Coastal Cruising in a Beneteau 32S5

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Feb 15, 2012
2
Beneteau 32S5 Vancouver
Hi Everyone
Would appreciate some advice, opinions, esp. experience. We have a 1991 32S5. Love the boat, fast, comfortable for 2. We cruise it around the Gulf Islands of Vancouver's coast. Now, we are ready to pull the plug and go do some serious coastal cruising in Mexico and the Carribean. We hear mostly that this boat is not a suitable boat for doing this, so hence our dilema. Do we sell her and buy another, or outfit her to go? We have been out in 25-30 knots and the boat was fine, but safety is paramount of course. Size wise, we are fine with her.
Advice? Anyone sailed this boat across an ocean?
Thanks!
 
Nov 28, 2009
495
Catalina 30 St. Croix
An offshore boat should have an angle of vanishing stability greater than 120. A boat with an angle of less than 140 might stay upside down/ greater than that and it will tend to right it self. The latest offshore boats with bulb keels have a much higher righting capability than relatively shadow draft boats. Any boat can go offshore. Preparation and common sense should be of primary consideration. I have done crossings to the Caribbean in a Hunter legend 35 without any problems. Just be very careful in the west coast and stay well offshore.
 
Feb 26, 2004
23,003
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
Just be very careful in the west coast and stay well offshore.
The George Benson link I provided suggests just the opposite, and George harbor hopped UP the coast. No harbors are more than 70 nm apart. Yes, of course, there are the bars to deal with, but read the link before you tell the OP to stay offshore. Please. That's what makes it coastal cruising.

His boat, his choice.
 

Ducati

.
Nov 19, 2008
380
Boatless Boatless Annapolis
40'-44' Sailboats

With the right crew you can take that boat anywhere in the world however my preference would be on boat in the 40'-44' range. Having the additional storage space for food, fuel, water plus the room for additional battery and alternate energy sources is very important.

There are plenty of really great deals on sailboat these days and you will have no issue in locating boats in the 40'+ range.

Just my opinion.

Have fun!
 
Sep 24, 2006
236
Sabre 36 Express Chattanooga, TN
Comfort is the question

Bill,

I just finished a four-month coastal cruise in a Beneteau 361 (Gulf Coast, entire Florida coast, etc). It was fabulous. The boat will take all the punishment you want to give it. You've probably heard the old sailors line "The boat will take a lot more than I can." It's true. 32-feet is definitely on the small side for comfort. But, hey, some people seem to enjoy crossing the Atlantic in a rowboat. It's all about your tolerance level. Since you are "coastal sailing" you can decide when to go out and when to stay home.

The lack of storage in a 32-footer will restrict your length of time between reprovisioning. As you know, storage area gets geometrically bigger with more length.

My opinion is that 32 is a little small, even for two people, for Carribean cruising. However, lots of people do it and love it. I would prefer a minimum of 39 or 40. But you know what they say about opinions.

Enjoy your trip!

Agaliha
 
May 23, 2004
3,319
I'm in the market as were . Colonial Beach
People do the carribean cruising all the time in a Catalina 30. This is not a big deal, you just have to figure out the storage thing.

If you watch your weather windows and plan things out right, you should be okay if not comfortable most of the time.
 
Nov 23, 2009
437
Beneteau Oceanis 361 Clipper --
Bill,

I just finished a four-month coastal cruise in a Beneteau 361 (Gulf Coast, entire Florida coast, etc). It was fabulous. The boat will take all the punishment you want to give it. You've probably heard the old sailors line "The boat will take a lot more than I can." It's true. 32-feet is definitely on the small side for comfort. But, hey, some people seem to enjoy crossing the Atlantic in a rowboat. It's all about your tolerance level. Since you are "coastal sailing" you can decide when to go out and when to stay home.

The lack of storage in a 32-footer will restrict your length of time between reprovisioning. As you know, storage area gets geometrically bigger with more length.

My opinion is that 32 is a little small, even for two people, for Carribean cruising. However, lots of people do it and love it. I would prefer a minimum of 39 or 40. But you know what they say about opinions.

Enjoy your trip!

Agaliha
Always nice to read good comments about the B361. Out of curiosity how did you cope with the small fuel tank capacity? Lots of Jerry cans? That's really one of the biggest drawbacks of that model.
 
