"Jere Lull" wrote in message
news:2008061203070616807-jerelull@maccom...
On 2008-06-10 20:09:11 -0400, "Wilbur Hubbard"
said:

Xan's pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/

Have been checking your site. Nice boat but not too well integrated in
the accommodation. Looks like it's sort of flimsy furniture-wise and I
had a good laugh at the picture of the engine that brags about the
access. Looks pretty cramped in there to me.

Was a tough pic to take, but everything aft of the doors is stowage,
tankage or engine. It echoes. You really have to see it to believe how
easy it is to access everything -- without taking anything apart or
removing panels. Morning checks are a 5-minute deal.

If you were a dedicated lone-hander

Don't want to be a lone-hander! That's what started this all.

That tells me you'd rather sail by committee. That's the path to failure -
remember the fate of the erstwhile "Red Cloud" which was abandoned and lost
due to the whinings of a wimp crew.

you would modify the interior so it had two real sea berths

You didn't notice the "coffin berth" to starboard? Quite comfy on either
tack and you're not going to roll out. You also might have missed how
*comfy* the "V" is, with real foot-space for two and 6'8" length. (I'm
more interested the rack almost-always enjoyed.)

I guess I missed the coffin berth. Good that Xan has at least one decent sea
berth because every real off shore sailor know the v-verth is untenable most
of the time as its motion is a bit to brisk for comfort. Real voyagers often
use the v-berth for storing light but bulky items as it is only a viable
berth at anchor.


, a better galley,

Only used for coffee. In fact, since switched to a portable stove so I
could stay outside.

Coffee isn't going to get the job done. You need a real galley where hot
meals can be produced while underway. At least one good hot meal a day is a
necessary thing when voyaging for maintaining strength and moral.


a decent chart table, more storage space for groceries,

Oh, you didn't notice how much stowage I have for groceries? -- two deep
shelves along most of the perimeter and caverns under all berths.

Groceries stored on those so-called deep shelves will all end up on the sole
in a big, dangerous mess when the going gets rough. You'll be lucky to not
be knocked on the head by canned goods and such storing them there. Storage
under the berths is acceptable but I bet you don't have any way to secure
the access boards under the cushions. Few stock boats do. You've got to get
real and make your boat's interior proof from a 360 degree rollover. Every
hatch has to have the ability to be dogged down. Batteries and other heavy
items MUST be strapped securely in place. Anything on shelves needs to be
stowed inside a locker which also must have a latch so it cannot pop open in
a knock down or a roll over.

more water tankage and I sure hope those aren't opening ports in the
v-berth.

Nope. Not needed.

Easy to say now but you'll regret saying it if you very find yourself off
shore and dying of thirst. . .



And that unbalance rudder is sure to be way too much of a chore,
especially
when close-hauled.

It's one-finger steering up through 20+ knots. (NACA 0012, with center of
lift 1" behind the pintles.)

Poppycock! No transom hung rudder is balanced unless they dogleg under the
transome on the lower part. Straight ones like yours all have severe
imbalance problems by their very design. Do you even know what a balanced
rudder is?



That keel, I don't think I'd trust it in heavy weather. It looks to be
only about four inches thick where it connects to the hull. It's got to
be way overstressed in that area.

What you don't see is the flange above, MUCH wider. That thinness, btw,
improves the water flow right where it counts. You missed that the keel's
not NACA, but sorta slabby tapered.

Sorry but thicker above the thin still results in the thin part being the
weakest. Not only that but the thicker part atop the thin concentrates the
forces onto the thin portion. Believe me that is a weakness about which you
should concern yourself. If the keel is not a NACA foil then it is
inefficient compared to the proper NACA foil.


The bulkhead repair looks to have been quite a job. Too bad they didn't
do it right in the first place.

That was my error in not fixing a persistent leak. Replacement pretty
easy, most of it done single-handed over a weekend. (and I varnished a
bunch of the furniture the same weekend.)

Quality boats don't have "persistent leaks!"

You won't find a Coronado 27, for example, with any of the shortcomings I
listed above.

snicker We saw some when we were doing "the search".

Too bad Capt. Neal took down his world famous mariner website. The
differences in quality between the Tanzer and the Coronado are readily
apparent.

You missed a *number* of points -- not unexpected as they're subtle, such
as the oak beam above the bulkhead and the longitudinal oak beam above

Not smart putting all that weight high up like that. And, I couldn't help
but notice the deck about which you swell with pride looks like a layman's
copy of a Morgan Out Island 33 deck. Butt ugly!


The Coronado is an obvious offshore capable yacht while the Tanzer is a
near coastal week-ender. But, to each his own.

They're both rated near-coastal, though a couple of Xan's sisters have
done the Med and back on their own keels (one twice) and I am in
occasional contact with two doing some years in the Caribbean.

But Capt. Neal's blue water Coronado was modified in several ways to make it
a capable blue water voyager. It didn't take much to accomplish the deed.
You'd probably have to spend 20-30 large to make your Xan as seaworthy.


But coastal's fine for me for the foreseeable future, island-hopping with
a couple of 1-2 day legs between anchorages. I've no interest in going
outside of the east coast and Caribbean for a while, and there are a bunch
of places along that path we want to visit. Why rush, bypassing all of
them?

Nothing wrong with short legs but short legs can often throw at you
conditions worse than you'll find further offshore by virtue of shoal water,
currents and seas with very short periods and wavelengths. In other words
even a coastal cruiser needs to be as stout as a blue water yacht. Failure
to understand this fact will land you in trouble one of these days.


Now, where Xan will really show the Coronado up is under sail. She leaves
them in her wake without even working hard. In a race, we'd have to give
them 20 seconds a mile.

Until you run out of water in about three days and until you get famished
trying to survive on coffee and peanut butter and crackers then the more
capable Coronado will sail right by while you weakly shout, "A meal, a hot
meal, a kindgom for a meal and a drink of water!"


Wilbur Hubbard