Adrift at Sea —Dan’s blog on dankim.com

Right now, my thoughts are with an online friend, Mike, and his family. Mike is a fellow sailor, and I know him through one of the sailing forums I participate on. While I’ve never met Courtney, or her family, I have spoken and corresponded with them over the past year.

His daughter Courtney is a very brave young woman. She is battling bone cancer, and, just this past week, successfully underwent a very dangerous operation to fuse several of her vertebrae together, including the C1 vertebra. These vertebra have been damaged by the cancer and the various treatments she has undergone.

I am hoping that the next round of chemotherapy goes better than the previous round. Courtney reminds me much of Gee, especially in her determination not to let her battle with cancer consume her. She has a great support network in terms of her family and I wish them all the best. If you are reading this, please keep Courtney and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

Courtney—if you get a chance to read this, know that my thoughts and prayers and those of my friends and family are with you and your family. Having been through something similar with Gee and her illness, I sympathize and empathize with you and your family. If there is anything I can do, please let me know. Your father has my cell phone number.

One on of the forums I am on, someone linked to a webcomic, xkcd.com. The webcomic, while not the most well executed, since the main characters are stick figures, is very well done and thought provoking. I’d highly recommend you take a look. The humor is a bit twisted, much like my own, and not politically correct at times. One of my favorites is this one:

How to get surreal feedback on eBay.

Today, I was working at my friend’s company and a strange thing happened.  When she walked in, she asked me to take a look at some photos that were on her cell phone.  On her way into the office, she had passed a sailboat for sale.  She wanted to know what I thought of it.

I took a look at the photos, and the boat was an old O’Day Javelin.  This is a sloop-rigged, 14′ daysailer that was built by O’Day in Fall River, Massachusetts, from 1962 to the mid-1980s, when the company went under.  It was designed by Uffa Fox. I had sailed one of these back when I was a teenager, but hadn’t seen one since then.

She wanted to know if I thought this would be a good boat for her children to learn on, and whether it would be appropriate for the pond that is across the street from their summer home. I thought it would be an excellent choice, since it is sloop-rigged, unlike the Sunfish.  Her two older children have crewed for me aboard my Pretty Gee.

She asked me to come with her to look at the boat, since she wanted my opinion on the price and condition of the boat.  I agreed, so off we went.  The sails were in fair shape from what I could see, and the hull, while needing some cosmetic repairs and a good paint job, was in fair shape.  The trailer was a bit rusty, but otherwise sound.  I thought the price was more than fair, especially, when the owner came down $100 on the price.  She wrote a check and now she owns a nice little daysailer.

I’m hoping she can get the trailer registered and insured this week.  Her son and I will be taking the boat down to the summer place as soon as it is street legal.  I hope we can get it rigged and sailing by sometime next week.

I’ve given her son and older daughter a copy of Dave Seidman’s “The Complete Sailor,” which is one of the finest sailing primers that I’ve ever seen.  I highly recommend it if you’re interested in learning how to sail.  It is well written and has clear illustrations.  Unlike many other “learn to sail” books, this book goes into a much broader area of sailing history, boat development, design, techniques and knowledge, while still being very understandable and a fairly compact book.

More on this later.  It is going to be an interesting summer.

I thought I’d add another name to the vendor black list.

Apparently, Quantum Sails of Newport doesn’t think much of its customers, at least in one case I’ve seen. I was looking at the stack pack on a friend’s boat, and there was a section about three inches long that the stitching had missed going through the canvas and didn’t connect the zipper edge to the canvas there. He had recently taken the stack pack to Quantum Sails Newport to have the entire thing restitched. They did about the shoddiest job of re-stitching it that I’ve ever seen.

He told me, that when he contacted Quantum, they told him to bring it on over. Now, looking at the stack pack, I can see that just “bringing it on over” isn’t as easy as it sounds. He’ll have to disconnect the lazyjacks, pull the mainsail and stack pack off the boom, put the mainsail away, drive over to Newport and drop it off… and lose possibly up to a week of sailing. Quantum also offered to send him some needles and sailthread, if dropping it off was too much work.

This is a very disturbing trend… many marine vendors seem to have no sense of responsibility and don’t stand behind their work or their company’s good name. What if this hadn’t been a stack pack, but a reefing point, like the one I just had put in? In a storm, the sail would have likely shredded itself due to the lousy quality of the stitching.

Two companies that originally were allowed to do fiberglass work at my marina have been deemed persona non-grata for similar reasons. Kelley Marine Services, which I mentioned in my OP, has also been banned for similar reasons.

Do these companies not realize that the marine world is rather small, and that regularly screwing their customers will eventually come back to bite them. So Quantum Sails Newport joins Kelley Marine Services, of Wareham, MA, and Peter Kennedy Yacht Services, of Annapolis, MD,  on the short list of blackballed vendors so far.

I’d also like to add a vendor to the white list.

Harding Sails, out of Marion, MA, did an excellent job with the third reef setup on my mainsail. Graham was kind enough to expedite my sail repair before the Fourth of July and, unlike many other vendors, very open about what was involved and the costs. I expect I’ll have them look at the canvas on my boat at some point.

Originally, my plans for the Fourth of July were to go and anchor out in Buzzards Bay, just outside the New Bedford Hurricane Barrier, and watch the fireworks over Fort Phoenix. I changed those plans because there was supposed to be a 70% chance of thunderstorms and the New Bedford Hurricane Barrier was going to be closed due to an unusually high high tide—3.5-4′ over normal. Instead, I played tourist on Cape Cod and took some of my extended family sightseeing.

We started off the day by heading over to my sister’s condo in Harwich. This is a good base of operations for sightseeing on the outer parts of the Cape. After dropping by to see my sister, her husband and my two nephews, we walked along the beach in Harwich. I took a look at the small channel that runs along the condo complex that my sister’s condo is in, and there is space for me to anchor my boat, should I feel like taking a side trip from Buzzards Bay to the eastern half of Cape Cod. The channel is fairly well protected from everything but a southern wind.

We got back to my sister’s condo and checked to see what they were going to be doing. My sister had to work on the Fourth… being in the media can really have lousy hours. My nephews and their father were going to a friend’s condo and then to the beach, and were heading off to see the Harwich Mariners play that evening. The Mariners are a Cape Cod Baseball League team. There’s a really good book about the Cape Cod Baseball League called, “Baseball by the Beach: A History of America’s National Pastime on Cape Cod“, which I would recommend any baseball lover read.

We headed off to get lunch at Brax. They are best known for their lobster roll, which is excellent. They are located right next to Saquatuck Harbor, pictured below. After lunch, I wandered off to look at the boats. While I was there, I helped a small runabout get tied up to the dock to let a passenger off.

Our next stop was the Chatham Lighthouse. I love lighthouses. Chatham light is one of my favorites. However, stopping there was not to be. The traffic and crowds at the Chatham light made any chance of parking impossible. Oh well… on to our next stop.

Most of the outer part of Cape Cod is preserved as a National Park. The Cape Cod National Seashore takes up about 65% of the outer “forearm” of the Cape. This was our next stop, in the form of the Salt Pond Visitor Center.

