SetSail » Tech Talk

An Accurate Dip Stick

Few boats have an accurate dip stick for their fuel (or water) tanks. These are easy to make if you have a bit of time. Start out with a half inch dameter wooden dowel, which will fit into an access hatch or fill for the tank in question (we typically have a stand pipe welded to our tank tops, which is headed with a ball valve and a threaded cap). Start with an empty tank, and then pause every 20 or 25 gallons to allow the fuel to level out and any foam to subside (you may have to wait 15 to 20 minutes). Drop the stick into the tank, note the liquid level, and mark it with a pen. When you have finished the process, give the dip stick a clean, and seal with epoxy or varnish.

Posted by Steve Dashew (November 6, 2001) | Comments (0)

Security Issues to Consider while Cruising

We’re headed back to the boat (in Norfolk, VA) in the next few days and are in our usual pre-going-away period of trying to get our respective desks cleared off. It will be really nice to get away from the daily overdose of news to which we subject ourselves when there are televisions close at hand. (Such equipment is banned from the boat for exactly this reason.) And, of course, the usual list of pre-departure projects, check lists and stocking up will keep us occupied and away from the news. The two of us have been having some dialog about our philosophy of self-defense, in light of the “new reality” in which we all find ourselves. When we cruised years ago, and the kids were little, we looked at this in the same way we dealt with our medical kit. We were well prepared for almost any eventuality, and hoped like hell we’d never have to use that preparedness. But with the kids on their own, the defense mechanism tends to moderate. On the other hand, the hassle of carrying an arsenal continues-there can be a lot of paperwork and running around when clearing in and out-if you have guns aboard. So, in recent times we’ve changed our approach to this very controversial subject. Read the rest »

Posted by Steve Dashew (October 26, 2001) | Comments (0)

Chafing Gear

Hose is commonly used for chafing gear for dock lines and anchor rodes. It works OK as long as it is of a large enough diameter to allow air circulation around the line (as shown in the photo beside).

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Posted by Steve Dashew (October 11, 2001) | Comments (0)

Tips for Tuning in SSB Fax Broadcasts

Seems like most folks have problems finding the right frequencies and times to receive fax broadcasts. The best times and frequencies vary with the sunspot cycle, time of day, and how far you are from the broadcasting station. Sitting here in Antigua, with Boston and New Orleans stations just 1500 or so miles away, you would think everyone would be pulling them in. Yet a lot of folks have told us they are hearing nothing. We are getting good coverage, so I suspect there must be a common problem with picking the correct frequencies. Read the rest »

Posted by Steve Dashew (October 7, 2001) | Comments (0)

Water Pumps/Changing Impellers

One of the maintenance issues that is bound to occur is a bad salt water pump impeller.

The photo above is from Wind Horse‘s starboard engine. Notice the missing vane in the lower right portion of the impeller? It would have been better to change this impeller on a proactive basis, before it got old and tired. The missing vane reduces cooling water flow, and we now have to find the piece so it does not block one of the heat exchangers. Read the rest »

Posted by Steve Dashew (September 7, 2001) | Comments (0)

Chasing Down an Elusive Oil Leak

It’s been a long time coming. We’ve been fighting this mother of all wars for five long, hard years. But yesterday we tasted the sweetest of all fruits-Victory! Yes, friends, after running our Yanmar diesel hard (2800 rpm continuously) for an hour, not a trace of oil was to be found. Danny, our miracle-working mechanic from Billings had indeed found the elusive oil leak which has plagued us since launching BEOWULF in New Zealand. And now our engine sump will stay CLEAN! Read the rest »

Posted by Steve Dashew (September 7, 2001) | Comments (0)

Using Battens in Roller Furling Mainsails and Headsails

A reader asks:

I have a 1997 Beneteau 461 with roller furling main and genoa and need to replace both sails. The main is relatively new but is poorly shaped – the leach cups, etc. I read that you use vertical battens in BEOWULF’s roller furling jib. If you used a 135% genoa instead of a 100% jib would you still use vertical battens or is their application only for jibs? The British firm, Maxiroach makes roller furling mainsails (and headsails) with full length vertical battens that appear very attractive on paper. Doyle Sails makes a swing batten main. Quantum makes a main with vertical battens. Could you give me any advice on which of these products is the best or recommend someone that may know. If you were going to buy a new roller furling main ( I know this is not likely to ever happen!) who would you go to for advice on the best way to go?

