Best craft for Inside Passage? Your view, please!
 

I seek to plumb the collective wisdom of this group.

(1) What is the optimum power craft for a couple's four-week trip up
the Inner Passage, in your opinion? Specify length, beam, hull
material, propulsion, essential features.

(2) What is the most *minimal* power craft in which you'd feel safe and
comfortable making such a trip?

I'll be happy to tabulate the results and present them here.

Thanks for your input!

Best craft for Inside Passage? Your view, please!
 

Which inner passage and is this a round trip? If it is the inside passage
to Alaska, a cruise liner and/or ferry would be nice.
G
"Dan" wrote in message
oups.com...
I seek to plumb the collective wisdom of this group.

(1) What is the optimum power craft for a couple's four-week trip up
the Inner Passage, in your opinion? Specify length, beam, hull
material, propulsion, essential features.

(2) What is the most *minimal* power craft in which you'd feel safe and
comfortable making such a trip?

I'll be happy to tabulate the results and present them here.

Thanks for your input!

Best craft for Inside Passage? Your view, please!
 

I'm referring to the waterway that starts in Puget Sound and extends up
into Southeast Alaska.



Gordon wrote:
Which inner passage and is this a round trip? If it is the inside passage
to Alaska, a cruise liner and/or ferry would be nice.
G
"Dan" wrote in message
oups.com...
I seek to plumb the collective wisdom of this group.

(1) What is the optimum power craft for a couple's four-week trip up
the Inner Passage, in your opinion? Specify length, beam, hull
material, propulsion, essential features.

(2) What is the most *minimal* power craft in which you'd feel safe and
comfortable making such a trip?

I'll be happy to tabulate the results and present them here.

Thanks for your input!

Best craft for Inside Passage? Your view, please!
 

Dan wrote:
I seek to plumb the collective wisdom of this group.

Good luck.


(1) What is the optimum power craft for a couple's four-week trip up
the Inner Passage, in your opinion? Specify length, beam, hull
material, propulsion, essential features.


Your question is too general. It implies that only a certain type of
craft would be ideal for this relatively easy cruise. In fact, boats
from a wide spectrum would be capable of making the voyage safely,
comfortably, and reliably- so while there are going be a few obvious
concerns (like range, for example) the "optimum" choice will be at
least as subjective as objective. A boat that you didn't like very much
would be a poor choice compared to something that was 99% as
"seaworthy" but that appealed to you quite a lot. It's like walking
into the finest restaurant in town and asking the waiter, "What would I
like best from your menu?"

I would make this run in a diesel trawler. 36-feet is a comfortable
"couples cruiser" and more than enough boat to handle anything a
sensible boater would deliberately set out in. But that's the same boat
I use for everything else. :-)

There would be nothing wrong with a guy deciding to do the Inside
Passage in a 30-foot
express cruiser, a 50-foot motoryacht, you name it.



(2) What is the most *minimal* power craft in which you'd feel safe and
comfortable making such a trip?


It's done all the time in boats as small as trailerables, provided that
the boaters are willing to wait for a "weather window". If you check
th C-Dory website, I believe there are accounts of making a cruise like
this in a C-Dory. I know that regional author Dale Petersen has taken
his C-Dory "Day by Day" to Alaska and back, sort of. He has never made
the entire cruise in a single shot, but trailered to different points
to begin various legs. He has covered all the water for the entire
distance, but not in a single 3-4 week jaunt.

Best craft for Inside Passage? Your view, please!
 

"Dan" wrote in message
oups.com...
I seek to plumb the collective wisdom of this group.

(1) What is the optimum power craft for a couple's four-week trip up
the Inner Passage, in your opinion? Specify length, beam, hull
material, propulsion, essential features.

(2) What is the most *minimal* power craft in which you'd feel safe and
comfortable making such a trip?

I'll be happy to tabulate the results and present them here.

Thanks for your input!


I have no first hand experience with the trip or this boat, but fwiw, they
claim to be the ticket on their web page:

http://www.allweatherboats.com/

Good Luck on your poll

Best craft for Inside Passage? Your view, please!
 

"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
ups.com...

Dan wrote:
I seek to plumb the collective wisdom of this group.

Good luck.


(1) What is the optimum power craft for a couple's four-week trip up
the Inner Passage, in your opinion? Specify length, beam, hull
material, propulsion, essential features.


Your question is too general. It implies that only a certain type of
craft would be ideal for this relatively easy cruise. In fact, boats
from a wide spectrum would be capable of making the voyage safely,
comfortably, and reliably- so while there are going be a few obvious
concerns (like range, for example) the "optimum" choice will be at
least as subjective as objective. A boat that you didn't like very much
would be a poor choice compared to something that was 99% as
"seaworthy" but that appealed to you quite a lot. It's like walking
into the finest restaurant in town and asking the waiter, "What would I
like best from your menu?"

I would make this run in a diesel trawler. 36-feet is a comfortable
"couples cruiser" and more than enough boat to handle anything a
sensible boater would deliberately set out in. But that's the same boat
I use for everything else. :-)

There would be nothing wrong with a guy deciding to do the Inside
Passage in a 30-foot
express cruiser, a 50-foot motoryacht, you name it.



(2) What is the most *minimal* power craft in which you'd feel safe and
comfortable making such a trip?


It's done all the time in boats as small as trailerables, provided that
the boaters are willing to wait for a "weather window". If you check
th C-Dory website, I believe there are accounts of making a cruise like
this in a C-Dory. I know that regional author Dale Petersen has taken
his C-Dory "Day by Day" to Alaska and back, sort of. He has never made
the entire cruise in a single shot, but trailered to different points
to begin various legs. He has covered all the water for the entire
distance, but not in a single 3-4 week jaunt.


