Night Sailor wrote:Gene has hit the cruising ideal on the mark. Too many wait to fill their dreams later, not realizing that day may not come due to unforeseen circumstances. Seamanship and desire is a lot more important than the boat which is sailed. Witness kayaks and dugout canoes rowboats crossing big oceans.
After one passes 65 yrs of age, it's easier to assess what one has and make the most of it. Younger guys and gals might think the perfect time and boat will come, but it does for very few.
No matter what you have in a boat, prepare yourself first, then the boat, plan your route, then go.
There are other issues as well. The Admiral, jobs, taking care of others, kids. Most people wait for reasons OTHER than waiting to afford some ridiculously expensive boat, and those reasons generally have to do with responsibilities involving loved ones- which may or may not be a priority to some. My plans involve being able to do extended cruising by the time I am 50 and just building my experience on the way to that. Others have many different issues. It is way to presumptious and simplistic to say that the reason people don't follow their dreams is that they are waiting to afford something they will never be able to. Gene hit the nail on one head- there are many other nails. Flying high performance jets is my biggest dream, enjoying that as long as I can get paid to do that, the catamaran and extended cruising, while I could sell my homes resign my commision as a Marine officer and do it now- wouldn't be fair to my children and would stop me from flying- so it will wait until the reward is worth the sacrifice (and right now the rewards aren't even as good as my current rewards of my life- and I still get to sail- at some point the Marine Corps will put me out to pasture though ). I won't make statements about when it is appropriate for others to do so, or judgements on them doing it- or even assume that cruising is one of their dreams.
To comment on the fact that many people don't make a journey for any reason is not saying that each and every person in the world is planning on such things but I am amazed at how often something positive gets turned to the negative by people looking at themselves and not at people in general.
I have said that I am not going to look at these pages anymore and this last guy made me state that since nothing anyone says makes you happy I no longer will be looking
I enjoyed the postive but hate the negative.
I should point out that my comments on making these journeys are based on talking to hundreds of people and not just 10 or 12 people who happen to be passing by.
Any way, I no longer desire to follow this link
Good luck to those of you who have postive attitudes and God Bless everyone, even if their dream is to make a weekend voyage to an island twenty miles from home
Gene, you say you are leaving but then you keep coming back I've heard that there is a 12 step program for that....
I think your example of the 50 footer sinking proves a point that the sailor is more important than the sailboat. Many people think money makes up for skill and if you get a really big boat, you won't need as much skill.
You may want to consider a 26S. Points better, has less freeboard, low draft, costs much less and you won't find any with large engines on them.
Jeff S wrote: ... It is way to presumptious and simplistic to say that the reason people don't follow their dreams is that they are waiting to afford something they will never be able to. ...
Now there's a nail hit squarely!
Jeff,
I hope you're successful with that "age 50" goal, which seems a good target. In my experience, that's old enough so that time and money impediments diminish.
But it's also that time-frame when parents begin to need help ...
Still not sure where youre going with this.. and again would like to state that the OG. question you had for all the good people on this board was answered in very good detail. But to each thier own. I also dont understand the part about the Mac not being good enough for what you want, yet you spent many posts stateing that The Mac would be ideal.
But the Mac is not the ideal anything boat nor is any boat for that matter.
But for the people that own them on this board they are very happy with them, I am also happy with mine. The 20 mile trips are great and sometimes the 1000 mile trips I do on the mac are just as great or better.
The diff. is the 1000 mile trips are done at 55mph.
Good luck on what ever you decide and hope you find that ideal boat for whatever it is that you want to do. One thing that was not mentioned about gas mileage was what we get from towing the Mac to that ideal place
mines around twelve miles per gallon.
genebesch wrote:... Good luck to those of you who have postive attitudes and God Bless everyone ... even if their dream is to make a weekend voyage to an island twenty miles from home
It's nice to hear an assurance, even if MY dream is only 20 miles away, the Good Lord still blesses it.
Thank God that these unwashed, shorter cruises aren't penitence~!
(Sometimes it's lots easier to just talk with the dog ... at least HE never presumes, never judges.)
The other thing to consider is that many of us have been on blue water trips and that is why we make the judgements we do with the lives on board. I take the most important people on this planet with me out on the ocean. Ego needs to take a back seat to sound judgement IMO.
I only said "too many" don't realize their dreams for letting things get in the way. Things that could be rearranged, rescheduled. I never thoought anyone to assume that I meant everyone.
With me, and I hope everyone else, family comes first.