We asked Dan Neri of North Sails to answer this question:

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Posted by admin (August 17, 2001) | Comments (2)

Reefing

We’ve used slab reefing on our mains (and mizzens) on all of our boats going back to the 1970s. We’ve looked at in the mast and in the boom systems as they’ve come along and worked out their bugs, but have yet to see anything as fast, reliable, light, or inexpensive as good old slab reefing. Read the rest »

Posted by Steve Dashew (August 17, 2001) | Comments (0)

All Things Being Equal (Batteries)

As we’re cruising on the East Coast and occasionally reading the New York Times, we feel it behooves us to be politically correct. We are already at a disadvantage in this regard due to the fact we have no burgee halyards to either masthead, and so cannot fly our owner’s signal or yacht club pennant correctly. The situation is made worse by the fact that in the land of Hinkleys we have neither varnish on deck, overhangs fore and aft, nor polished blue topsides. We woke up this morning pondering this problem when Linda had an epiphany. “We’ll equalize the batteries! It’s been three months, they are overdue, and there are bound to be one or two cells lower than the rest, which has to be depressing for the poor dears.” So, we’ve been sitting in this lovely anchorage in Somes Sound, with the smells of the verdant forest wafting around us on deck, and the smells of batteries being equalized wafting below. We started the process this morning at 0900, and should be done by 1300. Read the rest »

Posted by Steve Dashew (August 10, 2001) | Comments (0)

Drying Clothes on the Boat

To all you SetSailors who are into washer/dryers on your boats, we’ve got an update on our ventless dryer. Read the rest »

Posted by Steve Dashew (August 10, 2001) | Comments (0)

Some of This Stuff Really Works!

We’re anchored in Newport, Rhode Island, to say hi to some friends and take care of some business. A pleasant couple of sails and anchorages have allowed leisure time to review a couple of the things we’ve been testing, and the results are positive. Read the rest »

Posted by Steve Dashew (July 20, 2001) | Comments (0)

Hydrocaps: Do They Really Work?

BEOWULF has been sitting at Atlantic Yacht Basin in Norfolk, VA for the past two months. She’s had her Trace inverter connected to shore power, acting as a battery charger. Before we left her we topped off the batteries. Read the rest »

Posted by Steve Dashew (July 13, 2001) | Comments (0)

The Best Anchor?

We seem to get a lot of questions about anchors and anchoring systems – especially after one of the magazines runs an evaluation article. If you are always anchoring close to home, in a good holding bottom, and bring your anchor up by hand, then having the most efficient, lightest weight anchor for your conditions makes sense. But once you start to cruise a bit, and some of those anchorages become less than perfect, you need a good all-around anchor. From our experience, there is nothing that will touch the Bruce in this category. Yes, it is not the most efficient hook in terms of holding power per pound of anchor, but in thin sand over coral, or rock it is unbeatable (and these are amongst the toughest situations). What we do is go up on size a notch or two – for example, on the Sundeer 56/60 we specified a 110 pound (50kg) Bruce. In a lot of conditions you could get away with a much lighter version of another anchor, but this is enough weight to hold the boat in a poor bottom in a real blow, and in a good bottom you can anchor on very short scope.

Posted by Steve Dashew (July 8, 2001) | Comments (0)

Made in the Shade: Awning Ideas

One of the cool things about cruising is all the interesting gear, systems, rigs, and canvas work we get to check out. Here are a couple of interesting approaches to tropical shade.

