boat one of my main criteria was 1 engine. With diesel engines, the vast majority of the time, a failure of one engine is due to fuel issues. If that's the case then if one engine quits, the other is probably not far behind. I think the redundancy and safety issues of two (diesel) engines is overblown. Not saying that people with two engines haven't been saved by having an extra, I'm just saying the odds are that if you lose one you will likely lose the other. The cost of buying a boat with two is generally higher and whether you are talking about annual maintenance or large repairs, two engines are twice as expensive as one. (Two engines, two heat exchangers, two transmissions, two shafts, two stuffing boxes, two cutlass bearings, two props, etc). Then there is the issue of room and convenience. I can walk (crawl) 360 degrees around my one Ford Lehman 120 and I have easy access to every part on it, my transmission and everything in the engine room.
That means a lot.
The down side is that I don't have thrusters and backing, particularly if it's windy, is a bear. Practice will overcome that. I've had people tell me that it's nice to have thrusters after watching me back into a slip and they are surprised when I tell them that I don't have any. I'm not bragging here, I'm saying that you shouldn't avoid a single engine powered boat because of maneuverability issues. It's a painful but learnable skill.
If you are looking at gas powered boats, that's a horse of a different color.