Why not just eliminate everything unnecessary...?

Did not quite know where to post this in General Yachting Discussion or Technical... but it is about eliminating technical aspects so its in the General Discussion.

Why not just eliminate everything unnecessary... keep it simple on the down low!

I have been back looking at motor boats. Despite the guilt and thinking about smoke, noise and pollution and fixing greasy messes in the engine room... and other such tinkering "man boat" pleasures over broken halyards and fishing spinnakers out of the drink after messing up the recovery not to mention the unintentional gybe every so often... the constant aggravation of either too much wind or not enough... and the constant feminine voices complaints of their world being tilted somewhat... too much !

Perhaps when I look at it most yachts set tied up in the berth or swinging on anchor for most of their expensive and shinny lives. Now-a-days it is perhaps better, safer and cheaper to ship the boat across the ocean than to motor across. Perhaps I am a rarity in liking to be far from land floating on the big pond... seems like everyone else wants to "be somewhere... go somewhere... or stay close to somewhere" with the somewhere referring to something on shore near or far. Besides few owners are there for the transits in-between.

So whats the need for big engines and engine rooms... cannot the boat just be made to look sleek and pretty and the bother of those fiddly mechanics that take up space and consume resources just be left somewhere else. For a given size boat more luxury, space and enjoyment would be available if those dirty noisy bits were left out. Maybe they could be installed in a separate tug / power supply / workhorse unit that is mostly submerged so not to ruin the view, and the separation of all that mess, fuss and noise would be welcome too.

SO the idea is a motor boat without the motor... and place all that in a separate unit... perhaps something one could hire ever so often when you needed it to drag you to the next playground or to the yacht transport vessel... I think this is logical evolution... why not? As the popular expression goes... what say you?

no K1W1 now quite that down low but maybe happiness is found simply!

I swear I am serious... I really am...

After yesterday's visit to my psychiatrist... he tried gently to explain that normal people accepted they could not have have EVERYTHING... MY WAY... and this was quite a foreign concept for me to grasp. I had to look for other solutions beyond always expecting the world to adopt my way of thinking and doing and I had to change my outlook and approach. So as a first step... I thought something simple to start with was in the relaxation arena... as that would cause less stress and I could control that better... :

For the last few years as the family and I seem to be quickly deteriorating as to what we were in younger days.... I have been wanting or thinking a motor boat would be nice... in the 40m bracket but I wanted the standard of service and luxuries of a 60m but without the aggravations of large crews, complex systems, limitations of where it can be berthed, etc etc etc

The idea recently has been to buy a used 50-55 meter boat as a crew, equipment and support vessel. Have the crew rotate out on watches... on the main yacht. Then all the bother could be on the bigger support boat and it could support a large crew that worked in shifts on the "YACHT". Mostly the smaller YACHT could get into and berth... the support boat could prestige all the toys carts for running around town and the play toys. If you anchored out the YACHT could umbilical for power and mooring off the larger service boat. The large crew could come and go to do the work on the YACHT at times the guest would not notice. Things like this... it all appears magically and the guests isolated totally in tranquility. The crew on the YACHT would be small at any one time would be small and would not be fatigued as they could go home an rest up... and not cause any concerns. But when things need to happen there would be plenty of help and this it would GO AWAY. There would be little mechanical distracts of noise or vibration... thats all on the other service boat.

So then taking it to is conclusion it becomes... what do you need on the YACHT... its totally dependent on the service vessel.


and

Perhaps the best way of explaining is this:

When I was a kid about 10 years old I wanted a 25 foot / 7.6 meter schooner made from plywood with a small cabin... actually I ended managing getting built was 11 foot / 3.4 meter plywood hard chined open boat with a cat ring....

About 15 years later the dream was a 40 foot / 10 meter Swan sail boat... actually what I managed was a Cal 25....

As so it goes... I am practically always behind the dream by a generation of the dream... and I am not willing to do the business and sacrifices push it forward. Now both Tom Perkins and Jim Clark did and you notice both the dream overshadowed lives and eventually faded... too big a part of the life burns you out quicker... even the beautiful and hugely expensive nearly new Hanuman is for sale for 11m euro... a fraction of its cost. Noting the reason Jim Clark took Netscape public to get Hyperion as it was more important than the business... perhaps the reason for it... now the boat is maybe very much less important.

The problem is as you age and those around you age you need more help keeping up the dream... And, those in your life are less tolerant of going along with the dream while both putting up with the challenges. But everybody wants the experiences... there are some beautiful places you can experience. It is very hard to have a 90 year old mother that wants to go along but is unable to deal with the limitations imposed by even a large sailboat. Even a sixty some wife is not so surefooted scrambling around a deck or willing to put up with sailings issues. Bathroom time has to be accounted for in the sailing the boat... no a beam reach cannot be done during those times... . So the enjoyment becomes less. You can hire crew to do the work and have to once you exceed the 24 meter / 79 foot size range. Besides you need crew! I think oh I can still do it all... well that goes out the door when reality bumps up against your mental image of self. Too, I really often want to go back to my days in the military green hell... maybe the best time of my life... but am at least a generation or two too far along.

