New member intro

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lfreeman
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Dec 29, 2010 7:42 pm
Location: Fairbanks, AK

New member intro

Post by lfreeman »

I wanted to introduce myself, since I've been lurking on the forum for a while...it's a cure for the midwinter blues.
Our family lived aboard and cruised 1997-2000 on a Jeanneau 45 in California and Pacific Coast Mexico. Our introduction to boat life was on a one week cruise with a friend on his Freedom 30 in Southeast AK. One son is currently building boats at Schooner Creek Boatworks in Portland, OR. My wife and I charter somewhere every couple of years. We plan to retire in about 4 years.
Although currently boatless, I keep my eye on the market for Freedom 36/38 among others. It seems to fit the bill but have questions about offshore capability and dealing with fickle winds found in Sea of Cortez and SE AK.
Larry
boatless, for now

Tricia
Posts: 107
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2008 9:59 pm

Re: New member intro

Post by Tricia »

Hello and welcome! I haven't seen this boat, but there's a Freedom 38 advertised in Pacific Yachting. The boat's on the Fraser River near Vancouver, BC. Since it was built in the US it would be no trouble importing it back. Contact info on the ad is tslane@ymail.com or 604-902-3686. Listing price is $69,500. It's been on the market for a while. There's a group of Freedom owners in the Pacific Northwest who have a rendezvous every summer. It's a good bunch of folks.

Best of luck in your search.

Tricia
F30 "Muse II"

lfreeman
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Dec 29, 2010 7:42 pm
Location: Fairbanks, AK

Re: New member intro

Post by lfreeman »

Tricia,
Thanks for the info. I contacted the seller of the F38 in Vancouver, it's currently under an offer.
Still looking, but not very seriously...yet.
Larry
boatless, for now

krismoa
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2011 4:07 pm

Re: New member intro

Post by krismoa »

so I saw the boat on the fraser listed in the back of a mag last fall, is she still around?

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Hans
Posts: 126
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 7:28 am
Location: Deventer, The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: New member intro

Post by Hans »

Hi Larry,

Saw only recently your post.
Do you still have questions about capacity/ sailing caracteristics of the F36/38?
I sailed one across the Atlantic to Europe and we did encounter some bad weather down the way.

If you have specific questions, do'nt hesitate to ask; what are fickle winds by the way?

Kind regards,
Hans Hansen.
Hans Hansen, Makkum,The Netherlands.
Freedom 45AC #47 "Scherezade".

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sailmon
Posts: 237
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2009 6:53 pm

Re: New member intro

Post by sailmon »

Hans,
I'd like to hear more about your trans Atlantic adventure. We are planning to retire on our 1991 F38 in about 4 years. Planning to spend a couple years up and down the US east coast and Caribbean, and then perhaps off to the Med. Wondered how she handled - sea keeping ability, storms, durability, etc. Also what sails you had or wished you'd had. We've been sailing on Lake Erie for many years, and haven't yet seen weather or waves our (previous) F30 and (current) F38 could not comfortably handle. Never had the rail in the water, although she does roll quite a bit in a steep quartering sea... Lake Erie known for steep, square, short period waves. Looking forward to hearing more about your experience.
Thanks,
Bob
Sailmon (Captain Bob Allenick)
S/V Her Diamond
1991 Freedom 38
Cleveland, OH

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Hans
Posts: 126
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 7:28 am
Location: Deventer, The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: New member intro

Post by Hans »

Bob,

It would be nice to share information we have. I do'nt know whether the forum is the appropiate place to share such detailed info.

You could also mail me on my personal email adress: hhansen25@gmail.com. Let me know what you want.

The F38 is certainly capable of open sea and rough weather, but I would advise to pay attention to some details: like rudderbearings,
autopilot, halyards sheave up in the mast, boombrake and preventer etc.

Let me know what you want to know in particular and/or I could make a list which I think is important to do before going ocean.

The photo shows how we ended up in France after encountering some nasty weather. Lessons were learned the hard way.

Kind regards,

Hans
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Hans Hansen, Makkum,The Netherlands.
Freedom 45AC #47 "Scherezade".

