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Clairebuoyant has a Hood Stoway mast furling system. Since we have 30 year old boats and mast systems are expensive, I think that “Love the one you’re with.” might be the operative phrase. The advice posted already is all good. The Hood system is a very early mast furler. More modern systems have wider slots and probably are less prone to jamming. That said, we added a longer boom, more layers of sail inside the mast, but have had no problems. Our current main is cut very flat. With the long boom, it is pretty much low aspect ratio. It’s cut from genoa cloth rather than mainsail cloth, and sets like a genoa.
You can make or buy a device to close the slot so that it won’t whistle, but it only does that when in a slip with the wind on the beam, so never at anchor.
I agree with Rich that powered Hood furlers are problematic. Ours is manual and fits a winch handle in the front of the mast so it would be easy to back up if it binds. It is no small comfort that the main is completely furled in 22 turns.
Our Harken jib furler on the other hand will backlash like a fishing reel if it unfurls without tension on the line. That is a PITA.
Quent
QuentThree things:
First, this is a dialogue only among survivors. As such, it is probably not representative of all offshore experience.
Second, we are all creatures of habit. If you have the bad habit of short cutting safety considerations under good conditions, the time will come when you do it under difficult conditions because you reacted and didn’t think. I’ve seen guys take incredible and unnecessary risks to save a kayak or reef a sail because they went out there without thinking.
Finally, bacon will kill you. It just takes longer.
QuentA lot of boats here on chesapeake have these big round strainers over genset intake thru hulls to prevent sea nettle jellyfish from stopping water flow. I think they work by dispersing the flow sufficiently that the jellyfish aren’t held against the thru hull.
Might want to bear in mind that barnicles love to grow inside the strainers and they might need periodically to be cleaned. I seem to remember seeing one that was hinged for this purpose.
QuentWe have had a Lasdrop shaft seal for about a decade with good service. A couple things to consider.
The seal depends on a carbon ring on the corrugated hose pressing on a stainless ring on the shaft. It will leak a little, necessary to cool and lubricate the seal. When launching, it is necessary to burp any air trapped in the hose to wet the seal and prevent overheating.
The stainless ring seals to the shaft with O-rings. If the shaft is worn or scored where the O-rings seat, you might need a new shaft.
Said ring is held in place with setscrews. It’s best to back this up with a hose clamp or a shaft zinc.
If it was a do over, I might go with a traditional stuffing box and more high tech stuffing, at least Teflon stuff.
QuentSome years back, I watched some underwriter types sleep through a Wooden Boat Magazine class on marine surveying. That qualified them to go from cars to boats.
I think it’s one of those jobs where one aw shit wipes out a hundred atta boys .Does not exactly reward risk taking.
They would rather do the weekenders and marina queens than real off shore sailors. I’ll bet they get more claims from those guys than they ever get from people with experience.
QuentSiri must be hitting the bottle tonight.
We upgraded the existing cockpit drains from 1.5″ to 2″. The new seacocks were massive and a little spendy. We never told the insurance guys. I figured the reaction would be, What? You cut bigger holes in the bottom? We’re gonna need another survey!
QuentHey Tor-
A bunch of policies premiums on P-424s could jump start the grand Toritas college fund.
When you need a head count, count me in.
Quent
S/V Clairebuoyant, #132According to July 2013 issue of Seaworthy, a Boat US insurance magazine, Boat US is switching from Continental Casualty Company (CNA) to National Liability and Fire Insurance Company (NL&F) because NL&F and Boat US are both Berkshire and Hathaway. They talk about serving us better, not a word about serving us cheaper.
The article ends by saying that their underwriters would be delighted to hear from us to discuss our policies.
QuentCurrent issue of boat US magazine said they are switching insurance companies. However that quote is pretty close to what we paid to leave chesapeake and winter in the Bahamas in 2008-9. We pay about $1800 here. Can’t wait to see our post Sandy rate!
QuentQuestion for the skippers who have installed mast pulpits. I’m assuming you all are doing reefing and mast winch cranking while standing between the mast and the pulpit. How do you get there, from aft or from forward of the mast? In other words, how important is it to access inside the pulpit from forward of the mast?
I ask because a boat place here has a large pile of heavy duty bimini frames. If I bent one U shaped and added a couple forward legs, maybe even secured it to the front of the mast, I might have something similar to a pulpit. I get these thoughts whenever marine parts depot has a sale…
QuentInfo is on Tor post in 2009, easily found just search pulpit. Seriously, I would have added them but couldn’t fit it with a staysail track just forward of mast.
Quent
