Pure Sailing Vessel

Post date: Jun 16, 2009 10:51:47 PM

A couple of months ago we sold the Volvo diesel motor out of Raggedy Edge. This past weekend, we cut out the fuel tank. We have no beef with fossil fuels. We don't buy into the global warming hoax (or as they now call it "Climate Change" to maintain their shaman flexibility). Unlike leftist we are not afraid of fire in its every incantation (tobacco smoking, firearms, internal combustion engine) but you cannot beat the simple elegance of a sailing vessel that has been swept clean of an oily motor and all of it's space and weight consuming equipment. So what, if we're not some kind of greenie, really motivated us to ditch the motor? We get rid of a motor and we gain the ability to carry an extra 400 pounds of water (or other supplies). We gain access to storage space beneath the cockpit that was damn near inaccessible before. We get rid of the prop and prop shaft which Jay Fitzgerald of the Oar Club says will likely gain us 1.5 knots on any point of sale and allow our boat to point a degree or two higher into the wind. We eliminate a major fire hazard. We eliminate the threat of a 400 pound chunk of iron breaking loose of its mounts in a really bad situation. We eliminate the maintence time and cost of a marine diesel motor which alone counts for half the yearly maintence costs of a motorsailer.