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sailmon
Posts: 237
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2009 6:53 pm

Re: New member intro

Post by sailmon »

Thanks Hans,
Will catch you off-line by email. Appreciate opportunity to learn from your experiences.
Bob
Sailmon (Captain Bob Allenick)
S/V Her Diamond
1991 Freedom 38
Cleveland, OH

rubbus
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2009 11:20 am

Re: New member intro

Post by rubbus »

I'd be interested in your checklist before going to ocean. I definitely think it is appropriate for the list. :) IF you want to keep it personal, that's ok too though.

-Rob

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Hans
Posts: 126
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 7:28 am
Location: Deventer, The Netherlands
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Re: New member intro

Post by Hans »

You’re quite right Rob.

For the F38 in general: I would pay attention to the sheaves in the mast for jib- spi and mainsail hailyard. For continous loaded work for a prolonged time the sheaves used by the yard are not strong enough. When crossing you problably will have to face more wind you would choose for a daysail. The sheaves will have to cope with that extra load.
My second concern would be the rudderbearings. No problems were found during the survey when we bought the F38 in the US . When sailing to Europe, after 5 days at sea, a loud ‘clunking’ sound was heard in the aft cabin with each rolling movement from the boat. It came from the lower rudderbearing. It sounded as if the complete bearing was coming loose. Scuba diving at a quiet moment showed a’play’ in lower bearing of about 1cm. It had worned out quite quickly. It stayed that way for the rest of the crossing,

Almost any book on sailing stresses the point that you have to balance the boat and sails in order to create some weather helm. About 5 degrees of helm should be optimum for easy sailing. I seldom succeed in doing so in a one mast Freedom. More helm creates more load and stress on the rudderbearing. ( To be honest I mostly sail the F38 with autopilot because I find the wheel to heavy and therefore tiring.)

Arriving in Europe we had the bearing renewed. The problem is caused in my opinion: it’s a deep ‘freehanging’ rudder with a relatively short, thick ruddershaft causing immense stress on the bearings especially with a load of weatherhelm, which I find the Freedom easily to have.

Check/ renew steering cables for the same reason.

Most mainsails I see have only two reefs. Make a deep third reef or have a trysail. Each time the windspeed doubles, the force in the sail increases by a factor 8.
You will need to have just small enough sail to cope with 40 knots+ winds. Only two reefs in the main will make you overcanvassed.

The F38 ( as the F45 ) lacks padeyes in the cockpit to hook your life harness on. When riding out a storm it’s safe to be hooked on.

We were riding out a storm with max 60 knots winds, the wind subsided to a nice 30 knots the next night, when we met a freak wave. Boat ended up her beam, masthead hit the water.
No water entered the interior, boat righted itself immediately. The man on duty in the cockpit bruised his head but stayed in the cockpit only thanks to his safety harness hooked to a padeye.

We had a new Raymarine autopilot with a heavy drive unit installed prior to the crossing. The drive unit is coupled to the rudderquadrant to a steel ‘shaft’. ( do’nt know how this is called). Due to the weatherhelm and a tired crewmember who was too late taking in a reef: it broke resulting in handsteering for the last 12 days. ( tiring with a 2 person crew). I had on arrival a stronger one made performing good so far.

You’ll need a strong preventer and/ or use a boombrake. Due to the type of rig: one mast Freedom’s have a long boom. Accidental gybing in a squall parted our preventer, which which proved to be not strong enough, breaking the gooseneck. Resulting in a jury rig.

We had an older type of Harken battcars for the mainsail. They proved not able to withstand the forces we met. I found out later that letting out the mainsheet too far
caused some of the cars to brake. Harken is nice but....impossible to repair while at sea. We came to the Azores with 4 of the seven battcars broken, battens ‘banging the mast’. The cars we used were out of production. So we took the complete Harken system off the mast and changed back to just sliders and track. Keep it clean and lubicrated, works always. Should I have to choose anew: I would choose not Harken but Sailtrack from Tidesmarine.

Those are the first items which comes to mind, any other questions; do’nt hesitate to ask.
Hans Hansen, Makkum,The Netherlands.
Freedom 45AC #47 "Scherezade".

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