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Posted by Steve Dashew (July 1, 2001) | Comments (0)

Roller Furling

It took a long time for us to become fans of roller furling. However, starting with Beowulf, the combination of the size and weight of her sails, and the increasing reluctance to get salt water on our bodies, forced us to take a harder look at this gear. Read the rest »

Posted by Steve Dashew (June 23, 2001) | Comments (0)

Catching Water

In this day of cruising with watermakers, the art of catching rain water is slowly being lost. But watermakers take power, are maintenance-prone, and no matter how good a job they do, there is just nothing like a fresh glass of freshly caught rainwater. Aboard BEOWULF we now have two Village Marine “Little Wonders”. These crank out between 16 and 18 gallons an hour, and we typically run the waternaker one to two hours per day. That’s not too hard to take. But consider what we can do with a single, moderate squall.

Often the combination of deck drains and holes in the toe rail make it impractical to catch water off the deck. That was the situation we found with INTERMEZZO. In this case, you can use various combinations of awnings to catch your rainwater. The key is to take this into account when having your awnings built. Read the rest »

Posted by Steve Dashew (February 28, 2001) | Comments (0)

Life Line Connections

The most costly and least reliable segment of your life lines is the terminating hardware. These are typically stainless on stainless turnbuckles, and are subject to galling and cracking over time. A much better approach is now possible with high-modulus line, like Spectra. Make up your life lines with nicro pressed end fittings, and then tie these in place using multipe wraps of Spectra line. There is a second advantage to this system. If you ever have a crew overboard, and need to get rid of the lifelines in a hurry, you can do so by cutting the lashings on one end. Taking this approach a step further, when we replaced the life lines on BEOWULF this year we did so with Spectra line. It is about the same cost as the stainless steel we¹ve used in the past, a lot lighter, and not subject to corrosion like stainless steel wire.

Read the rest »

Posted by Steve Dashew (October 26, 2000) | Comments (0)

Seagoing Washing Machines

Probably the most critical piece of cruising gear, the one which we cannot do without, is the washing machine. (Okay, Steve would do without, but Linda is much more civilized.) For years we’ve used the Spendide washer/drier combo on various boats we’ve built. The unit on Beowulf has 28,000 miles on it. Since the motion at sea is even harder on the innards than anything which happens in actual washing, it has finally been starting to show its age. Read the rest »

Posted by Steve Dashew (October 14, 2000) | Comments (0)

Electronic Charting

The marriage of the PC, GPS, and electronic charts is a double-edged sword. The system, when it is operational, definitely reduces workload for a short-handed boat, and helps with navigation in tight spots. But the system is not foolproof. One must use the same care with these systems as with conventionally plotted positions. Read the rest »

Posted by Steve Dashew (October 5, 2000) | Comments (0)

Comments on Using the WH Polar Pilot

We’ve been using the WH Polar Pilot option now aboard our 78′ ketch Beowulf for the past year. To say that the features in this option improve the breed is a major understatement. We think the performance and comfort enhancements are nothing short of revolutionary. Read the rest »

Posted by Steve Dashew (September 28, 2000) | Comments (0)

Battery Maintenance

We’ve been using Trojan “Traction” batteries for years in our yachts. These industrial strength batteries are designed for a full 80% discharge, and guaranteed for 1500 cycles in industrial use. Last week we removed the batteries from the keel sump aboard Beowulf and sent them back to Trojan for service. We used a combination of main halyard and boat yard hydro-crane to remove them. It is somewhat over five years ago now that we purchased these batteries, and they have sat around for the greater part of this time – not a good thing for their capacity. Trojan took them in, cycled them to the 80% level twice, and then did a voltage check. The check is done at the discharged resting voltage. Turns out that these batteries are at 105% of rated capacity. Not bad after all these years. In chatting with Mark Waycaster at Trojan about maintenance, he emphasized several things (which apply to traction batteries and their marine batteries like the L-16): Read the rest »

