Check it out: bigoceans.com

[CapnK]

PS - Nick, the fish you have a Flick'r photo of - looks like it's an Amberjack. Certainly a Jack of some sort...

[Norm]

Nick
If you find yourself in Boston let us know.  We have some cruise planned, too, so look out for an Aphrodite 101, Averisera.  We are conspicuous because of our lack of head room... and freeboard.  White with a red and grey stripe
Norman and Elizabeth

[CapnK]

Oh no... From Nick's website:

Twitter Update: Engine well and truly dead! Popped injector or worse. Limped into Greenport blown genoa no lights pumps broken...   5th July 2008

Twitter Update: Sailing to Port Jefferson, Long Island 2nd July 2008

[Lynx]

You gota whatch that water in the fuel crossing oceans.

[nick]

hey all,

yeah, i've clocked up some serious mileage, and it wasn't until long island sound that everything went to heck. i already had a cracked boom, and in the sound, the engine blew a huge puff of white smoke, and died. i can restart it, but it idles roughly for a few seconds and then dies. blow head gasket? cracked head? not sure. all my lighting electrics have fused, bilge pump crapped out, and i sailed right up to the entrance of the greenport marina, before getting towed in at midnight.

i'm here for the summer at least, with full access to mechanics, a complete (wood & metal) workshop and lots of advice. By the time I leave the US, Constellation will be back to new. We're putting on a furler, a new boom extrusion, new genoa, the works.

i now just have to figure out how on earth i'm getting into the pacific. i still want to tow the boat across the continent - so if anyone comes across a trailer able to carry a boat like mine, i'd be interested to hear from you. also if you hear of anyone throwing a big truck away (4x4) i'm on the hunt for a gas guzzler for towing.

nick!

(amberjack? looks pretty close on a google search... either way, it tasted good!)

[Lynx]

you could try UShip.com. They have a cost estimator. About $ 2 USD per USA mile.

Might be cheaper than buying and then trying to resale.

[okawbow]

hey all,

yeah, i've clocked up some serious mileage, and it wasn't until long island sound that everything went to heck. i already had a cracked boom, and in the sound, the engine blew a huge puff of white smoke, and died. i can restart it, but it idles roughly for a few seconds and then dies. blow head gasket? cracked head? not sure. all my lighting electrics have fused, bilge pump crapped out, and i sailed right up to the entrance of the greenport marina, before getting towed in at midnight.

i'm here for the summer at least, with full access to mechanics, a complete (wood & metal) workshop and lots of advice. By the time I leave the US, Constellation will be back to new. We're putting on a furler, a new boom extrusion, new genoa, the works.

i now just have to figure out how on earth i'm getting into the pacific. i still want to tow the boat across the continent - so if anyone comes across a trailer able to carry a boat like mine, i'd be interested to hear from you. also if you hear of anyone throwing a big truck away (4x4) i'm on the hunt for a gas guzzler for towing.

nick!

(amberjack? looks pretty close on a google search... either way, it tasted good!)

Hi Nick,

Wish I could help you with the move across the US, but I live 1000 miles from the east coast. I do have a trailer and truck that would do the job. I trailer my Bristol 24, which weighs about 6000 pounds.

one option, if you have enough cash to spare...look for a trailer, in good shape, in the auctions, craigslist, etc. Also a truck, (doesn't have to be 4x4 to do the job. a good F250 works fine.) that is in good enough shape to make the trip, can be had for 5000.00 sometimes. You can then sell the rig, when you get to the west coast. You might not even lose much of the value when you sell. If you rent, or pay a shipper, it will cost thousands.

[nick]

okawbow, where do you live exactly? one of my problems with this scheme, is that i'm not a US citizen, and getting a car in my name, along with insurance etc, is going to be virtually impossible. it's also going to be hard to find a crazy enough person who has  spare time on their hands to spend weeks driving to and from san francisco!

i may be able to strike a deal with a company to truck it for me in the off season? or, thinking out loud, how often do you use your trailer? would you even consider 'loaning it' for a month, if i picked it up and returned it? then i'd just need to find a truck and driver, or a truck i could borrow and be signed on as a co-driver? you never know, maybe there is someone out there with a big dodge, or one of those ford f250's you mentioned.

i even have other thoughts about bigger boats... but i'll save that query for another thread!

nick

[Godot]

You know, Nick, getting a car here might not be as big a deal as you think.  Here in Maryland illegal (excuse me, the politically correct term is Undocumented) aliens are driving all over the place.  Heck, in Maryland you don't hardly need any documentation to get a drivers license (just remember which side of the road to drive on!).  Registering a car should be even easier.  Not sure about insurance; but i doubt it would be a big deal. 

