Bristol Channel Cutter Restoration

Rod Bobstay On

2012-01-07T18:03:00.002-06:00

Mast Hoops

2012-01-03T08:56:00.000-06:00

A rigging shop in Antibes, France, Gabier n' Rigging, gets the credit for leathered mast hoops.

Standing Rigging, NOT Going with Sta-Lok

2011-12-21T22:06:00.000-06:00

This entry is an update of an update of a previous one describing the standing rigging. Yes, I changed my mind again. All the stays will be Dyneema. The Dyneema synthetic rope offers more strength than the stainless steel, the lashings between the chain plate distributors and the line terminators will allow the system to load share and to give a bit should the forces on one or two components become excessive. The Dyneema line and the Colligo fittings offer a significant weight savings up high. The UV effect on the synthetic line is proven to be minimal out to 5 years. The line likely has full life beyond that mark. The system is easy to tune in the field and the "deadeye" look and feel goes well with the boat.

Dimensions
The mast is Sitka Spruce and measures 45 ft from the top of the ballast or 39 feet from the main deck. The diameter at the base is 6 3/4 inches. At the 32 foot mark the diameter tapers down to 3 inches. The stays and runners will be 9mm synthetic Dyneema from Coligo. The gooseneck will be 9 ft 4 inch above the keel step or 40 inches above the main deck or 22 inches above the house top.

Topsail Leader Line

A 9mm Dyneema leader line will attach to the top mast band to support the the bottom half of the topsail luff. A line terminator will connect to the lower eye on the aft side of the mast through a pair of 5/8 inch toggles. The terminator will fit the jaws of a 5/8 inch toggle but not the 1/2 inch toggle. With two toggles the leader line can align itself on deck transversely and longitudinally. After the boom is rigged up I will find a good deck location and attachment point that doen't interfere with the swing of the boom.

According to Brion Toss this leader line will make it much easier to strike the topsail regardless of wind direction. Brion adds that, “It will keep the sail inboard and bundled up whether it is going up or down. In addition, of course, the jackstay, properly tensioned, allows for a better to-weather shape, without an absurdly tensioned halyard. In addition to supporting the luff of the topsail the jackstay will be used to set a trysail on hanks.

Headstay

Just below the spinnaker halyard block the 9 mm Dyneema Dux headstay will be attached to the mast on a spliced soft eye against a bronze hound on the aft side of the mast 6 feet below the top of the mast at the 39 foot mark.. On deck a 1/2 inch distributor will pin to the middle eye of the cranse iron through a 1/2 inch toggle. The distribtor will be lashed to the line terminator.

Upper Shrouds
The upper mast band is positioned 2.5 feet further down at 36.6 feet on the mast. The upper line terminator will pin to the toggle not directly to the mast band so the shroud can line up longitudinally and transversely. On deck the 1/2 inch chain plate distributor will pin directly to the chain plate. The distributor and the terminator should be about 18 inches apart, connected by a 4 part 1/4 inch lashing. The jib halyard block and the upper peak halyard block will be attached to this same mast band.

Backstays
Next at 35 feet another split mast band will support the two 9 mm Dyneema Dux backstays and the lower peak halyard block. At the top the backstay line terminators will shakle or lash to the aft eyes of the split mast band. The lower terminator will pin to a whip consisting of two single blocks one with a becket. The falls will lead to the jib sheet winches.
Forestay
A third split mast band will be positioned four feet three inches further down at the 31 foot level to support the Dyneema Dux forestay on the forward face and the throat halyard block on an aft facing crane. The tang that faces down in the photo below has one 1/2 inch eye for the staysail halyard block. I will drill a second one above it for the forestay itself. I will also need a 1/2 inch jaw by jaw toggle to connect the line terminator to the tang. A single block for the staysail halyard will attach direct to the lower eye.

The shroud will attach directly to the gammon iron with a 1/2 inch line terminator on a jaw to jaw toggle. The toggle lets me use 1/2 inch fittings instead of 3/4 inch, allows more movement and turns the line terminator so it faces fore and aft. An exact length forestay eliminates the stack of fittings and lashings that would otherwise prevent the stays'l from falling all the way to deck level when struck. The other option is to put a turnbuckle up at the mast band. It would be a pain to get at but I am assuming you would only have to adjust one time. Once the rig is tuned the length of this stay will not change. Any fine tuning of this stay can be done on deck by adjusting the aft lowers and/or the runners.

Lower Shrouds

The lowest band is positioned just under the spreader at the 28.5 foot level on the mast. The lowers attach to the toggles on a 1/2 inch line terminator. The port and starboard topping lift lines will fall from two Coligo static blocks lashed to the eye bolts on this same mast band. On deck the 1/2 inch chain plate distributor will pin to the forward eye of the chain plate. The topping lift block will attach to the aft eye on the same chain plate. And like the cap shrouds the distributor and the terminator for the lowers will be about 18 inches apart and connect with a 4 part 1/4 inch lashing.

Dressing the Mast

2011-12-20T22:51:00.000-06:00

Between varnish coats we dry fitted all the mast bands and the new bronze spreaders. The upper shrouds attach to the toggles on the port and starboard sides of the top mast band. The jib halyard block will hang on the forward face and the upper peak halyard block on the aft side of this same band. Right now we have 7 coats of varnish on and 5 more to go. The first photo shows the sanded mast at the top band. The next shot was taken after the fog burned off (and it did, just like WD said it would) and we (Jorge) got coat number 7 down. Above the top mast band the mast is painted white.

The bronze spreaders are attached to the mast just above the bottom band. They sweep aft 3 and up 5 degrees and will direct the 1/4 inch 1 x 19 stainless steel wire upper shrouds to the top mast band.

After Christmas we should be ready to pull wire through the mast and install electrical components. I still have not figured out how to mount the spreader lights. Above the spreaders the steaming light will mount to the forward face of the mast. The steaming light indicates that the vessel is making way under the engine's power. The Koden radar antenna will be mounted on the mast above the steaming light. The wire bundle for these three components will exit the mast just below the spreaders.

Three more wires will have to continue on to the masthead, one for the tricolor/anchor light, one for the wind indicator sensor and another for the VHF radio antenna. The AIS antenna is going to have to live at deck level on the boomkin.

After the mast is fully dressed we will knock down the tent and step the mast, Once the standing and running rigging is installed the mast will be unstepped and boat and spars transported to the shipyard. Hope to launch by April but not on the first and not on a Friday.

Mast Carrier Morphs back to Whisper Trailer

2011-12-02T22:37:00.001-06:00

Whisper is a gaff rigged 18 foot Cape Dory Typhon knock-off. She also sank in Hurricane Ike. Since we are varnishing Rose spars and topsides daily we spread a bit on Whisper. The gel coat responded well to compounding, polish and wax.

Whisper's trailer has returned from temporary mast carrier sevice.

We have pulled Rose out from under the big top another couple of feet so we can install the boom glallows stanchions. The boom and gaff have 12 coats of varnish. The mast has 4 on and 8 to go.

It's the Little Things

2011-11-13T14:20:00.001-06:00

Progress is not quite as obvious as in the early stages but certainly more fun as equipment and systems fire up. Last week we started the Beta Marine engine. Runs like a sewing machine; it does'nt shimmy and shake at low RPM like the Yamar used to do.

Compass is in, lazerette locker complete, Climma AC and Technautics refrigerator both up and running. The instrutment panel over the chart table is close to completion. The left panel houses the computer monitor. Mounted on the center panel are battery monitor display, AIS, barometer, Maretron NMEA 2000 display, AC and refrigerator control/display panels and the ipod player. On the right side the SSB, VHF and computer will mount on three shelves.

Interior paint and cabinetry work is 90 per cent complete.

The mast is back from major surgery. An error during orginal construction had the mast 13 inches shorter than called for on the spar plan. Simon Hameka used a clothes pin scarf on the mast base to add 19 inches of length. We will make the final cut with a 2 inch tenon after we step the mast. We will step it once where she sits on the hard and then finally after we launch at Seabrook Shipyard. Whisper (the baby gaffer) is looking pretty smart as well.

Road Trip

2011-10-03T18:06:00.000-05:00

As I dicussed in an earlier entry the spars were built in Port Townsend, Washington.   At one point I considered hauling the boat to PT to marry it with the spars there, but in the end I decided to finish the project here in on the Gulf Coast. So with the help of a close friend we organized a road trip and hauled the sticks back home. The return leg took 73 hours, 49 of which were on the road.

In retrospect I should have built the spars here in Texas even if it meant importing the talent. I was too far out of position to supervise construction.

As a result it took twice as long as originally quoted and because of a misinterpretaion of the drawing or a breakdown in communication the mast is 13 inches shorter than the designed length.  May not seem like much, but trust me, it's huge.

Some thought was given to re-drawing the sail plan to fit the shorter mast. That was certainly an option but not a very good one. The sail plan as drawn is the best one for the vessel. So having essentially started from scratch and come this far without any major design compromises, why accept less than optimum. The plan
now is to add the 13 inches of length needed to get to
the 45 foot designed length using a clothespin
scarf ( Page 214 of "How to Build a Wooden Boat"). I found two 6 foot long 7 x 4 inch Sitka Spruce boards in Maryland and a local shipwright with mast building experience. So we are back in business.

Getting closer.  I'm now predicting a January splash.

Mainsheet Traveler Track Modified

2011-09-18T16:55:00.000-05:00

The Harken mains'l traveller track is bent horizontally to conform to the shape of the taffrail. This allows the track to be mounted on the aft trailing edge of the taffrail leaving room for the center single swivel ratchet block with cam cleat to be fix mounted on the taffrail centerline in front of the track. But the taffrail is also concave which makes the ends of the track lower than the center. In fact the track ends should be bent upwards so that the mains'l leech does not tighten when the traveler car is released to run downhill. In the photos below you can see the long radius wedges that have been bolted and glued to the taffrail to give the track the proper vertical shape.

Dingy Aboard

2011-09-18T16:14:00.000-05:00

The nesting dinghy is a bit too tall to stow on the house top but she fits nicely up forward. The bow section fits over the scuttle hatch bow facing forward and then the stern section goes on top. There's enough deck space to go forward on either tack and room to handle head sails or ground tackle. Grab rails on the dinghy bottom will make for a safer the trip forward.

The Dinghy's name is "Bud"

2011-08-27T22:39:00.000-05:00

In an effort to build a bigger little boat we added head room in the main salon by dropping the cabin sole 3 inches. A small microwave and 2 burner Wallas diesel fired cooktop replaced the Force 10 propane oven and stove opening up valuable real estate at the foot of the mast where the propane lockers used to live. The Technautics refrigeration system, specifically the compressor, is smaller and lighter than the Glacier Bay model formerly mounted in the lazerette. Moving the head off centerline and replacing the sampson posts with a deck mounted bronze equivalent opens up the forward cabin and sail and anchor lockers.

Stowing a big dinghy on a small boat is a challenge. Nestaway is an English company specializing in nesting prams and stem dinghys that respond very effectively to that challenge. The one I bought is 9 foot long with a 4 ft 3 inch beam. Nested the footprint is 5 x 4.25 feet. "Bud" just arrived and she is a very cool big little dinghy.

Latest Pics

2011-08-06T04:24:00.000-05:00

Hatch Before

Hatch After Teak Guard

Leathered Gaff Saddle

Locker Doors

Sail Locker Port

Sail Locker Starboard

Head

Running Rigging

2011-07-30T12:36:00.173-05:00

Tuning the rig fore and aft is a bit of a balancing act and this balance is easier achieved by leaving some stretch in the system. Without it, heavy tension on the jib halyard pulls the whole rig forward and the staysail luff sags off; too much on the forestay and the jib luff sags off. With a bit of stretch in the whole system the stays share the loads. Properly sized wire stays offer some stretch and 3/16 inch 8 plait lashing in lieu of Vectran for the Dyneema stays will leave some stretch in what would otherwise be an inextensible stay. With this in mind as well as overall weight and strength considerations the lower shrouds and the forestay will be 5/16" 1x19 stainless wire with 5/8 inch Hayn terminals, toggles and rigging screws. The upper shrouds will be 1/4 inch wire on 1/2 inch rigging screws. The headstay, jibe sail luffs, top sail leader line and running backstays will be 9 mm Dyneema Dux from Colligo Marine .

The main sheet will be white 7/16 inch spun polyester three strand. The two part jib halyard will fall to a bronze Lewmar two speed 30st winch on the mast and have to handle 1200 lbs of tension so I elected to go with Yale 7/16 inch PHD Racer line for this and all the other halyard applications. The blocks will be 4" ash by Dryade Classic Blocks with a variety of connectors. A Karver luff line furler will serve all of the free flying jib sails.

The mast will be supported fore and aft by a headstay from the cranze iron at the end of the bowsprit, a forestay from the gammon iron ( same as the bermudean plan) and two running backstays. Two pair of shrouds will stay the mast athwartship…… the uppers from a single chain plate 2 inches aft of the mast CL and a pair of lowers set on a double eyed chain plate 26 inches aft of the mast CL. The lower topping lift blocks will set on the second eye.

The topsail will set from a sheave at the top of the mast. The lower half of the top sail will hank to a leader line that terminates at upper peak halyard mast band. The spinnaker halyard block will be a strop block hung on theDyneema headstay looped against a thumb on the aft side of the mast .

The jib halyard will be set on a two part purchase with the mast block on the port aft eye nut and the dead end lashed to the port aft eye nut on the next lower band.

On the aft side of this band the upper peak halyard block attaches to the 1/2 inch eye with a twisted shackle to orient the block correctly.

The leader line will attach to the 3/8 inch eye under the peak halyard block. The port and starboard upper shrouds on Hayne fittings will attach to the 1/2 inch toggles.

The next lower mast band will have Colligo Dyneema 9 mm backstays with line terminators lashed to the aft eye nuts. The backstays will attach to a 2:1 whip reeved through a single block on top and a single with becket on bottom. The whip line will be low stretch Yale PHD Racer line. The lower single block will hook to the deck chain plate. The fall of the 2:1 whip will lead direct to the windward mains'l sheet winch. The whip will double as one of the two dinghy hoists.

On the aft side the lower peak halyard block will pin to the mast band like the upper, on a twisted shackle so that the block will be properly oriented fore and aft and still be free to move horizontally as the gaff twists off.

As mentioned above the dead end of the two part jib halyard will be lashed to port side aft eye nut. The fall will come from the block on the top band fair to the winch that will be mounted on the the port side of the mast just above the gooseneck. The jib halyard loads will be shared by two split band eye nuts.

