Larry wrote:
"NE Sailboat" wrote in
news:RLQnh.510$3L1.473@trndny03:

Second guess? The fellow abandoned ship? He left his yacht floating
in the Atlantic.



I'm wondering about the disabled engine it talked about. Look at the
pictures. The waterline is clearly visible, so the boat isn't flooded at
all. Wonder why his engine doesn't run? It doesn't say that I can find.
A sailboat without a mast is called a "trawler"...(c;

I know someone who bought a nice sloop that had become dismasted. He
took it into the boatyard, tore off all the sail rigging and changed out
to a 4-cyl Yanmar and bigger prop with a nicer bearing. They cut about
half the keel off it, but left plenty to keep it from rolling, gaining
about 4000 pounds of "payload" that used to hang under it for sailing.
It's a really nice power trawler for little of nothing in money...about
40'. He gets about 8 knots for about a gallon/hour...10 mpg. That's
cheap boating in a 40' boat. With 50hp, he has plenty of reserve power
without eating a hole in the fuel tanks. An extra belt drives a 10KW,
self-exciting 115/230VAC Chinese alternator he bought from Harbor
Freight:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93946
His doesn't have the PTO gears and big power box....$400.
Sail maintenance is lots cheaper....change the oil every 100 hours and
go. He goes a lot!

This nice yacht would make a fantastic "trawler" if the storm tore up the
rigging and chainplates. The hull looks fine, floating high....(c;



The newspaper report said that there was three feet of water inside from
the waves breaking over the hataches that had been torn off. The water
flooded the engine, batteries shorted the electrical and the steering
was broken. I wouldn't want a "trawler" with three feet of water inside.
krj