boating help

[lady_whitehaven]

I know almost nothing about boats/boating, and all of my searches have been too broad to yield usable results.  I need help creating three boats. This is set in 1995, around a fictional island south of Bermuda.1. I need a boat (yacht?) for my viewpoint character. It has to be large enough for him to live on and take out the occasional charter, but

Comments

[rhiannon_s]

Well the rich idiots were probably in a Bayliner or a Sea Ray.
You can browse Sea Ray's past models here: http://www.searay.com/Page.aspx/pageId/10532/Model-Archives.aspx
Just select the year you want and look through the pdf list for that year.

Can't help with the rest, but if you ask on the forums here: http://www.ybw.com/forums/index.php Someone will probably be able to answer it.

[lady_whitehaven]

Thank you!

[rhiannon_s]

I asked someone who single hands, and he said that an Island Packet is considered an easy single hander and good liveaboard. Apparently pretty much any of the under 40footers (although that might be typical yottie bragging) can be sailed single handed for short periods of time and under 30footers are singlehanders indefinitely. All make good liveaboard vessels. The website for their older models is: http://www.iphomeport.com/forum/model_info.php

[lady_whitehaven]

Thanks again.

[rmw2007]

1. The maximum size of a yacht for someone who is single-handing depends to a large extent on how much power assistance they have. A bigger yacht has bigger, heavier sails. Over a certain size the mainsail is too heavy for one person to haul up and down without a power assisted winch. On the other hand, if he is a cautious person, he won't want to be at sea alone and dependant on electrics, since those can fail. If, in practical terms he has magic, that's not such an issue. Personally, I'd look at something with about 35-36 foot long, since that is loads of space to live in (2 of us lived in a yacht that size for 5 years with no difficulty) and to take occasional passengers

[lady_whitehaven]

Awesome. Thank you. I have a better idea of where to look now.

He has magic and magical assistants, so he's not terribly interested in the precautions a reasonably prudent person would take. I just don't want to use something that obviously requires at least two people.

[witchofnovember]

4. The US Coast Guard and the British Navy. US State Department fact sheet

At that time the USCG was part of the Dept of Transportation which meant it could (and still can as part of Homeland Security) board and search US vessels without violating the Posse Comitatus Act and foreign vessels without it being an act of war.

[lady_whitehaven]

Thank you! I just bookmarked the site. I know what I'm going to be reading this weekend.

[stormwreath]

I'm not sure about the British navy in a fic set in modern times. It's not as large as it was in Nelson's day...

According to the Royal Navy's website there is currently a grand total of one ship, the destroyer HMS Dauntless, in the entire Caribbean - and for that matter, there are only two ships near the entire American continent. (The other is in the Falklands.)
http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/The-Fleet/Ships

The Bermuda Police Service also has a Marine Police Unit responsible for offshore patrols, although it's apparently not very big.
http://www.marinelog.com/DOCS/NEWSMMVI/2006dec00070.html

[lady_whitehaven]

Thanks! I've been leaning towards the US Coast Guard anyway, as plot reasons are making me move my island closer to the mainland US.

[l_l_u_w_d]

The US Navy would also be on the lookout for drug smugglers.