The third band has only two eyes one forward and one aft. The 1/2 inch aft eye is for the double throat halyard block.The upper throat halyard double block ( a single is shown in the photo) is oriented athwartship with the lead off the forward sheave falling to stbd. The connector is hand strap shackled to the eye on the aft side of the band. The lower throat halyard block is a single with a becket and a twisted eye strap connected direct to the gaff saddle axle that runs athwartship so sheave is properly oriented fore and aft with no intermediate connector.

The tang on the forward side of the band has one 5/8 inch eye that I will use for a single stays'l halyard block. Like the jibs'l the stays'l halyard will be set on a single block with a fork conector pinned to the forward side eye. On the same tang I will have to drill another 1/2 inch diameter eye to accomodate the 5/16 inch ire forestay.

The Dyneema topping lift lines will attach port and starboard over Colligo static blocks spliced to the split mast band eye nuts.

The lowest mast band is just below the spreader band. Port and starboard toggles connect the aft lower shrouds to the Hayne Hi-modulus compression fittings. The turnbuckles at the chain plat will be 5/8ths inch as oppossed to the 1/2 inch on the 1/4 inch cap shrouds.

The port and starboard topping lifts are Dyneema looped to the boom and then up to a static single block lashed to the eye nut on this band and then down to a line terminator pinned to a fiddle block with slat strap connector and then down to a single with a becket on a slat strap connector on the aft eye of the double eye chain plate.

That brings us back down to deck level, All the halyards and downhauls will terminate at the base of the mast. Only the hauling ends of the port and starboard topping lift and backstay tackles will be in reach of the cockpit. The fixed gooseneck will have an integral pin rail for belaying halyards. In addition the port and starboard bulwarks will have a three pin rail midship, the same as the bermudean rigged BCCs.

The main sheet will be Harken reeved to a four part purchase with a fiddle block on the boom bail, a single with Becket on the traveller car and a single with cam cleat fixed to the center of the taffrail in front of the track. The mainsail outhaul car will run on a Harken track bent to conform to the taffrail curve and capped on each end with a 4 to 1 purchase system to make easy work of hauling the car uphill .

The bowsprit traveler will be on a two part purchase with a bronze cage block at the sprit end. For the sake of symmetry both the 1/4 inch wire upper shrouds and the 5/16ths stainless steel lowers will tension up on bronze turnbuckles, but the lowers will be on a 5/8 inch turnbuckle and the uppers on a 1/2 inch.

The mains'l outhaul is on a 2: 1 purchase with a car on a track attached to the bottom of the boom. I'll increase the purchase to 8:1 with the addiion of a 4 to 1 handy billy at the mast.

Salt Water Plumbing Complete

2011-07-17T21:09:00.076-05:00

After several misfires the sw plumbing design is now final and the system is installed. There are two thru hulls, a 3/4 inch aft that is dedicated to engine cooling water and a 1 1/2 inch located in the forward cabin that provides feed water for the water maker, air conditioner heat exchanger and wash down / fire hose service. I installed the 1 1/2 inch manifold because I had originally planned for a system that would flow through a manifold at a volume that would allow all three systems to run simaltaneously. What was I thinking? When would I possibly need to be making potable water while air conditioning the main cabin as I am fighting a fire? Clearly the seacock should have been 3/4 inch not 1 1/2 inch. But it made more sense to install a reducer rather than pull the seacock, reglass the hull and buy another seacock.

The salt water supply flows from the seacock, through a 3/4 inch strainer and then to a 3/4 inch 3 position diverter valve. This diverter valve is below the waterline and supplies the watermaker boost pump and another 3 way valve that provides supply water to wash down pump or the Clima air conditioner. One thru hull, seacock and strainer serves the airconditioner, salt water washdown system and water maker.
There are three wash down hose outlets, one up forward on the bow for anchor wash down duty, one on the port quarter deck and another down below in the head. The outlet in the head serves as a below deck fire water station and a source of flush water in the event there is a problem with the fresh water flush system. The outlets are made by Newfound Metals and are designed so that a hose can be connected or disconnected with the system presuurized.

Back on Point

2011-07-17T15:26:00.003-05:00

One of the three salt water wash down stations is flush mounted on the deck just starboard of the bowsprit. A chain hawse pipe for the secondary anchor is located on the port side. The Muir Atlantic 1000 anchor windlass with capstan serves primary ground tackle handling duty.

The Harken mains'l traveller track is bent to conform with the shape of the taffrail. This allows the track to be mounted on the aft trailing edge of the taffrail leaving room for the center single swivel ratchet block with cam cleat to be fix mounted still on the taffrail but in front of the track. The car is on a four part purchase to port and to starboard. A fiddle block on the boom bail and a single with becket on the traveller car completes the system. It's not very tradtional looking but in this particular case performance issues trump tradition. Mains'l control is more challenging on the gaff rig than the Bermudean.... the mains'l itself is 50 square feet larger and she will sail better if the sail twist is easily controlled.

I thought the bottom mast band would be fabricated with integral spreader band brackets but it's not, so I need to buy or build these. The spar plan calls for a pivoting spreader bar with 5 degree up and 3 degree aft tilt. This so the leeward spreader will be pushed forward out of the way of the mains'l when off the wind. Do you thru bolt the spreader bar or just wood screw and 4200 it to the mast? The spreader on Precipice, a wooden gaff rigged BCC, is the one drawn by Lyle Hess. I'm sure Jaun can build them but I need to contact the owner of Precipice to ask how his are installed. from the photo it looks like it is just sitting on top of the mast band. His are cetainly tried and true....if the Northwest passage is not a test I don't know what is.

The two peak halyard mast bands were to have had horizontal bails so the blocks would not bind when the gaff twists off the wind. Not to worry; I can modify plans for block attachment hardware. .

Golf in the Kingdom

2011-07-11T08:58:00.000-05:00

It was about 5 years ago when Lew called to ask me to go deep sea fishing with him and his only sister, Beth. Actually he was on one of his Good Samaritan missions. His sister Beth had cancer and she had always wanted but never been able to go deep sea fishing. "Puleez, come with us", he begged me. Neither one of us were fishermen but, hey; it's on her “things I really want to do before I die” list (I don’t like the term “bucket list”). I agreed to join them. Lew chartered a nice boat with a captain; we bought beer and snacks and left the dock early. The trip was a grand success even though Beth got sea sick. Throwing up didn't seem to bother her. I guess the side effects of chemo make "mal de mere" seem a walk in the park.

I asked Beth how she was doing when I saw her last week at Lew's funeral. She said, "Fine, my cancer is in complete remission". I told her that was wonderful, as I thought to myself, Lew and I could have been golfing that day.......an outing that I'm sure was higher on his list than deep sea fishing with sis. Beth was supposed to die and Lew wasn't; but she didn’t and he did.

I’m sure there is a deeper message here but the shallow ones always come to me first…the journey’s end is inevitable but the when is not something we can control or even predict? I am reminded of the time a former co-worker and I were waiting in the aisle to exit a just landed aircraft. No one was moving but some guy from way in the back is pushing and bumping his way forward, clearing a path as he went with, “excuse me, excuse me, excuse me”. Roger blocked his forward progress. In response to his even louder “excuse me” entreaty, Roger turned to him and said a bit louder than necessary, “we’re all going to the same place and you’re going to get there right after I do”; Rog loved a good fight and never missed an opportunity to start one. But I digress (master of the parenthetical).

I accepted Terry’s request to speak at the service and tried to stay within her guidelines. I said:.

"For over 15 years Lew and I worked together in the oilfield equipment business. We were sometimes competitors and other times partners. We were also close friends and golfing buddies. Over that time period, as you might imagine, I accumulated a large inventory of funny Lew stories. And while I am happy to share some of these with you, I thought today rather to offer a few thoughts from what may be a slightly different perspective on the man that was Lew.

When I knew and worked with Lew, he owned and operated his own oilfield equipment company. He called himself a junk dealer but in fact he bought surplus equipment, re-worked it and sold it to end users. His company distinguished itself as a reliable and trustworthy player in the market. But that honest and trustworthy brand attached more to Lew's name than the company’s. In short, Lew was a man of his word. If he said the deal carried a 4% commission, at closing that’s what he paid…….no back pedaling, no claw back. I am quite sure that Lew’s high standard of business ethics was a major factor in his company’s success. Working with him it soon became clear that Lew was decisive, pro-active and a risk taker. He was not a timid man. The stakes were high and the action fast at the typical oilfield auction….not a game for the faint of heart. If he was in attendance he typically set the tone. Lew understood the industry, moved confidently within it and always played fair. As a result he was highly regarded by sellers, buyers and competitors alike.

But Lew wasn’t just about business. We golfed together; writing down scores lower than we earned, abandoning those high ethical standards for an afternoon. And if you were golfing with Lew, he’s driving the cart; no discussion on that point. But don’t go to sleep in the passenger seat, the ride always proved to be adventurous. We never really figured that game out so we often found ourselves driving through parts of the golf course that better players rarely got to see.

But regardless of the setting, business or social, Lew was always kind and considerate to everyone around him. It was almost impossible to pay for a round of golf or to pick up a lunch check for that man. “I already have it covered”, he’d say, with that bigger than Dallas, cat just ate the canary smile of his.

And while he is gone from us now, we are not diminished by the loss. No, in fact, we are enriched by the example of his life. (Can you plagiarize your own words? ) We take solace in the knowledge that Lew began a new life when he departed this one and I can only imagine the joy and celebration when the Lord God, all the Saints and choirs of angels welcomed Lew into the Kingdom of Heaven."

Lew’s family seemed happy with what I said. But, what else would they say.......”your eulogy sucked”?

Now fast forward a week. I am on the driving range at 3 o’clock in the afternoon in Galveston Texas in July. It’s103 degrees and the humidity is 90 per cent which explains why I am the only one out there. Anyway, I’m using my driver to hit huge banana shaped slices that refuse to straighten out when a young lad only a head taller than my golf bag joins me on the practice facility. Despite there being 30 open stations, he sets up camp right next to me on my right side. Not only that, but it turns out he is left handed so we’re facing each other. He takes a minute to get organized. We don’t speak until he gets his ball teed up and then just before he takes a whack at it, he looks up at me and says, “watch this”……not so much as a hi, hello or howdy dowdy, just, “watch this”. His shot did not have a lot of altitude but it went straight. “Great! I thought, “even small children are better golfers than me”. I quickly got into the spirit of things, teed one up and directed him to “watch this” The conversation that followed led to a friendship and went something like this:

“Have you ever hit one all the way to the blue post” he inquired.

“I’ve hit some that far but they get crooked before they get there”.

"Mine are straight but they don’t go so far”, he replied. I assured him that his straight shots would get farther and farther but my crooked ones were not likely to get straighter.

“I’m Jason and I’m nine”.

“I’m David and I’m sixty-three”

“My Dad’s fifty-four”, he said, trying to make me feel a bit better about my advanced age, I suppose.

I said, “He’s just a baby”.

We continued to alternate shots, complimenting or consoling each other on each swing depending on the result. Jason then asked me, “how come you called my dad a baby?”. Realizing that I had insulted his Dad I quickly apologized and explained that I meant he was quite young compared to me. Without saying as much it seemed he had accepted my apology and we carried on demonstrating our shot making skills to each other.

There were no cars in the parking lot and there was no one else around. Curious, I asked young Jason if he lived nearby.

“We live in Houston but we have a house close to here. Sometimes my mom drops me off here.”

“Our family lives in Houston too, but we have a second house near here too”, I said. “Our house is on Petite Lane”.

“That’s our street!” he exclaimed, quite excited about this coincidence.

After confirming relative locations of the two homes and noting how cool it was that we were neighbors, we agreed that we would surely be seeing each other again. But just to make certain, Jason advised that, “If you see a kid wearing a baseball hat just like this one”, pointing to the LSU hat on his head, “that will be me. Or, if you see a kid shooting baskets in the driveway, that will be me too”.

We shook hands and parted company. The next day I saw him on the putting green with his junior golf camping buds. From the golf cart I shouted to him, “Hey Jason!”. I got a smile and a wave in return.

You sent him, didn’t you, Lew?

Spars

2011-06-21T22:20:00.002-05:00

Constructed by Bruce Tipton of Port Townsend WA the mast, boom and gaff are Sitka Spruce with bronze bands and fittings by Port Townsend Foundry. The mast is 45 ft long end to end which seems long for a 28 foot boat, but six feet of this length is inside the boat from the mast step to the main deck. The spreader band is only 22.5 feet above main deck level and the headstay is secured to the top mast band at 33 feet above the deck. The boom is 16 feet long and tthe gaff 14.

Getting the spars from Port Townsend to San Leon, Texas at a reasonable cost turned out to be a challenge. Bob Marsh came up with a plan that meant stealing the trailer out from under Whisper, my 18 day sailer and modifying it to accept the spars. My daughter-in-law's brother will drive my Expedition and the empty trailer to PT. I will fly up after the spars are loaded and make the return trip with cargo. Piece of cake!

Teak Guard

2011-05-29T11:11:00.005-05:00

A water based teak sealer from Australia that is advertised to protect the wood against oxidation. I found some good testimonials scattered around the worldwide web.

The bulwarks were rebuilt with new teak about 15 months ago. The boat has been under cover for most of that time but nevertheless the teak had grayed a bit. We sanded the the bulwarks to a like new honey color with 120 grit sand paper then applied two coats of Teak Guard. Looks great, but will it hold up to summer sun?

Before sanding

Sanded on left and one coat of Teak Guard on right.

Two coats

Tumblehome

2011-05-29T10:51:00.001-05:00

It's all about the curves........

It's all bout the curves

Into the Light of Day

2011-05-28T04:43:00.001-05:00

I didn't really get started until December of 08. Hurricane Ike sank her in early September but she wasn't recovered until the end of the month. I spent two more months wringing my hands over the sell or scrap decision and another month dickering with the insurance underwriters and organizing a move from the salvage/auction yard.

I figured two years to rebuild her. We used to build offshore drilling rigs in 16 months and that was from lay the keel to launch. It seemed a reasonable estimate. I missed that mark by a country mile and I'm still months from completion, but that's ok. I'll finish it when I finish it and that will happen right where she sits. I do not want to launch before all systems are in and function tested. In the mean time I keep my head in the game by dividing the project into segments defined by certain watershed events like:

Fishing her out of the harbor.

Cleaning her out.

