Seaworthy 31 ???

[Rios on the river]

I have a Hunter 31 that I love. I am seeking advice regarding refitting it with a blue water trip in mind. Just had the rigging replaced in 2006, will be installing upgraded 3/8 side windows, thinking about reinforcing the aft quarter birth, possibly reinforcing the V-birth, and doing lots of waterproofing. Any ideas…?

The boat will travel out the Columbia river, across the bar, North to the San Juan’s, then South to...where ever I may roam! Maybe a cruse through the Panama Canal, the Carrabin, and then back over a five to six year period.

Best regards,
Crazy on the River

 

[Steve Dion]

I think I would look for a boat that did NOT need this type of upgrades. You can spend the upgrade dollars on a more robust boat to start with.

PS: I had a H31. Nice boat but I would keep it close to the coast. Needs more water & fuel capacity just to start.

 

[Bill1565]

You can't make a blue water boat out of a thin hulled, low ballast ratio boat with flimsy rigging. You can spend a lot, do a lot, but at the end of the day you have a verry expensive coastal cruiser unsuited for blue water. Yes, some people have gotten away with it, but it's like a lottery, lots more people lose.

 

[Rios on the river]

It,s either make the hunter work or step down to a Pacific Seacraft Flica aprox. 20 ft., with no amenities for a long cruse...ouch!

 

[Rios on the river]

Every winter my H31 faces multiple storms ranging from 80 to over 100 mile winds,this lasts for two months minimum in subfreezing conditions, I sail a river that is rated challenging at best, think Columbia River Gorge, but have no idea what this boat would do in big swells. I have chated with anothe H31 owner who claims to have sailed in up to 20ft. swells with no problems, another who sails from Sandiego to the Catalinas, sounds poissible...? Just don't want to be cocky either... Advice appreciated!

Best regards,
Crazy On the River

 

[wetass]

Ahhh, dont let the naysayers kill your dream ;-) Their just being prudent and cautious. While a bigger purpose built boat would be ideal - Its not what you have. Your not talking about crossing oceans and your worst weather (assuming your watching the weather and timing your trips) is likely to be the Oregon and Washington coast which you are already familiar with. I say go for it. Break the trip up and use the Columbia R. to San Juan trip as your shake down cruise - that will tell you if you think your up to it.

 

[Steve Dion]

Crossing from the Los Angels area to Catalina is only 20-25 miles The farthest you will be away from land is 10-12 miles.

20 ft. swells are no big deal unless they come every 8-10 seconds. It is a different world out there and chances are you really will not want to skirt the coast is some areas going down the coast (and you may want to turn around and head north (that is not the fun way to travel).

Anything and everything that can go wrong may. There are all types of junk that you take a chance of running into while you are making passages at night.

On our trip home form Hawaii we just missed a floating crab trap about 1,000 miles off the coast of California. There was also a floating (un-lite) bouy a couple of days off the coast. I really would not want to hit something like this in my old H'31.

18 gal. of fuel and 30 gal. of fuel is really not a lot. Depending on the weather you may have issues.

I would do some local overnight cruises and then determine if this is the boat that you going to take to parts unknown.

 

[Lee Thompson]

Read this. This is the 1st of may post I think they may help you and its most entertaining . http://hunter.sailboatowners.com/index.php?option=com_kb&Itemid=267&cat_id=14&page=article&aid=7467
Lee

 

[Richard Deep]

Go for it!

I agree with Wetass, go for it. You can always rationalize a bigger, better boat, but the H31 is what you've got, and it's fine for what you want to do. From the San Juans to the Canal, you're not really crossing oceans. Even in the Carribean, you're only a few days between landfalls.

I have made the trip from SF to Mexico several times in my H31. I did add extra water capacity (flexible bladder tank), and strapped a few jerry jugs to the shrouds.

The trip from North to South is basically downwind and relatively easy if you watch your weather. 25 or 30 miles offshore puts you in reliable wind and sets you up for 350 mile runs (over 72 hours) if that's your thing. You can pop into shore every 3 or 4 days, shower, put some ice in the icebox and plan the next leg. I singlehand almost exclusively, but if you've got a crew, it's a very comfortable trip.

If you have sufficient passagemaking experience (including night sailing) it's well within the capability of the boat. And if you need to, you're only a few hours back to the coast.

The trip back North is another story! More and more people are opting to ship the boat rather than make the Bash.

By the way, Latitude 38 runs an annual Baja HaHa trip to Mexico. A look at the boats in that flotilla shows that a lot smaller boats than yours have made the trip.

Fair winds and calm seas,

- Richard

 

[Rios on the river]

Than you all!

Things can go wrong and I guess I need to do a bit more work on my plans....

However, I do live year round on my H-31 in the pacific northwest! I am working on upgrtading the battery banks and installing solar and wind generators.

Extra battery banks will be used to exclusivly support an additional bilge pump now installed under the lazzerets in the aft section.

By the time I go I'll have an extra Main, a jib, genoa, storm jib, and repair equipment.

My question is rolling logs / trees in Pacific Swells, not to mention the myth of the garbage island floating in the pacific...Any one actually seen this?

Best regards,
Jesse

 

[wetass]

I think the "island" is more like an area where there is just too much floating garbage. At any one time, if you try, you can spot a piece of floating plastic. Its not a floating mass that you could walk across or where you see more garbage then water. I believe the news has greatly exaggerated it as usual - Not saying its a good thing, just vastly exaggerated. I've sailed thru where this island is supposed to be and this was my experience. The one good thing about it is that I found it could keep me occupied playing spot the garbage - Nothing else to do out there ;-)

 

[wetass]

Logs on the other hand are real and you do have to keep a watch - especially in the Salish sea, which sounds like your first leg. It can be worse depending on the season - High tides in the beginning of Winter and Summer tend to pull the logs off the beach and you definitely can tell the difference and end up doing a lot more dodging.

 

[Steve Dion]

Lots of crap out there. We made a trip back from Hawaii about 10 years ago. It was amazing what is floating out there. We came across a commercial crab trap that was full of styrofoam float just barely above the water line. If it would have been anything other than a pond on that day we could have done some serious damage to the boat if we had hit it. We saw it about 50 - 100ft off of our starboard bow.

Obviously we also hear about the floating cargo containers which would be a real Oh S---! The majority of the crab floating out there is plastics. I suppose the rest of it has already sunk.

In about 1-2 years a good portion of Japan will be caught up in that mess too.

So to answer your question, YES it really does exist.