Apr 19, 1999
1,670
Pearson Wanderer Titusville, Florida
Every Beneteau in the Caribbean, regardless of its size, was sailed there from France or South Carolina. Each one probably had a professional delivery crew, but my point is that the boats are more than up to the task. My guess is that you will be trading some comfort for speed, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
 
Sep 24, 2006
236
Sabre 36 Express Chattanooga, TN
Plenty of Fuel

Always nice to read good comments about the B361. Out of curiosity how did you cope with the small fuel tank capacity? Lots of Jerry cans? That's really one of the biggest drawbacks of that model.
Philip,
My B361 has a 20 gallon tank. At 12 statue miles per gallon (in calm water) that is a 240 mile range. I never had any worries about running out of fuel. I carried a pint of fuel in a bottle for an emergency fuel filter change (to refill the filter bowl), but otherwise carried no "extra" fuel. My longest offshore run was between Carrabelle and Clearwater -- 160 miles, so I had a good reserve. As it turned out, I sailed most of the way there anyway.

By the way, I did have to modify the factory fuel guage sending unit to make it useable. As it was delivered from the factory, it showed full until there was 3/8 left. I shortened the mounting post and now it is pretty accurate.

I was very impressed with the boat's performance and she was incredibly comfortable for the four-month trip.

Agaliha
 

Sumner

.
Jan 31, 2009
5,254
Macgregor & Endeavour 26S and 37 Utah's Canyon Country
I'll add some opinions or actually some things to consider, but remember that you need to feel comfortable with what 'you guys' feel is safe and smart.

First, have you been out with the boat at least a month at a time, preferably at least 2 months at least once? That will tell you a lot about if the boat is going to be what you want for extended cruising. If you haven't done the above and still want to keep the boat I would sure suggest you do it and at the same time maybe run down to Oregon and back and see how you still feel after that.

A lot of the replies you have received deal with the Caribbean. I'm wondering what is the draft on your boat. Looking at specs it looks like it comes with a couple different draft options. If it is over 5 feet and you want to spend time in the Bahamas that probably wouldn't be an ideal draft there.

Next is getting to the Caribbean in the first place. You aren't crossing from Florida. You are a long ways from there and you could probably expect to face a lot of different situations getting there. Once you leave the coast of California you have a lot of ocean down to the canal and from there east plus getting from where you are to southern CA is a trip in itself. If there are just two of you aboard this could be pretty strenuous. For sure others do this all of the time, but for instance Ruth and I couldn't handle long off-shore trips at our age very easily. If we did them we would want to be in a boat that has a lot of safety built into the design and not just count on our skills entirely or hitting perfect weather windows. It sounds like from your post you might have some concerns yourself about the boat making such a journey. And then there is the return journey unless that isn't planned. Going north on the Pacific Coast is even going to be a harder trip.

We have a frig even on our small Mac and I'm building one now for the Endeavour. We wouldn't want to live without it. If you plan on the same you need power. You can run a generator or the boats diesel everyday for that or add wind or solar. If Solar I feel you need a minimum of 300 watts and 400 or more would be better for the needs of other items other than the frig and that is being real conservative on the 'other items'. If you are going Solar do you have the room to mount enough panels on the boat?

Has the standing rigging ever been replaced on the boat? I'd for sure want to do that before a trip like you are thinking about. How about the rest of the boats systems, like thru-hulls and tanks and such? How about the boats anchoring gear. I'd want at least 2 anchors and rodes that are sized for a 35-45 foot boat considering the trip you are planning.

The reason I mention the above, besides safety, is that you could end up spending a considerable sum on the above to get the boat ready and in a safe condition for what you have planned. We put thousands into our Mac and now are doing the same with the Endeavour that we will never get back when we sell them. For us it is esential though to our safety and so that we can enjoy long trips on both boats. Right now to add just a frig and about 500 watts of solar to the Endeavor we are spending over $1500 for panels, wiring, charge controller and a mount to locate the panels and then the frig is coming in around $1000 and this is with me doing all of the work.

So if you put a pile of money into your current boat to make it safe and somewhat comfortable and it doesn't work out where are you then? Maybe think about what a couple of the other guys said above and put that money into a somewhat larger boat. One where a number of them have made voyages like what you want to do. This is basically what we did when we bought the Endeavour. I wanted the safest boat I could find for Ruth's sake that would be a good boat for the waters we wanted to cruise and would work with our budget. Of course it isn't the only one that would of meet our needs and there are a number of boats out there that I think would also meet your needs maybe better than what you have now.

I'm not saying the boat can't do it, but I wouldn't feel good about taking the voyage you are talking about in a boat that displaces about 9,000 llbs. and has 3,000 lbs. of ballast.

The best of luck,

Sum

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