• Untitled Document

    Join us on March 29rd, 7pm EST

    for the CBEC Virtual Meeting

    All EYO members and followers are welcome to join the fun and get to know the guest speaker!

    See the link below for login credentials and join us!

    March Meeting Info

    (dismiss this notice by hitting 'X', upper right)

Getting a boat to New Zealand???

rgraham

Member II
I may have a chance to move to New Zealand and work for a while. If my wife and I do this we will try it for a year and then see if we want to do it longer ( I suspect we are going to love it there because we were there last fall for three weeks and loved it). My question is how long would it take to sail a boat to New Zealand? And how well equipped would it have to be. Or would I be better off selling it here and buying one there? At a cursory glance the sailboat prices there seem pretty high. And I don’t think I could sell my 36 RH and replace it with any thing even close quality wise for the money I would get for it. From what I’ve seen 36 RH go for 35,000 to 55,000 range even so I could not replace the quality of boat for the money even here for that matter. So I’m in a dilemma because I’ve been fixing up this boat for the last six years to go cruising on and I think I’m finally on the downhill side. I still have plenty of work to do but the big stuff is done (floor replaced, all the rotten wood replaced, repowered with an yanmar…). So I’m reluctant to just sell it now and there are still items that have to be finished before I can sell it now or I will not get anything close to what it is worth (like the headliner). So is it feasible to try and sail it there or are there shipping company’s that could get it there at a reasonable cost? I feel like I’m going to have to give up one dream to pursue another but I can’t think of a better place to have my boat either so I want my cake and I want to eat it too any suggestions?
 

Seth

Sustaining Partner
Sail it

Of the under 39 foot e boats-the 36 RH is the best choice for a long passage, IMHO.

Strong and fast (as they all are), but the interior is especially well suited for passagemaking-with real useable seaberths on each side of the main cabin-leaving lots of room for creative storage out of the main living area (aft bunks) without having to pile weight in the bow (not so good when running in the Trades).

Only the basic mods we usually discuss should be needed-nothing outrageuous-although I would add a watermaker.

You should be able to make an easy 150 NM/day-and apart from the light air/variable zones near the equator, you should do even better than that on the CA- Hawaii leg-maybe even 170-180 nm/Day. Plan 150/day and enjoy the fast days.

Trip of a lifetime!!!

Enjoy,
S
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Like the smaller RH E-33, the RH E-36 has a real "offshore design" interior. (Radical design notion: places to sleep without being stepped on or sat on...)
:)
Sounds like fun! Do you, perchance, need... crew?
:cool:

Loren
 
Last edited:
Athens, Al

Well, nice to hear that there is another Ericson nearby!!! We will have our new to us E29 at Pebble Isle Marina in a few weeks after the work is finished in Eddyville, KY. We are planning to do our one weeks vacation this summer on the boat and I thought we'd head south on the tennessee river to Alabama for a fun weeks trip. Might be nice to meet someone from this board after all the help I've gotten here!
 

rgraham

Member II
Yes I'd love to have crew...

Yes Loren,
I'd love to have crew (as I have little experience) it would be a straight shot I guess down through the canal and on to New Zealand. Although my biggest trip has been about 300 miles off the coast in the Gulf of Mexico in my brother’s Tayana 44 about 5 years ago. Would anybody be interested? How would you equip the boat for a trip like this? What sails would you take? What windlass would you use and what anchors and rode? I have the older Raymarine HSB radar/chart plotter I haven’t bought an radar antenna yet (is 24 nm good enough) . ST60 instruments I have a color Interphase forward looking sonar. I have a Victron 2500 watt inverter/charger I plan on getting a Honda 2000 generator. What water maker would you get I was thinking of an engine driven one. How many people would you want to have along? If you where going to do this trip how and what and who would you take?
 

wurzner

Member III
Sail It!

Sounds like you've done the key things. An EPIRB, Life Raft, and source of communication (SAT Phone or SSB), some heave air sails, and a sea anchor would be nice additions. With the new engine, you've got a reliable source of power and the back up generator is a nice plus also. Not sure what you have for tankage, so there would also be diesel stored on deckl along with some water I'm sure, but that sure soulds like a nice ride. It would be a shame to not bring the boat down since the RH36 is a really nice boat and acquisition prices of something in NZ do seem a lot higher.

Good luck working out the logistics...I hope it works out for you.
Shaun
S/V Sorcerer
Ericson 38-200
 

Seth

Sustaining Partner
Not a straight shot

Do a search on the site about offshore mods-we have written volumes here. After that, I (we) will be happy to address specifics with you.

Nonstop from the canal is pretty ambitious-and you will have the boat pretty heavily loaded for such a long trip-keep in mind the daily mileage you can expect-180/day is about the best you will do-and that is in the Trades-could be quite a bit less in the light air portions and transition zones around the Equator. I am not sure of the actual mileage count, but you are looking at 40-50 days at sea no matter what.

From the canal-you likely want to head to the Tahiti area, regroup, and then pick another island area in between- 3 legs will break things up and really increase your enjoyment.

