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Belhaven design question


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Would Belhaven be suitable for crossings of the gulf stream to the Bahamas?

After I build my spindrift I am planning on building a small, 16'-19' coastal cruiser for two people with min. accomodations. Enough to sleep, sit and storage for a porta potti is all I really need. The boat must be trailerable with shallow draft capabilities.

Belhaven seems to fit but I noticed in the webpage that Belhaven only has a positive righting moment to 80deg.

I am planning on trailering it and cruising to the San Juans, Catalina Island, Bahamas etc....

Would Belhaven be suitable for this?

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I have the plans for paradox but it is basically for one person only. Once you start looking at the plans you notice there are lots of small details in the design that are geared towards cruising.

The boat that David & Mindy Bolduc have (little cruiser) is slightly larger but plans aren't available.

They sure have some great pics.

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Based on their strategy of waiting for the right weather and then dashing across I would think something like the Belhaven (or my soon-to-be-sailing CS17) would work. I am probably the least experienced sailor on this board, though, and have not made the trip in question so my opinion on the matter should carry very, very little weight. :)

There is an alternative to sailing across, though. There is a place in Georgetown, Great Exuma, that rents Sea Pearls by the day or the week.

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I've seen a lot of boats in the Gulf Stream that were a lot larger than a Belhaven that I don't think would be as safe. The great thing about the Gulf Stream is that it's only about 50 miles to Bimini. You can pick your weather. On a nice day a Spindrift could make it. On a not nice day I wouldn't try it in a much larger boat.

Far worse boats have made it safely...far better boats haven't.

If I had a Belhaven I'd be sending back pictures from Green Turtle Key and sipping a cool one....

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If you wait weeks for the perfect weather window lots of boats would make it. I am looking for something that can take some weather and has the performance/design/scantlings etc.... to be on the safer side of the equation when the seas kick up a little. I do realize that the skipper plays the biggest part but the boat does to.

Hopefully Graham sees the post and gives an opinion.

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To be fair, the Little Cruiser, like others of Matt's boats, is bullet-proof and very heavy for its size. It is also so rigged to be sailed entirely from inside that the Bolducs don't even carry foul weather gear on their months long cruises.

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I agree with most of what has been said. I would be glad to sail a Belhaven over to the Bahamas. Naturally I would carefully pick my weather, and make sure the boat was well found and well stowed with all the appropriate safety gear - this would not be the time to take 6 people and all their gear and supplies for a month! Two people and modest normal gear and supplies would be reasonable.

With regard to the 80 degrees of stability: That is the calculated stability based on the hydrostatics - allowing for half load and two crew in the cockpit. It is also based on the boat being built exactly to the scantlings and rig specified. What can not be calculated is changes to scantlings that an individual builder may make (there is often a tendency among amateurs to "beef up" scantlings unecessarily) or to make substantial changes in rig design. One cannot allow for every possible loading of the boat or number of crew on board, nor the myriad possible positions of crew members at a time of knock down. Further there are dynamic forces involved if gear is thrown about the cabin, or crew is thrown - say into the sail. There is no way every freak happening can be foreseen.

And... to return to a point, which I keep making perhaps ad nauseum, there is the desire to have light weight for trailering, shallow draft for byways and ease of launching retrieving, and yet be Cape Horn capable - Oh yes, it should all fit into an economic to build and maintain package!

Seaworthyness begins with the crew! Case in point - we once capsized a J22 - a fin keel, relatively deep drafted boat and compared to Belhaven - the CG of the ballast is much lower... The J22 reached the point of vanishing stablity when the mast hit the water - the difference being had she continued going over - she would have sunk! What saved our bacon was everyone managed to hold their position to windward - and one crew member managed to get to the keel.

I have also oft considered the option of having interchangeable keel configurations for different jobs . It is a tantalizing idea - albeit there are myriad complications as to "how" would be best. But that is another story.

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