Night Sailor/Gene - Sorry to sound defensive-- the comment that "Gene has hit the cruising nail on the head" seemed a little narrow-minded to me, I understand now that you did not mean that everyone had the same desires as Gene. Since Gene was asking fuel related questions I tried to add something to that with outboards for the Mac and other options that seemed to go along those lines in terms of cruising/fuel efficiency that I have myself considered. I think Gene was being more introspective about his own situations and I seem to have taken it as some type of lecture on my own situation and responded as such. Apologies if I offended anyone, not my intent- I was admittedly too defensive that I am somehow not doing the right thing in my life because I offered up a few solutions that cost a little more. I agree wholeheartedly with the people giving up on their dreams for the wrong reason, but most people I know give them up for the right reasons, and some don't give up on them at all. I shouldn't take sweeping generalizations (which in this case again I now believe were Gene's own self-realizations) to mean that somehow I am being lumped into that category, even if they are in response to my post. No offense taken Night Sailor/Gene, and I hope I did not ruffle any feathers. On leave and going sailing today to Cape Lookout EVEN if it is only 20 miles away from here (ok, just kidding- couldn't resist ).
genebesch wrote:... Good luck to those of you who have postive attitudes and God Bless everyone ... even if their dream is to make a weekend voyage to an island twenty miles from home
It's nice to hear an assurance, even if MY dream is only 20 miles away, the Good Lord still blesses it.
Thank God that these unwashed, shorter cruises aren't penitence~!
(Sometimes it's lots easier to just talk with the dog ... at least HE never presumes, never judges.)
Ok, I'm not the only one. I think that sometimes people (including myself) don't realize how a message sounds to others and how it can be taken. In person the meanings are easy to catch with non-verbal cues and such. I think I took other posts like this as...well- a little condescending, but after reading all the posts by Gene I honestly believe he doesn't mean them that way. I guess all I read was...If you don't do what I am about to do as soon as possible you have given up on your dreams because you are waiting for unrealistic circumstances. I realize that isn't what was meant, it just came off that way to me. Sort of like when people bash the Mac for not being a blue water boat, or not being the best racing sailboat. I did not buy it for those purposes, and I do get annoyed when people imply that I did buy it for those reasons and that I blew it. (ok off on a tangent).
Sorry to come in late on this but have been in the FL Keys 2 weeks on a Watkins 25.
1. On the original question (mpg), average mpg over 3 years, all conditions and operating modes (idling while awaiting the lift bridge to WOT), on my 2001 X with 2000 Evinrude 9.9 4 stroke twirling 3 blade 7 pitch prop = about 10 mpg.
2. The oringinal poster of this thread, if now looking at non- Macs might consider our chartered Watkins 25.....
About the same internal volume as the X or M.
Fixed keel with only 2.5 ft draft, yet sails to weather with a furling genoa probably like an X with a genoa (OK but not great).
4800#disp. (built and rigged like a 35 footer) tho trailerable (if 8.5 ft beam is not a problem and your truck has 6000#+ tow capacity).
Underwater thru hulls and no flotation, just like the big keelboats, so pray for the health of the bilge pump and seacocks and shaft seal.
Single cyl Yanmar 7 hp diesel inboard gets hullspeed at WOT or less....in 60 miles of motoring under varying conditions and speeds it averaged about 16 mpg.
Ron
appear to have very different part throttle mpg/range characteristics.
Robert's 4/11 post at 11:15 pm mentioned a Yamaha website which lead me to Performance Bulletins for a 4 stroke 25 carb'd motor and the closest comparable 2stroke i.e. a 40 carb'd motor. Not precisely comparable because of different hp and different boats, and not precisely comparable to use on a Mac (vs. testing on bass boats).
However, adjusting in the ratio 25/40 the published gph at various rpm's suggests roughly similar gph at WOT for the 2 and 4 stroke motors but a much greater drop in gph, as rpms are reduced, in the 4 stroke motor.
Thus, for the published numbers, after the 25/40 adjustment, the 4 stroke/2 stroke gph ratio at 1500-2000 rpm was about 3/1, at 3000rpm about 2.2/1, at 4000rpm about 1.2/1, and at WOT somewhat closer.
Thus, if used on the same boat and propped to give the same mph for the same rpm, it would follow that at say 2000 rpm (about 3.5 mph in a calm on my X with my 9.9 and 7 pitch prop), the 4 stroke motor could have 3 times the range of the 2 stroke motor.
Thus, given small carb'd motors, and a willingness to slow down to maximize range, the 4 stroke appears to be the choice.
Sorry for the long extrapolation, but I have yet to find gph/rpm/speed data for small carb'd 2 and 4 stroke motors on an X or similar sized displacement hull.
Ron
). I won't make statements about when it is appropriate for others to do so, or judgements on them doing it- or even assume that cruising is one of their dreams.
I've heard that there is a 12 step program for that....
On leave and going sailing today to Cape Lookout EVEN if it is only 20 miles away from here (ok, just kidding- couldn't resist