New engine installed

New bulkheads tabbed in.

Bowsprit on

And last week pulling her out of the shed into the light of day.

Coming out, boss.

Adam supervising the move

Pics

2011-05-26T05:19:00.001-05:00

Sink in Forward Cabin

2011-03-07T11:30:00.003-06:00

I found a small sink for the head area. It's a 12 inch round copper vessel style that mounts on the top of the cabinet. ( The photos below are from the dealer brochure ) This style solves the problem of drain line interference with the air conditioner compressor that is mounted directly below. The sink drain line can now be routed alongside the compressor and aft to T into the galley sink drain. One 1.5 inch thru hull and seacock will serve both the galley and the head sink drains.

The faucet hot and cold water mixing valve will connect to a matching side spray fixture that will serve as a hand held shower.

The water maker has an output line to sample the end product. This circuit cannot be valved so I will look for a fountain spigot to mount over the sink. The brine reject water line will T into the sink drain below the counter.

Chain Plates and Anchor Rollers

2011-02-22T20:21:00.002-06:00

The cap shrouds will attach to the single eye chain plate now firmly fastened to the hull. The double wide chain plate will serve double duty to the lower shroud and the topping lift.

Should have installed chain plates before shelves.

The stainless steel backing plate is glassed to the underside of the deck. Sampson posts sprit heel is fastened with 3/4 inch hex cap srews 4 inches long.

Gammon iron fastened

Need to find 6 inch long 1/2 inch carriage bolts to fasten thru rub rail and hull.

Boomkin stays

Port side chain plates

Stem mounted rollers

Starboard side chain plates

Need to bellmouth anchor line bails so not to chafe rode

Seen from astern

Deck Chain plates for running backstays

Again but closer

Wide one aft for topping lift and lower 5/16 inch shrouds and forward for 1/4 inch cap shrouds

Teak and Bronze

2011-02-11T20:43:00.001-06:00

With Rose’s galley forward and settee aft configuration a permanently installed table would not be very practical. It’s in the way as soon as you go below and permanent table legs or deck fasteners would likely preclude using the sole as a third berth. My compromise solution is a small 24 inch square folding teak table that fits down below and in the cockpit. I know it’s a bit early to be worrying about where dinner will be served but I bought it anyway.

Bronze jewelry from Port Townsend arrived last week. I would have thought the mast collar flange fastener holes would have been larger, say ½ inch for through bolts. I am going to drill them out. The mirror finished deck chain plates for the back stay tackle and the sway hooks really do qualify as jewelry.

More Pics

2011-01-25T04:29:00.004-06:00

Port light insert

Main hatch with tempered glass.

Galley

Engine room

Instrument panel and chart table

Breaker panel, engine control, battery selector, bilge pumps controls, windlass breaker

Engine controls

Port side settee

Dorade boxes stereo speakers facing aft

Dorade boxes forward end

Main hatch, port side locker doors,starboard side port light insert

Locker cabinet door, muddy New Balance tennis shoes

Change Orders

2011-01-01T09:28:00.002-06:00

Change order no 420 (roughly):
Scratch the sink in the head; there is no place to put it. As I drew it up, the bottom of the sink would be right on top of the air conditioner. I could move it to the starboard side countertop but that wipes out a bank of 3 drawers. In hindsight I didn’t need it anyway....the galley sink is only 5 feet away. So, we scratch the sink, which means we don't need the sink drain thru-hull. Now we have an extra sink and seacock.

However, the hot and cold water lines have already been pulled to that location and we need a solution to the air conditioner pan drain issue. Running it into the bilge is not a good option. The new plan is to install a hand held shower and build a small sump pan with pump. The A/C pan can drain into the shower sump. A self-priming waste water pump will send shower gray water and AC water over the side at the transom.

Standing Rigging, Blocks and Tackle, Sheets and Halyards

2010-12-26T20:25:00.009-06:00

Material List

Two lowers
80 ft 5/16 stainless steel wire
2 ea 5/8 inch turnbuckles
4 ea 5/8 inch toggles
4 Hayn 5/8 Hi mod terminals

Two Cap Shrouds
100 ft 1/4 inch stainless wire
2 ea 1/2 inch turnbuckles
4 ea 1/2 inch hi mod Hayn terminals
2 ea 1/2 inch double jaw toggles (at top)

Fore Stay
50 ft. 5/16 inch stainless wire
1 ea 5/8 inch turnbuckle (top)
1 ea 5/8 inch jaw to jaw toggle
2 ea 5/8 inch hi mod terminals

Bow Sprit Shrouds
40 feet 5/16 inch stainless wire
2 ea 5/8 in turnbuckles
4 ea 5/8 inch toggles
4 Hayn 5/8 Hi mod terminals

Back Stays
80 feet 9 mm Dyneema
½ inch jaw to eye toggle
2 ea Colligo chain plate distributor ½ inch
Lashing x 2
2 ea ½ inch Colligo line terminators

Running Back Stay Tackle (4 to 1 )
1 ea 3.5 inch double block with fork connector
1 ea 3.5 inch single block with becket
1 each Colligo static block
2 ea ½ inch eye to jaw toggle
2 ea Diamond Deck chainplate w ½ inch eye for clevis pin
120 ft 3/8 inch Novabraid
2 web strops with D rings
2 tufnol snatch blocks

Head Stay
60 ft 9 mm Dyneema with leathered loop
1 ea ½ inch Colligo line terminator
Lashing
1 ea ½ inch chainplate distributor
eye to jaw toggle ½ inch

Spinnaker Halyard and Block
Ording 3.5 inch strop (long) block on thimble
1 ea Colligo soft eye shackle
Leathered loop around mast
100 feet 3/8 inch Novabraid belayed to pin rail

Jib Halyard (dinghy hoist)
150 feet 7/16 inch “Vectran V-100 braid ”
1 ea 4 inch block with an upset shackle connector. (on top band)
1 ea 4 inch block with snap shakle ( on sail, load)
2 eye jaw toggles (one on each collar to allow p&and movement)
Colligo C-5 Furler with stainless swivel
Thimble and shackle (for dead end of line to lower band)

Peak Halyard
160 feet of 7/16 inch Novabraid
2 ea 4 inch blocks with front shackle connectors
1 ea 4 inch block on spanhook connector
Gaff span ¼ inch wire thimballed to grommet

Throat Halyard
120 feet of 7/16 inch Novabraid
1 ea 4 inch single block with a becket on a fork (lower block)
1 ea 4 inch double block with a fork or eye connector (hang from crane)
2 ea jaw to eye toggles ( just in case)

Top Sail Halyard
120 feet of 3/8 (sheave size?) inch Vectran V-100 Braid
Bronze snap shackle spliced on

Stay Sail Halyard (Dinghy Hoist)
60 feet of 7/16 inch Novabraid
1 ea 4 inch strop block
1 ea bronze snap shackle

Main Sheet
106 feet of 7/16 inch New England Regatta Braid
2 swivel deck plate singles with cam cleats
1 non-rotating deck plate single
1 ea double block w/ eye connector

Jib Sheets
125, 100, 100 and 100 ft sheets 7/16 Novabraid
2 deck bulls eyes or 2 snatch blocks on web strop with D ring

Stay Sail Sheets
106 feet 7/16 Novabraid
2 ea 4 inch blocks on rail

Top Sail Sheet
1 ea Bronze Block
60 ft 3/8 inch Novabraid

Bowsprit Traveller
40 ft 3/8 inch Novabraid
Bronze block on cranes iron

Topping Lifts
70 ft. 9 mm Dyneema
2 ea Colligo 11 to 13mm static single blocks on multiplied strops attached to eye bolts.
2 ea line terminators

Topping lift tackle
2 ea fiddle blocks with fork and becket (Top one pinned to line terminator)
100 feet 7/16 inch Novabraid falling from top to pin rail at bulwarks
2 ea fiddle blocks with fork connector to toggle
2 ea soft eye shackles ( to shroud to keep block from swinging )
2 eye jaw toggles (one on each chain plate)

Sail luffs
Working jib, Yankee, Storm and Drifter 200 ft of Dyneema

Life Lines
2 Colligo life line kits with gates but use 9mm instead of 5mm

Totals by Vendor

Ording Blocks, Unfinished Teak
2 ea 3.5 inch fiddle blocks with fork connector
2 ea 3.5 inch fiddle blocks with cam cleats with ½ fork connector
1 ea 3.5 inch strop (long) block on thimble
1 ea 4 inch block with an upset shackle connector (on top band)
1 ea 4 inch block with snap shackle ( on sail, load)
2 ea 4 inch blocks with front shackle connectors
1 ea 4 inch block on spanhook connector
1 ea 4 inch single block with a becket on a fork (lower block)
1 ea 4 inch double block with a fork or eye connector (hang from crane)
1 ea 4 inch strop block
2 swivel deck plate singles with cam cleats
1 non-rotating deck plate single
1 ea double block w/ eye connector
2 ea 4 inch blocks on rail
2 ea fiddle blocks with fork and becket (Top one pinned to line terminator)
2 ea fiddle blocks with fork connector to toggle
230 ft 5/16 inch stainless wire

Hayn
5 ea 5/8 inch turnbuckle
8 eye to jaw 5/8 inch toggles
1 jaw to jaw 5/8 inch toggle
10 ea 5/16 inch hi mod terminals
2 ea ½ inch turnbuckles
4 ea 1/4 inch hi mod Hayn terminals
2 ea 1/2 inch double jaw toggles
12 ea ½ inch eye to jaw toggles

Novabraid
340 ft of 3/8 inch Novabraid XLE
975 ft of 7/16 inch Novabraid

New England
106 ft7/ 16 inch Regatta braids
120 ft of 3/8 inch Vectran V-100 Braid
150 ft 7/16 inch Vectran V-100 Braid
Lashing line

Colligo
3 ea ½ inch chain plate distributors
5 ea ½ inch line terminators
C-5 Furler with swivel
510 ft 9mm Dyneema includes sail luffs and lifelines
6 soft eye shackles
2 11-13 mm static blocks

Misc
5 ea bronze snap shackle
2 deck mount bulls eyes
2 diamond deck chain plates
4 web strops with D rings

Bowsprit Installed

2010-12-20T22:02:00.001-06:00

Captain Connor

Need to add 1/4 inch half round each side of gammon iron.

Anchor rollers attached at stem and main deck

From headstay to forestay is 8 ft 8 inches.

As at December 8th 2010

2010-12-20T21:38:00.000-06:00

Chart table, freezer left, refrigerator right, instrument panel framed for pc monitor. AIS and VHF.

On port side of sail locker one gallon fresh flush tank, holding tank and water maker pre-filters.

Bowsprit and main deck in way of sprit heel and sampson post.

Anchor Rollers

2010-12-07T19:16:00.078-06:00

The roller assembly I first bought was designed for a reefable bowsprit. Too big and too heavy. I cut a 6 inch piece off the tail to bolt to the bow.

The plate will extend outboard to capture each roller. The slots in each roller cheek engages the plate thereby fixing the angle so the Rocna anchor will ride below the bow sprit. The tail end of each PTF roller had to be trimmed to match up with the angle of the bow and the cover board was planed down so the gammon iron position did not change.

The anchor roller bails would be fine for an all chain rode but the sharp edges will chafe through anything else.

Gammon iron and rollers.

Plate through bolted to bow.

The rollers dry fitted on plate.

Sprit heel through bolts deck and stainless steel backing plate.

Picture Time

2010-11-26T19:23:00.002-06:00

Bowsprit goes from 5" x 5" square to 3 3/4" round. The cranse iron end still has to be planed back 6 inches.

First coat bottom paint.

Beta 24 hp

AC and DC panel

Adverc voltage regulator

Port side under cockpit...water tank vent lines, bilge lines heading aft and pot water lines.

Port side lockers above settee.

Looking forward into head compartment.

Electrical panels.

Head compartment then into sail locker and then into anchor locker.

Echo water maker in head compartment

Sail locker with water maker pre-filter bank.

Same as above.

Fore Deck

2010-11-05T17:55:00.002-05:00

Just aft of the stem a bronze plate is attached to the bow with 6 ea. 1/2 inch machine screws. The sampson post / sprit heal will be shimed and faired so the bowsprit will set at the correct angle.

The new Muir windlass will install a foot further forward than the ABI manual footprint.

The gamon iron is not installed. The anchor roller cheeks are slotted to fit on the plate fixing the angle so both anchors look down but stow without touching the hull.

Rollers and gammon iron.

Bowsprit heal installed on butt end. Dimensions are 5 inch by 5 inch to just past rollers then 4 7/8 inch diameter tapering to 3 3/4. The length is 12 ft 10 in overall; 8 ft 10 inches from forestay on gammon iron bail to headstay at cranze iron.

Current Photos

2010-10-30T10:16:00.002-05:00

Engine install almost done.

Raw water strainer, the thru hull has not been installed yet. Racor fuel filter and remote oil filter.

There are 5 ea. 1.5 inch hoses on the port side of prop shaft, two are water tank fill lines that head forward under the engine. The other three are bilge discharge lines. The manual whale gusher and the Rule 2000 submersible dive straight down to the bottom of bilge. The big high water Rule 3700 discharge hose makes it way forward under the engine to the bilge area between the two water tanks.

The Vetus dual chamber wet muffler is well below the exhaust gooseneck under the shaft. By design it splits into two pieces so you could actually get it out without pulling the shaft if you had to.

Engine battery will live in box below companionway ladder.

AC and DC panel, battery selector switches, galvanic isolator indiator light panel, AC outlet, primary and secondary bilge pump switches and engine start panel.

Port quarter berth.

Aft end of starboard pilot berth with Mastervolt 2000/100 inverter charger under.

Galley.

Air con vent over galley. Three small drawers north of chart table.

Sails and Mast Furniture

2010-10-28T22:22:00.003-05:00

Previous entries describe Rose's sail plan and the standing and running rigging configuration. The design of each has changed, not dramatically, but enough to warrant an update. These modifications will insure that tackle runs free and leads are fair.

The staysail will hank to the forestay and the halyard will be rove to a single block. With a sway hook on deck there should be no need for more than one block. The free flying jibsails, yankee and genoa, will set on a bowsprit traveller and a Colligo luff line furler. The Colligo furler has its own two part purchase block on the upper swivel. However, a two part purchase won't provide enough power to get 1200 lbs of tension on the jib luff. A properly sized self-tailing winch will be mounted on the port side of the mast to supplement the 2 to 1 purchase.

