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Hey, Tor, learn to Goggle! Check out http://www.rc-electronics-usa.com/ammeters/rv-battery-monitor.html .
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Something I learned many years ago from the owner of a big boat yard in Fort Lauderdale: More often than not it is unnecessary to sand the bottom clear of the old paint prior to antifouling. In fact, it’s usually counterproductive, since the old paint likely retains some useful antifouling properties. Instead, just wet-sand the surface of the paint that’s on there with a coarse 3M pad (I use the ones with a handle from Home Depot) and a garden hose in hand. That way there’s no toxic dust to inhale. Don’t put a hard-finish paint over prior soft, ablative coats, since the hard stuff probably won’t stick. You can, however, do it the other way around, i.e., new soft paint over old hard.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Rich,
The fact that we and our boats are still in tact testifies to the fact that our different anchoring techniques work for us in our respective cruising grounds. I didn’t mean to disparage local sailing/anchoring as opposed to long-term cruising. I just wanted to point out that I’ve rarely seen a cruising boat with only one bow anchor, and that there are times when the second hook has proven useful to me.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Great Scott, Scott! Why’d you wait so long to say hello?
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Offhand I can think of two common uses for a second, substantial bow anchor.
Bahamian mooring, where 2 bow anchors are set 180° apart, is used primarily for mooring in reversing tidal
currents so that the boat stays roughly in the same spot during the ebbs and flows. A clever variation of
this, which takes some extra effort to set up, is to lead both rodes to a single swivel shackle just below the
bow so that the rodes do not become entwined after the boat has swung repeatedly.The more common use for a second hook is setting two bow anchors to a prevailing wind with the rodes forming
an angle of 45-60°. This will reduce your chances of dragging in any number of situations, including sudden
squalls, having one anchor fouled by a neighbor, or having one rode severed by some idiot motoring across your
bow. (This last is a good reason to mark the location of your anchors with small floats, the lines for which,
if attached correctly, can also help break an anchor free when it becomes stuck under something on the
bottom.)It’s unnecessary to use a dinghy to set a second anchor in any of these situations. Rather, you set the first
anchor, then give it a lot of slack rode and motor the vessel to the spot where you want the second anchor to
lie. Set that one as usual and, as you do, retrieve the extra rode of the first anchor. Weigh the anchors in
the reverse order, i.e., slack rode #1, retrieve anchor #2, then weigh the #1 hook.I suspect those who (almost) never use a second bow anchor are not cruising your boats long-term, limiting
yourselves to day sails, weekends and occasional summer vacations. I believe most boats that go cruising carry
2 bow anchors and use the #2 more than often enough to justify it. Personally, I would never leave my boat at
single anchor when I’m going to be away all day or longer.Of course, I also carry a stern anchor, albeit a relatively small one. This I rarely use on this side of the
Atlantic, but there are times when it’s just the ticket. I did use it constantly for Mediterranean mooring
“over there,” since I preferred going bow-to in order to have more privacy in the cockpit and cabin, and also
because it’s a much easier maneuver bow first when single-handing.Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Julie,
I’m installing an Auto-Helm windvane on my 424 precisely because I also have davits. (Otherwise, I’d probably have bought a Monitor.) With this Auto-Helm the only connection between the airvane and its rudder are a pair of thin, flexible cables that can be led around the davit-hung dinghy. To my knowledge this is the only windvane on the market that accommodates davits so readily. It’s also beautifully machined, built like a tank, and provides a 2nd steering system for the boat 100% independent of the primary system. What’s more, you can connect a relatively inexpensive, low-draw tiller pilot to the Auto-Helm windvane for self-steering under power.
I’ll be taking notes & photos of my installation. If/when the time comes that you’re ready for a windvane, feel free to contact me and I’ll send you what I’ve got, plus observations once I’ve sailed with it for a while.
