Hi Bob, my thoughts regarding yours, in no particular order. I should add these are purely my opinions based on my experiences. Firstly regarding your boat. The problem with Freedoms is there very good, I ponder weekly upgrading to a larger boat but Ive realised to get a significant improvement will be very expensive and Im not convinced my cruising happiness would improve that much, dimishing returns. I look at the prices of Beneteaus etc in Europe and they are great value, but when your in the middle of the ocean 100s nm from shore in the middle of the night you need to feel confident in your boat, Freedoms are actually a lot stronger than I would of thought, ive tested this in varying situations from weather conditions to hitting things. When full time cruising, particularly in remote places, confidence in your vessel is hugely important. Obviously boat maintaince combined with quality of vessel is the key.
So, confidence that comes from having a strong well maintained boat is number one and number two is comfort.
Im not into camping. Water,electricity,fridge and shade, these are my essentials. I have friends on a 400k boat next to me, Ive cruised several 1000 miles with them. Often they cant shower as their water tanks are very low and cant run the fridge at night due to power issues. Not needing to worry about water or power is the difference between camping and cruising. The limiting factor with Freeform, which I guess the Freedom 36/38 suffer from also, but not quite as much ,is storage, as well as tankage ,both fuel and water.
A water maker definitely is not a need BUT I wouldn’t cruise without one. I have a Katadyn 80e that draws 8amp. I would prefer bigger but room limits me. I dont cart jerry cans to the boat, and I dont have to worry about water quality. This is mounted in head cupboard. Once my batteries reach a point of not accepting all my solar panels can produce I switch the watermaker on, 2 to 3 hours a day gives me enough clean water. Its interesting, I often hear resistance to modern equip like watermakers, I dont get it, they make life easier. An eg. I use SAS planet. it gives me satalite navigation everywhere I go , offline and for free. I have downloaded a lot of Asia and offered it to a friend the other day. He didn’t want it, said he will stick to his paper. Now keep in mind the charts for the west coast of Sumatra are very inaccurate, why not adopt technology and have paper charts? Anyway I digress.
Electricity. Im the worlds biggest fan in regards to solar. I have 300 watts which mostly keeps me fully charged. Ideally 400 watts would be better. This combined with a solar regulator that you can custom program. I believe that most solar regulators are way to conservative, and hit float mode prematurily. Batteries, once again space is the limiting factor. Im a flooded 6v deep cycle guy. I just think they are forgiving and can take a beating. In a perfect world I would go gels ( actually Lithium) but things go wrong and batteries get over charged. Ive had both a solar regulator go while on passage and start putting 16v into my batteries and also a Balmar smart regulator do the same on another occasion, BTW having a switch wired into regulator circuit which enables you to turn it on and off when you like is a good idea. Although I have a Balmar alternator I only use this to charge if motoring. If the solar panels dont keep up I have a Honda 1000, which is fantastic. For a little extra the 2kw version would be better, you could also use this to run a AC watermaker, room permitting. The little Honda also allows you to run power tools if need be. Batteries. Back to batteries, space is once again limited. I really only had room for 232a/h plus starter battery, unless I shifted them. I came to the conclusion that the starter battery wasn’t a starter battery but a spare battery as I always use my house bank to start anyway. Now I know some will argue that you will damage deep cycles using them to start engines, but this isn’t true, they can easily handle the current draw a small auxillary engine needs. So with this in mind Ive replaced the starter with a 150a/hr deep cycle that runs one of the fridges. These are wired so that I can parallel them, 382 a/h. The chances of both banks dying at the same time is slim, and if for some reason I do run them flat the little Honda comes to the rescue. Anyway Ive drifted, I think approx 400A/h battery bank with good solar and a little Honda will make you happy. A small battery bank isn’t a issue if you have enough solar and a little Honda. I have a wind generator. Honestly I think they are overated. Ive sailed in the carribean and do realize you have more wind there BUT one extra solar panel, particularly seeing they are now so cheap is the way to go, once again a good solar regulator that can be custom programmed will make sure your solar is utilized best.
