So, while I really like the Lyle Hess designed Balboa 26 I’ll be the first to admit that at 3600 pounds of displacement it’s not quite up to the requirements of long distance voyaging. Now, this Lyle Hess design is a whole different kettle of fish… It’s the 26-foot Falmouth Cutter which has a beam …
Throwing a couple more 26-foot boats into the mix… Read More »
There’s a post over at Interesting Sailboats on whether the Pegasus 50 is the perfect fifty-foot long range voyage yacht or not. It’s (like everything on his blog) well worth reading. I mention this as it would appear that fifty-feet is becoming the new norm for cruising boats and it says a lot about what …
On the subject of the new norm in cruising boats… Read More »
So, the other day, someone asked me what I thought of the Amel 60 which someone was touting as the perfect/ultimate cruising boat somewhere or other. I’ll admit that it caused me to ponder a bit on a bunch of things to sort out an answer. First of all, it took me a while to …
A repost of something that should really be included here… Read More »
So, here’s a question… “What sort of VolksCruiser do you actually want?” Face it, everyone’s different with disparate needs and situations which means one’s VolkCruiser of choice may not be what others need or want. Which I suppose brings us to other questions we have to ask ourselves… “How are you going to use your …
SUSTAINABILITY noun The ability to be sustained, supported, upheld, or confirmed. Environmental Science: The quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance: The committee is developing sustainability standards for products that use energy. The other day I found myself trying to explain the idea …
The current JRA Newsletter (#85) has a very interesting article on building a junk sail by Paul McKay that has me thinking long and hard in terms of rigs for VolkCruisers. For me, the concept of a VolksCruiser is really all about simplicity in all of its various forms. Lug rigs in general are …
Every once in awhile I’ll get on Search Tempest and type in the words “Free sailboat” just to see what happens… For instance, in Florida, there’s a San Juan 24 without a working motor, another guy with a bunch of Catalina 22’s, and a Seidelmann 30 footer in need of some work all going for …
As it happens, I really enjoy building boats.I find the whole process of boat construction both a creative outlet and deeply satisfying on an emotional level. That being the case, I often recommend to a lot of folks that they might want to think twice before building a cruising boat because there’s a steep learning …
Multihulls are HIP and as a result multihulls demand a higher price and this includes used boats. Which, I suppose, is good news if you happen to be selling a catamaran but bad news if you want to buy one. In my opinion, multihull prices are mostly inflated and don’t quite reflect their actual value. …
This morning I read an article “10 Small Catamarans For Cruising” which ranged in price from $50K to $300K which seems to be somewhat out of reach of VolksCruiserish folk in spite of the fact that the boats in question, apparently, represent the affordable under 38-foot niche on the market. Kind of depressing reading as …
