I'm a boat nerd and love to see how these boats are built. Thank you to Island Packet for giving me a glimpse. Newbie's are a bit taken aback with how much maintenance a boat needs. I remind them that boats aren't mass produced like cars. If you're going to make 1 million cars, you have to make sure you get them right before they go out the door, so you build and test to destruction many cars before you start shipping them. However, this is rarely done with boats, maybe just on a few high volume Beneteau boats where they're really trying to cut costs by choosing less expensive lamination techniques. But most manufacturers can't do that because they only make anywhere from a handful to a few thousand boats a year (well, pick a number based on the manufacturer, but it isn't 1 million). All they can do is to study how previous ones failed and improve their next design. This is a slow process that takes years (decades). Unfortunately the market has gone away from full keel boats like Island Packet. I think that there are much better boats for "coastal cruising" and hanging out in the tropics, but that's where most of the boat sales are. Then people buy these used boats that are optimized for coastal cruising and start crossing oceans with them because they're much more affordable. Now 99% of the time you'll be fine, but a bad storm will stress the "lesser" cruising rigging and a grounding can destroy the grid that the bolt on keels attach to. These events are rare, but you are taking a greater chance with these lighter, faster, and roomier boats. But everything's a tradeoff... The oceans are better mapped, but there's also more cargo ships and crap floating around in them... (Note that satellite communication does a great job at lessening the chance of running into a storm, but storms can always blow up out of seemingly nothing. I just went sailing with a forecast of 5-10 knots of wind that turned into a 25 knot small craft advisory... fortunately I had been wanting to test my boat out in heavier weather so that worked out for me.) In my mind, boats like Island Packets are great "adventure" boats. Boats you'll take to places off the beaten path where solid construction is a higher priority than an extra 3 knots of speed and a cockpit you can turn into a miniature dance hall. Man, those big coastal cruisers make my heart pound, but the pounding that those flat bottoms will take out on the water will make my wife's heart pound in the wrong way... But then we've gotten old and can't deal with the physical demands of a flat bottom boat as well as we used to. Damn. One gripe I have with boats is the hull and deck being glued and bolted together. I do not understand why they don't fiberglass them together so a leak will never develop. What am I not understanding???
Hi Darrell A Happy New Year to you, yours, and everyone at Island Packet. Frankly, I may not be able to afford to buy an IP 349, but I have been thinking - yep, I know, that’s dangerous right 😅 - for quite a few years now, about something different for in Mast Furling, combined with a low Air Draft height of 40 feet above the Waterline, combined with a short Boom that has the end only reaching to the Mainsheet track in front of the Dodger - bear with me - this would impose a blade type shaped Main Sail, that now has the room inside the mast to be constructed really strong and with say a a Triradial Construction with say three reinforced reefing Points and No Battens, so no batten wear and tear increased furling and unfurling reliability, and a Sail incredibly resistant to blowing out, and which would allow the final reef to leave a small close to the Mast Staysail. I have had it confirmed by precision Sails, that a Triradial construction recovers most of the power lost from not having any battens.Darrell, I have had confirmation that this kind of setup can actually work, and work well via a very unusual source - Practical Sailor Channel recently put up a video about Sailboat Drones, one of which was deliberately Sailed into a Category 4 Hurricane to take measurements and was then Sailed out of it again ! Forces from the lower mast height would be closer to the deck, helping prevent excessive heeling and possible capsize, and the Preventers on the shorter boom should be Far less stressed, so all around, everything around the mast should be more durable and Reliable. Not that I am saying anyone should be stuoid enough to Sail into an actual Hurricane of course, but such reliability should ease minds when Caught out in severe conditions. So if I am successful enough to get my Piggybank filled up enough to order an IP 349 - fingers crossed and God Willing, this might just happen in 2025, the important questions are, What is the distance between the Mast and the front of Dodger Mainsheet Track, shorter Boom Length, and will Selden make a 40 feet above the Waterline Air Draft Mast, with lots of room for a heavy duty long term reliable Main Sail.the standing Rigging will likely need upgrading to Match.. Given the successful implementation with drones, if I can afford the IP 349, I am willing for it to be used as a test bed to get this working and for it to be of benefit and available for anyone to have available for their Sailboats. Good furling Headsails to complement this setup should not be difficult to achieve either. Hoping this is at least making sense, best wishes to you all, Bob in Wales. 👍🌟⛵️ PS. For Cruisers and Voyagers, Such a Mainsail System, shouldn’t significantly affect boat speed, but it may well take a serious of adjustments to the design to get things just right. 🤔 👍
I'm a boat nerd and love to see how these boats are built. Thank you to Island Packet for giving me a glimpse. Newbie's are a bit taken aback with how much maintenance a boat needs. I remind them that boats aren't mass produced like cars. If you're going to make 1 million cars, you have to make sure you get them right before they go out the door, so you build and test to destruction many cars before you start shipping them. However, this is rarely done with boats, maybe just on a few high volume Beneteau boats where they're really trying to cut costs by choosing less expensive lamination techniques. But most manufacturers can't do that because they only make anywhere from a handful to a few thousand boats a year (well, pick a number based on the manufacturer, but it isn't 1 million). All they can do is to study how previous ones failed and improve their next design. This is a slow process that takes years (decades).
