Does anyone ever make a bluewater boat from a non bluewater boat?

Question

I've been wondering if people ever buy a cruiser that was intended as a weekender boat and reinforce the fibreglass to make it totally seaworthy.

Answer 1

If you are speaking of the blue water package for cooling the It is basically the same set up as a car engine. You should be able to purchase everything you need at a boat shop. If your speaking of making it ocean going, refer to other answer.

Answer 2

They sure do, I personally wouldn't do it. But I have seen people that have sailed half way around the world on a 19 ft plywood bilge keel yacht. For thousands of years man has had the need to escape and head off over the horizon, when that need gets to strong they will do anything....and you know what they say "a man without a boat is a man in chains"...

Answer 3

Yes Chad...people reinforce the hulls of boats. A weekender is not necessarilly unseaworthy. There may be a lack of amenities for lengthly cruising in a hull that is in fact, completely seaworthy.

To answer your question...people have done everything possible....new stringers...bulkheads...additional layers of glass....the whole enchilada.

If you're new...I'd pay a surveyor to tell you if such repairs are needed.

Answer 4

my somewhat good friend Capt Fatty Good lander and his long suffering wife took their Hughes 38, which was a decent round the buoys dazzler; hauled it out in St Thomas, gutted the thing, heavily reinforced the hull, beefed up the chain plates, rigging, mast; tank age engine beds and what not....after about a year in the yard and thousands of hours of really nasty work they have sailed 1 and 1/2 times around the world, chronicled in his setting the teeth on edge style in Sail magazine the last few years.

The whole gig comes down to time vs money......you could for example, beef up a Ford Crown Vic and take it in the Baja if you wanted to, or save your money and buy a good SUV ....any boat can be reinforced but, having watched people do this .....and having rebuilt two boats that have been around the world I have to say its a 50-50 trade....spend say 3 years rebuilding a boat to do what the designer didn't intend it to, or work those 3 years and then buy the right boat and go sailing....

I would also say the number of marriages that survive a 3 year rebuild is about 1 in 5 and then number of massive rebuild boast that actually go sailing in the end is maybe 1 in 3....