Aloha!

Now that I've posted my first ever question to a Newsgroup, a monster has
been created...

In the spirit of the hypothetical best boat for the Great Lakes, I'd like to
hear some constructive (or cautionary) ideas on the best small homebuilt
sailboat for inter-island cruising in Hawaiian waters... What have you
heard? What's worked for you in similar or even harsher environments? I'm
interested in minimalist thinking, he fairly close to the edge, but not
over... And well back from extreme sports territory. My idea of
inter-island cruising is that it should be much like coastal
cruising--circumnavigating islands in a small, sturdy sailboat, with a dash
across "short" stretches of blue water thrown in as needed.

The anticipated summer trip would be about two weeks long, probably solo,
but possibly with one other person. The longest openwater leg would be the
initial one between Oahu and Molokai--a point-to-point distance of about 28
miles straight into the prevailing tradewinds, so more than twice that with
beating to windward. This would be a minimum of 12 hours of blue-water
sailing at 4 knots or so, and the channel can and does get good sized seas
even in the summer, especially once afternoon winds kick up... Mornings are
typically calm--if it hasn't been storming overnight, that is, and such
stiuations are to be avoided. These weather facts make a pre-dawn departure
necessary.

(Once to Molokai, island hopping in the cluster comprised of Molokai, Maui,
Lanai and Kahoolawe islands is expected to be fairly straight forward, with
easier passages of about 10 miles across relatively sheltered blue-water
channels. The wider and rougher channels separating the Big Island and
especially Kauai from the inner islands put them out of consideration for
now.)

As an example, my latest prospect boat is the Adelie 16 listed on the
Mertens-Gossens website:
http://boatplans-online.com/proddetail.php?prod=AD16. Most safety concerns
about watertightness, rightability, ease of sailing and handling, etc. seem
to be addressed in the stock plans. (The boat is claimed to be capable of
making the crossing to Bermuda, or of the English Channel...) Marginal
increases in capability can be added during construction without
overwhelming the basic simplicity of the design. Being a trailerable
"backyard boat" is important, as is the estimated minimum finished price of
$2,500. Navigation questions need consideration, but all sailing should be
done within sight of land and, as noted above, in good weather.

Any thoughts? Feasible? Realistic? I'd love to hear from anyone who's
built the boat or her sister, the Adelie 14, or anything similar... Or
who's tried anything similar...

Mahalo,
Carson