The Salt Pond Visitor Center has a small auditorium where educational videos are run during the day. The two we watched were on the geologic origins of Cape Cod, which is mainly the leftover remains of glacier tailings from the last ice age and one on Henry David Thoreau and Cape Cod. There is also a small museum there, which touches on the whaling and fishing industries that made up so much of the economy here in the past.

We also walked down to the trail that runs along Salt Pond. Along the trail we saw a lot of the natural side of the cape, including a few small crabs, one of which I picked up and showed to my aunt. The importance of the wetlands as a breeding habitat for fish and other animals can’t be overemphasized. The loss of the wetlands down in Louisiana is part of the reason the Gulf of Mexico fishing industry has declined, and also partly why the recent hurricanes did so much damage, since the wetlands acted as a buffer zone for much of the coastal areas there, including New Orleans.

From there, we went north, along the outer “forearm” of the Cape to the Marconi Station. This is the former location of the Marconi’s original radio station, where the first Transatlantic wireless message was sent in 1903. Unfortunately, none of the buildings or towers from Marconi’s time remain, and even if they did, over half of them would be underwater or destroyed due to beach erosion by now.

The next stop on our trip was the Nauset light in Eastham. As I said, I like lighthouses. The Nauset lighthouse, pictured below, is modest structure that sits atop a seaside bluff. The lighthouse was actually moved 300 feet to the west back in 1996. This was primarily due to the erosion of the beach, and at the time of its move, the lighthouse was only 25′ from the cliff edge. The marker that indicates the original position of the Nauset lighthouse is now only two feet from the cliff edge, thanks to an April 2007 storm.

From there, we went to Nauset beach, which is just a short walk away. Nauset beach is one of the nicest on the Cape. Unlike many beaches, Nauset beach has lifeguards, including the one photographed below, on duty during the summer tourist season.

After leaving Nauset Beach, we headed up the coast to see Provincetown. Provincetown is an unusual place. It has a fairly large artists colony. It is also one of the larger enclaves of gays and lesbians in the state. To say the place is crowded on the Fourth of July is an understatement. What many people don’t know is that Provincetown is actually the first place the Pilgrims landed when coming to America. They continued on to Plymouth, but did stop in Provincetown first, as seen in this photo of my friends Megan and Francis taken a couple years ago.

On our way back to Harwich, we stopped at Sweet Escape in Truro. Sweet Escape has some of the best ice cream and is well worth a stop if you’re in the area.

For dinner, we ate at the condo complex’s beach front restaurant. The restaurant has some excellent food. The pasta with scallops and shrimp in a scampi sauce was quite good. The leg of lamb and prime rib were also delicious. From our seats in the restaurant, we were able to view the fireworks displays from about five or six different locations, including some that were being launched locally.

Even though the weather forecast had predicted rain, I guess the weather goddess still loves me, and we didn’t see any rain the entire day. While the day was a bit overcast, the weakened sun made the temperatures much more bearable than if the day had been sunny.

Recently, I was asked why I have such an oversized anchor hanging off the bow roller on the Pretty Gee. That’s a good question. The primary anchor I have on the Pretty Gee is a New Zealand-designed Rocna 15. It weighs 33 lbs., and is the same anchor that an acquaintance of mine uses on a Canadian Sailcraft 36T, which is a much larger, heavier boat.

The answer is fairly simple. For weight reasons, I didn’t want to carry a primary anchor, secondary anchor and a storm anchor on the boat. I wanted my primary anchor to be capable of functioning under all the conditions I might be anchored out during, including storms. I spent a few months researching anchors, and the next generation anchors seemed to be significantly better than the older, more traditional designs, so I decided to concentrate on deciding between the next generation anchors.

There are really seven next generation anchors that I considered. The Bulwagga was out, due to its very odd three-fluke design and the fact that the pivot point for the anchor shaft is a weak point in my opinion. The XYZ was out due to the excessively large fluke that makes using it on a bow roller almost impossible. I wanted one that could be used and stowed on the bow roller most of the time. That left the Buegel, Hydrobubble, Manson Supreme, Rocna and Spade anchors.

The Hydrobubble I dropped, mainly because I see it as a gimmick. If the design really requires the “bubble” to set properly, what happens if the bubble is damaged? That left the Buegel, Manson Supreme, Rocna and Spade anchors. The “bubble” also effectively reduces the weight of the anchor underwater, and in many cases, weight is what helps the anchor set properly and helps hold it in place initially.

The Spade I eliminated since it is a two-piece anchor. I wanted the simplicity and reliability of a single-piece anchor as my primary. Granted, a single-piece anchor is harder to stow, but it can’t be assembled incorrectly and it is much more unlikely to come apart in a storm. That left the Buegel, Manson Supreme and Rocna.

That Buegel has a flat fluke. It has less surface area than an equivalent weight Rocna or Manson Supreme. So the Buegel was out, leaving just the Manson Supreme and Rocna anchors.

These are both rollbar-equipped, concave-blade anchors. They are fairly close in surface area, given the slight weight advantage to the Manson Supreme, the Rocna actually has a bit more surface area. The main thing that decided it for me was talking and e-mailing the users of both anchors. The Rocna users replied very openly and at least one had previously used the Manson Supreme, and switched. The other thing was the construction techniques used in building the Rocna, compared to the Manson Supreme.

The Rocna is made up from three pieces—the blade, the stock and the roll bar. The blade is formed using high-pressure brake presses, similar to how the mast-mounting blocks on my mast step were made. The three pieces are then assembled and then welded. The finished welded anchor is then hot-dipped galvanized.

The Manson Supreme’s blade is made up of several pieces that are welded together. Manson actually mentions this fact in their advertising copy, touting a “Reinforced Double Skinned Laminated Toe”. However, the pieces are welded only along the edges, and as I understand it, the finished anchor is then hot-dipped galvanized. This means that if there is any damage to the anchor’s welded edge, the interior of the two pieces isn’t properly protected from corrosion, as it isn’t galvanized.

The Manson Supreme also has a slotted shank. The slot, in my opinion, merely weakens the stock by removing a good portion of metal from it. The “rock slot” is designed to allow you to easily retrieve the anchor by pulling the shackle up to the head of the anchor, where the anchor tripline would traditionally be attached.

My question about this is simple: How does the anchor know if the shackle has moved up to the head because your trying to trip the anchor and not because the current or winds have shifted 180˚?

Answer: Simple, the anchor doesn’t. So if you’re using the rock slot and the wind or currents shift 180˚, there’s a very good chance that you’re going to be dragging—not a good idea in my opinion.

Real World Performance:

How well does the Rocna 15 work in the real world? It is an excellent anchor. It sets very quickly on the first try. The main difficulty with the anchor is the fact that whenever you weigh anchor, it comes up to the boat with 20-30 lbs. of mud and sand on it. That isn’t a big problem in my book, since it is clearly doing its job.

To give you an idea of how quickly and strongly the Rocna anchor sets, most of the time when I set the anchor under power, I have to be very careful not to strip line through the windlass gypsy. After the first few times, I now cleat the line off, rather than relying on the gypsy to hold it when setting the anchor. The anchor also sets so suddenly, that I’ve nearly lost my bowperson over the pulpit when it set.

Additional Information

One interesting thing I found after all the research I did was the testing that Sail Magazine went and did. Their test results can be read here (warning PDF file). The graph from their tests is quite interesting.

