Messages

I've been tossing some ideas around about the solar thing lately... without a bimini or davits what's one to do?  Under the boom is bad, on the dodger is bad so what's next? I've seen some other boats that hang their panels on the side life lines that are solid and extend further forward than ours do.  Has any one added stainless rails from the stern rails to the next forward stancion and hung them on thoses rails?  Would that span be too much for the new rail to be solid enough to hold the panels?  I figure they could be deployed most of the time unless the sailing gets pretty rough.  Also doesn't add length to your boat for those worried about the marina police   Just some ideas, if anyone has thoughts or experience with this set up I'd love to hear about it.

Our fluxgate is located in the bilge attached to the mast step, just forward of the mast.  I'm not sure about the deviation or if it is better here than in other locations.  I do know that it occasionally acts up and turns about 30deg to port and then slowly corrects itself to the original heading.  May have something to do with all the wires that run up the mast or some other mystical powers.  Research seems fairly inconclusive on this one.  Not sure if it's due to the location of the fluxgate or some other factor.  Just something to think about.

Does anyone have thoughts on the batteries Costco sells.  I am not sure of the brand etc.. but know that they do sell a 6V golf cart battery.

Our blocks are mounted to slides that attach to the T track on the rail.  When we plan to use the spinnaker, we slide the tracks w/ blocks onto the farthest aft hole in the track.  This positions them below the life lines.   The blocks have small pieces of bungee attached to them that we tie loosely to the life lines just to keep the lazy block from banging around.  The bungee is loose enough not to affect the blocks position when it is under load.  This also leaves the aft cleats open in needed.  Only down side is the extra cost of the slides. (a PO addition ) As far as if the blocks have a becket or not, I'm not sure.

Thanks for the replies.  Being on a budget, like everyone, we're looking used for our dinghy, so this limits the choices some and makes compromise a must.  People seem to hold on to their RIBs or want a lot of $$ for them.  Our though process went something like this...
1. I WANT a 10' RIB w/ 15 hp.  That cost waaay to much. 
2. A shorter RIB w/ 8-10 HP would be great.  Still too much, really hard to find used.
3. A longer inflatable, preferably hypalon, w/ 10 hp would be good.  We're getting close to the price range.  People seem to hold on to their hypalon rafts for along time, so most of the used ones are 10 years old.
4. A longer used non-hypalon infaltable w/ 8 hp would work.  (This is the price/availability range we find ourselves in)
5. A 9'ish non-hypalon inflatable w/ 4hp, new... that's what we can afford.
It's all about compromise   I'll try to remember to let everyone know where we end up.

I'm looking for some opinions about how well the SB-310 dinghy from WM would fit on the bow.  Ideally I'd opt for the SB-275 but we found a good deal on the 310.  I'm a little concerened about the length.  The specs say it's 10'-2", but that includes the tubes past the transom.  I figure we would snug it up to the mast upside down on the bow.  Does this leave you enough room to play with the anchor with the anchor locker open?  Would love to hear from anyone who has a 10'-2" dinghy.  How's it work for you?  Pics would be great if you have them!

I've recently been trying to make my reefing system easier to use while attempting to use the systems I have and to also maintain an effective sail shape once reefed.  I don't seem to be making much progress and would like to see if anyone has any advice.  I ultimately would like to have 2 reefs ready to use lead back to the cockpit.

Currently I have a single line reefing system.  The system uses blocks at the tack and clew cringle and the line passes inside the boom, exiting the top of the boom front and back.  (Exactly as shown in the wiki for single line reefing)  The issue I have is that once the reef is in, it is very difficult to shake it back out under sail.  It seems that the chafe point shown in the wiki (line exiting the boom forward thru tack block) makes it almost impossible to raise the halyard and sail.  I end up having to grab the line exiting the boom aft and pulling the reef line thru by hand and then raising the halyard.  While this works, its somewhat precarious hanging onto the boom under sail pulling the line out with no one at the helm.

I then tried running the single reef line thru the cringles without the blocks.  This simply created too much friction to shake out, but did create a nicer sail shape and was fairly easy to set.

I understand the double line reefing system, but my boom is set up to use a single line system and and I would like to avoid adding all of the external blocks and eyelets on the boom for the clew line and turning blocks and stoppers to get all the lines back to the cockpit.

What have people done to make their single line systems work better?  Is double line reefing the only "real" way to make this all work effectively?  Is it difficult for everyone to shake out their reefs and I'm just whining?  Any thoughts on system improvements, line type, block type/placement etc... would be appreciated.  Thanks everyone!

