Simplicity...

[Rocky]

Is its own reward. Hijacking J Dillon's thread here, which was inspired by Scott's post about having hot water onboard. Also trying to give it a lift out of the bilge, the barking is pretty loud tonight. Scott has a perfectly valid reason for having hot water on board - keeping one's mate happy will certainly improve the quality of a cruise. But I imagine if she were absent the water heater would be too.

My uncle had a yawl that had been loaded with electronics, mostly removed when he bought it. This created a certain amount of electrical problems that were not so much hard to deal with but distracting on the water. Whenever I remove something I always replace it in such a way that it can be easily removed again, even leaving screwheads open unless they'd let water pool. Even wired the sternlight and bilge pumps directly to the battery with inline switches, just to avoid having more wiring running up to the console.

Making things easily accessible is the key to simplicity and easy maintenance, something many commercial boatbuilders don't seem too concerned about. I've lost my taste for anything being more complicated than it needs to be, and not just in the boat.

[ 03-31-2003, 07:40 PM: Message edited by: Rocky ]

[Dave Fleming]

Agreed Rocky, the KISS principle should be followed bye more than it is.

[Scott Rosen]

Originally posted by Rocky:
Scott has a perfectly valid reason for having hot water on board - keeping one's mate happy will certainly improve the quality of a cruise. But I imagine if she were absent the water heater would be too. . . .I've lost my taste for anything being more complicated than it needs to be, and not just in the boat.I really appreciate those sentiments. I put in the hotwater heater for one reason only: my mate. It's been a good investment, because she enjoys cruising much more now. Cold showers don't bother me.

Everything else on my boat is as simple as I dare make it. I have no fancy electronics. No refrigeration. My battery consumption is shamefully low. I'm a strong believer in low tech and redundancy.

When it comes to boats, simple is better.

[Paul Denison]

Rocky, you did fuse those lights didn't you?!

[R.I.Singer30]

I use a solar shower.A 5 gallon black bag that gets quite hot sitting on a deck for four hours of afternoon sun. Hang it from the boom and drain out the cockpit drain hole.It's not easy being a low budget sailor. Just ask my wife. :D Not so good on cloudy cold days though.

[Garrett Lowell]

Scott, do you have a link with pics of your boat? I don't think I've seen it; only your freshly varnished cabin doors.

[Scott Rosen]

Here are a few scanned images, so the quality isn't great.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid57/pf66d921ad0496e0a56dc9f07f54a24a7/fc68afd9.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid57/p74b1fc13a7d79bd5efca9f31f970f9a7/fc68b0b1.jpg

Here's Cricket, my Nutshell, taken at Mystic Seaport.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid57/p681110c4f63b50f260514d27595e1fda/fc68adce.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid57/p500a40340a6efe9db8751cc3cbc68690/fc68ad70.jpg

[Wild Dingo]

Originally posted by Scott Rosen:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid57/p74b1fc13a7d79bd5efca9f31f970f9a7/fc68b0b1.jpg

Here's Cricket, my Nutshell, taken at Mystic Seaport.
You call your daughter Cricket? Nutshell?? :eek: and people have a go at me for callin the missus possumpoop!! :rolleyes:
:D

Mind you Ive always loved your boat mate! :cool: then again as is known well around here Im just a sucker for a nice sheer ;)

[Bruce Hooke]

Ahhh, Shane...

This here is a Nutshell pram, apparently named Cricket...

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid57/p681110c4f63b50f260514d27595e1fda/fc68adce.jpg

[Rocky]

Nah, fuses are for sissies! I do put the switch on the ground side though.

[Garrett Lowell]

Beautiful, Scott! And so are the boats! I love the pilothouse, what's her lineage? Love to see the Shellback on the reach, too.

[Scott Rosen]

Thanks, Garrett. Patience is a Seasailor, designed in 1962 by Wirth Munroe (Son of "The Commodore" Ralph Munroe, for crusing in the Florida Keys, Bahamas, etc. She is 29'10" on deck, 10'5" beam. LWL is 26'6". Draft 4'6". Her tankage is huge for a boat of her size. Water is 120 gal. Fuel 80 gal.

She was built by Robin Fung in Hong Kong, 1971, 1" teak over steam bent yacal frames, fastened with copper rivets. The pilothouse, cabin and all interior joinery is teak. Bulkheads and cabin tops are 1" mohagony ply. All hardware is bronze. Power is Westerbeke 4-107. Two steering stations: tiller in the pit and wheel in the pilothouse.

[Cedarhill Boatworks]

The kids take showers on deck with the solar shower, Mom and my wife take showers down below. I swim a lot. It's nice having hot water, but I try not to think about how much deisel it takes to heat it when we've been on the hook for a day or two.

[whb]

The Chebacco thread up above reminded me of Jamie's boat.

He uses a boom tarp for a tent and typical camping gear.

Very minimalist

Check out www.chebacco.com (http://www.chebacco.com) and look at some of the articles written by Jamie Orr.

Howard

[TomFF]

The minimalist philosophy is the way to go. Simplicity has beauty.

[John Bell]

Scott: I REALLY like the looks of your boat.

I hope I'm not insulting you when I ask if it was designed as a motorsailer or as a raised saloon sailboat? Isn't the 4-107 about 30 horsepower?

Edited to add "not" to the statement "I hope I'm not insulting you" redface.gif

[ 04-04-2003, 11:32 AM: Message edited by: John Bell ]

[Northernguy59]

Simplicity. Its a wonderful thing. I admire it in people and all things. Note my "Signature Line" below.
It is a qoute penned by the famous hunter and fronteirsman Ben Lilly.

[Scott Rosen]

John, I'm not at all insulted by the question.

Patience is a cruising sailboat with a pilothouse. She sails faster than she motors. Because of the shallow draft (4'6") and full keel, she doesn't sail very close to the wind. But she tracks straight and true. With the sails properly trimmed, I can sail her without a hand on the helm for a good long time.

Most of the production boats you see today are racer/cruisers. If you look at sailboat design as a continuum, with pure racers on one side and 70/30 motorsailers on the other, you would put Patience squarely in the middle.

[John Bell]

Thanks Scott. She really is a beauty, my kind of sailboat.

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

A lovely boat Scott... and looks like she would hold her own in a sea too.. ;)