The Rocna is clearly the best anchor of those tested, with a release point strain 30% higher than the second best anchor. While the Fortress may have done a bit better in maximum holding strength, it did far worse in maximum before releasing.

Tonight, on the news, I saw this story. Having been a caretaker for someone with terminal cancer, it is inconceivable that anyone would deliberately withhold cancer chemotherapy drugs from someone diagnosed with an 85–90% chance of survival.

However, Kristen Anne LaBrie, a 36-year-old Beverly mother did just that—deliberately withholding cancer chemotherapy drugs from her autistic son, Jeremy Fraser.  After undergoing the start of a five-phase chemotherapy plan, the boy’s non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma was in remission, and doctors had predicted his chances of survival at 85-90%.

Since being denied the chemotherapy drugs, his cancer has returned and the doctors now predict that the boy’s chances of survival are less than 10%. The boy had been doing quite well before his mother failed to fill his prescriptions and interfered with his medical care by canceling at least a dozen chemotherapy appointments.

The boy’s father has decided to discontinue the chemotherapy and focus on quality of life for his son due to the changed prognosis. Unfortunately, the mother is only going to be charged with reckless child endangerment. In my opinion, she should be charged with manslaughter at a minimum, since her actions will directly result in the boy’s death.

Here’s a quick update on most of the 2008 boat projects.

Main Hull and Cockpit

The ama retraction lines and Spinlock PX Powercleats have been installed port and starboard. I’ve actually tested the system on the port side at least, and it works as planned.

The new cockpit locker still needs a partition made for it so that the contents don’t slide into the rudder quadrant area. I hope to make that done this week and install it for this weekend.

The new opening port/instrument panel works quite well at night to help keep the boat cool. I am a bit amazed at how much a 5″ x 12″ port helps. If I had known this, I would have done this two years ago.

Rigging

The halyards led aft project is almost done. The new mast step with the halyard block mounting plates appears to be working as planned. All that is remaining for this project are getting the new halyards, mounting the winch, one more double line clutch, and the deck organizers. I’ll be using two stacked four-sheave organizers, which will leave me two spare sheaves for future expansion.

The system seems to be working as expected. The reason a fifth double line clutch is necessary is that I am adding a third reefing point to the mainsail, and need another clutch to handle the two additional lines for the third reef.

The lines led aft are the topping lift and boom vang to the port-side winch, the six reefing lines to the central winch, and the mainsail halyard and outhaul to the starboard-side winch. Even with all the lines led aft, I still have space for at least two more halyard blocks on the plates. The rest of the halyards are supposed to be ready on Wednesday, so, I hope to have them all installed on Thursday. I’l be re-using the old halyards to make the reefing lines.

I still have to install clutches for the two furling lines. I’ve since decided to install a Lewmar double line clutch instead of two Spinlock PX Powercleats. The main reason for this is the extra control and security the Lewmar line clutches will provide over the Spinlocks.

The new lazy jacks are installed and designed so they can be led forward to the mast to get them out of the way when sailing the boat. The new integrated mainsail furling system looks like it should work, but I’ll be testing it later this week, once the mainsail comes back from the sail loft. Malcolm, over at Harding Sails, has promised it will be ready Thursday afternoon/early evening.

The new mainsheet was picked up yesterday, and I installed it on the boat last night. I’m keeping the old mainsheet to use as an MOB billy and backup.

Electrical

The inverter has been added to the boat’s electrical system and is operating. The inverter has a breaker panel controlling its output, and there is a 30-amp breaker on the main shorepower AC panel for the inverter/charger. The only thing left to do on this project is to epoxy the mounting rails for the starting batteries and the inverter in place.

The AC and DC panels were basically completely re-wired as part of this project. While re-wiring the AC panels to accommodate the new inverter/charger, I realized that the outlet that Peter Kennedy Yacht Services installed was upstream of the GFCI outlet—which meant the outlet was not GFCI protected. In my opinion, this is stupid and negligent of them, but not surprising, considering the quality of his company’s work.

The reason I re-wired the DC circuit breaker panel is that PKYS had attached multiple devices to individual breakers without using a proper fuse panel or switch panel between. This is rather stupid and means that a small, low amperage device, like a GPS, was being protected by a 15 amp circuit breaker. The device would fry long before the circuit breaker would ever trip. I disconnected the multiple devices on each of the breakers and ran a single wire to either a fuse block or fused switch block and then from there ran connections to the various instruments or devices.

The “Electronics” circuit breaker now goes to a six-position fused switch panel. The GPS, autopilot, VHF, and instruments all have separate switches and fuses, two or three amp in the case of the GPS and instruments, larger for the autopilot and VHF. I also wired up the fifth and sixth positions for future expansion.

The navigation lights breaker now goes to a six-position fused switch panel. The six positions are: LED Anchor light, LED Tricolor, Foredeck LIght, Steaming light, Bow Bi-color, Stern light. The reason I have the stern light hooked up on its own switch is that the COLREGs allow a boat the size of mine to use an all-around white light in place of the steaming and stern light, so I can turn off the steaming and stern light and use the anchor light in their place.

The cabin lights breaker goes to a fuse panel and has one circuit for the head, one for the nav console and one for the galley light fixtures. The forward bulkhead mounted fan is connected to the head circuit, as is the central cabin overhead fixture. However, they’re now protected by a three-amp fuse, rather than a 15-amp circuit breaker, and shouldn’t be a fire danger.

I have a third six-position fused switch panel which will be installed for the “12 VDC Outlet” circuit breaker. This will become a miscellaneous use panel and will include the power to the cockpit solar panel sockets, as well as some other equipment I plan on adding in the future.

I’ve also standardized all of the “in-line” and panel fuses to ATC-type blade fuses. This reduces the types of fuses I need to carry aboard the Pretty Gee to ATC, MaxiFuse and MegaFuses. The MaxiFuse is for the main DC panel feed. The MegaFuse is for the inverter-to-house battery feed.

I also removed the carpeting from the area under the cockpit, since I only use this area for equipment storage, and switched the Trojan T105 batteries into a battery box—one of two identical boxes purchased at West Marine on clearance—that doesn’t require me to remove the inspection port for the starboard aft buoyancy compartment to inspect/check the batteries—again another of Peter Kennedy’s fine handiwork—just how much intelligence does it take to measure a battery box to see if it fits? The second box is reserved for when I increase the house battery bank size. I’m using the battery box Peter supplied as a storage locker.

I still need to run the rest of the wire for the masthead steaming/foredeck light. I’ve just ordered some 16 AWG/four-conductor cable to finish this job off.

I still haven’t done anything with the solar panels. They’re currently sitting in my friend’s storage shed. I need to get them working before I leave on any extended cruises. When I get to working on them, I will be upgrading the power connectors for them so that they can be used as either solar panel feeds to the solar panel charge controller, or as power plugs for 12 VDC accessories in the cockpit. The trolling motor connectors have three pins, so I could use them fairly easily to handle both functions.

Electronics

The new VHF unit is installed, and both the NMEA input and output signal lines are connected, unlike how PKYS connected my old VHF unit, which only had the NMEA input connect, not the output. I still haven’t connected or installed the hailer horn. I hope to have that installed in the next two weeks. I’m still trying to figure out where the best mounting point for it would be.

