On Jan 26, 4:52 am, " wrote:
On Jan 25, 6:53 pm, "Jay Chan" wrote:
...

Yes, you will see a lot of boats parked in typhoon shelters from
satellite pictures. But when you look at them from the ground level,
you will see that they are not the kind of boats that you have in mind.
They are pretty much the live-on-board boats for poor boat people.
Jay ChanJay, thank you very much for the perspective.. this is what I was
hoping for when I started this thread.. what are the majority of boats
like in China? I want to get access to / buy a boat when I get to
Shenzhen/Shekou. I do not want a typical Western cruiser or runabout
type boat. Been there, built that.. I can't afford (don't want) a
Luxury-Tricked-Out Air-Conditioned 50 foot "Junk" for $200,000 . I need
to understand what the 'indigenous' boats are like: their construction,
materials, lifespan, repairability, propulsion variants etc etc. I
want a low-cost boat that needs work, because I need to work on boats!
A re-engine job on a fishing type boat with a decent hull would be
great.. I like engine work, and have some ideas for adaptations. I
want to end up with a boat that is comfortable for some overnights with
2 - 4 people, seaworthy for short weather-aware cruises, still 'looks
like it's peers on the outside', and has some of my favorite
electronics toys inside.

Is this a achievable fantasy?? :-)

Any information, pointers, comments welcome!

Unfortunately, I don't know much about boating in Hong Kong and the
surrounding area. Remember that most ordinary people in Hong Kong have
little experience in boating (except for row boats), and I was one of
them.

Based on my experience in seeing boats in Hong Kong, most boats are
wooden boats called "junks" with high bow and high stern with a lower
mid- section. Each has a sail and a small engine to propel the boat at
displacement speed. The propeller shaft is probably through the hull,
and it is being steered using a rudder. It is not painted, instead the
wood have some transparent finish on it -- not sure what that is. I
don't recall seeing any outboard motor; but I was not looking. They
may have used old car engine as the power plant. The boat has an open
top, and it has a canvas to cover most of the deck (except for the
bow), the canvas can be folded up. The boat tends to be fat and wide
for carrying cargo in a short distance from cargo ship to the loading
dock.

The boats from mainland China tend to be longer and slimmer than the
local boats in Hong Kong. This might have to do with the fact that
they need to carry cargo for a longer distance from mainland China to
Hong Kong. The boats are wooden boats and are painted in standard grey
and may painted with some slogans on the hull (during Cultural
Revolution). The boat has wooden structure to cover the deck.

Not sure about fishing boats. I know they were there somewhere based
on the daily fresh sea food available in the market. But I surely
cannot recall seeing them.

Fiberglass boats are not common.

This is based on what I saw in Hong Kong 20+ years ago. But I doubt
that anything has changed because the underlying factors remain
unchanged.

Please don't think of docking and living on your boat in a typhoon
shelter inside the city. The water in the typhoon shelter doesn't
smell that great. You definitely need to find some place outside the
city.

Jay Chan

My experience, traveling to China, Hong Kong, and/or Korea each summer
for the last 12 years, is that recreational boats are a very rare site.
Most years I don't see any. I was fortunate this past Summer to be
just a few miles away from the venue for the Beijing Summer Olympics,
and was delighted to be at a hotel that had numerous sailboats
available for rental at the beach across the way, but this is a big
exception. (and I was impressed the locals are very skilled at getting
them moving amazingly fast in the prevailing light air)

In regards to Hong Kong, the extreme traffic (fishing boats), cramped
marina's (boats rafted 20 deep), and polution in the waters around Hong
Kong would seem to discourage recreational boats except for the
extremely determined, especially sailboats sans auxillarys (unless you
enjoy tacking 30 times per hour).

Not familiar with that Yacht club you mentioned, maybe you should
really check it out first rather than later.

Dan