I have a question about long ocean voyage in a powered boat.?

Question

I have seen a 55 foot powered catamaran on the Internet. The owner is planning to take it on ocean cruises. He is planning to go with just his wife. My question is, on long trips of over 48 hours, what is the normal procedure? Would they just shut off the engine and drift at night? Would they let the auto-pilot keep them on a course at night? Would they run the boat in shifts for the couple days of the trip?

Answer 1

There are several different options

1, Is as you suggested, the auto-pilot

Next you can use a "Sea Anchor", to slow your drift to a minimum.

Or run the boat in shifts,4-6 hrs., until you reach your first port of call.

On long stretches you would use a combination of all three.

With the advances in computer, radio, GPS, and radar technology, most of these larger boats can pilot themselves on the open seas

Answer 2

COLREGS requires that you always have 'adequate' watch on, regardless of whether you are in inland waters or offshore, so there would always be someone on watch. Different people do different things, but if there are two people, 3 hours on 3 off is a pretty reasonable watch schedule, sometimes reducing it to 2 on / 2 off right before sunrise when you are at your most tired. Catnapping on the off watch, you can stay going for a long time (my wife and I did a 36 hour passage from Cape May to Montauk this way). The idea of standing an 8 hour watch at night, even with autopilot, is crazy talk.

Answer 3

They would allow the auto-pilot to steer the vessel but would also stand watches around the clock.

Answer 4

Stand 8 on/8 off watches.  This will give you at least six hours sleep at a time.  I would never trust a machine with my life.