As part of the new VHF installation, I re-did the entire NMEA 0183 wiring setup on the boat. PKYS didn’t see fit to connect both the inputs and outputs of either my Garmin chartplotter or the VHF. This means that I would not have been able to see the position of a vessel in distress show up on my chart plotter in an emergency situation.

All in all, things are shaping up nicely.

Today, I went over to Wickford Harbor, in Rhode Island. I went to see if I could help Wyatt out with some issues he’s having on his Dehler 33. He seems to be having some problems with the VHF radio, which is original to the boat from 1997. I brought my SWR meter, a multi-meter and headed over to Wickford.

When I got to Wickford, Wyatt’s better half, Mechele, met me at the dinghy dock and we got in the dinghy, where Wyatt was waiting, and headed over to where his boat was moored. Once aboard the boat, I took a look at the cabling, since Wyatt had already replaced one of the coax connectors at the base of the keel-stepped mast. The cable that runs between the mast base and the VHF unit is 11 years old, the cable that runs up the mast Wyatt replaced two years ago.

I put the SWR meter in line on the VHF unit’s connection to the antenna. The SWR meter couldn’t be properly zeroed for the connection, indicating a problem in the cabling. I wish I had brought my spare Metz VHF antenna and the 15′ coax cable I keep with it in case of a dismasting on my boat, but I had lent both to Ken and Dottie, on Sea Spirit. If I had had the cable and antenna with me, I could have checked the cable between the mast step and the VHF and the cable going up the mast separately, with known a known good antenna and connector cable respectively.

I’ve asked Wyatt to get three more of the clamp-on coax connectors and 20′ of RG 8X coax cable. Once he does, I’m going to walk him through using the SWR meter to check the cable running up the mast. If that and the antenna check out correctly, I’ll have him try re-terminating the cable between nav console and the mast step. If that doesn’t improve the situation, I’ll ask him to replace that cable with the new one.

I think the problem with his VHF is the cable between the mast and navigation console. The end that goes to the VHF is only soldered on one of the two wires… and I think it was supposed to be soldered to both. The ground/shield wire is only friction fit against the inner shell that goes over the coax cable.

We then spent most of the afternoon talking about boats, improvements and changes we’d make to the Pretty Gee and the Dehler. We also got to see some of the National Guard Air Show that was happening in over Quonset. The Red Arrows were flying as one of the prime attractions.

The Dehler 33 is a German-built cruiser/racer that is fairly well executed. It is a bit narrow, especially when compared to a pure coastal cruiser like a Catalina, but has an interior that is fairly well thought out. My favorite feature of the Dehler is the integrated drop board system that is a part of the companionway.

The dropboards aren’t separate boards that drop into a set of rails, like I have on the Pretty Gee. They are built into a system that retracts down to form a high companionway sill. To close off the companionway, you pull up on the companionway sill, and as it rises, it spreads out into a four-board drop board system. By using a barrel bolt on each side of the companionway the drop boards can be set in four different positions—all the way down, where it acts as a high sill; halfway up—two boards high; three boards high or all the way closed.

However, this type of system couldn’t be installed on the Telstar, as it requires a companionway that has parallel sides, rather than a tapered opening—like that found on the Telstar. The only weak point of the execution of the integrated dropboards is that the bolts that support the system in various positions makes the top of the outermost drop board vulnerable to stress cracking at the corners, where there is a serious downward force when people press down on the locked boards when not in the bottom-most position.

Another nice feature of the boat was the cockpit table, which is an idea I am going to try and adapt to the Pretty Gee. The cockpit table is supported on a post that is attached to a dovetailed slot on a metal plate attached to the side of the cockpit bench base. The post has a swing arm that the table actually sits on. This allows the table to be swung out of the way of the companionway, so one can still get below fairly easily, even with the table in place.

I’ll try and get photos of these two systems when I visit Wyatt and Mechele next time.

One of the major projects this spring is something that I’ve debated on doing off and on. I finally decided to lead the halyards aft to the cockpit. Towards this end, I asked my friend Bob, of S/V Restless, to make up some hardware and modify the mast step on the Pretty Gee for me. He does beautiful work.

Here’s a photo of the new, modified mast step, with the halyard block attachment plates. The plates are made of 3/16″ 316 stainless steel plate and were drilled for 1/4″ halyard block shackles, and the bolts are 3/8″. The plates were then bent on a 70-ton hydraulic press brake. The holes in the mast step were drilled using a Bridgeport milling machine. I’m quite happy with the way they turned out. Thanks Bob!

Here’s a photo of one of the four new double line clutches I’m installing to handle halyards led aft. The deck in the area where the new line clutch went in is solid glass, and the line clutch is installed with four 1/4-20 bolts, and backed with an 3/16″ aluminum plate. The labels on the Lewmar clutch are wrong. The two lines going to that clutch are the outhaul and the main halyard.

The other three line clutches will be to port of the sliding companionway hatch. I am installing a third winch there, for dealing with the lines led through those three line clutches. I’ll post photos of those line clutches and the winch when I’m done installing them. These lines will use Harken ESP deck organizers, rather than the stanchion mount blocks I used for the main sail halyard and outhaul.

The new line clutches are Lewmar D1 doubles. The reason I went with Lewmar line clutches, besides the fact that the boat already has two Lewmar D1 line clutches used for the ama and net locking lines, is that the Lewmar line clutches have repeatedly been shown to have the least line wear and best holding grip out of the major brands of line clutches, as seen in this Practical Sailor 2006 review. The cam-based designs, like all line clutches other than the Lewmars, tend to abrade the line more than the Domino Plate system used by the Lewmar clutches.

The one major disadvantage to the Lewmar design is the somewhat limited line diameter their line clutches can handle. For instance, the Lewmar D1s I’m installing can only handle 3/8″-7/16″ (10-12 mm) lines. The Spinlock or Garhauer line clutches can handle lines from 5/16″ - 9/16″ in diameter.

Some brands, like the Spinlock XAS line clutches, can not be easily released under load, and as such I consider them to be line jammers, more than proper line clutches.

As part of this project, I removed the boom’s internal 2:1 purchase for the outhaul, since I will be using a winch to tension the outhaul there isn’t a need for an internal purchase any longer.

I will be using the sheaves freed up, by removing the outhaul purchase, for a third reefing point on the mainsail that I’m having Harding Sails install next week. The reefing system will be a two-line reefing system, much for the reasons described in the Pineapple Sails website. Four of the eight lines being led aft currently are going to be reefing lines. I have to get another double line clutch, so I can lead the third reef’s lines aft as well.

Also, as part of the halyards led aft project, I am ordering new halyards made of New England Ropes T-900. They will be slightly smaller in diameter than the existing 7/16″ Sta-set halyards, but much stronger. The BL of 7/16″ Sta-Set is 6600 lbs. The BL of 10 mm T-900 is 11,800 lbs. It is also much lower stretch.

New Main Sheet

I’m also installing a new mainsheet on the boat. It consists of Harken 2618 and Harken 2604 blocks, shown below. The new mainsheet is made of 100′ of 10mm T-900. It is actually stronger than the current 1/2″ Sta-Set mainsheet and should run more freely with the new blocks and thinner line.

One of my goals, as part of leading the halyards aft project, was setting up a new lazy jack system on the Pretty Gee. The original system only had two legs and really didn’t do a very good job of controlling and containing the main sail. This past week, I finished setting up the new lazy jacks and a new main sail furling system that does away with the need for sail ties.

