Cruising Sailors Forum Archive

Gene, I got cut short on my post by breakfast.

I guess I could have been more clear. Your boat would make the trip just fine. You will experience the usual leaks that result from a boat working. These will most likely be small but even small leaks can be maddening. The usual mechanical problems will suddenly appear like a bad alternator or regulator, clogged fuel filters and packing gland leaks. The issue is staying ahead of them, fixing them as they happen. It's usually two or three things stacking up that that ends up in a big problem. Moving a boat generally accelerates wear. Moving a boat to windward up the west coast 1,500 miles could accelerate it a lot. You'll get tired, really tired of the bash to windward. Two or three days is no big deal, you could do San Francisco standing on your head, but 14 or 15 days can start to beat you up. As my memory serves me. The bottom line to me is that it's just a lot of work. But I'm 66 now. "Adventure" sailing now is a bit less desirable. People sail back from Mexico to Oregon, Washington and Canada all the time. Mexico is full of boats from up north. They don't all sell their boats and fly home. There were couple of posts that stand out (to me). One is to buy a trailer and move it yourself. I could do that because I have the experience towing but you may not. You may not have a vehicle capable of it either but it a good thought. Having a trailer to keep it on wouldn't be a bad deal. Calling a towing company and contracting for a one way trip could get pretty pricey but contracting for a "Dead Head" might work well if you have the time. Trucks go out with a load and they come home empty. Not if they can help it but sometimes they get stuck. They don't like it one bit. A load going the other way pays for the fuel home and some cash to boot. They like that a lot. I did a "Dead Head" once from Florida to LA. Call the companies and tell them to put you on a dead head list and just sit back a wait. My boat set in the yard in Fort Pierce for about three weeks before a truck showed up. There was zero damage and that was all the way across the country.

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