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Taking a 35-3 to the Bahamas and beyond

BobH

Junior Member
Looking to buy a 35-3. Would you consider taking that boat across the Gulf to the Bahamas? How a bout the thorny path to the Virgins? Obviously tank capacity woild be an issue. I'm asking because we did this several times in an Irwin 41, which not only has much bigger tanks, but also weighs almost twice as much. It's the lighter weight which is really my concern.
Thanks,
Bob
 

p.gazibara

Member III
We sailed Cinderella (our 35-2) from Seattle to Costa Rica and are about to sail across the Pacific.

I think some Caribbean sailing should be no problem pending you inspect your rig, steering, sails, and thru-hulls. It is all about keeping the air in, the water out, and pointy stick up after all. Lol

We carry 30 gallons of water, but run our watermaker quite a bit. We didn't have a watermaker until La Paz, MX, so we spent 4 months cruising on our 30 gallon tank plus 3 5 gallon jerry cans (45 gallons total).

The hardest stint (capacity wise) was the run from WA to Eureka, CA. It was about 500 nm and we ran the water tank pretty low with 4 people on board.

With just two people we sailed from San Diego, CA to Cabo San Lucas (about 750nm) on 35 gallons.

Jim Kellam (an inspiration to us) on a 35' boat went from Cape Town to Panama on 30 gallons.

The trick is using a foot pump and makeing freshwater for drinking only. All dishes and toilet flushing was done with seawater. We also cooked our pasta in it (seawater that is).

Not that we have a watermaker, we are much more lax.

-p
 

debonAir

Member III
Sure

I bought a 35-3 last year and one of the selling points was her ability to satisfy my desire to someday sail to Bermuda (from Boston). Its a very seaworthy boat with high bridge deck and huge tankage, especially considering length: I have over 80 gal water, and 40 gal diesel. I'm considering taking the bow tank out and using the space for storage, and putting a watermaker in for long passages and using the solar power.

For Bahamas though, my 6'2 keel would put a bunch of places off-limits I suppose, but I'd be able to get to the other places a little easier. You can get a shoal-draft version (under 5') that would be Chesapeak/Bahamas friendlier.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Fuel and water capacity is easily customized with auxiliary jugs. Ericsons are well designed for offshore but have less room than tubbier boats.

As was said, the Bahamas are remarkably shallow and shallow draft is a real plus there. Quite the opposite in much of the Caribbean, where it blows and seas can be steep.
 
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