The furling system consists of two pieces of shock cord run along the boom through four padeyes on each side of the boom. The padeyes are pop riveted to the boom. On one side, the shock cord has a hook setup on each segment between padeyes. To furl the sail all you have to do is reach over the boom, grab the shock cord on one side and attach it to the hook that is on the shock cord on the other side. This should keep the sail on top of the boom since the shock cords are attached along the boom, and removes the need for separate sail ties.

The padeyes are also attachment points for the new four-leg lazy jack setup. I added a block to the padeyes on the mast and ran some 5 mm line to them. I tied a section of line to the first two padeyes on each side, and a second piece of line to the second pair of padeyes on each side. Then I tied a bowline in each end of a shorter line, around the two fixed lines on each side. The long line running up the mast to the block was then tied around the top-most, short line, and the setup looks much like this drawing.

Both of these changes should help a lot when singlehanding the boat. Trying to furl the sail quickly was previously an issue for me, since I’m not tall enough to reach around the sail that easily.

Recently a friend asked me what work I’ve done on my boat. Here’s a list of the various upgrade projects that I’ve either done or am in the process of doing on the boat over the last two years. The ones with the asterisks are works currently in progress.

Main Hull and Bottom

• Installed Jacklines on port and starboard side of main hull
• Soda blasted, barrier coated and bottom painted hull with multi-year anti-fouling paint
• Upgraded ground tackle to two ten-inch cleats, six-inch bow chocks, bow roller and manual windlass—primary anchor went from a 12 lb. Danforth to a 33 lb. Rocna
• Added ama retraction lines with Spinlock PX powercleats for line control
• Replaced mast step with modified one with halyard block attachment plates for leading halyards aft

Cockpit

• Installed hasps for locking cockpit lockers
• Added sheet bags for genoa sheets
• Installed fuel/water separator to fuel line for outboard
• Installed fire extinguisher to port-side companionway rail
• Installed a bridgedeck, which is used as an in-cabin storage locker
• Upgraded motor lift to six-to-one tackle with integrated cam cleat
• Installed new hatch in cockpit floor to create small storage locker*

Cabin

• Replaced the drop boards with heavier Lexan ones.
• Installed drop board retention pins in the port-side dropboard track
• Installed deadbolt for locking cabin while staying aboard
• Added two solar-powered ventilators
• Installed fire extinguisher to compression post
• Installed CO detector
• Added Hella Turbo 12 VDC cabin fan to starboard bulkhead
• Added Camframo Bora 12 VDC cabin fan to navigation console
• Re-plumbed head to allow emptying of holding tank without pumpout facilities
• Installed opening port on starboard side of cockpit bulkhead, which also acts as instrument panel
• Build a new companionway ladder*

Electrical

• Upgraded house battery bank to two T105 golf cart batteries
• Replaced mast-top light to OGM Tricolor/Anchor/Strobe LED fixture
• Installed second 12 VDC accessory outlet
• Upgraded DC electrical system to include BlueSea Dual Circuit Plus battery switch and ACR to isolate starting and house loads
• Installed two switch panels—one for navigation electronics, one for navigation lights
• Added Inverter AC circuit panel
• Added Inverter-powered GFCI AC outlets
• Added masthead steaming light/foredeck light—this was needed to be USCG compliant under power at night.*
• Upgraded to an inverter/charger*
• Moved starting batteries from nav console to locker under companionway*
• Install two 130 Watt Solar panels and solar panel charge controller*

Electronics

• Added Garmin 192C chartplotter
• Added handheld VHF charging cradle
• Added iPod-capable stereo with cockpit and cabin speakers and cockpit remote control
• Replaced Raymarine ST60 instruments with TackTick wireless instruments
• Replaced original Raymarine 54 VHF with an Icom M504 with cockpit mounted command mic—this unit has an integrated hailer with automatic fog signals*

Rigging

• Added Dutchman boom brake with Spinlock PX powercleat for line control
• Upgraded lazy jacks to four-leg system for better sail control
• Added shock-cord mainsail furling system
• Upgraded backstay adjuster to four-to-one fiddle block with integrated cam cleat
• Leading halyards aft*
• Installed Spinlock PX Powercleats for Genoa and Screacher  furling lines*
• Installed line clutch for mainsail halyard and outhaul—still have to install three more line clutches*

I believe this is a complete list of the changes that have been made to the Pretty Gee from a stock Telstar. Most of the changes and upgrades were made as part of making her safer, more seaworthy, and easier to handle as a long-distance, single-handed cruising boat. Some, like the ventilators and the inverter/charger were to make her more comfortable to stay aboard. Many of these projects have been mentioned or documented on this blog.

Seven years, seven months and seven days ago was one of the happiest days of my life. It was November 4, 2000, and I married the most amazing woman I’ve ever met. I knew I was going to marry her the very first time I heard her voice. It is difficult to believe that today, she has been gone for seven years. Seven years ago today, at 11:00, Gee finally lost her short, fierce fight with pancreatic cancer.

We had known about the cancer since Easter 2000, when it was finally confirmed by a biopsy. When she was diagnosed, her father originally asked if I wanted to cancel our engagement. I said, “Gee’s illness doesn’t change who she is, how I feel about her, or what she has come to mean to me. And why would I abandon the woman I love, just when she needs me most?” He never raised the issue again. Apparently, many would have canceled their engagement under these circumstances. Gee and I married well knowing that our time together was probably going to be quite limited.

Gee Yun Kim was one of the most gracious people I have ever known. She was a person who cared for others the way we wish people cared about us. If I can be just one-tenth as gracious as she was, I will have accomplished one of the goals I set for myself after meeting her.

A good example of this is the time Brad came down to visit Gee, shortly before she died. She was in the hospital, having nearly died twice a week earlier, and had four central line IVs, an NG tube and was on oxygen and enough narcotic painkillers to down a herd of elephants. When Brad walked in the room, Gee asked, “Brad, how was your flight?”. Most people I know, especially if they were in the hospital under the same circumstances as Gee was, wouldn’t care how their flight was or much at all anyone but themselves.

Gee was also one of the most stubborn and strong-willed women I’ve ever known. I don’t think she knew how to give up. One of her favorite battle cries, when she and I would wrestle was, “Nevah!” and almost always heard when I asked if she was ready to give up. It was probably a good thing she was as stubborn as she was… since I’ve been called one of the most stubborn people in 20 generations of a very stubborn family.

According to the doctors, she should have died a couple of weeks earlier. The first time was when we called the ambulance and she was bleeding out internally due to a eroded artery in the area she had her surgery. The second time was when another artery bled out. The second time was in the hospital, and she received thirteen units of blood and six units of plasma, and managed to survive. When she came home, a few days before she died, she told me she had survived so she could come home one more time. I think she managed this through sheer stubbornness and strength of will.

Gee was smarter than me…and it took a bit of getting used to being a couple steps behind her most of the time. I got used to it pretty early on though. While we were dating, back in the summer of 1999, I called her up to ask her to change her U-Haul rental, since I was now going to be towing her car to Seattle, rather than her driving and towing a tiny trailer. She had already changed the trailer rental to a tow-dolly rental and changed the location to the one closest to my house, where we were going to be leaving from. My father loved that she could zing me and leave me speechless.

