Hi Gabe,
I admire your spirit. I also have been having some Huck Finn dreams, and am currently gathering bits and pieces to outfit my Albin 25 motor cruiser for long-range fuel-less (mostly solar) cruising. I have no ambitions of taking her across an ocean, as I don't think a boat of that type is fit for offshore use.
I also have a Flicka 20 sloop, which I think might be mentioned in that book. She is certainly capable of crossing oceans. Many have done so. While the boat is capable, unfortunately the captain doesn't seem to have the stomach for it.
This is more the kind of cruise I have in mind for the solar Albin:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Loop
To answer your main question:
"Can a 26' cabin cruiser body type of boat cross a long distance on open water as one of those small sailboats to take me anywhere?"
If you're talking about the type of boat I think you are (typical high-powered planing hull design converted to solar-electric, the short answer is no. Not safely and reliably anyway. You need something that can survive whatever the ocean throws at you, and a boat like that would likely capsize and sink in the first moderate storm that came along.
This book might be worth a read if you're seriously considering such an undertaking:
http://www.amazon.com/Seaworthiness-Forgotten-Factor-C-Marchaj/dp/0877422273
If you are interested in getting some ocean sailing time to see what that's all about there are always folks looking for crew, especially on race days. Just go hang around any busy marina, pick up the local sailing magazine (most big-city marinas have them) and ask around. I'm sure there are on-line resources as well.
Cheers!
Jim
--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, exp30002 <exp30002@...> wrote:
>
> Hello;
>
> I hope everyone is having a nice day. Let me also talk about that guy who
> started this thread.
> OK, so rent. It is not so much the rent. It is what I call the "Huckleberry
> Finn Syndrome".
> In Mark Twin's book Tom Sawyer, Tom friend Huckleberry Finn does not live
> in a house.
> And Huck Finn is used to it. Even when there is money, he does not feel
> comfortable in a house.
> I am getting the Huckleberry Finn Syndrome. I have camped in all the deserts
> of California,
> and more. I think it is time for me to enlarge my world. I have not been
> out on the ocean.
> I could get an RV, but I sleep outside with no tent. I have been on the top
> of all the mountains.
>
> So I saw this book: Twenty Small Sailboats that Can Take You Anywhere, or
> something like that.
> http://www.amazon.com/Twenty-Small-Sailboats-Take-Anywhere/dp/0939837323
> And I guess these sailboats can sail across the waters a long distance. I
> guess some sailing
> experience is necessary. Weather reports, and reliable equipments.
>
> There is this new thing: the solar panels. And an electric boat with solar
> panels. Can these solar
> panel electric boats sail just a far as sailboats? Apparently: yes
> http://planetsolar.org/
> Transatlantic 21 :
> http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/Swiss_boat_claims_first_solar_Atlantic_crossing.html?cid=5706980
>
> I do not need such a long distance: max to Hawaii from California.
>
> Can a 26' cabin cruiser body type of boat cross a long distance on open
> water as one of those small
> sailboats to take me anywhere? I guess that is the question.
>
> The rest of the words just introduction.
>
> I am pleased to meet all of you.
>
> Sincerely;
>
> Gabe
>
>
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