1,798Nm = 3,323km = Distance traveled by ROAM to date (Melbourne to Perth is 3,270km)
We are back in Cronulla Marina preparing for our mainsail. Roam's days as a power cat are seriously numbered. Our mainsail is being fitted in 2 days! We have just spent the last week sailing and motor sailing with our Genoa.
As of now there are exactly 245 hours on each engine. Depending on weather we are achieving between 1.3Nm and 1.5Nm per liter running both motors making between 7knots and 9 knots. Running one motor at a time we get anywhere from 1.5Nm to 2Nm per liter making 5.5knots to 7knots. (we run our 40hp Lombardini sail drives between 2200rpm and 2400rpm)
I have not kept track exactly but we have burnt around 1000 liters of Diesel. I cant wait to see how much better we can do over the next 2,000nM of travel.
The cost of the rig, sails and equipment has been huge, and I still have not paid for any downwind sails. Depending on how often you needed to replace sails the break even point for building a sailing vs. power cat would be somewhere between 50,000Nm and 100,000Nm!
However I did a calculation along these lines over 8 years ago before I chose to build a sailing cat for our adventure vehicle. I knew that if you make a purely commercial decision the up front cost of a sailing boat doesn't make sense. However we are out to travel as lightly as possible and burning 1,000's of liters of fuel to achieve that is not for us. We have sailed all our lives and love it, it's a joy all in itself.
Then you need to consider non $ related decisions like the safety of having sails and the opportunity to make an environmental choice and use a renewable energy source.
As it has been said before, If you think Sailing is about moving from point A to point B you are missing the point.
I am so excited to power Roam up on pure wind energy this week and leave the cleanest wake possible.
Mick