It is hard to believe this amazing woman, who I spent a mere 23 months and one day with has been gone for so long. I miss her still. In many ways, she is still with me… I am still working on my book, “No Greater Love”, which describes our time together. I guess my Life with Gee still continues in many ways.

Sunday, I helped Ken and Dottie bend the sails on Sea Spirit, their Cal 25. We took her out for a quick sail. Ken fired up the 8 HP Tohatsu outboard and we motored over to the swing bridge. We had missed the 14:15 bridge opening, so we waited for the next opening.

Once past the New Bedford Hurricane Barrier, we put up the main sail and unfurled the genoa. The wind was blowing about 20 knots, out of the southwest. As we were sailing, I noticed that Ken was having a fair bit of trouble with the genoa sheets, since the lines didn’t seem to lead fair from the fairleads. He was constantly getting overriding turns on the winch.

As Ken had inherited this boat from his cousin, who was a racer, I guessed that she single handed the boat a lot and probably had the genoa winches setup to cross sheet, allowing her to handle the genny sheets on the high side. I led the genny sheets across the cockpit, and it was pretty clear that Sandy had indeed set the boat up to cross sheet the genny sheets.

We probably should have had the genny furled a bit, but I haven’t sailed on a monohull in quite some time, and never had sailed a Cal 25 before. She was overcanvassed a bit, but Sea Spirit took it in stride. At one point, according to the GPS, we were making nine knots, which is excellent speed for a small 25′ monohull.

Ken and Dottie are just returning to sailing, after having spent some time away from the sport. Buzzards Bay is a bit more challenging than the lakes that they had mostly sailed on, and they’re both getting their sea legs back. There’s still a fair amount of work that has to be done on Sea Spirit, but she’s coming along slowly. The main sheet has to be re-worked, as does most of the electrical system. The plumbing also has some issues to work out.

I’m hoping that Dottie, Ken and Sea Spirit will be able to join me, my crew and the Pretty Gee for an overnight trip to Tarpaulin Cove sometime later this season.

I’ve posted video of Sea Spirit, Dottie and Ken from a sail they did last summer. You can see the video here.

My friend Alex was stuck up in New Hampshire for work. He lives in Portugal, but occasionally visits New England because of his job. Since I had some boat hardware for his boat, I went by his hotel yesterday to drop it off. Alex looked miserable, sailing withdrawal… Since my boat isn’t quite ready to sail at the moment, with the mast down and no sails aboard… I decided to take him for a little tour of New England’s boat building and fishing history.

Our first stop was the Essex Shipbuilding Museum. On Cape Ann, Massachusetts, in the little town of Essex, over 4000 wooden ship were built. Many of the most famous wooden schooners were built in this little town. When we got there, they were in the middle of the 90 minute tour, so Gui and I walked over to Woodman’s and got a quite bite to eat.

Back at the museum, the 90 minute tour includes a short film, about the Essex ship builders, which was originally an anti-communism propaganda piece. Then we were able to see a history of the progression of wooden boat building in the Essex, starting with relatively primitive cat schooners, and progressing to beauties like the Thebaud and the Columbia.

The small museum also has some of the oldest half-hull models for boats in the United States, most of which are on permanent loan from the Smithsonian.

The final part of the tour starts with a video on the Thebaud and its rivalry with the Canadian schooner Bluenose. This focuses on the history of the racing schooners, and the development of these sailing craft.

Only seven of the historic New England Schooners survive out of the 4000 vessels built in Essex during its 350 year shipbuilding history:

• The ERNESTINA ex/EFFIE M. MORRISSEY (1894, Welcome to The Schooner Ernestina — Official Vessel of The Commonwealth) is owned by the State of Massachusetts and hails from New Bedford;
• The LETTIE G. HOWARD (1893, South Street Seaport Museum) is a sailing exhibit at South Street Seaport Museum in New York City;
• The L.A. DUNTON (1921, Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea™ : Home) is proudly berthed at Mystic Seaport Museum;
• The ADVENTURE (1926, Home of the Schooner Adventure) is at Gloucester
• The EVELINA M. GOULART (1927) is at Essex (and in damn poor shape).
• The schooner yacht/pilot schooner ROSEWAY (1925, World Ocean School | Home Page) sails charters from Rockland, Maine.
• The pilot schooner HIGHLANDER SEA ex/PILOT (1924, www.achesonventures.com/highlandersea) as Port Huron’s flagship ambassador.

Here is a photo of the Ernestina, which sails my home waters, and is homeported in New Bedford today.

The small museum stands on the grounds of one of the oldest shipyards in Essex, that of A.D. Story. They are still a functioning shipyard and recently launched a boat. They still make small wooden craft here, and run educational programs for local school children.

From there, we went to the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center, in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The ships started at Essex, often were completed in the railways in Gloucester. The two towns had a symbiotic relationship with Essex supplying the ships and Gloucester finishing and manning them, and sending them out to sea to bring back fish.

Unfortunately, much of the GMHC is currently under renovation. But we were able to see the railway and they have one Essex-built wooden ship undergoing renovation. It is being converted from a schooner to a square rigger, and going to be used as a replica “Boston Tea Party” ship.

There’s a small museum next to the GMHC dedicated to the sport of diving. Here Alex tried on an old Mark V diver’s helmet. Gui’s actually been underwater in an old Mark V… I saw it… very cool.

If you have any interest in scuba diving, I highly recommend you visit this tiny museum and say hi to Paul, the owner and curator.

We then walked over to The Crow’s Nest. This is the bar that is featured in the movie The Perfect Storm. On our way back to the car, we stopped and looked at some of the fishing boats used in Gloucester’s current fishing fleet. Some of the boats mentioned in the movie were in the harbor according to Alex. Here’s a satellite image from the 1991 Perfect Storm.

We then went to see the Fisherman Memorial that is an icon of Gloucester and New England’s fishing heritage.

The names listed at the Fisherman’s Memorial have an unusually high percentage of Portugese names, since the fishing fleets of Gloucester and New Bedford were manned heavily by Portugese immigrants.

From there, we went to Halibut Point State Park. This is one of my favorite places. The beach here is made up of giant slabs of granite.

Unfortunately, the park was far more crowded that I expected, so we had to pass on it, since we couldn’t get into the parking lot. The park’s current headquarters building is a WWII era anti-submarine observation tower, which you can see in the background of this photo.

The body of water in this photo is the remains of an abandoned granite quarry. Much of Boston’s financial district was built using granite from this quarry.

We then stopped by the Rockport Granite Pier, which had some boats sitting on the hard and in the water and went to look at boats. Here is a photo of the Granite Pier Cove’s boat ramp and some of the boats stored there.

From there, we went to Rockport center. While in Rockport, we stopped in and got some ice cream. Here’s some trivia: New England eats more ice cream in the winter per capita than the rest of the country does in the summer time, weird, yes? Alex thinks we do it so we can warm up… He thinks New England winters are too cold…

Rockport is a tiny artist’s colony and major tourist trap. Motif #1, the red building seen in the photo below, is one of the most photographed, painted and drawn buildings in the United States. The actual building is Motif #1 v. 2, since the original was destroyed in the Blizzard of 1978. The town rebuilt the small building later that year. A few years ago I did a circumnavigation of Cape Ann in a friend’s boat, and we tied up to the granite pier right in front of Motif #1.

