Skookum 53 Sighting
at:alt.binaries.pictures.sports.ocean If you look carefully in the distance I think you can see our friend
"Scupper" chasing after it. Or maybe it's Chuck chasing Scupper
chasing the Skookum. Who knows. :-) Interesting boat in any case but not everyone's cup'o'tea. It makes
our Grand Banks look like a speedboat, but then again we don't have a
range under power of 5,000 nautical miles. |
Wayne.B
Dec 26
2005
|
| ==== Makes sense on a short vacation. They were planning to spend the
winter. |
Wayne.B
Dec 27
|
| I'd still rather fly down there, and rent a place to stay AND rent a
small boat. |
Harry
Dec 27
|
| Same here. My sense of adventure is tempered by a tendency to get seasick. |
Don
Dec 27
|
| Don,
You might be sea sick for a day or two, but once you get your sea legs you
will feel weird when you get on land. |
Reggie
Dec 27
|
| Ahh. Well, I don't get seaseick, but I do get bored after days at sea,
which is why I don't like cruise ships much. |
Harry
Dec 27
|
| Harry, What is there not to like. You are surrounded by mother nature. The skies
are beautiful during the day, the stars are so bright at night, it is
amazing. the water clear and smells wonderful, marine life all around you.
If you want to catch dinner, you just do a little trolling. If the seas
kick up, the last thing you will be is bored? I would have thought an old sea dog like yourself would love being at sea. |
Reggie
Dec 27
|
| Most of us would have a rough time. For *you*, it'd be a snap!
--
John H **** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!***** |
JohnH
Dec 27
|
| Nice photo, but it looks like a dismasted motorsailor. I thought Derby
and Wichita were closer than 5000 miles. Man, you'd need one hell of a pickup truck to tow that barge. |
Harry
Dec 27
|
| = For sure. It weighs 80,000 lbs and has an 8 ft draft among other
things. Apparently there was an option to get them with a sailing
rig. Although this one did not, it had a small mast to support the
outriggers. |
Wayne.B
Dec 27
|
| 80,000 pounds? Good lord. |
Shortwave
Dec 27
|
| Not much more than my Navigator when I have a few of my beer drinking
friends aboard. Eisboch |
Eisboch
Dec 27
|
| Nice boat and nice pictures!
--
John H **** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!***** |
JohnH
Dec 27
|
| I'm not used to hearing terms like 80,000 pounds for boats. :>) My Ranger only weighs 2,800 lbs and the Contender a little over
10,000. The Princecraft is a little over 600 lbs with me in it. I guess when I think about it, 80,000 for a 50 plus footer iisn't that
outrageous. |
Shortwave
Dec 27
|
| 80,000 pounds? 8' draft? What's the point? An eight foot draft is a real hindrance to a pleasure boater NOT wanting
to spend all his days on the high seas. |
Harry
Dec 27
|
| Yeah, it kinda is. The Navigator with full water tank and both fuel tanks
filled weighs around 43,000 lbs. And it's 52'- 8" LOA. In this day and age
of light boat designs it's considered fairly heavy. 80,000 lbs must feel like driving a submarine half submerged. Eisboch |
Eisboch
Dec 27
|
| 40 tons is a little over the top for a boat that size, but, truly, a
Hatt of those dimensions will weigh close to that. It's the draft that
is the kicker. |
Harry
Dec 27
|
| Hey, what do I know - I'm not in the same class as you guys with the
50 footers. Whole different ball game. |
Shortwave
Dec 27
|
| Rule No. 1 If your boat, of any size or weight, starts feeling like a half submerged
submarine, prepare to abandon ship! Eisboch |
Eisboch
Dec 27
|
| Actually, being trapped on a slow-moving barge like that Skookum with
Skipper for 5000 miles would be like the experiences of the crew of the
Valley Forge in Douglas Trumbull's wonderful classic, "Silent Running." |
Harry
Dec 27
|
| ====== Like I said, it's not for everyone. The boat was designed for long
range cruising under power, i.e., able to cross oceans and survive
seriously bad weather along the way. Too that end it shares many of
the same characteristics of offshore sailboats: Heavy ballast, deep
full length keel, small windows/ports, strong water tight hatches,
etc. The people who own the boat would be the first to agree that the 8 ft
draft can be a serious hindrance. It wouldn't get very far here in
SWFL and lots of other places. We first met them in Baltimore inner
harbor where they were docked next to us for a few days, and ran into
them later at Solomons Island and in North Carolina. Nice folks with
a lot of cruising experience. Last I heard they were in the Leeward
Islands heading for Trinidad and Venezuela, and are probably there by
now. Try doing that in your average production boat. |
Wayne.B
Dec 27
|
| I wonder if I could to that in my Contender? :>) |
Shortwave
Dec 27
|
| ===== At great speed, if you can find enough gas stations along the way! We are always amused to see faster boats that pass us stopped at the
next fuel dock as we go by. It's very much a tortise and hare kind of
situation when covering long distances, and we see it a lot. We can
run 5 straight days, 120 continuous hours, at slow cruising speed
without refueling. That will get us at least 1,000 nautical miles
down the road if need be. After that we need a fill up and an oil
change. |
Wayne.B
Dec 27
|
| I'd rather fly to Trinidad or Venezuela, and rent a boat when I get there. |
Harry
Dec 27
|