I will only have two jibs in my sail inventory, a yankee and a full working jib (110 genoa). The staysail will have one reef point. The main, staysail, genoa and yankee will be made from 7 oz clipper cloth. The two jibs will be white and the main and staysail cream colored. The drifter and the topsail will be cut from 4 oz light blue nylon.

Keeping the Water on the Outside

2010-10-21T23:51:00.005-05:00

There will be 8 below the waterline thru hull penetrations for two cockpit drains, engine cooling water, a speed and water depth transducer, galley sink drain, head sink drain, raw water intake ( to a manifold serving 3 washdown stations, the watermaker, and the AC/Heater) and the head discharge. All of the thru hulls except the trnasducer will be protected by 1 1/2 inch Spartan flanged seacocks.

A hose and/or seacock valve failure at any of these points could sink the boat. A hull breach as a result of a collision or an open or broken hatch or port hole in heavy weather are also threats to the vessel buoyancy. An effective bilge pump system might stem the flow of incoming water enough to buy time to effect repairs, send a mayday or launch a life raft. Day in and day out the bilge pump system will be charged with keeping the interior of the boat dry by removing any accumulation of casual water (a golf term?) in the bilge.

The BCC bilge is deepest ( and also narrowest) aft of the engine below the fuel tank. Further forward between the two water tanks the bilge is slightly shallower but accessible. With this in mind, Rose will be equipped with 3 bilge pumps, two electric submersibles and one manual diaphram pump.

The Rule 1100 is rated to 10 gallons per minute with 4 feet of head and will serve as the primary bilge pump. It's small enough to fit in the bottom of the bilge below the prop shaft and has an integral float switch and strainer. A larger Rule Model 3700 will serve as the secondary high water pump and will be situated between the two water tanks about 6 inches off bottom. The manual Whale Gusher 10 will be mounted on the lazerette side of the cockpit. Each of the three pumps will have its own discharge line with an in-line non-return valve.

So, assuming the engine is running, batteries are fully charged and a fresh crew member is manning the Whale Gusher, all three pumps working together will be able to remove about 45 gallons per minute. Finally, for cruising I will keep a spare Gusher with 6 feet of suction hose and a strum box, so if there's no power and manually pumping from the cockpit is not feasible........ pull the discharge hose off the Rule 3700 and connect it to this pump.

Rose Photos

2010-10-12T13:08:00.003-05:00

The re-designed, but not finished, anchor rollers are lighter (than the first design) but still attach to the gammoniron and stem of the boat not the bowsprit.

Twin 70 amp Nippon Denos alternators add to the engine dimensions but still fit nicely.

The 750 watt Countour microwave just barely fit in the upper cabinet space.

Two mastervolt 115 amp hour 78 lb AGMs reside just to starboard of companion way. The other pair lives under the quarter berth to port. You can just see the mastervolt 2000/100 inverter charger under the foot of the starboard side pilot berth.

Blues Seas Panel.

Looking forward.

Galley port side mid-ship.

Curtis wiring fresh water pump.

Chart table / Cool Blue reefer. (Copper sink goes the other side)

Epoxy, Primer, two part polyurethane.

Starboard stern.

Allcraft water heater in lazerette on port side.

Allcraft for now is not stocking their 5 gallon unit so went with 9 gallon....... got back some of the pot water capacity lost when I lowered the sole ( and reduced the height of both water tanks) to achieve 6' 3" headroom.

Shore power outlet on starboard housetop.

I think I will leave teak bulwarks natural.

Marine Sanitation - Keeping it Simple

2010-10-08T10:12:00.002-05:00

The Lavac head will be mounted on the port side of the forward cabin space instead of directly in front of the sail locker per pre-Ike layout.

The new holding tank is larger at 13 gallons and relocated from where it was situated before Ike below the sail locker deck just forward of the head to high on the port side above the waterline in the same sail locker space. The holding tank is plumbed with 3 lines on the top, the inlet from the head, the deck pump-out tube and the vent line. There is no option (no Y valve) to flush direct overboard; the head flushes only to the holding tank. However, as allowed by law once the vessel is 3 miles or more offshore, the overboard discharge from the bottom of the holding tank plumbs straight down to the overboard discharge seacock next to the head on the port side.

As discussed in an earlier entry on this same topic this is a fresh water only flush system thus eliminating the need for a raw water intake and associated anti-siphon loop and vent valve. There is no anti-siphon/vent plumbing needed on the discharge side either because the holding tank is above the water line. And of course the gravity discharge means no macerator or discharge pump.

The Fresh Flush device provides one gallon per flush of non-pressurized fresh water and is the central component in the system. If the water maker konks out and fresh water conservation becomes an issue there is a salt water line in the compartment that can be used to fill the bowl. It can't get any simpler.

AC Wiring

2010-10-06T15:22:00.003-05:00

Gary and his boys are getting after the re-wire project. I'd say 75% of ac and dc wire has been pulled to final destination points. The distribution panel is in as is the battery selector switch. The shore power outlet is installed on the starboard side of the house top at the sternmost end

The Mastervolt 2000/100 combi (inverter/charger) is also in place under the foot of the pilot berth on the starboard side. There is some question regarding the need for an external shore power/inverter selector switch. The Mastervolt documentation indicates that the inverter has an internal transfer switch for this pupose. There should be no need for another.

There is not that much to the AC side of this boat.....three AC outlets on one breaker, another on a separate breaker dedicated to the Contour 750 watt microwave, the 5000 BTU Climma air condtioner/heater, the Sonicview 17 inch computer monitor and the Allcraft 9 gallon water heater. Everthing with the exception of the water heater (including the air con) will run off the AC current provided by inverter.

There are two AC outlets from the inverter, the "Short Break" and the "Power". All appliances that can be powered from the inverter should be wired from the "Short Break" side; those that require shore power should be wired from the "Power" side. The water heater is the only appliance that has to run off shore power and should therefore be wired to the "Power" side; everything else goes on the "Short Break" side. Dip switches can be set to "generator support" or "power support" but not both. I will not have a generator so my preference is "Power support". ( I may carry a small honda generator but only as emergency backup to charge a dead engine start battery or run a drop light or two.)

Will post some photos later this week.

Lightning

2010-09-26T11:47:00.000-05:00

A wood masted vessel requires a different approach to lightning protection. If all the rigging is synthetic a heavy gauge cooper wire installed from masthead to deck, like the Strike Shield system, could provide a ground path that the aluminum mast would typically offer but I really don't want anymore weight in the mast. I had also thought about installing long chain plates like the Pardeyes in order to extend the stainless steel shroud ground path all the way to the water line. However, I don't want to buy another set of chainplates; I already have the standard length ones. So, if at the the dock I'll hope that lightning finds a taller mast than mine and if offshore and lightning moves into the neighborhood I'll clamp a battery cable to each shrould and throw the other end over the side. That probably won't save the electronics but it might prevent the mast from burning down.

Mast, Boom Gaff and Standing Rigging

2010-09-05T22:52:00.030-05:00

I have made several changes to the mast furniture design. The spars are nearing completion so it is decision time.

Just to recap the mast is Sitka Spruce and measures 45 ft end to end or 39 feet above the main deck. The diameter at the base is 6 3/4 inches. At the 32 foot mark the diameter is 6 inches and from there up the mast tapers down to 3 inches. The headstay, cap shrouds and runners will be synthetic Dynema from Coligo but the forestay and lower shrouds will be 5/16 inch stainless on 5/8ths inch rigging screws on bronze chain plates.

The Dynema headstay will be bridled to the mast against an aft thumb 6 feet below the top of the mast at the 39 foot mark. Since all head sails will be free flying the headstay's job is confined to mast support. And its only companion at this altitude will be the spinnaker halyard block on a strop.

The Dyneema 9mm cap shroud terminates 2 and and a half feet further down at 36.6 feet.  Since the jib halyard block, the upper peak halyard block and the topsail leader line all attach at this same height, a bronze mast band would serve best for an attachment point. The mast band ears for the peak halyard blocks should be horizontal not vertical so that the blocks don't get in a strain and rest comfortably regardless of gaff twist.

Next at 35 feet the two running backstays and the lower peak halyard block will attach to a mast band with three ears. The ears for the back stays will be vertical but peak halyard block ear horizontal.
Three feet further down at the 32.3 foot level the forestay is pinned to the mast band, the throat halyard block is attached to a crane and the staysail halyard block is attached on a strop over the mast band.

The single set of spreaders, the port and starboard topping lift blocks and the forestay share the 28.5 foot level on the mast.  To save the weight of another chunk of bronze the forestay will be bridled and the topping lifts will be on cheek blocks.

The gooseneck is 9 ft 4 inch above the keel step or 40 inches above the main deck or 22 inches above the house top.

Make sense?

Paint and Varnish

2010-08-13T18:26:00.000-05:00

The lighting below deck and the camera flash make bulkheads appear to be different colors. The interior paint is Awlgrip Cream. The varnish is also Awlgrip.

Cabin Progress

2010-05-20T21:51:00.002-05:00

The project slowed down for a few weeks but we are now back up to full speed. I am presently working on a major redesign of the anchor roller system that will cut the totlal weight by 40 lbs. Juan is back from a three week holiday and making good progress on the interior construction. Recent photos below:

From the companionway looking forward with the galley port and chart table / Cool Blue refrigerator freezer starboard.

From midship looking aft. Starboard side used to be settee with bookshelves behind plus quarter berth. Now we have narrower settee with 92 inch long pilot berth over and machinery space/storage all the way aft.

The rollers are tied directly to the cranseiron. The locking plate will be through bolted with 6 each 3/8 x 2 1/2 in bolts and large aluminum backing plate. The 15 kilo Rocna will look down and stow below the bowsprit.

I have uploaded more interior photos at Flickr Interior and anchor roller photos at Flickr Anchor.

And More Anchor Talk

2010-04-22T22:38:00.001-05:00

The bronze anchor roller with extensions that I bought from Port Townsend is not going to work. It was designed for a much larger boat and is way too heavy. It was also designed for a vessel fitted with a bowsprit that could be reefed forward to reduce the overall vessel length. I'll salvage the roller extensions and enlarge the hole in the standard gammon iron to accept the larger 3/4 inch shaft. One roller and extension will be positioned and attached to the gammon iron to accomodate a Rocna anchor and the other to handle an aluminum Spade anchor. Two Rocnas living side by side on the two gammon iron extensions would have fouled each other under the sprit.

Rocna recommends the model 15 for a BCC size vessel ( 33 lbs is weight enough). The anchor will shackle to 75 feet of 5/16 inch G4 chain spliced to 200 feet of 5/8 inch (16 mm) Gleistein polyester square plait (same as 8 plait) line. The entire rode will stow just forward of the mast to keep weight as close to the center of the boat as possible. The windlass gypsy grips the 8 plait line better than 3 strand and the plaited line stows in a much smaller space than a comparable length of nylon. The polyester has half the stretch of nylon, is stronger when wet and has better abrasion resistance.

The secondary rode will consist of an aluminum model 20 Spade (weighs only 9 kg) on 30 feet of 5/16 inch G4 chain spliced to 200 ft of 9/16 inch Anchorbraid 8 plait nylon. The entire rode is light enough to llive all the way forward in the anchor locker. The stretchy nylon rode is its own snubber at a 5 to 1 scope in 10 ft of water with 75 ft of rode out.

Manson makes an aluminum Danforth look alike that might work well as a stern achcor. After I get the gammon iron and rollers put together and the new bowsprit dry-fitted I will post a few photos that should illustrate what I am talking about more clearly.

Running Rigging

2010-04-10T12:53:00.002-05:00

The mains’l will be loose footed and set with a peak and throat halyard, an outhaul and a downhaul. The stays’l will be hanked to the forestay and set with the halyard rove over a strop block. The head sails; Yankee, jib and Genoa, will all be free flying from a bowsprit traveler on a Coligo luff line furler. The jib halyard will be on a two part purchase. The topsail, jib and staysail halyards will fall to port while both the peak and throat mainsail halyards will fall to the starboard side so the sail can be hoisted and doused single handed.

The upper peak halyard block will be on the mast band with the jib halyard block. The lower peak halyard block is attached to the next mast band down with the port and starboard running backstays. Another mast band still lower down the mast will stay the stays’l halyard block on the forward side of the mast and the throat halyard crane on the aft side.

The port and starboard topping lifts and associated lazy jack lines will lead to a pair of cheek blocks mounted on the mast just below the lower peak halyard mast band.

The spar builder and rigger share some concern about the peak halyard arrangement as drawn on the sail plan. They contend that the fall should be on the lower block to reduce the potential for chafe and the fixed standing end of the halyard should be attached to a block becket instead of the gaff to allow the gaff span saddle(s) to be released when the main is down thereby eliminating the need for slits or openings in the mains’l cover.

I disagree. If you move the standing end of the peak halyard to a becket you keep the 3 to 1 advantage but on a two point lift from a single span…..ok, but not as comforting as the designed 3 point lift. Or you could reeve a two span lift with two saddles and a 4 to 1 advantage, but that introduces more friction and a longer tail. In his book “Gaff Rig”, John Leather specifically says that the peak halyard fall should be led to the upper block to achieve maximum peak height. And, employing a sail cover without openings should not be a problem as currently drawn. The one gaff span saddle and the standing end secured to the gaff can both be released and the halyard belayed to the mast to install the mains’l cover.

Standing Rigging

2010-04-07T09:49:00.015-05:00

Bruce Tipton is an accomplished Port Townsend based spar maker. Bruce will build the Sitka Spruce mast, gaff and boom. Bruce will also install as much of the rig as possible before shipping to Galveston. In an effort to document the details as shown on the sail and spar plan drawings I have tried to describe the various components that make up the standing rigging below:

Each of the four shrouds will be 7 mm Dynex Dux line from Coligio Marine. The sprit stays will be 11mm dux and the headstays 9 mm. The aft lower shrouds will terminate at the spreader and at the deck level at Coligio terminator fitting, Vectran lashings and deadeyes on the chain plate.

The cap shroud is attached to the mast band that also supports the jib halyard block and the upper peak halyard block. The lower end of the cap shroud is attached to a single chain plate in the same fashion as the lowers. Also on this upper mast band on the aft side next to the upper peak halyard block is the upper end of the topsail and trys’l leader. If this leader line is permanently set it should stand well off the mast. Perhaps it should be on a Pelican hook so it can be set up only when needed?