One faster than 8 knts. And one big enough to avoid killing your shipmate.
And one big enough to handle the trip from the top of Vancouver Island to
the passage. I understand there are some tidal rips that make the slow
trawlers have to wait for slack tide to make the passage at different
locations. Probably a 27' minimum powerboat.

Best craft for Inside Passage? Your view, please!
 

Calif Bill wrote:

One faster than 8 knts. And one big enough to avoid killing your shipmate.
And one big enough to handle the trip from the top of Vancouver Island to
the passage. I understand there are some tidal rips that make the slow
trawlers have to wait for slack tide to make the passage at different
locations. Probably a 27' minimum powerboat.

There are several areas like you describe. Slower boaters take the
traditional step of timing departure, etc, to hit these rapids at or
around slack. As do all sailors.

As do many thoughtful boaters who can run at enough speed to make
headway against a 5-10 knt current. These swift currents typically
occur in very narrow areas.
OK, so you can make headway and steer. But who's steering that giant
deadhead
(aimed straight for your stem and with an appetite for struts)
approaching at perhaps 7 knots? And, in a narrow pass with rocks on
either side how do you propose to avoid it?

Best craft for Inside Passage? Your view, please!
 

"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
oups.com...

Calif Bill wrote:

One faster than 8 knts. And one big enough to avoid killing your
shipmate.
And one big enough to handle the trip from the top of Vancouver Island
to
the passage. I understand there are some tidal rips that make the
slow
trawlers have to wait for slack tide to make the passage at different
locations. Probably a 27' minimum powerboat.

There are several areas like you describe. Slower boaters take the
traditional step of timing departure, etc, to hit these rapids at or
around slack. As do all sailors.

As do many thoughtful boaters who can run at enough speed to make
headway against a 5-10 knt current. These swift currents typically
occur in very narrow areas.
OK, so you can make headway and steer. But who's steering that giant
deadhead
(aimed straight for your stem and with an appetite for struts)
approaching at perhaps 7 knots? And, in a narrow pass with rocks on
either side how do you propose to avoid it?


This discussion reminds me of the story from back in the day. Seems that
a reporter or some such person asked Dan Gurney, who was a well known
race car driver for the Ferrari team among others, "what car would you
prefer for a drive across the united states?" expecting him to name some
exotic sports car. He looked at the reporter and said " Why, an air
conditioned Cadillac, of course".

Seems to me that the same principle would apply to a boat trip like this.

del cecchi

Best craft for Inside Passage? Your view, please!
 

"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
ups.com...

Dan wrote:
I seek to plumb the collective wisdom of this group.

Good luck.


(1) What is the optimum power craft for a couple's four-week trip up
the Inner Passage, in your opinion? Specify length, beam, hull
material, propulsion, essential features.


Your question is too general. It implies that only a certain type of
craft would be ideal for this relatively easy cruise. In fact, boats
from a wide spectrum would be capable of making the voyage safely,
comfortably, and reliably- so while there are going be a few obvious
concerns (like range, for example) the "optimum" choice will be at
least as subjective as objective. A boat that you didn't like very much
would be a poor choice compared to something that was 99% as
"seaworthy" but that appealed to you quite a lot. It's like walking
into the finest restaurant in town and asking the waiter, "What would I
like best from your menu?"

I would make this run in a diesel trawler. 36-feet is a comfortable
"couples cruiser" and more than enough boat to handle anything a
sensible boater would deliberately set out in. But that's the same boat
I use for everything else. :-)

There would be nothing wrong with a guy deciding to do the Inside
Passage in a 30-foot
express cruiser, a 50-foot motoryacht, you name it.



(2) What is the most *minimal* power craft in which you'd feel safe and
comfortable making such a trip?


It's done all the time in boats as small as trailerables, provided that
the boaters are willing to wait for a "weather window". If you check
th C-Dory website, I believe there are accounts of making a cruise like
this in a C-Dory. I know that regional author Dale Petersen has taken
his C-Dory "Day by Day" to Alaska and back, sort of. He has never made
the entire cruise in a single shot, but trailered to different points
to begin various legs. He has covered all the water for the entire
distance, but not in a single 3-4 week jaunt.

Well, I did it in a 21' boat back in the 80s. And I didn't listen to a tape
every day like Peterson. In "Day by Day to ALaska" he went in a Bayliner
that leaked a lot. Did it change into a C-Dory when it grew up? Also, I do
not understand why anyone would want to make the trip the way he did--never
did stop to enjoy anything, just blast past lots of beautiful places with
lots of days of hard running.

However, it does point out you can go in most any boat if you do a bit of
planning.

Regards Dan (danlw7)

Best craft for Inside Passage? Your view, please!
 

"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
oups.com...

Calif Bill wrote:

One faster than 8 knts. And one big enough to avoid killing your
shipmate.
And one big enough to handle the trip from the top of Vancouver Island to
the passage. I understand there are some tidal rips that make the slow
trawlers have to wait for slack tide to make the passage at different
locations. Probably a 27' minimum powerboat.

There are several areas like you describe. Slower boaters take the
traditional step of timing departure, etc, to hit these rapids at or
around slack. As do all sailors.

As do many thoughtful boaters who can run at enough speed to make
headway against a 5-10 knt current. These swift currents typically
occur in very narrow areas.
OK, so you can make headway and steer. But who's steering that giant
deadhead
(aimed straight for your stem and with an appetite for struts)
approaching at perhaps 7 knots? And, in a narrow pass with rocks on
either side how do you propose to avoid it?


Run over it if it is level with the water. But I drive an Aluminum jetboat.
:)