A yacht can travel both the Pacific and Atlantic seas. A sailing boat or a motor yacht may span the Pacific and Atlantic seas. It’s preferable to have a tank large enough to store the amount of fuel you’ll be burning.
Not all yachts, however, are capable of undertaking these journeys. If you intend to sail across any of these seas, be sure you have an ocean-going boat as well as the necessary equipment and abilities.
Some yachts will not have enough fuel to make the journey and will be transported aboard specially constructed freighters.
In this essay, I’ll go over some of the key facts concerning yachts that you should be aware of before embarking on your journey.
How Long Does it Take to Sail Across the Atlantic?
Sailing across the Atlantic takes roughly 3-4 weeks, but if you’re lucky, use shortcuts, and have a speedy sailboat, you can accomplish it in two weeks. It might take up to a month if you don’t get enough wind for a week or longer. It’s critical to know the shortcuts, optimize speed, and have cross-Atlantic sailing expertise.
How Far Can a Yacht Travel?
In an 8-hour day, a powered boat of 35 feet in length can go over 200 miles at a speed of 25 knots. They can cover about 300 miles in a day at 35 knots. You can go thousands of kilometers if you have adequate gasoline or fill-ups.
Can a Yacht Cross the Atlantic Ocean?
A typical powered boat would require a tank with a capacity of roughly 5000 gallons of petrol and a fuel efficiency of 2.5 nautical miles per gallon to traverse the Atlantic.
This is based on a gasoline consumption rate of 4 gallons per hour at a cruising speed of 10 knots. Of course, this is at cruising speed. They can’t keep going at top speed for an extended amount of time (which would burn through the fuel faster).
The voyage (about 3,000 miles) would take 300 hours or 12.5 days at 10 knots.
Every year, sailing boats cross the Atlantic since the only fuel they use is to power generators that power aboard equipment.
When the weather isn’t cooperating, some fuel may be utilized to power the boat.A fast boat traveling at 25 knots takes roughly 4–5 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean. In a sailing yacht, though, it would take longer (which also depends on the winds).
We have a lot more information on which boat types are capable of crossing oceans. If you’re thinking of taking a boat journey across the oceans, this is a must-read.
Read more: Boat Fuel Tank Vent Open or Close (What to do?)
How Large Does A Boat Need To Be In Order To Cross The Atlantic Ocean?
To cross the Atlantic, you’ll need a boat that’s at least 30 feet long, whether you’re sailing or motoring. For safety and comfort, your boat should be at least 40 feet long. Although the experience of sailing or motoring across the Atlantic is vastly different, both require a boat of this size. If you plan on having a crew on board, you may need a boat that is much larger. Why do you need a 30 or 40 foot boat when you can cross the Atlantic with a lot smaller boat? The simple answer is that attempting to cross in anything smaller may be extremely risky and inconvenient. Here are a few reasons why you should get a boat at least this size:
Seaworthiness
You don’t want to be stranded in a tiny boat as the waves start to rise. In the Atlantic, boats significantly larger than 30 or 40 feet are often sunk due to bad weather.
If you go any smaller, you run the danger of being sunk in a storm. Make the mistake of assuming you can organize your vacation around the possibility of bad weather.
Storms may appear out of nowhere in the unpredictable Atlantic Ocean, and any vessel could be caught off guard, regardless of the season. Although not every 30 or 40-foot yacht is seaworthy enough to cross the North Atlantic, this size is a minimum need for ocean navigation.
Supply Storage
Even if you want to conduct as much open-ocean fishing as possible while crossing the Atlantic, you’ll need to have supplies. You should have enough food and drink for everyone in your crew to last the whole voyage.
Keep in mind that crossings can take longer than expected, so make sure you have adequate supplies to account for delays. You’ll need to reserve gasoline if you’re crossing in a motorboat or if you have a backup motor for your sailboat.
You may need a larger boat if you need to store a lot of provisions for your voyage. Too much weight can cause your boat to sink in the water, making even a seaworthy boat much less seaworthy. A boat that is too low in the water might be swamped by waves more quickly.
Before you load up your boat and set out on the water, be sure you know how much it can securely handle.
Comfort Of The Crew
Until you’ve spent a few weeks out on the open sea aboard a 30 or 40-foot boat, it may appear to be rather large. If you want to enjoy your passage, you’ll need a boat large enough for everyone on board to have their own space and stretch their legs at regular intervals throughout the journey. Even with a one- or two-person crew, 30 to 40 feet is required to achieve this aim.
Crossing The Atlantic In A Motorboat
You might be surprised to learn how much gasoline it takes to cross the Atlantic in a powerboat. Simply storing all of that fuel aboard your yacht can take up a lot of space.
Fuel should not be utilized for longer than 90 days in most cases. This should be enough time for you to cross the Atlantic, but it could not be. You may preserve fuel for up to six months or even two years if you use a fuel stabilizer or don’t mix it before use.
Fuel storage will require a large portion of your entire storage space. For the same journey, you could require a larger motorboat than a sailboat.
The advantage of crossing in a motorboat is that, while it may require more storage and gasoline, utilizing it instead of the wind for movement may make your route much more predictable. A speedboat can move in nearly any situation except particularly severe and inclement weather, but a sailboat must wait for the wind to be right to make headway. As a result, you won’t need as many resources to prepare in case you don’t arrive at your location on time.
Enjoy Your Crossing
It’s difficult to imagine a more thrilling experience than sailing the Atlantic Ocean on your own boat. You will most likely have a very pleasurable vacation whether what kind of boat you choose, as long as you choose a boat of at least 30 or 40 feet and plan wisely.