Sir:
In response to Richard O., he may not need to build his own boat for a bugout vehicle, although more power to him if he does. He could instead convert a work boat into a sailboat. Having grown up along the Carolina coast, I am familiar with a type of boat we just call a “shrimper” or trawler. The basic design should be familiar to anyone who saw the movie Forrest Gump. Older ones can easily found for relatively low cost, in the range of 54 to72 feet long. The forward wheel house models usually already having a galley, head and bunks aboard for small crews heading offshore for days at a time. Also, since they are basically one big storage hold, usually a refrigerated/freezer compartment (although some older ones sport what amounts to a very large circulated water “live well”) they present a lot of space available below-decks for conversion to storage of survival goods or as a dry hold for cargo goods for trade to other locales, or a combination of both. Also the rear deck can be used for cargo or through the use of a canvas awning, outdoor living space in good weather. The steel hulls are strong and long lasting and the general look of them does not scream “wealth”, thus helping to avoid piracy in some areas. While maintenance on any boat is a near constant job, even without routine painting the hull won’t rust through for decades if you can keep the zinc anodes replaced. Also, I’ve seen these boats pulled onto pilings at high tide, allowing for hull work, patching or painting underneath during low tide and then easily floated off again at the next high tide.
While it is true that most of these boats operate on large marine diesel engines with terrible knots per gallon fuel ratios, a conversion to sail can be performed turning them into a single mast gaff cutter, of sorts. The hull is already built to handle the stresses of sails because of the rigging in place to trawl the nets behind the ship. You’ll need a long boom and a tall mast to allow for a decent sail area to displacement ratio for the mainsail and a lateen type sail rigged from the bow to the mast over the wheel house. The mast can’t be too tall though, since you sport a short keel, but that’s not a large problem. You’ll also need to look into whether you will need a manual rudder installed, based on the design of steering present in the boat when you purchase it.
Even after a full conversion to sail you likely wont be going anywhere quickly, as you’ll only reach top speed (sub 10 knots) with a stiff wind directly behind you. However, the small keel will allow you to head up many medium to large size river mouths to find shelter from storms and to pull into “civilized” ports of call upriver. Plus you’ll have the benefits of avoiding roads, traveling quietly and without need of fuel. The boats are large enough for a family to actually live on fairly comfortably and the wide hull provides a smoother ride than many narrow bodied sail boats, when at anchor. While your boat will have access to most ports and harbors around the globe, I’m not sure I would classify them as ‘blue-water’ boats so don’t think you’ll be doing trans-oceanic voyages.
Instead of removing the engine and props altogether, if you do have access to fuel you can swap out the large marine diesel below-ships for a smaller diesel (or natural gas/propane conversion). The smaller horsepower engine will suffice since your converted boat should be pushing tens of tons less weight without a hold full of shrimp/water and giant nets dragging behind the ship. You could also swap in an electric motor, powered by a solar/battery array if you lived below certain latitudes and had dependable high intensity sunshine. If you do remove the engine and drive system entirely, be sure to plan on adding back some semi-permanent ballast to ensure the boat rides appropriately. In addition to solar cells, marine wind powered electric generators are also an option, although less so for powering propulsion. They are handy on a sail boat for powering the galley, lights, radar, bilge pumps, etc and the all important sea water desalination system you would want to employ to provide plenty of fresh water on board.
I’ve seen accounts online of at least a dozen successful conversions to sail that I would emulate; google is your friend if you want more information. My extended family owns three of these boats; actively using them as working boats, but if push comes to shove you can bet I have the majority of the gear needed for a conversion squirreled away in a safe place and would get started converting one of them to an aquatic retreat for my family if the need arises. On a different tack, if you can find one, the Mossberg 500 12 gauge pump-action shotgun in the stainless steel Mariner finish, especially in one of their sealed Just-In-Case (JIC) kits, makes a great addition to any boat at sea. Its always nice to have a shotgun around for defense, launching signal flares or even doing a little impromptu seashore hunting for wetlands game birds. FYI, just remember that you can only fire marine signal flares out of a shotgun that does not have a choke (the 500 Mariner [is “cylinder bore”– it] has no choke). Lit flares stuck inside a barrel are a bad thing.
While a converted shrimper-sailor is not perfect for the job of sailboat, especially since the hulls weren’t designed for slicing through the waves under wind power, a converted ‘shrimper-sailor’ in my humble opinion would provide lots of enjoyment and utility whether as a retirement vacation toy, or as a full time working boat for those who are trying to deal with new economic realities. God’s speed and may the wind always be at your back. – Ohio Shawn