A motor boat does not have the same limits... and is more people friendly. So it has been a topic of consideration for some time. The solutions have been maybe a smaller sail boat and a motor boat. But then you run into the problems of how big fits your situation. Over a year or maybe two ago... I was looking and had the ladies actually onboard with the idea... but the feminine vote was for the CNM Cloud 9 the reasons were it was large, very nice and Made in France!

But the issue I with something like that is had was it needed a large crew which I thought might be intrusive, it was large and might not fit in places we like to go and importantly it was expensive... too too much so. I would end up like Perkins or Clark. Besides the pleasures of a smaller boat and the marine experience or being more part of the water environment. See sometimes if not most times a 20 meter / 65 foot boat is a lot more pleasurable and enjoyable than the a mega yacht... unless it is about ego... !

I thought something more in the 35-40 meter size would be better or even 30 meters... but that was too small for the feminine perspective and would not provide the level of service desired... and the crew issue would be more intrusive despite the smaller number... unless the crew quarters and areas were significantly enlarged... and I thought the crew would get burned out faster if too confined and worked.

So various schemes come to mind...
A very high tech boat...

A support boat and a smaller yacht... larger support crew (compared to yacht size) run the crew in shifts... off load a lot of the complication, storage, and everything reasonable. This was the best I could come up.

A floating house.... idea of the ninety two year old thought a floating house that got pulled around... and semi-permanately secure sounded good... but I though uuughh a house... I hate houses. I remember when an Arab guy moved in next door to mom... it was open warfare you would not believe... before he moved away I remember seeing him on the street walking the dog... "I am terrified of your mother... we never use that house anymore!"

So I was thinking smaller boat with a small machinery space maybe just diesel electric low power system off the gen sets... (sort of the hybrid without the main engines) for cruising around near shore... an a larger service boat that a service boat pulls or pushes from one place to the other.... of course the ideal is that being submerged and like it wasn't there.

Thank you all very much the comments great... every post has been very helpful... and I do like to put a little humor in the posts sometimes. And yes NEO we will have to get together sometime...

Anyway, the floating house idea is really sort of abhorrent to a boater... unless he has a boat too! I suppose if one lived in Amsterdam and had a barge or floating house and a boat it might be idea. But that is not happening in my situation.

The idea of the submerged power and crew unit is perhaps too far out for reality. Perhaps the idea of a YACHT that removes most of the support machinery is impractical too.

The idea I have kicked around the last couple months or so is to purchase a nice used Feadship or something like in the 40m to 52 meter range to use as the support boat. Convert the accommodations to crew accommodations and have it a "crew and support boat" then purchase a smaller 30-40 meter boat to use as the "YACHT". This was the crew/support boat fits in. The crew has their own home away and meeting the new regulations is easy as the crew has accommodations equivalent to common guest quarters. The crew would be much happier and comfortable. The crew space on the YACHT would be used as "on watch crew central". The crew would rotate out on shifts... we would not be onboard for sea transits so... but onboard as most owners parities are for the near shore and island hopping cruising and stays at the favorites way point. And, the smaller YACHT would give that more intimate yatching experience. When we were there the crew would rotate out on 4-8 hour shifts. This would mean I estimate at any one time the YACHT would need 3 - 4 crew members onboard at any one time, more for parties or other events, this means we would need for the YACHT 12-14 crew members to support the shifts on the YACHT... might be able to get by with 3 during nights and other lulls. But the larger boat would have to be taken care of and operated and the crew would need support as to meals so you are adding at 6-10 crew for that. You have no idea how important adequate crew quarters and comforts are to the owners experience. The crew / service boat could be supported by the combination entire crew compliment. HTMO9 and others has mentioned crew comfort/living often in his posts. So this means a large crew I would guess 20 and the expenses of running two yachts basically. About the same operating costs as running the 60 meter boat. But it means there is enough manpower to comfortably operate the YACHT to a very high level without the intrusions and limitations to the family but the experience of the smaller boat.

The advantage would be the intimacy of the smaller boat and the flexibility of operation.

The large boats you see around 60 meters and up you really lose the yachting experience. I remember so well the times the family had on my grandfathers about 20 meter boat now going on 50 years ago. But those were different times. He was his own captain (having been a Merchant Master for a career) and the family would pitch in for crewing ourselves. Boats and expectations have grown rapidly to levels not really thought of by even the richest in those days. Go to Camper's for sale web site and you will see Prince Rainier's and Princess Grace's yacht from the 1960 days when the present Prince was a child... http://www.camperandnicholsons.com/luxury-yachts-for-sale/stalca-1146/
Times were different... maybe in a year to two when I can practically get around to doing it... it might change or not matter too.

Perhaps K1W1's idea is good a purpose built support that provides a platform for transportation of the yacht.... I suspect this means larger and smaller... as to the support and the YACHT.