We also stopped by the Sandy Bay Yacht Club, to look at some of the boats that were in the process of being readied for the season, including a small fleet of Stars, Optimists and Club 420s. We were guests of the SBYC on the Cape Ann circumnavigation a few years ago, since my friend is a member there.

We ended the day by having dinner at The Rosa Restaurant in Portsmouth, NH.

I hope you guys enjoyed a day spent with my friend Alex… I certainly did.

Today was a good day.  As I was hoping, we got the boat launched today.  Here’s a spring boat projects quick update.

As part of the spring refitting, I finished up the mounting of the TackTick displays that I installed last year. Last year I upgraded my boat’s instruments to TackTick instruments after having some problems with my ST60 Wind instrument.

Since the port side cockpit bulkhead had two holes from the original Raymarine display installation, I either had to patch the holes or do something else with that space, so I could mount the TackTick displays.

I wanted to add a port to the space, since this would give me additional ventilation options for the boat, as well as allow someone to pass coffee or other hot food out to the cockpit when sailing in heavy weather, without opening the companionway.

So, as a compromise, I mounted the TackTick displays to the port. This allows the port to still open, but also leaves the instruments in basically the same position as the Raymarine displays were located.

Here’s a photo of the cockpit, where you can see the modified port on the port side.

I also upgraded the Genoa sheets controls on my boat to line-controlled genoa cars. You can see one of the new Garhauer Genoa car installations in the next photo. Since these have a four-to-one purchase on them, it should make adjusting the genoa fairlead position a lot simpler.

Here’s a quick update on the various boat projects going on at the moment.

The new line-controlled genoa cars have been installed. The new block and tackle for the outboard motor lift, that has an integrated cam cleat, has been installed. I’m upgrading the blocks for the backstay adjustment, and will be using a Garhauer fiddle block setup that has a cam cleat for that. That hardware should be here next week and will be installed then. I’ll post photos of the three installations soon.

The ama retraction blocks and lines have been installed, but I still have to install the Spinlock PowerCleats for the two lines. The colder temperatures have been making working with epoxy tough, but the weather this weekend should probably be good for that.  I also plan to add Spinlock Powercleats for the two furling lines.

I’ve got a friend making up the new hardware that will allow me to lead the halyards and control lines aft from the mast. As part of that project, I’ll be adding a boom vang to the boom brake. The hardware should be done sometime in the next two weeks.

Another friend is making the new panels that will mount on the navigation console, that I’ll be using to add the inverter AC panel. That project is on hold at the moment though, until we get the boat in the water. The VHF and the new inverter will be installed at the same time. We’ve already moved the two AGM starting bank batteries from the navigation console, to the compartment under the companionway. I’m currently investigating how to increase the house bank size.

I’m hoping to get the cockpit hatches installed this weekend. I’ve also got some gelcoat work to do. There are some nicks and gouges in the gelcoat, as well as some repairs to the head compartment that I have to work on. When I was down at PCI a few weeks ago, Will gave me some gelcoat to match the interior and exterior of the boat, so the color should be fairly close at least.

The masthead steaming/foredeck light has been installed. I still have to finish wiring the mast base end of the cable with a plug, install a through-deck connector and wire it into the lighting switch panel. That will all happen once I’ve got the boat in the water and the mast up.

One other project I should be finishing up this weekend is the new opening portlight that opens into the galley. It was installed in the port side of cabintop bulkhead in the cockpit, where the instruments used to be. Since I upgraded to the TackTick wireless instruments last year, I decided that cutting open the area the Raymarine ST60s were located in, and installing a port would be a better option than glassing over the holes that were there for the ST60 displays. This still meant I had to mount my two TackTick displays.

The way I did it should work out quite nicely, and I think is an excellent solution. I bought a Beckson 5″ x 12″ opening port, and the two TackTick displays are mounted to the port itself, and are effectively in the same position as the old Raymarine displays were, but the port can be opened for ventilation when at anchor. I should have this installed this weekend, and will post a photo of it then.

I am hoping that the boat will be launched on Sunday or Monday. Most of the remaining projects are pretty easily accomplished with the boat in the slip.

Woohoo!!!

I just got a package in from Garhauer Marine. If you don’t know what Garhauer Marine is, you’re missing out on one of the best vendors for blocks and such on a boat. They’re a family-owned company in California that sells both direct to the public, and to manufacturers. Catalina and several other boat builders use them for their stock hardware.

To give you an idea of their prices, the genoa traveler cars, lead blocks, and cam cleats for the 1-1/4″ x 3/16″ Schaefer track on the boat cost about half of what the Schaefer setup would have cost me, even using the trade-up from the pin-stop cars to the line-controlled cars that Schaefer offers.

Running Rigging Upgrades

One of the biggest upgrades this year is converting the genoa fairleads from pin-stop to line-controlled. This should make controlling the genoa sheet trim a lot easier. The hardware from Garhauer is very nice, and probably better than the upgrade I could have gotten from Schaefer. The system will be a four-to-one purchase, which should make controlling the fairlead position very simple. I also ordered the cam cleats for the genoa fairlead lines which mount on the track. This should keep the lines a bit more organized.

A new double block and double block with becket should make adjusting the back stay a bit easier. The new blocks are a huge improvement over the stock double blocks. They’re a bit beefier and should run smoother than the old blocks.

When I was down at West Marine the other day, I picked up 300′ of 5/16″ polyester double braid. This line should work quite well for the genoa cars, the outboard raising system and the ama retraction system. I plan on re-using the existing line for the backstay adjustment.

All of these modifications should make the Pretty Gee much easier to single-hand. As part of making the Pretty Gee easier to single-hand, I am planning on installing eight blocks on the mast-foot collar, to use to lead lines aft this spring as well. I have some Lewmar blocks that I found on sale at Defender last year that I will be using for these lines. I hope to be able to remove the mast step this weekend, so I can bring it home to modify it.

The biggest project is probably running the lines aft. This project involves adding the blocks to the mast collar, adding deck organizers to the deck and installing a new winch on the cabintop. The new winch will go just forward of the solar vent that is to the port side of the sliding hatch. This is the biggest project of the three, and when it is completed, I will be able to raise, lower and reef the mainsail from the cockpit. As part of this upgrade, I’m modifying the lazy jacks so they will contain the mainsail a bit better.

Deck Systems Upgrades

I ordered two of the three stanchion mount blocks, so I can setup the ama retraction system that another Telstar owner developed. I should have fairlead blocks left over from the screacher furling system and two Spinlock PowerCleats to use for this. Retracting the amas when singlehanding used to be reminiscent of a Keystone Cops skit. This should eliminate the running from the bow to the cockpit in an attempt to lock the amas down before they self deployed again.

The third stanchion mount block will be used to modify the outboard motor lift to make it possible to raise and lower the outboard from the cockpit. Again, this was developed by another Telstar owner. I should have a third Spinlock PowerCleat to use for this, but I think that will be my last one. Currently, you have to stand on the swim platform to raise or lower the outboard mount. Kudos to Ron for this upgrade idea. The idea was so well received that Will has considered adding it to future Telstar 28 boats as part of the production setup.