Posted by Steve Dashew (July 20, 2000) | Comments (2)

Solution for Ugly Vent Cowls

The most popular vent cowls are made by Vetus in a variety of sizes. These plastic cowls are light and functional. However, they have a problem with the sun – our experience is that after a very short period, sometimes less than six months, they begin to turn an ugly brown on top which progressively worsens. You can clean this off with acetone or MEK, but it returns quickly. In Marina Del Rey, where we used to keep BEOWULF, the Vetus cowls would turn brown within four weeks of cleaning. We’ve found a solution. Nicro Ventilation Systems, Napa California, makes a white spray paint for coating vinyl plastic, and PVC surfaces – called “Nicro-Cote”. We purchased two cans from West Marine (their part #N28630) and used it o BEOWULF’s 13 Yogi sized Vetus cowls. They come up looking like new, and so far, six months after application, they are still looking good – much better in fact than the cowls looked at this point when new.

Posted by Steve Dashew (February 11, 2000) | Comments (0)

SailMail/SSB E-mail

When we first started cruising in the 70s a key factor in our desire to keep going was the ability to communicate with friends and family. In 1976 state-of-the-art communication was via an Atlas ham radio. One had to watch band conditions, and the voice connection was often difficult to hear. You’d connect to a shore-based ham station who’d “patch” you into his local phone system. Read the rest »

Posted by Steve Dashew (February 11, 2000) | Comments (0)

Vacuum Packers

We’ve been looking for a vacuum packer to use with dry and freezer stores (and spare parts) for some time now. One night while flipping channels we were tempted by units being sold on both the Home Shopping Channel and via an infomercial. We ordered a Tillia basic model for $120.00, which included several rolls of vacuum bags. Read the rest »

Posted by Steve Dashew (January 20, 2000) | Comments (0)

Steps for Getting Ready to Head Offshore

Before each passage we’ve learned that it pays big dividends to go over all of the boat’s systems, rigging, and sails to make sure everything is in the proper condition. In the past couple of weeks we’ve spent a few days on Beowulf, getting her ready to head offshore. Here are the items aboard we’ve checked: Read the rest »

Posted by Steve Dashew (November 16, 1999) | Comments (0)

Full Battened Mainsails

From time to time we read in the yachting press about problems with fully battened sails on long down wind passages. We’ve been using these sails for almost two decades now, and have found that with the right approach they are less of a problem than conventional sails. There are two key ingredients: first, you must have a good vang to keep the sail from twisting off and putting excessive load on the spreaders. If your boom vang to the mast isn’t strong enough, rig a vang to the rail on those long tradewind trips. Second, chafing gear must be done correctly. We’ve found that thin UHMW plastic (usually 1/32″ thick) can be sewn onto the sail in all vulnerable points (at the spreaders and where each batten crosses a shroud – both need to be done for full hoist and reefed positions). The UHMW lasts for years and does not allow the sail to chafe.

Posted by Steve Dashew (November 16, 1999) | Comments (0)

A New Paradigm for Cruising

Tech Talk

An Accurate Dip Stick

Security Issues to Consider while Cruising

Chafing Gear

Tips for Tuning in SSB Fax Broadcasts

Water Pumps/Changing Impellers

Chasing Down an Elusive Oil Leak

Using Battens in Roller Furling Mainsails and Headsails

A reader asks:

We asked Dan Neri of North Sails to answer this question:

Reefing

All Things Being Equal (Batteries)

Drying Clothes on the Boat

Some of This Stuff Really Works!

Hydrocaps: Do They Really Work?

The Best Anchor?

Made in the Shade: Awning Ideas

Roller Furling

Catching Water

Life Line Connections

Seagoing Washing Machines

Electronic Charting

Comments on Using the WH Polar Pilot

Battery Maintenance

Solution for Ugly Vent Cowls

SailMail/SSB E-mail

Vacuum Packers

Steps for Getting Ready to Head Offshore

Full Battened Mainsails

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