Extras for a 22 Cruiser

[theflyscot]

I would welcome advice from those of you who have done long trips, maybe even The Great Loop. I'm about to buy a 22 Cruiser and would welcome people's comments on whether I should have any of the following extras:
A kicker engine in case the main one stops for any reason.
If a kicker, what's the smallest one that could move a 22 a few hundred yards to shore? A 2.5? A 4?
Is solar paneling worth it? Apparently it doesn't re-charge but just maintains power.
Should I have a mounted 5" Garmin or, in this day and age, go for a hand-held iPad with everything loaded on that?
I'm looking to avoid clutter: I'm thinking no radar arch and no marine VHF antenna, using a hand-held instead?
Finally, what is "Active Captain", and would I need that?
Thank you! Michael

[PaulNBriannaLynn]

You'll probably get differing opinions on the chart plotter. I like the simplicity of a mounted Garmin at the helm. Its totally reliable and I'm not fiddling with anything while I need to be paying attention. A 5" is a little small, I prefer a 9" display, and I'll usually have it setup as split screen with my chart on one side and the depth/ fish finder on the other. I already have enough electronics I have to keep charged when cruising for extended periods. We do carry a tablet on the boat and it's backup charts, and entertainment.

We run a bf5 Honda as a kicker, but you can get away with a 2.5. I'd probably take a hard look at the Suzuki at only 31 lbs. Ours came with the Honda but its 61 lbs. When were packed heavy for a long cruise, the waterline is pretty far up the transom. Any weight savings would be nice.

de-cluttering is one thing but a hand held vhf has a very limited range compared to a fixed mounted VHF antenna. Just my opinion that's not something to compromise on. If your remote enough to not have cell phone coverage, you're likely not getting anybody on your hand held either.

[Wandering Sagebrush]

If you haven’t read Pat and Patty’s blog, it’s chock full of experience and wisdom about what’s needed to do the loop, plus a lot neat stories.

https://daydreamsloop.blogspot.com

[DavidM]

C-Dory's have enough space on the roof to hold enough solar panels to do some serious battery charging. But unless you have DC refrigeration, you won't use much DC power. A 100 watt panel should be plenty.

Fixed chart plotter vs hand held tablet- A toss up for me. For casual 2-3 day cruising a tablet would be fine. Significant loop type cruising, then a fixed chart plotter would probably more reliable and convenient.

Active Captain is now owned by Garmin and is many things. The most significant is a crowd sourced data base of marina, anchorage and other reviews. These are accessible either from on line apps, see https://activecaptain.garmin.com/Map, or chart plotting apps and fixed chart plotters where the data is integrated with the chart, and requires no internet connection once the data base is downloaded.

David

[ssobol]

Depends on what your intended use is and where you plan on boating.

If you are in well traveled waters you might get away with a handheld vhf and without a kicker. For instance we boat a lot on rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. We are always in sight of land and there are plenty of boats around (i.e. assistance close at hand). I've actually helped a couple of stranded boats and no use of a radio was involved.

If you are one to set out to areas that are less traveled a proper radio and a kicker might be useful to have.

It's one thing if the main motor get damaged by hitting something or has some sort of internal failure. But with today's modern engine, the odds of failure are pretty low. IMO, a failure due to a fuel system failure or bad gas is more likely that the engine failing (except for hitting something). A problem with the fuel may also render your kicker inoperative. I would carry a spare prop though.

The most use my radio gets is calling the marina to tell them we have arrived and which slip to go to. However, about half the time we call them on a cell phone rather than the radio. A couple of times we have called on the radio and where told to call back on the phone.

If you have a tablet with GPS there are various applications that will allow you to navigate. You'd probably want some kind of mount for it vs. holding it and an external power supply. Either plug it into the boat power, or have an external powerbank battery.

Depending your equipment and electrical system, I'm not sure that solar power is necessary. I thought about installing solar when I first go the boat, but so far have decided it is not worth it. I have two batteries and the usual equipment on my 22. Even with the refrigerator running, we have had no issues with shortages of electrical power using either shore power or the motor to charge the batteries. Even anchored out, running the motor for about 20-30 minutes before bed and the same in the morning provides enough charge on the house battery to supply our needs. The cruise to the next spot during the day also recharges the battery.

[Phil Barnes]

We have cruised long distance in our CD 22 and our experience/preference is as follows: We use a tablet with Navionics as a backup and also to get another view (zoomed in or out) from the chartplotter. One thing to note is that the tablet will not have as many satellites engaged for GPS as the chartplotter, so while it is good it is not as accurate. You can purchase something called a Badelf Pro that accesses more satellites and connects to the tablet to increase accuracy. I like having both and usually have both up and running.

A fixed VHF with a good tall antenna is my safety communication on the water. I have a handheld that we take in the dinghy but I would not be without a good fixed VHF. The handheld has very limited range, basically line of sight, compared to the more powerful VHF with a good antenna. Most fixed units run 25 watt while the hand held if 5 or 6 watt.

We don't use much power and do fine with one house battery and one starting battery with a battery switch and an isolater to assure that we never draw down the starting battery. We don't have solar panels and while nice we find that we are on the move enough that charging the batteries while running is enough for us. If we are on anchor for several days, I run the engines for a period of time to recharge. We have an inexpensive battery monitor that plugs into a power port so I can monitor battery charge. If you don't let them drop below 12 volts they remain in good shape for a number of years.

An electric windlass is nice if you are anchoring out a lot, particularly if you are anchoring with much depth. This option provides convenience and saves the back.

Our boating is in the Pacific Northwest. You don't have to have radar but we find it gives us flexibility. We don't start out on any given day with low visibility or fog but have had to use it when we have encountered those conditions while out.

Our kicker is a 9.9 hp Honda that runs the boat at hull speed of about 6 knots . It is heavy but we have used it to run a long distance when our main Honda 90 failed. A 8 hp would do an equivalent job The lower the hp the less flexibility with wind or current. A 9.9 hp against a 3 knot current is a very slow trip! A 6 hp would do the job under many conditions. A lower HP would work in calm conditions. The kicker choice can be a get to safety motor or a get home motor. It also depends where you boat. If you are in a shipping lane and have an engine or fuel problem, one might be glad to have the higher hp to move to safety and a good radio to communicate with commercial traffic if needed.

Those are our preferences from experience. The rest of the choices are largely around comfort and convenience.

Have fun as you work through your choices. The boats are very capable and will provide many safe adventures.

Phil

[ssobol]

[theflyscot]

Thank you all for your helpful comments - very much appreciated.