I'm considering this install myself, I like Bobg's idea with the allthread.  This may be slighlty off topic, but was curious about how everyone powered their TV in this location.  Where did you plug it in and how did you get the cord there?  Has anyone set it up to power off 120 and 12 volt in this location, what was your approach?  Thanks

I am looking to install the screen trim kit from Lewmar on the front hatch.  Problem is I can't seem to figure out what the dimensions/size of the front hatch are. Can someone help me out with a size number or reference to the hatch and/or screen trim kit.  It is on a '95, and is the Lewmar trapezoidal shaped hatch.  Thanks

I'm happy to see that's how it's done by most everyone here!
1. put on your sea boots - check (this makes it a little more yacht-like  )
2. Run hot water over them - check!
3. little plastic thingies are both broken by now - check!
4. smack the block with something hard - check
5. place 1 cube in your drink since they are huge and you don't want to displace too much liquor - check
6. sit in the cockpit enjoying your hard earned cocktail w/ self made ice, remembering to yourself that you are enjoying a cocktail on your boat while everyone back East is wondering what their boats look like since they have been buried in snow for the last 5 months! - check
Thanks everyone, looks like I'm on the right track.

We have recently vowed never to use our vertical ice trays again unless we are in a dire situation; (ie. 4 days out in a remote anchorage and desperately craving evening cocktails) as getting the ice out of the holders takes almost as much effort as walking to the store and buying a bag.  Does anybody have a more yacht like way of getting the ice out?  (Besides handling every piece and beating the c%#p out of the block to seperate them)  That being said...being able to make your own ice is pretty sweet!!

Quick trip update:  We ended up leaving from Ayala Cove on Saturday and had Southerly winds of 15 to 20 on the nose the entire way.  Only sailed about 1/2 of the way.  Foreward progress dropped to about 2.5 to 3 kts with the wind, swells and waves.  We planned on anchoring but after the beating we took on the way down we ended up taking a slip at Pillar Point.  Spent a nice day walking around the area and visiting the brewery on Sunday.  Monday morning we left around 0900 and after motoring past the breakers at Mavericks we had an excellent sail all the way back to Alameda with 10 to 15's from the North arriving at 1800; even got in a nice spinnaker run from Alcatraz to the the estuary.  Over all a great trip.  The boat did excellent both ways. 

If anyone is planning any extended cruises, in or out of the Bay, we would love to join in and broaden our horizons.  If we plan anything in the future we'll let everyone know as well.  Happy Cruising

We are thinking about taking a trip to HMB over Halloween weekend.  Leaving Fri Oct 29 and probably retuning Sun Oct 31.  We would love to have the company of another boat if anyone would like to join us.  Let me know and I can give you contact #'s etc...
Brian

Just an update.  Thankfully my seacocks are not the same as mentioned below, but I sure lost some sleep that week until I could get back to the boat and check!
I used a little of everything mentioned below and finally retrieved my handle.  Since I couldn't see anything under there, I used the digital camera and took pictures of my progress using the pictures as my eyes to guide my "two coat hangers taped together retrieval hook" into the correct position for retrieval.  Mind you it still took about 3 hours of this, fishing the coat hanger around, take a picture, look at picture to see progress, fish hanger around etc...
It's an interesting place down there, definitely learned a lot about how it looks by checking out the pictures.
I also removed the handle form another seacock and it fit perfectly.  So now if I loose one or the other I have a backup.  Hopefully this will not happen as the new plan involves drilling a small hole in the handle and tying them loosely to the piping attached to the seacock, so if it ever does fall off again, it will be easily retrievable.  Thanks for all the advice! 

I thought I would update everyone on what I've found since there really wasn't much of a direct response to the original question and there's not much info regarding this floating around out there.

My original question was; how do I compare price to price and sail to sail from different lofts when they all quote you a different sail size? 

What I've gathered is that none of us really has a 231 SF mainsail!  If you do, it probably looks really funny.  The 231 SF number is simply the area produced by a right triangle using your boom as one side and the height of your mast from the boom to the mast head as the other side of the triangle.  The 231 SF number is really an attempt at standardizing the quote you get and is what is shown on the original specs for the boat, even though your sail is probably not 231 SF!  Some lofts quote you this 231 SF number and some quote you the actual sail size.  In the end the sail they make is not dependant on a SF price and will almost always be larger than 231 SF.  In my case the three people I talked to, hovered around the 265 SF to 275 SF range.  Buying a new sail is a big decision with a high cost and not something most people do very often, so having all the information available helps put my mind at ease.  I hope this helps clear up some of the confusion for anyone trying to compare sail quotes in the future.