The sail plan calls for the forestay to bridle to the mast with support from a chock on the aft face of the mast. But since the stays’l halyard block on the forward side of the mast and the throat halyard crane on the aft face of the mast will both be at this same height maybe a mast band that accommodates all three is a good solution? The new bronze gammon iron cum anchor roller assembly is designed to accept the forestay at the deck on its Y shaped fitting just above the inboard end of the bowsprit. If a pelican hook could be a part of the forestay end fitting, it could be easily released and tied back to the mast so that a light air genoa or the asymmetrical spinnacker could be easily tacked through the foretriangle. Mr. Burnett disapproves de-tuning the rig in this fashion.

The head stay is positioned a few feet above the mast band that secures the cap shroud and upper peak halyard block. Since all sails set on the sprit end will be free flying the headstay is only assigned to mast support duties. And its only companion at this altitude is the spinnaker halyard block on a strop so no need for a mast band here. The head stay will attach on a soft eye against a thumb attached to the aft face of the mast; and at the bowsprit end on a bronze turnbuckle pinned to the cranseiron.

The running backstays attach on the port and starboard side of the mast at the lower peak halyard block location. A mast band with 3 or 4 eyes and toggles can stay these and the lower peak halyard block. How to attach the runners on deck is less clear to me. They have to be easily accessed on the inside of the bulwarks so deck mounted pad eyes would serve better than chain plates. The leads should be fair to the self-tailing jib winches but not rely solely on them. They should be on a purchase and secure to a cleat or a cam cleat. I need to sit in the cockpit and take some measurements to see how these lines will fall.

OK I think I got everybody; two aft lowers at the spreader, 2 cap shrouds at the upper peak block in company with the jib halyard, the forestay between the lower peak halyard block and the spreader with the headstay, a pair of runners at the lower peak halyard block and lastly a topsail leader line running from the upper peak halyard block mast band to the main deck.

Materials list:

Dux for 4 shrouds, forestay, headstay, 2 runner pennants, tops’l leader, sprit stays and luff rope for genoa, jib and yankee head sails.
Black terminators and deadeyes for shrouds and stays.
New England V-100 line in black for lashings.
Bronze opening gaff span saddle.
Coligo luff line furler.
Bronze turnbuckles for forestay, headstay and sprit stays.
Bronze rod for bobstay.
Three black anodized aluminum (keep it light) mast bands, or just stick with bronze.
Tufnel blocks-singles, doubles and fiddles.
Gaff and main boom goosenecks.
Reef comb and bee blocks for reef pennants.
Bronze leathered gaff saddle.
Mast hoops black PVC.
Boom bale (send existing one).
Bronze deck pad eyes for running backstays.
Bronze mast bands.

More Anchor Talk

2010-04-05T10:32:00.002-05:00

Steve Dashew makes an interesting case for mult-plait polyester instead of nylon. The 5/8 inch breaking strength is 12,200 and at 30% of breaking the working load limit is 3600 pounds. The polyester holds its full strength when wet, has more abrasion resistance and stretches less than nylon. The 8 plait in nylon is readily available but in polyester it cannot be found in diameters under one inch in the US. It looks like Yale used to make it but it is not on their website now. Gleistein in Germany and Trem in Italy have it in 16mm.

The Fortress is a good option for a stern anchor. It's lightweight, stores easily and likes a short chain leader with the rest rode. The Fortress people suggest using a short 2 to 1 scope on initial set. This holds up the shank up and allows the flukes to penetrate.

If I use HT G70 chain I will have to buy oversize links to fit a shackle of equal strength. The chain gypsy will not accomodate 1/4 inch chain anyway so there is no reason to move up from G-4 to G-7 HT chain primary but it would make sense for a lightweight secondary.

ACCO 5/16” G40 chain has a safe working load (SWL) of 3900 and the Crosby 209A 5/16” shackle matches well with a WWL of about 4400 lb. The G70 1/4 inch can be used on the secondary and the stern anchor without any lose in breaking strength and combined with an aluminum Spade, or on the stern, a Fortress both of which can be handled without any help from the electric winch. The Spade Model 100 in steel weighs 20 kg, in aluminum 9kg and the holding power is no different. I think the aluminum Spade is a better choice than the stowable Rocna for the secondary anchor especially if the second anchor will be stowed on the anchor roller.

From Morgan's Cloud, "Our thinking is that once you have a good type of heavy anchor (we like SPADE or Rocna), having plenty of rode length is the next biggest contributor to anchoring security. It also lets you get away from the bumper-cars games in some crowded anchorages, by allowing you to anchor in deeper water than most other boats can."

Interior Progress Photos

2010-03-28T11:06:00.001-05:00

Several posts ago I was singing the blues over the longitudnal lines of the starboard side furniture. The pilot berth face and settee back traced a fore and aft line of its own mind outlining functional but formless furniture. It just looked crooked.

As shown in the photo to the right the fix is in. It is too early to visualize the end product but trust me, the reconstructed furniture is now fair.

Here are a few more photos of the current state of affairs below deck:

Secondary Anchor

2010-03-13T21:58:00.001-06:00

I have already talked about the configuration of my primary anchor and rode in a previous entry, but what about the back-up? The secondary anchor system serves as an extra in case the primary fails or is lost. And if the main anchor system failed as a result of overpowering wind and wave forces the secondary will have to be as strong as the first. Otherwise it will have no chance of success and by deploying it I will only be sentencing it to the same fate as the primary.

So the secondary anchor system I have in mind will be as strong as the primary, lightweight and chafe resistant. The primary components will include a stowable Rocna model 15 anchor with a 20 foot G7 1/4 inch HT chain leader shackled to 220 feet of 9/16 inch polyester (not nylon) 8 plait line with two 10 foot lengths of the same HT 1/4 inch stainless chain spliced in at the 100 foot and 200 ft marks. So…..in order, from the anchor end I will have a 20 foot chain leader, 80 feet of line, 10 feet of chain, 90 feet of line, 10 feet of chain and 50 feet of line.

I think the benefits of this design outweigh the short comings; I enumerate them below:

1. As strong as the primary.

2. With two 10 foot chain inserts wrapped in a plastic hose, bullet proof chafe resistance is assured, (if anything can in fact be assured) whether anchored in 10 or 25 feet of water.

3. If a quick disconnect is required I can unshackle at a convenient connection point, tie in a buoy and let her go. A sharp knife provides an even quicker disconnect.

4. With only 40 feet of chain and multi-plait line the whole system will be both light weight and compact. I can stow the whole rode all the way forward in the anchor locker.

5. The foredeck on the anchor roller will be home only to the primary system. The secondary Rocna stowable can live down below until needed rather than ride on the gammoning iron anchor roller next door to its big brother.

6. On the other side of the ledger I will not be able to rely on weight or cantenary for holding power so it will have to be all about the scope.

7. And there will be quite a few connection points in the line, each a weak link. So..... chain splices or seized shackles? I’m not going through the chain gypsy anyway so I may as well shackle it all together.

Looking forward to actually dropping the hook instead of dancing with the words that describe the event.

Footnotes.

2010-03-12T08:56:00.007-06:00

Bud is an 8' Trinka dinghy that under my command will be rowed to and from Rose (Rose.......Bud, get it?), but under the command of my grandson, sailed on venturesome voyages. Rose will remain under construction through this spring and summer so Bud and Whisper will stand in as seamanship and sail trim teachers. I expect them both to be unforgiving taskmasters.

Only a scant few years after inheriting a huge family fortune a local reporter found young down and out Ritchie in a homeless shelter.
"What in the world did you spend all that money on"? he asked.
"I spent most of it on women and whiskey; the rest of it I just wasted". Yuk.

I am only 3 for 14 on my month old "to do list". The Aerogel insulation material is in. I will use the 5mm for the inside of the hull and layer the 10 mm to build the icebox lid. The galley sink has been exchanged for the proper size version and the two new water tanks are ready to install. I think the pace will quicken once Juan finds port and starboard symetry in the main cabin.

Neil Young is selling his boat. Not rigged for single handing but looks like he has full standing headroom down below.

Holding Power - Primary Anchor

2010-03-11T22:38:00.004-06:00

From the bow there will be two anchors. The primary will be the hoss.... a Rocna Model 20 44 lb anchor on 60 ft (maybe 75) of 5/16" G4 HT chain spliced to 200 ft of 5/8" polyester eight-plaite line. The theory being there would typically be some rode out, thus eliminating the need to rig a separate snubber line. On a long scope, say 7 to 1 in 12 to 35 feet of water there would be enough rode out to absorb shock but unlike nylon not so elastic as to behave like a bungee cord in a strong blow. The rode would be secured to the sampson posts not a chain stopper. On a short scope in 10 to 20 feet of water, the boat would lie to all chain, or almost all chain, with a nylon snubber. The chain will stow down low in the bottom of the sail locker (where many BCC owners install a holding tank) to keep as much of the weight off the bow as possible.

An all chain system excluding the anchor would weigh 300 lbs as opposed to 90 lbs for a 75 ft chain system. The 210 lb weight savings can be dedicated to the monster dual anchor roller assembly with Rocna extensions, Anchor rollers , an upsize from a 15 to a 20 kg model anchor and the bronze sampson posts. "The obvious item to benefit from this weight is the anchor itself – a large anchor upgrade could result in a massive performance improvement, including greater tolerance to short scope anchoring, and still represent a huge weight saving."

The Rocna knowledge base Optimal Rode offers some interesting info regarding anchor rode design, tandem anchor setting ( don't try it unless you have a black belt), cantenary effect (does little or nothing unless you are a deep water anchoring guy), kellets ( throw them overboard) and riding sails (get one). The topic of heavy chain and cantenary versus scope is currently being examined on the BCC owners site. Rocna has very specific views on the subject and even though their conclusions are self-serving they make a lot of sense and appear to be supported by recent tests:. They say:

“We must examine the anchor's requirements, what it is capable of handling at any given angle of pull and for any given seabed, and how this compares to the forces that can be expected to eliminate most of the catenary curve from the rode.

In the West Marine testing in 2006, anchors around the 15 kg (33 lb) size were tested, with a rode consisting of 1" (25mm) nylon rope with a 20' (6m) leader of 5/16" (8mm) chain. The Rocna was the top performing anchor – Yachting Monthly reported "The Rocna was a powerful, impressive performer in our tests, recording instant sets at multiple 5,000 lb maximum (or near max) pulls at 5:1 scope." The behavior of the rode at these limits of performance were described by SAIL magazine, who commented that "the anchor's resistance produces whirlpools of turbulence [from the test vessel's propellers]... and a bar-tight cable."

So, it is clear that modern anchors are very efficient. Some, particularly the Rocna, also endure high pull angles fairly well, even in poor holding sea-beds. This means that the range of force vectors that the anchor can handle is quite wide, and it turns out that the majority of rode make-ups (at least those that are practical) lose most of their catenary curve well before the anchor is likely to be troubled. Beyond this point (once the rode is effectively straightened), the weight of the chain makes absolutely no difference to what the anchor will do, and the sole factor of import is the geometrical scope.

What does this mean?
The practical consequence of this is that it is not necessary to carry heavy chain merely for the sake of it. Rather, chain can and should be as light as possible, subject to strength requirements. Many boats could lose a large amount of weight by swapping to a lighter but stronger chain, and then investing part of that weight back into a larger anchor. Performance (holding power) of the system is thus substantially improved, while total weight is actually lowered.”

DC Electrical System

2010-03-09T21:32:00.002-06:00

My original DC system and battery management design has been modified. (Its hard to keep up with all the technological advances but I'm changing my mind as fast as I can (( by the way, I don't put a funny face icon behind my amusing remarks. I figure that if I have to send a signal alerting you to the arrival of humor it probably wasn't that funny anyway)) :-). Under sail or at anchor a Mastervolt 2000/100 Combi inverter charger will provide power to a few AC appliances including a small microwave oven, a 17 in computer monitor, a cell phone charger and the Climma air conditioner. Hey! You can't air condition a boat away from shore power! Yes we can! (That's a quote from someone.). Power a Climma 7 from a DC Source.

The battery bank will also be Mastervolt. Four 115 amp hour Slim Line AGM batteries will store 460 amp hours of DC power. Each battery is 22 inches long, 4.3 inches wide and 9 inches tall. One pair will be positioned port under the forward end of the quarterberth and the other pair will be positioned to starboard in the same location under the foot of the pilot berth. A separate Mastervolt type 27 will be dedicated to engine start duty and station itself under the bottom step of the companionway ladder. Battery amp hours will be replenished by the two 70 amp alternators running in parallel and controlled by a single Adverc battery management system with split charging of the two battery banks, engine and house, via 95 amp blocking diodes...... Twin Alternators. Dockside the Mastervolt combi 100 amp charger will assume regulated charging duties. The Adverc's DCM MKIII will monitor battery status. Adverc DCM Monitor.

The breaker panel may be slightly larger than it's pre-Ike predessor but its location under the companionway ladder will not change. The electronics breaker will tie to an electronics fuse box in the navigation area. The Muir anchor windlass will take power from the house bank not a separate battery. The engine start panel will be down below next to the breaker panel not in the sometimes very wet cockpit.

I am sure I am missing some vital info in this article and equally sure that I will be revisiting this topic long before I throw my first Lean Cuisine in the microwave.

Egalite'

2010-03-07T17:25:00.001-06:00

For two weeks I have been looking askance at the lines of my newly built starboard side pilot berth and settee. Every time I go down below, my new starboard side mid ship interior layout, like a crooked picture hanging in the doctor’s reception room, dumbly announces ….”This is just not right. Fix me”. In denial until now my response has been, “you’re fine, your seatback is not supposed to be parallel to the port side, besides it’s designed to be functional first and symmetrical second. It doesn’t look that bad; I am probably the only one who will ever notice”. Au contraire! It looks awful and has got to be fixed.

I’m an Idiot! I should have built a complete mock-up of the starboard side furniture before glassing it all in place. I was so focused on the dimensions of the pilot berth that I closed a blind eye to the lack of longitudinal symmetry. The two settees have to face each other squarely (master of the obvious ((in retrospect only)) ), that is to say, these two bulkheads must be parallel. The pilot berth measurements will then be whatever they will be. I designed it backwards forcing the measurements of the pilot berth first and then letting the line of the port settee back fall wherever the pilot berth location dictated. I can just picture myself six months down the road ordering the starboard settee seat cushion , “yes ma’am, a 4” deep cushion measuring 53” x 15” x 51” x 12”. “I’m sorry Mr. Kent; it’s against the Hippocratic Oath of seamstresses to make a seat cushion that ugly.”