Electronics Upgrades

There is a new Icom M504 VHF unit that I am planning on installing—replacing the current Raymarine unit, which I haven’t been very happy with. The M504 also has a hailer/foghorn unit, so I will have to figure out where to place the horn for it.

Electrical Upgrades

The biggest project here is upgrading the 110 VAC panel and adding a Freedom 20 inverter/charger. This should take care of all the electrical needs I’ll have for a few years to come. I want to modify the navigation console so that working on the electrical system is easier. I haven’t figured out exactly how to do this yet.

Lighting Upgrades

I have to install a foredeck/steaming light, as well as an LED upgrade to the stern light. I’d also like to convert the bicolor over to an LED-based fixture. My friend Rick is supposed to have some LED-based cabin lighting for me as well.

Cockpit Upgrades

I have a ship’s bell to mount on the boat. Apparently, the ship’s bell is required by Massachusetts state law on boats over 26′ long. I found this out on the Vessel Safety Check I had done last year. I plan on mounting plates for the bell arm in both the cabin and the cockpit.

I also got two hatches in from Hamilton Marine. One is a large aluminum hatch, which I plan to use in the cockpit sole. From my examination of the boat last year, there’s a fairly large open space under the aft end of the cockpit. I plan to glass most of this space off and use it to store dock lines and such. However, I didn’t want to use a plastic hatch, since the cockpit sole is a structural member from what I recall, and think that the aluminum hatch should transfer loads across the boat as well as the original sole would have.

The second hatch is a much smaller plastic inspection hatch. This is going to be mounted in the transom bulkhead of the cockpit, between the two speakers I have installed. Apparently, this type of hatch appears to be standard on the newer boats, and allows access to the tiller stock as well as helping with access to the wiring in the aft end of the boat.

Other Projects

These include upgrading the propane locker and sealing off the cockpit lockers from the main cabin. Fortunately, I still have some fiberglass and epoxy leftover from the bridgedeck project last year. I would also like to make the bimini a hard bimini, so that I can stand on it when trying to put the sailcover on. Right now, I’m just a bit too short to be able to do that easily.

I would also like to make a new sailcover and dodger in Pacific Blue, to match the rest of the canvas work on the boat. Towards this end, I’m going to be purchasing some Pacific Blue Sunbrella and have recently bought a Pfaff 360 sewing machine. If I can get enough Sunbrella, I’d like to make lee cloths, weather cloths and a cockpit enclosure of some sort.

The ama retraction system, the genoa car upgrade, the outboard lift upgrade and the backstay upgrade should all be done this weekend. The Icom installation and 110 VAC system upgrade should take two weekends, since I have to re-arrange a lot of things. I have to get wire and heat shrink crimp connectors for the project. The two hatches and the ship’s should take about two days to do, since they’re not too complicated to do.

I’ll post photos and updates as I get the various projects finished. I have a lot of gear that needs to go to e-Bay. I’ll get to that this spring hopefully.

You can get most of the Pilot Charts and Sailing Directions on-line. The Pilot Charts are PDF files, the Sailing Directions are Zip files of self-extracting archives, which are, unfortunately, Windows-only executables. I hope you find them useful. If anyone needs the Sailing Directions in Mac or Linux readable format, let me know, and I’ll see what I can do. Here are some links.

Pub. 105 - Atlas of Pilot Charts South Atlantic Ocean

Not yet available for download, as they are still awaiting digital conversion

Pub. 106 - Atlas of Pilot Charts North Atlantic Ocean (including Gulf of Mexico), 2002

Cover
Synopsis
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Pub. 107 - Atlas of Pilot Charts South Pacific Ocean, 1998

Cover
Table of Contents
Article
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Pub. 108 - Atlas of Pilot Charts North Pacific Ocean

Not yet available for download, as they are still awaiting digital conversion.

Pub. 109 - Atlas of Pilot Charts Indian Ocean, 2001

Cover
Table of Contents
Article 1
Article 2
Article 3
Article 4
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Sailing Directions Planning Guide

Planning Guides include relevant physical, political, industrial, navigational and regulatory information about the countries adjacent to a particular ocean basin in a single volume.
Pub. 120 - Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia, 2007

Pub. 140 - North Atlantic, Baltic Sea, North Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea (Planning Guide), 2007

Pub. 160 - South Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean (Eroute), 2007

Pub. 180 - Arctic Ocean (Planning Guide), 2007

Pub. 200 - Antarctica (Planning Guide and Enroute), 2007

Sailing Directions Enroute

Enroute include detailed coastal and port approach information, supplementing the largest scale chart of the area. Each publication is subdivided into geographic regions, called sectors, which contain information about the coastal weather, currents, ice, dangers, features and ports, as well as a graphic key to the charts available for the area.

Pub. 123 - Southwest Coast of Africa (Enroute), 2007

Pub. 124 - East Coast of South America (Enroute), 2007

Pub. 125 - West Coast of South America (Enroute), 2004

Pub. 126 - Pacific Islands (Enroute), 2005

Pub. 127 - East Coast of Australia and New Zealand (Enroute), 2004

Pub. 131 - Western Mediterranean (Enroute), 2004

Pub. 132 - Eastern Mediterranean (Enroute)

Pub. 141 - Scotland (Enroute), 2007

Pub. 142 - Ireland and the West Coast of England (Enroute), 2007

Pub. 143 - West Coast of Europe and Northwest Africa (Enroute), 2005

Pub. 145 - Nova Scotia and the Saint Lawrence (Enroute), 2005

Pub. 146 - Newfoundland, Labrador, and Hudson Bay (Enroute), 2005

Pub. 147 - Caribbean Sea - Volume I (Enroute), 2007

Pub. 148 - Caribbean Sea - Volume II (Enroute), 2004

Pub. 153 - West Coasts of Mexico and Central America (Enroute), 2007

Pub. 154 - British Columbia (Enroute), 2007

Pub. 155 - East Coast of Russia (Enroute), 2007

Pub. 157 - Coasts of Korea and China (Enroute), 2007

Pub. 158 - Japan - Volume I (Enroute), 2007

Pub. 159 - Japan - Volume II (Enroute)

Pub. 161 - South China Sea and The Gulf of Thailand (Enroute), 2007

Pub. 162 - Philippine Islands (Enroute), 2004

Pub. 163 - Borneo, Jawa, Sulawesi, and Nusa Tenggara (Enroute), 2005

Pub. 164 - New Guinea (Enroute), 2004

Pub. 171 - East Africa and the South Indian Ocean (Enroute), 2004

Pub. 172 - Red Sea and the Persian Gulf (Enroute), 2007

Pub. 173 - India and The Bay of Bengal (Enroute), 2007

Pub. 174 - Strait of Malacca and Sumatera (Enroute), 2004

Pub. 175 - North, West, and South Coasts of Australia (Enroute), 2004

Pub. 181 - Greenland and Iceland (Enroute)

Pub. 182 - North and West Coasts of Norway (Enroute), 2007

Pub. 183 - North Coast of Russia (Enroute), 2005

Pub. 191 - English Channel (Enroute), 2007

Pub. 192 - North Sea (Enroute), 2007

Pub. 193 - Skagerrak Kattegat (Enroute), 2004

Pub. 194 - Baltic Sea - Southern Part (Enroute), 2007

Pub. 195 - Gulf of Finland and Gulf of Bothnia (Enroute)