For crew-it depends on their experience. 4 is a good number if all can carry their weight-skill wise. Or, go with 5...2 on each watch and you could "float".

6 would be an absolute maximum-any more than this and the small space and the weight of the provisions, clothes, etc. will make for a "crowded house" .

After you look over the posts for offshore mods, let us know what othehr questions you may have,

Safe travels!

S
 

windjunkee

Member III
Put self steering on (windvane, not electric) and your trip through the trades will be a breeze:D I agree with Seth. Don't try to do it in one shot. Provisions and water storage alone will over burden the boat. I did the south pacific milk run, at least as far as Suva, Fiji and other than the Galapagos - Marquesas run, there was no more than about 5 days max between realistic stops. The Galapagos-Marquesas run was 23 days non-stop and believe me, we were READY to stop. Watches are easy. We did the major passages with 3 persons on the crew on a full keel 38 ft. ketch, and had sufficient provisions for making long passages, but fuel and water needed to be added periodically. The longest we had to motor in the ITCZ was a little over 24 hours, which was south of the equator at the time of our passage. The Galapagos sit on the equator and the Marquesas sit about 8 degrees south latitude, so its almost a due west passage. After that, there are can't miss island groups like the Tuamotus, Societies, Cooks, Samoas and the Vavau Group of Tonga. The passage from Fiji to New Zealand can get very hairy so you want to plan for the right time. I have a friend out there right now and he claims that during the passage to New Zealand they had sustained 50 plus knots and 20-30 foot seas for over 30 straight hours. They were blown quite a ways off course but sailed the safe angles during the storm. You must take care that you pick your moments so to minimize your chances of running into something like that.

Its an enviable trip but don't rush it. Let the conditions dictate your timing and route planning.

Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32-2 hull #134
Redondo Beach, CA
 

windjunkee

Member III
One other thing: The 38 ft ketch I was on (this was 1987-1988) had 60 gallon water tank and 40 gallon diesel tank. We had no watermaker, no inverter, no refrigeration. We had an electronic autopilot which never worked right, a satnav (no GPS) and standard instruments. We kept electrical usage to a minimum to avoid having to run the engine to charge the batteries. I can tell you that after 23 days of warm Tang and canned foods, we were met in Hiva Oa by a buddy boat of ours with fresh bagette bread and cold Heineken right after we dropped the hook. I will ALWAYS remember how that tasted.
Nevertheless, it was a trip of a lifetime and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32-2 Hull #134
Redondo Beach, CA
 

Steve Swann

Member III
NZ Bound?

RGraham,

Well, what are you thinking? Do you have enough time available to think of still of sailing to Down Under? What is your lead time to do this? Have you thought about a delivery crew, or assemble various crew(s) who might change or rotate out for the trip?

Just as an aside, have you priced what it would cost to ship your boat down there?

Steve Swann
Boise, ID
 
Mr. Graham,
Excuse me for being frank, but the questions you are asking are ones that should tell you that you don't have the necessary miles under your own personal keel to make such a trip as master of your own boat. It could be a milk run, but probably won't be. I've been sailing for 30 years--almost all of it on an Ericson--and I would not countenance such a trip the way you are thinking about it. I'm not a hard ass. And I think adventure is great. On the other hand when the going gets hard, you are bone tired, some of the things on the boat have broken, you are cold and too sick to eat, then it isn't about adventure anymore as much as it is staying alive. If you need the boat in New Zealand, ship it. The you will have it where you need it and in good condition. You'll also not beat yourself up. Good luck.
Morgan Stinemetz
 

gareth harris

Sustaining Member
.... the questions you are asking are ones that should tell you that you don't have the necessary miles under your own personal keel to make such a trip as master of your own boat.

I have crossed the Pacific three times in a big steel ship, and the ocean tended to live up to its name except near Australasia, where you can expect the kinds of seas that make aircraft carriers roll. A friend of mine who flies helicopters rescued two people from a sailboat they found drifting dismasted between Australia and New Zealand, the other two of the crew were never found. But the difficulties need not be insurmountable problem if approached in the right way.

One important factor is the intimate knowledge of your boat that you have gained doing the work you describe. Very simple problems can become a life and death crisis in the adventure you are thinking about, but that kind of work will really help you be prepared. There are a number of good books available that talk about preparing and equiping a boat, plus you can often find examples of well prepared boats in marinas that the owners will love to show off.

I am rebuilding my boat, and intend to head across the north Atlantic when ready, I think the pride I will feel in doing so in a boat I have sanded/ground/expoxied/screwed/tightened/aligned/glassed/drilled/crimped myself will make the experience an order of magnitude better. I am figuring I will need to spend a season, after the project is finished, working out the bugs and working on my skills before pointing east into the blue.

The crucial factor is time. If you have enough time to finish the boat, go on some local forays, finish the boat again, try a cruise across the Gulf of Mexico, and time to feel comfortable: then sail to NZ in the trip of a lifetime. The thing that may be hard to avoid is rushing to complete the work for a deadline, having insufficient time to prepare the crew, and missing some details which could lead to things getting out of hand once underway.

