CP 27 Limitations

[SouthernNomad]

Hello All,

Another post filled with questions. I hope someone out there is knowledgeable and hungry. What do you think the about a direct cruise from Tampa Bay, FL to The Yucatan Peninsula? Assuming one had their boat prepared for cruising regarding safety, I am simply wondering if that kind of trip or passage would exceed the limitations of what the boat was built to do.

If you think it is feasible, how would you prepare your boat for safe passage to explore the other side of the Gulf of Mexico? How would you individually plan such a trip? And finally I hope you would plan to lash your kayak, surfboard, or something else adventurous along for the ride.

SouthernNomad

[BobK]

Southern Nomad,
This would be a fun cruise.  When I lived in Fairhope AL I single handed my Allied Seawind from Mobile to Tampa a few times.  Wonderful trips.  About 400 miles - 4 days and nights each way.  The Gulf stream will add some distance and time to your planned trip to the Yucatan Peninsula.  It goes due north between the Yucatan and Cuba between 2-3 mph.  You will have to sail north of it and then head South.

The CP 27 should have no problem making this trip.  Depending on what time of year the waves average 4' and the winds around 15mph.  The wind is less and the waves are smaller in the summer.  The more important question is are you ready?  Can you navigate, do you know the systems aboard well enough to make repairs on the go, are you physically  ready.  This trip can be either quite relaxing or exciting depending on what happens.  On my first trip bringing my new to me boat from Tampa to Mobile the bow sprint broke in 10' seas.  This was quite exciting for an hour working to jury rig a forestay to keep the masts from falling and then putting the boat back together to limp home the last 250 miles.

Preparing the boat requires a careful inspection of all the components.  I relied on a surveyor's (never again) inspection rather than doing it myself.  Replace or fix anything that is questionable.  Figure what spare parts and tools you will need.  I figure my food needs X 2 and my water X 6.

Got to get back to work.  Will give this some more thought.

BobK

[moonlight]

Rule #1) The crew almost always fails before the hull.
I had a customer in New Orleans, this spring, who wanted his boat in Naples, FL.
Let's just say it's more than up to it, it's over 50'. 
The week he wanted to get there, the wind was E 12-20 clocking to S.
Perfect conditions to sail M180 down to 30-degrees, make one tack, and cruise into Naples.  3 days, tops.
Then the truth came out.  He wanted to make this whole passage within 35~45 miles of land.  "Helicopter range", he called it. 
That put the wind on the bow the entire trip.  Scratch it off the list.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, I called it.  Million dollar boat, afraid to leave sight of land.

Of course I also mentioned we should have the (factory installed) valise life raft repacked and recertified.  He thought maybe we could just blow it up on the dock and restow it?  More $$$ than sense.

As Americans, we're either natives or transplants.  And while some were transplanted against their will, by far most OWE their citizenship to someone who was willing to get off his arse in a land far far away and go over a horizon to the unknown, to succeed, thrive, or die as his own luck would have it.  Yet now, in the last few generations, the teachers in the schools are now concerned about ADHD?  It's friggin hereditary in America!  That's how we got here and conquered it, for better or worse, richer or poorer, or even if it wasn't necessarily morally pure...