Mainsheet Traveler Track Modified

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

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"

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.

Teak and Bronze

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.     



Marine Sanitation - Keeping it Simple

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.

     

Lightning

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.

Heads Up

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.

Good Ideas

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."