Sailboat for survival?

[jaeger]

ha...... torpedo's I guess I have to put those depth charge lures (1/2 sticks of love) back in my fishin box. Plus you could always take a fat buddy along and push him out right before it hits...

[Cap'n Moe]

avast ya swabs! \Just wha do you think the urban pirates are going to do when they find you hove to in your concrete bunker? A little aqua amonia or napalm in the vent pipe will bring you out' All they have to to find you is go down your street house by house. NO thanks. I appreciate all of the comments pro and con. Me, I'd rather be a moving target. A small spec on a huge ocean.

"You use your laws, and I'll use my bayonets. Then we see who has the power"
Adolf Hhitler 1937

[Sam Ruger]

Originally Posted by Crikey

Has anyone considered a sailboat for a SHTF situation? Not a bad idea really. You can load up a sailboat with enough supplies to last up to a year (depending on size) and easily leave whatever possible problem there is. Lots of open sea to navagiate on and can stop in friendly places and countries to reload/resupply.

They are also relatively cheap in comparision to buying land. You can get a solid passage making JJ Taylor and sons 26 foot Contessa for around 3 to 9K and it will hold enough supplies for three people for a long, long time. Want to go luxury? Try a J boat 32 cruiser. For around 30K, travel the earth as long as you would like. Both the above mentioned boats are rock solid and will easily handle any storm mother nature can throw at it.

When all is calm and the SHTF issues are over, simply sail home. What say you?

I’ve sailed quite a bit and sailing from the west coast of the US to Hawaii would not be beyond the realm of possibility, even in a small boat. You couldn’t do that in a private powerboat (most have 250 miles ranges) without refueling several times. So, as a means of getting from point A to point B, a sailboat is practical as a means to get there, assuming fuel is not to be had in our “bug out” situation. That’s about where it ends. They’re not very good for fishing (If you think you’re going to throw out a line on your way to Hawaii, think again.) and, in most places these days, the fishing’s not very good anyway. If you’re not crossing the ocean and traveling the coast, you’ll need to find unexposed anchorages and compete for them with everybody else (Currently, there are more boats than anchorages.). Expect to have to go to ashore for fresh water (Although you can use a sail to collect rainwater.) which may require a return to the very civilization you needed to “bug out” of. Good coastal charts are a must, not just for navigation but to find streams. As your sailboat gets bigger to hold more stuff, so does your crew (Which means even more stuff) and, if you’re including your family, that’s a guaranteed bigger boat. I guess I’d say that you’d be good for a month in a sailboat. If the “bug out” situation is over in 30 days and you can safely return, a sailboat could work. The idea that you can just push off and not see civilization again for six months – No. That ain’t gonna happen.

[capnmoe]

Argh you lubbers make me sea sick. You speak of a sailboat being vunerable. I am a speck in a couple a million square miles of a medium filled with food. I can distill as much water as i'll need. If It's cold I have heat if it's hot I can even have A/C if I am So Inclined.I am not vunerable to diseases carried by others. I am difficult to spot. (Ever see the Coast Guard looking for a overdue vessel.) A small <40' doesn't show up well on radar. The biggest bonus is that If I've done my homework I have a uninhabited or at least sparsely inhabited place to run to. If that spot should become untenable then I pick up the hook and move on. But don't too many of you change your minds. I don't want to be crowed.

[capnmoe]

Argh you lubbers make me sea sick. You speak of a sailboat being vunerable. I am a speck in a couple a million square miles of a medium filled with food. I can distill as much water as i'll need. If It's cold I have heat if it's hot I can even have A/C if I am So Inclined.I am not vunerable to diseases carried by others. I am difficult to spot. (Ever see the Coast Guard looking for a overdue vessel.) A small boat <40' doesn't show up well on radar. The biggest bonus is that If I've done my homework I have a uninhabited or at least sparsely inhabited place to run to. If that spot should become untenable then I pick up the hook and move on. But don't too many of you change your minds. I don't want to be crowded.

[JMcDonald]

It's been just about covered, heh.


The only thing I'll add is that unless your home is ON the beach next to your boat, or on the boat itself, there is a real good chance the boat would be stolen or looted before you even got to it. Especially with physical threats like zombies or nuclear radiation or some biological attack, people are going to be flocking to the perceived safety of the oceans, most likely stealing every sea-going vessel they can find.

However, I do kinda like the idea of the canoes as an emergency backup escape, if you live in an area where it can be stowed away / hidden, but quickly brought to use.

[capnmoe]

For every problem someone poses a solution to, there are thousands that explain in great detail why it won't work. Seldom do they offer an alternative, or an original idea of their own. They only know that your idea won't work. If progress depended on the approval of others, we'd still be sitting in a cave eating raw meat.


LEAD, FOLLOW, OR GET OUT OF THE WAY.

[Roper1911]

I'd take a Zodiac with a turbo'd 55hp outboard motor... and a chain gun, some RPG's, and a ICBM or two... ROFL, nah- a kayak with a AK-47 strapped to it will do just fine.