I'm, thinking of buying a J/30 and outfit it for offshore, singlehanded sailing. What kind of modifacations would I need to do to go offshore?

-Tom

There is a J/30 in Marblehead that has had it's keel modified for better off-shore sailing. You might want to take a look at that boat.

David

I bought my J/30 in 1985 to do the Singlehanded Transpac, which I didn't do because the Challenger blew up (long story). Mods I made for shorthanded offshore work include:
(1) replaced all hatches (4) with Lewmar Ocean Series hatches.
(2) extended spinnaker track to deck, replaced existing car with two ball-bearing cars, added carbon-fiber spinnaker pole and foreguy hardware so I can do two-pole spinnaker gybes or pole out two headsails wing and wing.
(3) modified mast and deck hardware for 2 spin halyards, 2 jib halyards, 1 topping lift, and 1 masthead spin halyard (so I can get to masthead if main halyard fails).
(4) added U-bolts just aft of mast for turning blocks to lead 1st and 2nd reeflines aft to winches.
(5) added mechanical vang to support boom, primarily when reefing.
(6) bolted bottom of mast to mast step.
There is lots more, but you can't go wrong if you use the ISAF/ORC Special Regulations for Category 1 as a goal.