Unfortunately the market has gone away from full keel boats like Island Packet. I think that there are much better boats for "coastal cruising" and hanging out in the tropics, but that's where most of the boat sales are. Then people buy these used boats that are optimized for coastal cruising and start crossing oceans with them because they're much more affordable. Now 99% of the time you'll be fine, but a bad storm will stress the "lesser" cruising rigging and a grounding can destroy the grid that the bolt on keels attach to. These events are rare, but you are taking a greater chance with these lighter, faster, and roomier boats. But everything's a tradeoff... The oceans are better mapped, but there's also more cargo ships and crap floating around in them... (Note that satellite communication does a great job at lessening the chance of running into a storm, but storms can always blow up out of seemingly nothing. I just went sailing with a forecast of 5-10 knots of wind that turned into a 25 knot small craft advisory... fortunately I had been wanting to test my boat out in heavier weather so that worked out for me.)
In my mind, boats like Island Packets are great "adventure" boats. Boats you'll take to places off the beaten path where solid construction is a higher priority than an extra 3 knots of speed and a cockpit you can turn into a miniature dance hall. Man, those big coastal cruisers make my heart pound, but the pounding that those flat bottoms will take out on the water will make my wife's heart pound in the wrong way... But then we've gotten old and can't deal with the physical demands of a flat bottom boat as well as we used to. Damn.
One gripe I have with boats is the hull and deck being glued and bolted together. I do not understand why they don't fiberglass them together so a leak will never develop. What am I not understanding???
Hi Darrell A Happy New Year to you, yours, and everyone at Island Packet. Frankly, I may not be able to afford to buy an IP 349, but I have been thinking - yep, I know, that’s dangerous right 😅 - for quite a few years now, about something different for in Mast Furling, combined with a low Air Draft height of 40 feet above the Waterline, combined with a short Boom that has the end only reaching to the Mainsheet track in front of the Dodger - bear with me - this would impose a blade type shaped Main Sail, that now has the room inside the mast to be constructed really strong and with say a a Triradial Construction with say three reinforced reefing Points and No Battens, so no batten wear and tear increased furling and unfurling reliability, and a Sail incredibly resistant to blowing out, and which would allow the final reef to leave a small close to the Mast Staysail. I have had it confirmed by precision Sails, that a Triradial construction recovers most of the power lost from not having any battens.Darrell, I have had confirmation that this kind of setup can actually work, and work well via a very unusual source - Practical Sailor Channel recently put up a video about Sailboat Drones, one of which was deliberately Sailed into a Category 4 Hurricane to take measurements and was then Sailed out of it again ! Forces from the lower mast height would be closer to the deck, helping prevent excessive heeling and possible capsize, and the Preventers on the shorter boom should be Far less stressed, so all around, everything around the mast should be more durable and Reliable. Not that I am saying anyone should be stuoid enough to Sail into an actual Hurricane of course, but such reliability should ease minds when Caught out in severe conditions. So if I am successful enough to get my Piggybank filled up enough to order an IP 349 - fingers crossed and God Willing, this might just happen in 2025, the important questions are, What is the distance between the Mast and the front of Dodger Mainsheet Track, shorter Boom Length, and will Selden make a 40 feet above the Waterline Air Draft Mast, with lots of room for a heavy duty long term reliable Main Sail.the standing Rigging will likely need upgrading to Match.. Given the successful implementation with drones, if I can afford the IP 349, I am willing for it to be used as a test bed to get this working and for it to be of benefit and available for anyone to have available for their Sailboats. Good furling Headsails to complement this setup should not be difficult to achieve either. Hoping this is at least making sense, best wishes to you all, Bob in Wales. 👍🌟⛵️ PS. For Cruisers and Voyagers, Such a Mainsail System, shouldn’t significantly affect boat speed, but it may well take a serious of adjustments to the design to get things just right. 🤔 👍