Anyway, as my papa used to say, “It ain’t arms and legs, its only money”. The fix is of course is to tear it all out and start again which is what I will do starting tomorrow morning.

In a couple of years when we are seated across from each other, just the two of us, we will be exactly facing each other and you will be seated on a 52” by 14” perfectly rectangular settee cushion.

And symmetry ruled the land of Rose once again.

Weights and Measures

2010-03-04T20:53:00.003-06:00

Picking up a few pounds are we? I hope not, but let's get on the scale before we get too far along. A full dead weight survey would provide the detailed data necessary to calculate the port and starboard and fore and aft trim when she hits the water. For now I will simply stay aware of all appliances, equipment, variable loads and construction materials that have been or will be added, removed or changed as a part of the reconstruction project. Location changes are just as important as the net weight changes.
A weight addition or re-location far forward or far aft could cause her to hobby horse under sail. However, it is important to remember that she had a slight starboard list and aft trim before hurricane Ike so a little weight shift from starboard to port and stern to bow would not be a bad thing.

From the table below it is clear that my weight reduction program is thus far running in place. Like the man at the race track said, ' I sure hope I break even today, I really need the cash". The heavy sprit heel and bronze Sampson posts represent added weight right on the bow. The added batteries and heavier Sitka Spruce mast adds weight on the center line but the elimination of the oven and propane system mitigates that weight gain a smidge. I sanded off 5 coats of bottom paint.....that's gotta weigh something.

Shooting for an October splashing to see how she sits. Once we see actual freeboard and trim she will be put back on the hard for bottom paint and boot stripe.

New Water Tanks

2010-03-03T08:00:00.002-06:00

The new water tanks are 2 inches shorter than standard in order to get the extra headroom in the main cabin. Miller did a nice job but I had to take them back to have inspection ports cut.

Flowering

2010-02-25T14:00:00.002-06:00

A renaming ceremony should probably coincide with a christening but I'm going to jump the gun, and besides, I have to call her something other than "the boat" or "the vessel" while she is under construction. And since she will be "Rose" when finished that shall be her name going forward..

So "Sea Star" she was, before Hurricane Ike stole her and "Rose" she is after I stole her back. "Rose" as in rose from the bottom, as in mother-in-law Rose Watson ( picked up a few credits there, but promptly spent them on a kitchen pass allowing me to attend the Maine boat show). "Rose" as in granddaughter Chloe Rose and Rose as in "HMS Rose", a British Navy Cutter that harrassed a young American navy up and down the New England coast during the Revolutionary War and now rests on the bottom of the Savanah River.

Heads Up

2010-02-24T23:55:00.004-06:00

A Pittsburg entrepenuer has developed and now markets a fresh water toilet flushing device that taps into the boat's fresh water system to provide one gallon of pressure free potable water to your existing msp. The Freshflush system not only eliminates the odors associated with a salt water toilet flushing system but also the need for a dedicated raw water intake thru-hull, seacock and associated plumbing. The Freshflush tank is 10 inches in diameter,13 inches tall and automatically refills after flushing.

The conversion from salt to fresh water for flushing is a permanent retrofit that allows one to use existing appliances and plumbing circuitry. But there is no switching back and forth from raw to pot water using a Y valve or any other manifold system. It would just be a matter of time before a washed out valve turned the pot water tank to a salt water tank.

The raw water thru hull and intake line that used to be dedicated to the head will now be available for watermaker feed, anchor chain washdown and a 3 valve fire main circuit. The one raw water intake willl feed these plumbing circuits through a small Shurflow 3 valve manifold. One of the three fire hose outlet valves will be located in the head compartment. Should a fresh water conservation plan have to be effected as a result of water maker breakdown or other such, I will close the freshwater feed to the Freshflush and use the fire main hose to fill the toilet bowl as required.

Groco tested the system and reports that it works great even "heeling as much as 45 degrees". I am on the test boat heeling 45 degrees? Yes, you can look for me in the head.

All well and good for coastal and day sailing but what about the live aboard international cruisier? The water maker will be a dc powered EchoTec model 260 producing 13 gallons per hour pulling 38 amps at 12.5 volts. (Make your water while you charge your batteries!) Will be interesting to see how actual performance stacks up against advertised.

Fraud?

2010-02-22T14:05:00.005-06:00

The Pardey's built their Lyle Hess designed Bristol Channel Cutter from wood with no engine. They used (and may still use) kerosene cabin and navigation lights. They carried a minimalist package of electronics for communication, weather forecasting and navigation. It seems to me that they came very close to replicating not only the look and feel of the vessels that plied the Scilly Islands of Southwest England 150 years ago but also the experience of those who sailed them. I wonder why they chose a "modern" bermudean rig instead of the traditional gaff? I guess they weren’t really traditionalists when they first started their adventures; they were probably more like pragmatists on a tight budget.

Those of us who followed, switched to fiber glass hulls and added engines to get in and out of port and then to get home by Sunday night when the wind died. Many added lots of other goodies as higher tech equipment, appliances and construction methods became available. We were sell outs only pretending to be faithful to sailing traditions of the past.....frauds, if you will. No we weren't! We were simply taking advantage of today's technology to improve the safety and comfort of the experience.

Maybe there is a line that separates the practical modification from the affectation.....i.e. hemp colored polyester line. If I buy a carbon fiber mast and boom painted in faux spruce awlgrip I think it is safe to say that I will have crossed that line. But having changed her to gaff from a better performing bermudean rig am I not already the great pretender? It is very tempting. to buy the carbon fiber spars ....I could take 250 lbs out of the rig and still look like I chopped down a big pine tree for my mast. If they will get the price down a wee bit this is a fraud I might just perpetrate on the unsuspecting and uninitiated. :-)

More Recent Pics

2010-02-22T11:37:00.002-06:00

Galley port icebox starboard

Since she is coming back gaff rigged there will not be a backstay but I am keeping the boomkin anyway. I plan to install a Hydrovane wind vane on centerline inside at the apex of the boomkin and fill in the boomkin center area with teak grate work

Hard to tell from photo but the port side of forward cabin will have a sink with the Climma air conditioner compressor underneath and the head will be next to it with cabinets overhead.

Sailing Alone Around the Room

2010-02-14T23:22:00.003-06:00

These were taken a couple of weeks ago:

The galley is to port midship. From left to right there will be a sink, two burner diesel fired cook top and trash receptacle.

The nav station and chart table with icebox under is starboard mid ship. The ice box will be chilled by a Technautics Cool Blue refrigeration system. Forward of the ice box is enough room for a bank of 3 small drawers. Cool! (blue?)

The cabin forward will house the head and a small sink to port.....starboard will be cabinets hiding a Cool Blue icebox compressor.

You can see where Juan has drawn the storage locker doors on the face of the pilot berth bulkhead. This storge area will also be acessible from the top. The settee is yet to be built. The angle of this starboard settee as it extends aft will not parallel the angle of the port settee......I hope it doesn't end up looking funky.

The aft section of the pilot berth looks into a machinery space that will house a Mastervolt inverter/charger and the engine start battery.

Port settee as before storage under and behind.....two lockers and bookshelf over and behind.

Port quarterberth. Storage under and next to.

Sail locker

Good Ideas

2010-02-13T09:04:00.001-06:00

I get some myself. My best design work seems to take place at 60 mph driving to the boat (yeah I know, kinda slow; as my youngest son says, "Dad, your just not left lane material".) Other great ideas emanate from various googled websites. And then there is the archived emails electronically filed in the BCC owners website, Roger Olsen's book, "Practical Sailor", "Wooden Boat", "Classic Boat", "Hand Reef and Steer"......and on and on. Too often I celebrate the discovery of the elegant and yet simple solution to my very dilemma only to forget the details the following week; and even more maddeningly, I forget the location of my original discovery and am thus forced to re-google the topic. This time it's my wife who offers the simple if not so elegant solution to the retention problem..... "Write it down". Fine! I will write them down (another list). Here are a few of the good ideas, and solutions I have come across recently:

Bending on the Trysail........run a wire line from the mastband at the hounds to a turnbuckle attached to the main deck or the fife rail. Hank the trysail to the taut wire line and keep the sail tied off to the base of the mast.....especially interesting for gaff rigged vessels.

Man overboard maneuvering options most often discussed include the quickstop, figure eight and tack gybe and return. You're shorthanded, reaching during daylight hours. Head straight up into the wind, complete the tack but do not release the foresails i. e. Heave To. Launch the dinghy on the lee side and go get your MOB. Would have to be practiced but could be your best shot at successful recovery in certain conditions.

This one from Colin Speedie... "The addition of the Wichard Gyb’Easy has been a great success, slowing the boom effectively on its “slackest” setting, working as a preventer on its tightest—we really like it." A crash gybe with a heavy solid boom and running backstays would likely fall into the catastrophic event category so a self tending preventer makes good sense.

Same source in the "keep the water out of the boat" category. Put effective seals around lazarette and hatches. Seems obvious but worth another "note to self" based on the recent lesson in downflooding provided by Ike. Per Mr. Speedie, "We experimented with a couple of different mouldings before finding one that was perfect for our needs. We then sourced some much more robust and effective locker lid clamps that hold the lids down tight on the seals. As we have no watertight bulkhead aft, any water that could get into the cockpit lockers would find its way to the bilges pretty soon, so we’re glad we’ve cured that."

Current To Do List

2010-02-02T14:23:00.002-06:00

Finish roughng in the interior cabinetry in forward compartment.
Build a spreadsheet showing DC powered equipment and lighting plan.
Go out for bids on building the spars.
Buy inverter/charger, battery, SSB and VHF radio and add to other components on the testing bench. ( Move test bench from dining room to the yard)
Detail clean interior and prep for insulation and paint.
Finish plumbing fuel tank.
Dry fit gammon iron and anchor rollers, deck sampson posts,bow sprit and anchor windlass
Complete the engine install.
Dry fit Lavac head and have Juan tab in the shelf.
Beef up deck under anchor windlass and sampson posts.
Install Wallas cooktop, Climma air conditioner, Cool Blue refrigerator compressor, Muir anchor windlass.
Exchange Galley sink.
Buy some 10mm aerogel insulation to build icebox top and insulate bare hull.
Build new water tanks 2" shorter to fit under the newly lowered sole.

Progess

2010-01-27T22:35:00.001-06:00

Sucks, actually. I thought furniture would be finished by the end of this month. Looks like mid February now. Juan is great carpenter and fiber glass hand but I should stop telling everyone how good he is. The goal is to keep him on my boat not send him more work. I'll sing his praises after he finishes. Anyway, he only lacks main shelves in the forward cabin to have all the furniture structure roughed-in. Then I can power wash, detail clean and wipe dry the entire interior. Once that project is complete we will declare a two month moratorium on all below deck sanding so we can paint hull interior and inside of cabinetry. Then wiring and plumbing can start in earnest.

I hope I will be splashing the boat by September but I don't want to leave the shed early. I want to get as much done as possible before going in the water. Once in the water I will take her to Lakewood (floating docks!). I estimate another three months getting her dressed up for a christening party.

Onboard Computer

2010-01-27T21:49:00.003-06:00

The computer that will crunch Rose Point GPS and a Maretron NMEA 2000 calculations and display data is from "Small PC Company". This baby computer is a fanless shelf mounted 12 volt DC model SC 240 with Intel Atom 1.6GHz CPU, 512MB DDR2, 32G Solid State Drive, WinXP-PRO, external AC Adapter (12V DC), 10/100 LAN, 3 USB 2.0 Ports, VGA Port and dual HD15-VGA and HDMI video connectors. The Dimensions are 10.5" x 7.5" x 3.75".

There are other mini pcs on the market with similar features and capabilities but this one appears to be the most energy efficient. While bench testing systems I am operating through an AC adaptor but onboard the computer will be run directly off the dc side. I assume that a dc dc converter will be required.

The mini pc will drive two monitors one permanently installed on the nav station forward bulkhead. This monitor is a Viewsonic model VX1932wm-LED. The Led backlights keep the power draw down to a minimum........advertised to be 15 watts in a typical operating mode. The second monitor will serve in the cockpit as required and then down below mounted on the overhead above the pilot berth. This monitor will be a bit more high tech given that it will mount in the cockpit while underway, albeit under the dodger. The most promising candidate for this service is the new Argonaut 10 inch Tflex-G610LED with optional touch screen which appears to be feature laden and is advertised to be a power miser. We shall see once on the bench.

Roughing Out Interior

2010-01-16T23:36:00.004-06:00

I think it will be another 30 days before the interior construction is finished. Once the furniture rough out is done we can start machinery installation, plumbing and wiring. Photos I took last week show the current state of affairs down below.

The freezer space is on the forward end of the box and is as big as the fridge compartment in order to accept the Cool Blue Technautics cold plate. The freezer side has a bottom that conforms to the shape of the hull while the fridge side bottom is level. I think I can get a drawer under the fridge side.

The navigation station with chart table and fridge/freezer under is positioned at the forward end of the main cabin on the starboard side. The space is 53 inches long and will contain a small bank of 10 inch wide 3 high drawers at the far forward end in addition to the 36" long and 18" deep refrigerator freezer box.

The 25 inch high cold plate mounts in the freezer side of the box on the bulkhead facing the centerline of the vessel.

The Nav station faces the port side galley on the forward end of the main cabin. The doorway leading to the forward cabin is offset to starboard so that the 8" diameter mast does not block the access.

From the companion way we get a feel for the overall main cabin layout......port settee aft of the galley and to starboard, a facing settee (yet to be built) with pilot berth behind and nav station forward.

Looking dead astern from forward cabin.

The port quarter berth is 76 inches long and has storage below and beside.

The starboard pilot berth is 27 inches wide at the top and 33 inches wide half way down. Total length is 93 inches. The pilot berth does not convert to a double..... one mattress without insert. (Sleep two, eat four and drink 6) The area due south of the pilot berth will be dedicated to machinery space and storage. The only access will be from down below. There will be no starboard cockpit locker to get to this space. Based on our recent track record down flooding opportunities will be kept to a bare minimum.

The Sail Plan

2009-12-13T09:45:00.001-06:00

The Burnett sail plan differs from the original Lyle Hess gaff plan primarily in the fore triangle configuaration. The jib head is more conservatively poistioned just above the hounds.

Interior

2009-12-13T09:36:00.001-06:00

Starboard bulkheads and fridge box construction is underway. Once furniture is roughed in machinery installation, plumbing and wiring can begin.

