family cruising

Posted By: jan nicolaisen
Date: 11/14/06 10:32p.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: Mooring N20 (link) (pic) (Tim Mertinooke)

hi tim, we find our nimble 20 very comfortable for family cruising. there's 3 of us, mom, pop and a grade schooler. also two midsized dogs. the longest trip sofar was 20 some days, with just 2 nights at a dock. at the end all of us felt we could go on for another 20, which we hope to do next year. as for your question about motoring. our area has huge tides, and steep chop. short fetch, no swells. the boat is very adequately powered with a 2002 yamaha 8 hp. local wave action seldom is an obstacle, but without a planing hull you'll get nowhere against a 5 kn current. your pictures look frightening!! makes me appreciate the trailer option even more. the nimble is a great boat, full of character, easy to launch, always able to find a spot in even the most crowded anchorage, safe and stable for our area. but it is probably not the best choice for open ocean. or maybe it is just me that's not up for it? jan ps: here's a response to similar issues i wrote on this forum earlier I will readily admit that the dogs, although i love them, add very little to my sailing experience. Family issues, beyond my control, necessitates bringing them everywhere, however. So is life. They are luckily well behaved and have large bladders. During some rainy spells in the past they have stayed down below for more than 24 hrs!! one sleeps in the forepeak, next to our 7 year old son, the other on the sole in that wide spot forward of the quarter berths. When sailing and generally during the day, we spread out a small tarp in the forepeak, and they patiently reside there, waiting for the next hike, of which there are many with this family. Enough about dogs. Both my wife and i are long time backpackers and climbers, and we have adjusted the basic philosophies of those activities to our sailing. We have found that simplifying diet and other creature comforts to the extreme, and adding a physical element (paddling, endurance sailing, hiking), greatly enhances any outdoor experiences. So in other words, we cook once a day (dinner, one-pot meal), eat dried stuff, like muesli, bread, nuts etc for the rest. All food for 3 weeks or more fit under the starboard berth and in the genuine Nimble cooler with the unique teak step, which I assume you have too. There's plenty of space left over for boat related stuff, which also takes up most of the port side. Water for a week we store in reused 2 ltr pop bottles, arranged in the cavernous space aft of the cooler, under the cockpit. Here the battery used to reside, but we removed the entire electrical system (what a relief!) shortly after purchasing the boat. To charge our cell phone, hand held VHF, digi cam and headlamps/LED nav lights we use a socalled Solar-Roll from Brunton, a 14 watt ultralight, paper thin PV panel. We feel there is plenty of storage space for us in the nimble 20. I have tons of spare parts and tools and line and general paranoia repair items with me, but it is all handy. The outboard is a Yamaha 8, 4 cycle from 2003. awesome motor. Hull speed at less than half throttle. But hull speed is not enough to save the boat from misreading slack times in narrow passes where currents run maybe 8 knots, sometimes more, so we always navigate with tidal priority, using current atlases where available. Even then there's the unforeseen back eddies and uncharted rips, or a general lack of seamanship at times. Strong winds, say 20 knots and above, opposing a big tide is no-go territory for us. I have been in survival mode with a 32 foot ocean boat in Admiralty Inlet during such circumstances, only saved by the Westerbeke.