top of page

Farrier F-22 as a week long cruiser/honeymooner

We did everything we could to prepare the "new to us" F-22 home-build to be ready for our week long stay. We stayed at Allen M Treman NY State Park Marina in Ithaca NY, on Cayuga Lake, one of the two big finger lakes (along with Seneca) in central western NY.

We reserved a end pier (4th pier) transient slip from May 21st to May 29th(but played to stay only to May 28th). The other slips available were standard width, included electrical, but would have required us to fold up when at the slip.

I opted for the end pier slip for the convenience, and it worked out well. We had a little bit of a walk from the truck to the boat, but it wasn't far.

The boat launch and marina I would rate very good. With showers available and ice, and its location 2 miles away from Ithaca's main shopping area, it worked very well for us. We did have to go to town a few more times than I expected, mostly to Walmart for the odd ends item. Having that short drive was certainly do-able and not too much of an inconvenience.

On boat being prepared:

We had just bought the Honda 5HP motor around the time of getting the boat last fall, as it only came with a Torqeedo 503. Let me just state out that... the Torqeedo 503 is just not enough for a primary motor. As a backup it's alright since we can find room for components in various places. However it is clearly under powered. Perhaps a Torqeedo 2.0/4.0 Cruise?

On top of that, the motor bracket which was fairly knowingly on its last limbs (didn't have time to replace), caused some issues on top of the tuning of our Honda 5HP motor. Suffice to say motoring while never fun, was even less particularly so.

Everything else was pretty good for the most part. We found the jib halyard line to be too thick for the bottom of the mast clutch, and in particular aren't fans of the lines being cleated up at the mast. The remaining line has to be dealt with up there, while sure it doesn't clutter the cockpit, it instead clutters the cabin deck, up near the jib track and on top of the cabin hatch top. We tightened up the forestay, it was certainly too loose.

The boat stayed dry outside of the centerboard case top splashing water onto the cabin floor while beating upwind in around 15 MPH winds. We've went ahead and ordered some gasket material that we plan to install along with bolting it shut, and having an acrylic see thru of the cover.

The sailing itself and the boat, credit Ian Farrier, is just the perfect cruiser for us.

We didn't have to reef, I just didn't find it necessary when we were beating into winds in the 20s. The waves weren't that big, and we were making good headway. For a casual cruiser the F-22 just doesn't go wrong at all. It provides that solid secure platform that my wife and I really enjoy having and going out in. After the week with sailing on all days except the Thursday wash out, we grew pretty comfortable with its sailing characteristics.

It has a big boat feel, I believe Ian has said it before, but for those newer to sailing (just a few years for me now), it might be harder to understand. Especially for those who are new to multihulls or trimarans in particular. Well while going on it a bit overloaded with 6 before my wedding on May 17th, in high teens to 20s, you can start to feel that extra stability.

The stability, plane and simple. Sure there has been an argument over the decades from what I read about low buoyancy versus high buoyancy amas, and that high bouyancy gives you a false sense of security. I personally now find that argument to make little sense. Sure this isn't a F-22R, with the racing mast & sails, but into the 20s winds, and seeing the leeward ama not even half buried, just gives comfort to someone who is still learning the ropes, especially on a bigger boat. The security that I can rely on the boat to be an excellent family boat, the feeling that I can push the boat when I want to, is all there.

Before I get ahead of myself, it is kind of instilling a sense that I might want to look into some day replacing the mast with a carbon fiber F-22R mast some day. Yeah I might be jumping the gun a little here, but it is such a wonderful and refreshing feeling.

The best moment must have been using the screacher/reacher for the first time, having installed my custom bowsprit 1,0 and while not pushing it hard, seeing it all work was a blast.


Featured Posts
Check back soon
Once posts are published, you’ll see them here.
Recent Posts
Archive
Search By Tags
No tags yet.
Follow Us
  • Facebook Basic Square
  • Twitter Basic Square
  • Google+ Basic Square
bottom of page