Progress Photos

2009-12-13T09:13:00.014-06:00

Port Townsend delivered anchor rollers and lifeline stanchions.

Forward Cabin Configuration

2009-11-10T23:13:00.003-06:00

Also changing is the forward cabin layout. The new design will allow the anchor locker, sail locker and head areas to work more closely as one cabin for machinery installation, toilet (but not shower) and storage of sails, tools, spare parts and ground tackle I willl also take out the existing portside cabinetry and move the toilet off centerline and over to the port side. The bulkhead opening between the head area and sail locker will be enlarged. The holding tank will mount on the port side of the sail locker, the AC compressor in a portside cabinet just aft of the head and the refrigeration compressor on the starboard side.

In contrast to the main salon and galley the cabin before the mast will be workboat like in style with exposed plumbing, easy access to machinery and open shelves for spares and tools. And if I can get this Dell "all-in-one" to scan as advertised I will post a couple of drawings describing the new layout.

OK let's try this:

A bit rough but approximately to scale (no such thing). A few labels would also help. Anyway, she will have a port side quarter berth for a crewmen not longer than 6 ft 1"; the pilot gets a 7 ft. starboard berth; the third crewman gets the sole and the fourth, if any, will be a daysailor who can hot sheet with the quarter berth occupant should he or she require a catnap. The Galley will remain to port with the nav station/fridge box opposite. The head will shift from centerline to the port side and face a storage cabinet cum workbench.

Tweaking the Sail Handling

2009-11-10T22:37:00.003-06:00

Ed Burnett should soon have the numbers crunched on the revised gaff sail plan. His plan will emphasize the stays'l instead of the jib. The jib, genoa and yankee will be set free flying with a Colligio luff line furler offering an alternative method to strike sail. The forestay responsibilities will be confined to staying the top of the mast in opposition to the running backstays.

Changed my Mind

2009-10-30T15:56:00.002-05:00

I should have been a politician. I have become the king of the flip flop lately. I have now decided to stick with the previous plan (actually I think it was the prior previous plan) and restore Sea Star as a gaffer. "Is that your final anwser?" As a sailing friend of mine recently reminded me, "it's about the journey not the destination". I think the sail plan will be a bit different than Dilkara and Precipice ( the only two gaff rigged BCCs that I have come across thus far).

Boat Move

2009-10-30T15:44:00.004-05:00

Sea Star moved to her winter home in San Leon this week. This location may look familiar to the Bruckdorfers. I understand that they spent some serious time in this same shed building a Flicka.

Wireless Westsail 32

2009-10-27T23:25:00.002-05:00

Colligo Marine brought a "wireless Westsail" to the Annapolis Boat Show. Check out the aluminum bowsprit with no cranse iron.

Fore Triangle Sail Handling

2009-10-27T22:39:00.002-05:00

I want a handling system that will not require any bowsprit sail handling chores, will allow me to tack or gybe a spinnaker thru an open fore traingle and set a trys'l and storm stays'l without having to thread the luff thru a furler slot. I think I can do this using a variation of Shanti's running rigging plan.

First off, my sail inventory will consist of a main with 2 reef points, stays'l with one reef point and two jibs, a Yankee and a 130 genoa. For heavy weather I will carry a trysail and a storm stays'l, and for light air a drifter. The stays'l and storm stays'l will be hanked on to stainless steel wire inner fore stay ( or is proper term "stays'l stay"?) and rigged with a downhaul. The Yankee will be on a standard foil based type roller furler that can be reefed, again on a stainless steel fore stay. The backstay (SSB antennea) and both forestays will be wire, all shrouds will be Dynamee by Colligo. The Yankee will be the default jib and will not have to be struck to set the genoa or the spinnaker as these two sails will be set free flying tacked to a bowsprit traveller.

I believe Gary Felton on Shanti sets all jibs free flying behind the permanent fore stay on a Facnor luff line furler using a two part purchase halyard. He cranks down hard on the halyard to get 1200 lbs of tension, enough so that the Dynamee synthetic line sail luff actually takes over the head stay's job. If the halyard did ever fail the fore stay is there to reassume its duties. Gary has field tested his new system and proven it to be plenty stout. But some have suggested possible disadvantages to this system such as:

"Interesting to see the jib arrangement on the other boat. Note that he uses a modern furling gear, not a traditional Wykeham Martin. Either way, it is imperative with this setup that the jib luff takes all the load from the headstay. One problem that is quite common is for the (now slack) forestay to fall into the sail, get rolled up in it and thus cause a bit of a snarl up. I have to say I don't think Mr. Felton's traveller and roller gear etc. is big enough though. I think he will struggle to roll the sail in a breeze."

Others have suggested that a standard extrusion type furler is a better option than free flying head sails on a luff line furler:

"- The sail will hate to wrap itself around the small radius wire. The
head and tacks of these sails soon begin to look very stressed and
nasty.
- The luffs of these set flying, stiff wire sails always sag off,
affecting windward ability.
- If the sail is set behind a stand alone outer headstay, These saggy
stiff wire jibs had a habit of wrapping themselves in the headstay when
furling off the wind.
- The stiff wire makes a larger loop of sail for stowing below."

Mr. Felton's use of Dynamee Dux for sail luffs and his tensioning system respond to these issues but nevertheless I will try to strike a balance and hopefully accomplish my goals by using a foil based roller reefing system for a "permanent" Yankee and a bowsprit traveller for all other jibs'ls. The genoa as well asthe spinnaker will be free flying.

The inner fore stay will be attached to the stem on a highfield lever so it can be released and tied off to the mast out of the way when it is time to set a spinnaker or genoa.

The sequence for changing the sail set from Yankee plus Stays'l to a genoa or spinnaker with no stays'l would look like this:

furl the Yankee, drop stays'l, release and stow inner fore stay at mast, hook spinnaker or genoa tack pennant to bowsprit traveler, haul tack to end of sprit in front of furled Yankee, belay bowsprit traveler outhaul and lastly raise spinnaker sail in ATM sock on 2 part purchase halyard (all of this work is being done in the lee of the main). The spinnaker or genoa can now be easily tacked or gybed through the wide open fore triangle.

When it's time to drop light air sails and harden up to a reach:

douse the spinnker with the sock, release bowprit traveller outhaul and bring in the sprit traveler, unhook the sail tack, drop the spinnaker sail, secure inner forestay back into position at stem, hoist and trim staysail and unfurl yankee.

Unless I am missing something, with this system I can rig for heavy or light air without walking the sprit or messing around with that ATM saddle thing-a-ma-jig that attaches the tack to the furled jib and again has me walking the sprit.

Head Plumbing

2009-10-26T22:37:00.003-05:00

The plumbing circuit for the head will be straight forward with piping runs and valving kept to a minimum. I will sketch the plumbing circuits before I start buying the materials but first I will describe the system one component and/or line at a time.

The holding tank will have a 12 gallon capacity and will be installed on the port side of the sail locker high up on the hull and as far forward as possible. The top of the tank will be just below the main deck but with enough space to accomodate PVC fittings for pump out, inlet and two vent lines. The bottom of the side hull tank will be above the waterline thereby satisfying the anti-siphon requirement on the discharge side. The two vent lines will be located on opposite ends of the tank and vent to the outside on port and starboard sides.
The Lavac head will be tied to a to a Henderson hand pump on the sea water intake side. The top of the Lavac head will be above the water line but I will still incorporate a vented loop into the line. The manual henderson pump will be mounted on the sail locker side of the bulkhead roughly even with the top of the hoding tank. The keyed whale discharge pump contol and the ball valve that isolates the tank and whale pump will be mounted on the same bulkhead.

The holding tank discharge line will run from the bottom of the tank to the discharge seacock valve. When at sea the discharge seacock valve can be left open so the flush routes to the holding tank and gravity feeds straight thru and out the boat. In harbor the seacock valve is closed.

The pump out line will be a separate line from a pick up tube at the bottom of the tank running straight up to top deck through hull.

So holding tank up high with four lines: vent, on deck pump out, manual pump fill and gravity discharge. Now.......will it work? and to steal a line from "Marathon Man", "is it safe?".

I'll attempt to answer my own questions. Relying only on gravity for the tank discharge system is asking for a clogged line. But this is easily solved by installing an electric pump for the overboard discharge. but now that there is a pump in the discharge line you will need a tank shut off valve so that the holding tank contents do not sit on the top of the pump or drain thru the pump to the closed seacock valve below. In port then, the tank shut off and seacock valves are both closed. To empty the tank at sea, open both valves and kick the pump on. Once the tank is empty and rinsed close both valves. In principle it's best that the seacock valve be normally closed anyway.

Is it safe? I think so; as long as you have the tank above the water line there is no need for a vented loop on the discharge line side.

Some sail locker storage space is lost with the tank mounted in the sail locker on the port side but you pick up chain storage space under the sail locker deck. Even with the addition of the discharge pump and the tank shut off valve the circuit is still pretty short and simple. From start to end it goes, seacock intake, toilet, flush valve (Henderson bilge),tank discharge line shut off valve, discharge pump and discharge seacock valve. Of course the system includes an independent vent line and an independent pump out line. The lines will be a combination of PVC and hose.

Engine Aboard

2009-10-16T17:32:00.003-05:00

When Tony Brothers Wrecker Service arrived with the big rig I thought they might have misunderstood me . It appeared they were prepared to pick the boat up instead of the 350 lb Beta Marine. $150 cash to drop in the auxilliary..... best bargain thus far.

Pilot Channel Cutter Ezra

2009-10-14T22:19:00.001-05:00

Here are a few photos from our three day charter on 44 foot 26 ton Pilot Channel Cutter Ezra, home port Carboust, Scotland on Isle of Skye.

Back to Bermudean Mast

2009-10-14T21:30:00.000-05:00

The gaff sail plan that Lyle Hess designed for his BCC has a lot of character but that particular set up on the BCC would sail slower and lose as much as 10 degrees of pointing ability. This is based on a review by one of today's better known gaff rig designers. The gaff rig BCC carries 480 sq ft of sail: main, staysail and jib, 560 when you set the tops'l. The Bermudean carries 675 with main, stays'l and jib. The gaff rig would certainly look cool but I am not prepared to give up that much performance.

Electronics

2009-10-07T08:51:00.005-05:00

Lots of challenges in this category. Maintain the traditional look and feel of the vessel, take advantage of today's technology and still keep it simple. There is certainly a limit to how many antennas, sensors and instruments one can cram on to the mast head before she loses the BCC traditional image. And yet it is not necessary to do without GPS driven information, communication or weather forecasting capability. Note to self: be careful though, keep it simple or you will end up fighting downtime and maintenance issues and if you overdo it on instrumentation the whole restoration budget will be blown.

The heart of the system will be a low draw dc powered fanless mini computer (not high dollar ruggidized) permanently mounted at the nav station with standard keyboard and mouse. The computer will drive two VGA monitors, one a 10 inch waterproof touch screen mounted in the cockpit on the portside bulkhead and the other a 15 inch at the nav station. The computer will run chart plotter software and Maretron Nemea 2000 network software. I am leaning toward the Rose Point chart plotter software as they offer radar with chart overlay support in case I decide to move to Maine. The Nemea 2000 Maretron network will probably be the world’s smallest with tri-data info, gps and tank volume data only . Redundancy when Windows XP displays the blue screen of death?........ hand held Garmin and lead line.

Communication equipment will be VHF radio and AIS receiver with one antennae and a splitter. Does AIS fall into the Communication or Navigation category? Both I guess. Will Rose Point display AIS info on the chart. Maybe it would it be better to have a stand alone AIS with its own display so it does not have to rely on the PC?

Weather, I don't know yet. Maybe XM radio for the summer but they charge a fortune. Best to wait until I need to rig up for an extended cruise (outside of Galveston Bay would be a good start :-) )

Leaving for Annapolis tomorrow to attend boat show. The maritime shopping binge continues

Mast

2009-10-05T22:10:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I received a copy of the Gaff rig sail plan that Lyle Hess originally drew for the Bristol Channel Cutter. Good stuff ! I will scan it in before the week is out.

The pole mast stands 40' 4" above the water. The plan shows a a 120 sq foot yankee jib with the clew on 3' pennant line, a 126 sq. ft stays'l with the head on a 2 part purchase, a 243 sq foot main with one reef point and an 84 sq foot tops'l. The total sail area for this plan is 573 sq ft. With a full jib in lieu of the yankee the total area goes up to 675 sq ft. The plan strikes me as conservative. I would have thought the 8 ft bowsprit would have been 10 ft. And, surprisingly, the main is only marginally larger than the Bermudean cut mains'l. I want to be very careful about making any significant changes but on the other hand, I will probably often sail without the tops'l so more main and less top'l would be a good thing. I could add 6" to the boom length, 18" to the luff and a second reef point. The main then becomes 275 feet and the tops's 65 feet. I likey.

The spars will be spruce. The mast and gaff will be hollow and the boom solid. According to the Pardeys, stuff the mast full of aluminum foil and the boat becomes a much bigger radar target.

A rule of thumb.... 7/8" of mast diameter for every foot of boat beam, entonces 8" diameter mast.

Gaff or Bermudean?

2009-09-30T07:25:00.001-05:00

In his essay titled "The Ideal Sailing Rig" naval architect Michael Karstan discusses the advantages and disadvantages of different sail plans and hull shapes. He makes a compelling case for the gaff rig, albeit with a short gaff, no Tops'ls and a single bridled gaff halyard. A few questions immediately come to mind:

If the gaff has only one halyard do you sacrifice some trim capability and run a greater risk of fouling the main when you drop the sail. The throat halyard is for raising sail and the peak halyard for trimming. N'est pa?

With the more traditional two halyard rig you can drop the peak to "scandalize" the main and quickly de-power. I suppose you lose that capability if you have only one gaff halyard?

Just looking at the single halyard's angle of approach it appears there would be more potential for a fouled gaff when you drop the main. I would rather have to handle two halyards than climb the mast to unfoul a jammed gaff. Comments?
Below are excerpts from Mr. Karstan's essay relating specificly to his views on the gaff rig. To read the complete text click here What's the Ideal Sailing Rig?

Is the Gaff Rig Suited to Modern Cruising...?
If windward sailing is of paramount importance then of course the Bermuda rig has much to recommend it.

For modern day cruising the gaff rig is often maligned. In my view, for blue water voyaging the gaff rig has much to offer.