All it takes is money.

[AdriftAtSea]

Actually, driving in the United States isn't all that difficult, provided Nick has his driver's license in his home country.  He can get an international driver's license, which, when carried in conjunction with your native driver's license, allows you to drive in the USA legally.  BTW, you can get the international driver's license at any AAA office.

Buying a car isn't a problem, especially if you're paying cash for it... but getting it registered might be, unless you have a legal address in the USA.  Insurance really isn't a problem, but also requires a legal address in the USA.

[nick]

Ok, so say I can get an international drivers licence (which i could in europe, it lasts for six months, which i imagine is a similar situation here), i have an address here in the boatyard i live at... or, my uncle lives in new york too...

i received some quotes from uship: $5700 to truck it, and $3300 if i provide the trailer....

nick

[AdriftAtSea]

You could buy a truck/car using your uncle's address, if he's agreeable. :) Same with insurance for the truck/car.  Then use it to tow your boat to the west coast.... and then sell the truck/car.

[Lynx]

The estimate on UShip is about $ 4000 for the 3000 mile trip. That is about 2x the cost of gas you would use and none of the problems.

[Captain Smollett]

i received some quotes from uship: $5700 to truck it, and $3300 if i provide the trailer....

Even the $5700 looks to my eye quite a bit cheaper than buying your own truck/trailer and driving it out there yourself. 

True, you MAY be able to recover the money paid for the truck/trailer, but the market for the kind of truck you are talking about may be a bit finicky right now, too.  That is, you might buy cheap here, but have a harder time selling out there.  Who knows?

[Lynx]

Nick, the dates to ship in Uship is not that wide, you can put in the notes a greater date range. you can also move the boat south and then west to Texas to reduce the milage and get cheaper rates.

It may be better to move the boat via water to Texas and ship from Houston area, Nice cruise but will add 3000 water miles to your trip.

[okawbow]

okawbow, where do you live exactly? one of my problems with this scheme, is that i'm not a US citizen, and getting a car in my name, along with insurance etc, is going to be virtually impossible. it's also going to be hard to find a crazy enough person who has  spare time on their hands to spend weeks driving to and from san francisco!

i may be able to strike a deal with a company to truck it for me in the off season? or, thinking out loud, how often do you use your trailer? would you even consider 'loaning it' for a month, if i picked it up and returned it? then i'd just need to find a truck and driver, or a truck i could borrow and be signed on as a co-driver? you never know, maybe there is someone out there with a big dodge, or one of those ford f250's you mentioned.

i even have other thoughts about bigger boats... but i'll save that query for another thread!

nick

I live in central Illinois, Nick.  I'm afraid by the time you pay for fuel, liscenses, insurance, etc., you might be better off just shipping the boat.

I keep my Bristol on the trailer, when I'm not sailing, so I could only be without the trailer for 2 weeks or so.

What is your time schedule?

Chuck

[ChrisandVero]

Given the time of year (H Season), it might be worthwhile to consider going up the canals into the Great Lakes. You could pull the boat in Chicago, Milwaukee, or Duluth. Nice country up here, and you would shave some miles off the shipping to the west coast. A rough guess is it would be >1500 miles of sailing instead of the ~3000 to Texas.

Hmm, I do not know where you could pick it up, but to save on shipping, maybe drop into the Columbia River somewhere inland. I am an East Coast boy myself, so I do not know much about the Pacific drainage rivers.

[nick]

Hey guys,

I've been a bit quiet for the past couple of months - The US has been wild & great! I'm living out in Greenport, on Long Island, sometimes coming into Brooklyn. Constellation came up on the hard a few weeks ago, and repairs have started. Last weekend a friend and I pulled all the windows out and re-sealed them. The electrics are also getting overhauled, which is great, since I spent a lot of time manually shorting wires to get my lights and other things working! :)

We're staying here for winter, and I'll truck the boat when I can afford it... Call me a whimp, but I won't be living onboard out of the water over winter! Brrr. Already there have been a few cold nights (especially the one night I spent with all the windows out!).

For anyone interested, I've put a few videos up at bigoceans.com/videos ... Mostly just me yapping at the camera. Sorry. ;)

Ok, that's it! Nick

[AdriftAtSea]

Thanks for the update Nick. :)

[dnice]

Nick the video is good! don't be sorry.
For a wannabe like me, you paint a pretty good picture of what its like out there alone.

anyway thanks for the update.