Its important to me to be able to sail as often as possible, this really means sailing when the breeze is light. I believe our little jib is great for a number of reasons but in light breezes forward of the beam Freedoms are under powered. I purchased a jib top reacher last year and that bigger , lighter headsail really makes a difference. Ive spoken about this before so wont repeat hear other than to say im looking for options to have it rigged permanently.
Anchors are always controversial. I say this very humbly, Ive never dragged. I very much believe in the modern anchors. A Rocna, manason supreme or equivalent. No one can convince me that a CQR or the likes are suitable for cruising. I have a Manson supreme and two Aluminium Danforths ( not that ive used the Danforths). I need to sleep at night ,and a proven anchor on a all chain rode ( unless Im in more than 75 feet) is the only way I can. Every night without exception a drag alarm is set. I carry 210 feet of 8mm chain and 60 feet of nylon rode. Some will argue you dont need that much, chain combined with rode will suffice, I disagree. Most of the people I cruise with are circumnavigating or have and very few would use rope over chain. I also carry dive gear. Twice I have been caught up in depths I couldnt free dive to and have used my dive gear to free my self.
One other useful piece of apparatus is a Hookah. I keep my hull and prop clean and the hookah just makes life easy. A simple 12v unit that is sufficient for 3 to 4m ( 12 feet).
I have lots of covers for the boat, Although Im still quite young and brown skinned, Ive reached a point where I struggle with the sun. I need shade.
Dinghy, when you have the perfect solution let me know. An Aluminium rib is best, but here comes that small boat thing again. I think you will find it difficult to fit a rib on deck, as I also do. Due to this I have a roll up. Open water passages I have it deflated and stowed. A 8hp Yamaha will plane with two. Once again a matter of opinion but I believe Yamaha to be superior. What ever country Im in , 90% of outboards I see are Yamaha. My 8hp Yamaha is right up there with my Honda generator, one light pull and they start everytime, unreal.
Faith in your sails and mast, faith in your anchoring system and faith in your rudder everything after that is a bonus. Make sure your mast step and mast fitting to step is solid. Sails, I dont use a first reef, I have a second and third reef, everthing other than securing the jib gets done from the cockpit. My sails are Marblehead dacron, I wouldn’t have laminated sails, Im no racer and im not convinced they are as durable for cruising. Im going to fit a tides marine mainsail track. I had one on a previous boat, I want my sail to go up very easy, even if im beam on with no engine, drifting. Im not sure how robust the Freedoms rudder stocks are? anyone really know? Lower and upper bearing housing seems very robust, Stock being fiberglass? not sure. I like redundance and have therefore fitted a Hydrovane. As a wind driven self steering device they are really only good on long passages, its just easier to use autopilot on coastal hops. But I really do like knowing ive got a second rudder, its just that confidence thing again. When I was off Borneo there were two days where we saw literally 100s of logs floating, some were over 12 inchs plus in diameter, this was 50nm out to sea, I was nervous at night and yes we did hit two, fortunately all was well.
In regards to engine, Im assuming you have a 3gm30f? they are a great engine, worthy of 10,000hrs. Two things to look at, exhaust elbow and oil pressue line that runs near starter and around back of engine to starboard side. They rust out. And you probably have already fixed the starter solenoid thing? Also the oil pressure switches fail. Also Im a feathering prop fan. Improved sailing but also improved manouvering around the dock, important to me.
In regards to joining rally or travelling the thorny passage, I would do the rally. Carls Bermuda route sounds good to me. An ocean passage is safer and you will sail mostly. Remember all the sharp bits are near the land, sail back up the chain. You will be surprised how fast the days go (except for the first couple).
Anyway Ive rambled enough, and I apologize for poor punctuation etc…Im using a german computer and the keyboards different.
Cheers Dale
Freeform.