If a vessel's keel is shaped efficiently and if the sails are cut for maximum efficiency on the wind and if the sail plan has been designed well, a gaff rigged boat will perform incredibly well, in many cases besting the performance of
a high aspect ratio Marconi rigged boat. This is especially so if one is sailing on any course other than a hard beat to windward.

A gaff rig provides the chance to set more sail area on a given length of mast. For a given sail area the mast can be quite a bit shorter, so the mast will be that much stronger and will require less complex rigging to keep it in place.

The stiffness of a column is inversely proportional to the square of its length. A mast that is twice as long will fail with only one fourth the load, therefore must be four times stronger. One strategy is to use a heavier mast section. The more typical approach is to divide the mast into several "panels" by the use of spreaders. This is the "Marconi" rig. It introduces more stress, more places for failure, more cost, more maintenance, etc. For racing, this is of course justified.

For general cruising however, we can make a good case for keeping things simple and strong. If set up simply, a traditional rig will be friendly and easy to use. For example, one will be handling soft lines rather than harsh stainless wire and winches. If the sails are laced, we will have eliminated sail track and other hardware, along with its relatively much greater expense. This is not to say that one should be old fashioned... far from it!

For example, nearly all the masts I specify are welded aluminum tube or pipe. These are perfect for the gaff rig as well as for the low aspect Bermuda rig. Compared strictly on a strength to weight to cost basis, aluminum pipe spars are impossible to improve upon.

As further example, among the gaff rigs that I have drawn, one will observe that I prefer short gaffs without tops'ls. Primarily, this is for reasons of simplicity, efficiency, and ease of use. The penalty in excess rigging required for gaff tops'ls is more than I'm usually willing to fool with while sailing. In my experience, due to that added complexity, gaff tops'ls often just sit in their bags unused. In exchange for the added complexity of rigging, gaff tops'ls ordinarily provide little gain in terms of usable sail area.

Notes on the Short-Gaff Rig
My short-gaff sail plans are meant to address the shortcomings of the traditional types of gaff rig sail plan. By using a short gaff with no tops'l, there is more luff length to the sail. With a longer luff on the lowers, the lower sails are able to perform much better when on the wind. As an added bonus, sails are not broken into such small units, so are able to be more efficient on all points of sail. As a further bonus, this arrangement permits a single halyard on the gaff, using a fixed bridle that is balanced during sailing trials, then permanently made fast at the best spot.

The short gaff strategy is not my invention by any means... In fact, in its ideal form the short-gaff-sail is fairly close in profile to the shape of the fully battened elliptical plan form racing sails of today. The short-gaff rig was developed and was well proven on vessels such as the Dutch sloops, Bermuda sloops, and of course the pilot schooners of the last century that sailed out of Baltimore.

The pilot schooners needed a foolproof rig that had superior performance, and that could be handled by a man and a boy. They were large vessels...! Applying the same strategy to smaller sailing vessels, one can very easily single hand a 50 footer. As far as the sailing properties, they are well documented among those vessels, and by my own experience having sailed with them.

The Isle of Skye

2009-09-28T21:30:00.003-05:00

"Talisker 57 degrees North" is a brand of 10 year old Highland Single Malt Scotch Whiskey produced by the only distillery on the Isle of Sky. The distillery is located in Carboste, Scotland at 57 degrees north latitude and the whiskey is 57% alcohol by volume. Carboste is on the Loch of Harporte and is home to one pub, one inn, one shop, one distillery, one post office and one mooring. The mooring is home to "Ezra" a 44 foot 26 ton Pilot Cutter owned and sailed by Captain "on my command" Sam and wife Ingrid. Sailing Ezra

Last week I had the pleasure of crewing for them for three wet, cold, and force 6 to 7, days. "Good on ya, David. But so bloody what?", you may now be thinking. So, the Sea Star rebuild plan has changed. When she is restored Sea Star will return as "Rose" a gaff rigged BCC. "Rose" in a nod to HMS Rose, the British Navy Frigate that roamed American shores in his majesty's service during the Revolutionary War. "Rose" for mother-in-law Rose ( I need the points) and granddaughter Chloe Rose. "Rose" for rose from the seabed. And gaff rigged so she will both look and sail as she was meant to.

Next week I will post some Sailing Ezra photos.

Standing Rigging

2009-09-18T11:12:00.002-05:00

The standing rigging will be 5/16 in 1x19 stainless steel for the backstay and forestays and 7mm Dynex Dux synthetic line for the shrouds. Dynex Dux is a 12 strand synthetic line that has similar stretch characteristics to 1x19 wire rope. In fact it can easily be sized so that there is less stretch than wire rope with a minimal windage increase. Colligo Marine will provide the Dux with their fastener and distributer lashing fittings. Colligo Marine There will be some weight saved aloft using the Dux line and on deck by eliminating the turnbuckles. With some minor exceptions I will be following BCC Shanti's lead. The Shanti website provides a more detailed description of the line and its application for standing and running rigging. BCC Shanti

The whisker stays will be stainless steel, the bobstay and boomkin stays will be bronze rod just as she was rigged before the storm..

I am planning on using a highfield lever on the inner forestay so I can get it out of the way to jibe a head sail. The staysail may be hank on or I may use standard furling gear. The jibtop, yankee or drifter will be free flying. The head sails will be handled with a luff line furler at the end of the bow sprit on a 2 to 1 purchase halyard and a bowsprit traveller.

Running Rigging

2009-09-18T11:08:00.003-05:00

The jib halyard will be rigged on a 2 to 1 purchase in order to get some tension on free flying head sails. All of the head sails will be cut with a Dux line sewn in the luff. All the head sails, yankee, jibtop and drifter, will be sent out to the end of the (round) bowsprit on a traveller by Classic Marine UK Classic Marine UK with clews attached to a Colligo Marine luff line furler.

I can't decide whether to put the staysail on a standard furler or just leave it hank on. I am inclined to put it on a furler, if it gets so rough that I need to douse a staysail, best I stay put in the cockpit. On the other hand, if the staysail is hanked on the stay I could buy a sail with a reef point so I could "get small" if I had to and still maintain some shape and pointing ability. If the staysail is hanked on do you then need to rig up a downhaul?

All the Halyards will be external and terminate at the base of the mast not led aft to the cockpit. With the departure of the propane boxes there will be some additional working space around the mast for my size 13s. Only sheets will terminate in the cockpit. She has no cockpit or coaming lockers (other than the lazerette) so the less cockpit clutter the better.

Progress Photos

2009-09-14T10:48:00.013-05:00

These two shots best illustrate year to date repair progress. I hope to have her all the way back by May of next year but if it takes longer so be it. There are more damage and progress photos posted on Flickr at:

Sea Star Pics

Galley Configuration

2009-09-14T01:01:00.003-05:00

The galley will be located mid ship to port, forward of the port side settee just as before Ike damage. The Force 10 3 burner plus oven stove will be replaced by a 2 burner Wallas diesel cook top with heater blower attachment. This heater/ stove top will be fueled directly from the main diesel tank. The pick-up line has been installed in the new fuel tank. Wallas assures me that diesel odor will not be an issue. The electronic burn control system provides a clean burn and the direct vent system will intake air and exhaust gases through the same line within a line running from galley aft to the port quarter exiting the hull 12 in below main deck level.

The larger house battery capacity and improved battery charge rates will allow usage of a small 700 watt counter top microwave as well as an electric griddle/grill both of which will be stowed away in drawers below the counter top and out of sight. In leiu of the oven which I rarely used we will have two good size drawers below the cook top.

Install built in hand pump thermos for serving hot drinks. All counter surfaces, port bookshelf, head cover, reefer/nav station and over engine room, will be of Honduras mahogany. Beyond that the galley area will be redesigned by removing the small cabinet to the south of the main bulkheads and installing the Climma AC louver opening. The small liquor cabinet may have to become even smaller by virtue of the new dual compression post design.

The new refer is a Technautics Cool blue system with air cooled compressor, electronic controls and cold plate. The compressor will be mounted in the forward cabin just north of the main bulkhead inside starboard lower cabinets. The new refrigerator and freezer will be a 5.5 cu ft box with 1/3 freezer compartment and 2/3 refrigerator. The box itself will be home built but the lid will be bought from one of the two companies recommended by Chuck at Oakland show.

Anchor Windlass

2009-09-13T23:48:00.000-05:00

The plan is to replace the teak sampson posts with deck mounted bronze sprit gammoning iron and sprit heel tie down by Port Townsend to open up chain locker access below decks. The ABI manual windlass will be replaced with a Muir Atlantic 1000 bronze vertical electric windlass with capstan and cockpit remote.

I am rethinking the third battery bank dedicated to windlass idea based on a West Marine advisory I recently read :

“Though some experts may disagree, we believe that the best way to power a windlass is from the existing house battery bank, rather than from a separate battery in the bow. We suggest you use your boat's "house" battery to power your windlass installation. To limit voltage drop and ensure that the windlass operates at full capacity, cabling for the power circuit must be of the correct size for the amperage draw of the windlass. Not only does a dedicated battery add to the already appreciable weight of the windlass, anchor and rode, it presents charging and maintenance difficulties. The weight and cost savings of using short cables between the battery and the windlass, instead of long ones from the windlass to the house battery bank (which is presumably far away), is offset by the weight and cost of cables necessary to charge a bow battery. Charging cables must be sized to handle any potential charging load. This is liable to be less than the maximum windlass draw, but could still be 50-100 amps, so the cable size would be almost as large as those required to power the windlass from the house bank. In addition, charging a battery over a long distance can involve large amounts of current flow for an extended period of time (assuming a heavily discharged battery), which in turn could lead to a voltage drop, heat build-up, and/or a large electromagnetic field. In contrast, a windlass draws current in short bursts, so the cables supplying it will not be under continuous use.”

Hull Repairs

2009-09-13T23:42:00.004-05:00

Juan and his crew finished repairs to the fiber glass and new gel coat application last month. The lay up schedule was in accordance to specs provided by Cape George. Starboard side main bulkheads and the engine install should be finished by end September.

Interior Layout

2009-09-13T13:21:00.004-05:00

One of Sea Star's restoration goals is to create the illusion of a larger interior space and to in fact enlarge the living space. The sole will be dropped two inches to increase headroom to six foot three inches. The water tanks will have to be rebuilt and some pot water volume sacrificed but dings to this bald head of mine will be minimized.

In the main cabin the small L part of the cabinets and the associated countertop will be removed. For now there will be no table or back settee cushions. The deep built-in battery box/step will be eliminated and batteries relocated port below the quarterberth and starboard in the new machinery space created by eliminating the starboard quarter berth. The starboard side settee seat will be much narrower at 15 inches allowing for construction of the 82 by 26 inch pilot berth.

But the most dramatic design change, both from an interior layout and an engineering standpoint, will be the deck stepped mast compression post re-design. The mast will be deck stepped just as before Ike but stepped on a bridge 34 inches long by 12 inches wide installed on the main deck where the propane tank boxes used to sit ( the new Sea Star will have no propane). Below decks there will be two compression posts each 15 inches off centerline extending to the reinforced hull bottom with loads redirected to the top of ballast.......more on this with some photos later in the rigging category. The rectangular door separating the main and forward cabins will be wider and postioned exactly on the boat's centerline helping to create the illusion of one large cabin when the door is open.

The forward cabin will appear more spacious by removing the port side upper storage cabinets in favor of a full depth countertop w/ sink.

The space aft of the pilot berth below the starboard cockpit seat will be dedicated to storage and machinery installation. This space will be accessed from the interior of the cabin rather than a new cockpit locker as originally contemplated.

I need to scan a layout of the New Sea Star ( to be re-christened in May 2010, (approx give or take a year); I'm thinking "Rose".

Head

2009-09-13T10:49:00.000-05:00

After looking at various options I have decided on the Lavac head. The bowel is evacuated by the vacum generated by the Henderson manual bilge pump that mounts separately on a bulkhead; there are no other moving parts. Before flushing the toilet, the lid, which has a rubber seal under it, is lowered. By giving about 10 good strokes on the pump, a vacuum is created within the bowl and rinse water is simultaneously drawn in at the top of the bowl. To prevent any chance of back-siphoning raise the toilet so that its rim is above the boat's waterline.

The 1.5 inch discharge line will have an electric discharge pump to evacuate the holding tank overboard when offshore. This line must have a vented loop to prevent back siphoning. The pump out line will be a separate line independent from the overboard discharge line. The schematic on the Lavac website also shows a ¾ inch hose bib rinse out line for the holding tank. Lavac

By using the same Henderson model for the cockpit mounted bilge pump one spare rebuild kit can service either one.

Auxiliary Power

2009-09-12T10:09:00.011-05:00

The Beta Marine 902 25 hp is slightly smaller in terms of dimensions, weight and horse power than the Yanmar 27 that was in the boat. According to Beta the 3 cylinder, naturally aspirated, diesel develops 25 bhp at 3,600 rpm with a swept volume of 898 cc The engine is supplied complete with a heat exchanger and header tank, water cooled exhaust manifold, fresh and sea water pumps, cast injection bend, mechanical fuel lift pump, fuel and oil filters, sump pump, flywheel with heavy inertia ring for super smooth running at low rpm, flywheel housing, special quiet air intake filter, 12 volt starter, two paralleled 70 amp battery charging alternators, shutdown solenoid, control panel "A" (with keystart switch and push button stop, warning lights and alarm buzzer for low oil pressure, high water temperature, no charge, and power on); a 3m interconnection cable with multi pin plug and sockets to engine harness. Gearbox with nominal 2.6:1 reduction, heavy duty engine feet with flexible mountings, flexible coupling disc on gearbox, "Morse" type end fittings for speed and gear control, engine test certificate, operators manual. Red paint and packed on skid base with a 3 year “Self Service” warranty.

Battery Management

2009-09-12T10:07:00.009-05:00

The house battery bank will consist of two Trojan 4D AGMs with a total capacity of 360 amp hours. A separate type 31 will be dedicated to engine start duty. Battery amp hours will be replenished by the two 70 amp alternators running in parallel and controlled by a single Adverc battery management system with split charging of the two battery banks via 95 amp blocking diodes. Twin Alternators Adverc subscribes to the view that the most effective method of split-charging two banks is the blocking-diode method for charging the batteries combined with a Battery Selector Switch to distribute battery output, combining automatic charging with flexibility in terms of battery selection. Split Charging Systems

I will also use Adverc's DCM MKIII to monitor battery status instead of the Linksys that used to be on the boat.. Adverc DCM Monitor