For the oppurtunity to do a voyage like that, I would do everything in my power to make the time.

Gareth
Freyja E35 #24
 

rgraham

Member II
I appreciate all the feedback...

Hello All,
I appreciate everyone’s comments and concerns. I believe time is going to be the problem, having enough that is. I feel if I had enough time I could prepare the boat and work up to the experience level required to make the trip. But I’m also of the mind that some things you just have to jump into and do and I ‘ve read of many accounts of people crossing the Atlantic without any experience at all. It is kind of a Catch-22 of how do you get the experience for long passages such as a trip to New Zealand with modest means and little free time. If I were unemployed I’d just go crew on various boats taking different trips to get the experience but I’m not. As I stated in my first post does anyone know of a company that actually ships boats that far? Or would anyone know ballpark what it would cost and who is a reputable company that would deliver a boat? The post is to get people talking about if they were to do a trip like this how much experience does one think is necessary and how would one specifically equip the boat? I have my own ideas about what would be required but wanted to hear from people who have done long passages and see what they used to see if I was on the same track. I’m the type of person who is willing to take some calculated risks (within reason) for adventure and I’m getting to the point in life were I need another one. I’ve done things like motorcycled through Mexico for 17 days without speaking the language and having only a Texaco road map showing the main arteries. When the trip was suggested neither myself nor my brother evened owned a motorcycle but we bought the bikes and did the trip within a 3 month period. We just decided that doing a motorcycle trip through Mexico would be an adventure and it was a great one. I realize that there is no comparing the two but I just want to give some insight on how I’m wired so to speak. I'm still hoping to hear what people have done and what it took to do it on a physical and mental level.

Robert
 
Last edited:
Mr. Graham,
Gareth Harris I know. He came down to Bradenton (FL) and sailed with me. He knows a ton and I am not likely to dismiss anything he says. If Noah ever needed another guy to help him build another ark, he'd call on Gareth.
That said, because I am a nautical writer I get to see some of the mistakes that people make with boats. I write about them. John Beaudry was one of those people. He was a skilled sailor, accomplished racer. He left for England in a small sailboat from Daytona. No one heard from him again. He simply disappeared. Or the guy who watched his wife drown behind his boat because he took it into shoal areas on an awful day and the boat was rolled down onto its beam ends and she was ejected overboard.
I think it is good that you have a sense of adventure but when you get off your motorcycle you still stand up. When you are on your boat you are surrounded by a medium you are not built to survive in. Just consider the risks is all I say.
Morgan Stinemetz
 

gareth harris

Sustaining Member
Mr. Graham,
Gareth Harris I know. He came down to Bradenton (FL) and sailed with me.

That was a great day out, Morgan.

There are a couple of things I could have been more specific on, Robert, that I have worked on for my trip, upgrading where the boat was not designed for offshore use:

I have cut larger holes for 2" deck drains and through hulls(one of Seth's recommendations), and put separate through hulls in for the aft section of the cockpit.

The two original through hulls that were in a position unable to take a sea cock have been moved.

I have taken off the original top hatches, which would not have withstood a wave breaking over them, and cut a new surround to glass in for Lewmar hatches.

I have replaced all the shrouds and stays, since stainless steel can fail with no warning. I replaced the chainplates too, which may seem overkill, but some of them suffered hurricane damage, so I figured they may all have been overstressed. You may want to consider lifelines too.

I will put in new engine mounts before my engine goes back in.

I have through bolted the handrails.

I have installed hardpoints for jack line mounts.

Most of the rest is just a matter of deciding what will be needed for the journey, and making sure it works; and, if possible, having a backup.

I am sure you can find somebody who will ship the boat, although I do not know a specific company. I suspect the cost would be in four figures, rather than five, based on a quote for shipping trans Atlantic.

I appreciate entirely the difficulty of time - in six months it will be ten years I have been working on Freyja, and I have never been able to get further in the planning process than the dream stage. I think what both myself and Morgan are getting at is that you do not specify whether you are talking about leaving in one year or several years.

Gareth
Freyja E35 #241 1972
 

NateHanson

Sustaining Member
You could ship the boat to NZ, spend a couple years cruising, preparing the boat, and gaining bluewater experience, and then when you're ready, quit your job and take off on a S. Pacific cruise on a excellently prepared boat that you know well. Come back to civilization when the money runs out or the mood strikes you. :)

Good luck.
 

Sid

BOATBUMMS
We have been cruising for about ten years in a 36c I have owned for almost 30 years. It took us 4 1/2 years to get from L.A. to North Carolina. If you want to see how things are going just google BOATBUMMS to find our blog?
There are several companies that ship boats. One is Dockwise but if you check the back issues of Cruising World and Sail. They both had articles on shipping boats. I sailed to Hawaii three times and the long trips are the ones that make life, life. What ever you decide to do I'm sure you will be happy.
 
Top