Reef early,
Tor
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Bob,
I cannot add anything useful to the replies you’ve already gotten regarding how the rudder is attached to the rudder post (assuming that is what your friend meant by “steering post”) in a Pearson 424. On the broader subject of overcoming irreparable steering failures at sea, however, I have one or two thoughts that might be useful to others.
One is to drill a 3/4″ to 1″ hole athwartships through the rudder’s lower aft corner. In the event of an upper steering failure (not what your friends experienced), a diver can shackle or tie lines to the rudder through this hole. The lines are led up to the sheet winches either side of the cockpit. The boat can then be steered to safety by directing the rudder with these lines. (Note: Be sure to thoroughly seal the edges of the hole with epoxy after drilling it to prevent water intrusion into the rudder laminates.)
Another solution to lost steering, one that would have saved your friends a great deal of effort and anxiety, is a windvane that can double as an emergency rudder. The Auto-Helm brand windvane I am in the process of installing on my boat (http://www.selfsteer.com/products/autohelm/index.php) employs a separate rudder completely independent of the vessel’s steering system, which can instantly take over the steering of the boat at any time, either by windvane, by tiller-pilot, or by hand via a small “tiller.” This seems like the ideal steering back-up system to me, and, as such offers considerable peace of mind and safety at sea. Alternatively, some other windvanes, most notably the Monitor, offer optional emergency rudder set-ups. (See Monitor’s MRUD emergency rudder conversion kit, “with a rudder large enough to steer a 50 ft BOC boat,” at http://www.selfsteer.com/products/monitor/features.php#Anchor-M-Rud-46919).
Lastly, one delivery skipper buddy of mine once sailed a rudderless boat in from open ocean right to the dock in Tortola by steering with a sail dragged overboard, switching between the port and starboard quarters as necessary while using sail trim and balance to maintain desired direction.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Rich,
I see I was comparing apples to oranges. Your package included much more than mine.
Thanks,
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Linus, you needn’t ever feel stupid around me. If you had any idea of how many things I’ve screwed up in the course of this refit… Besides, in addition to a new engine you got all those other things I did not, PLUS the knowledge of how they went in. Also, I should have said before that my new engine price didn’t include a new transmission or V-drive, since I kept the originals. And I subsequently spent another $1,800 having the Paragon rebuilt. Ain’t no free lunches here. I just wanted to reassure Rich that repowering need not cost $30k.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Nah, it’s both.
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Rich,
No, you’re not way off base on the resale value of these boats. In fact, if you average out the selling prices of the hundred-odd 424’s in the Sold Boats database list I sent to the group last week, I suspect it’ll be in that range. But those are not the complete refit boats. A Pearson 424 all redone – and most of us know what that entails – should fetch $100k-plus while the new equipment is still fairly new. Of course, you’ll have at least that much cash into the boat at that point. Forget about the million man-hours of hard labor.
You’re mistaken about the cost of repowering, though. I had a new Yanmar 4JH4E beautifully installed by the local dealer down here for a little under $16k (not including sales tax, which I wasn’t obligated to pay). On top of that, I sold the 30-year-old Westerbeke that came with my boat for $2,000 thru eBay. It was still running strong. I just didn’t want to begin a 10-year (give or take 10 years) cruise with such an antique, especially since it had not been maintained worth a damn. I’m just not that into engine mechanics.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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A Pearson 424 in decent condition can be a lot of bang for the buck. I looked at a Whitby 42, also, and like Bob didn’t care for the cramped layout. It’s really too small a hull for a center cockpit arrangement, at least by modern liveaboard standards. If they had built some with an aft cockpit I might have considered them. As it turned out, I “discovered” an affordable boat with a much more accommodating layout for living aboard, and a huge cockpit ideal for down-island socializing. Since my present cruising plans are limited to the trade wind latitudes, the 424 seems like a very good choice. Pearson did a decent job building these boats, considering the time and the intended use, i.e., coastal cruising. I suspect the Whitby’s are better-constructed, but I don’t personally know them well enough to proclaim it as fact.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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AHA! The old faucet in the cockpit trick. I KNEW it.
🙂
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Pat,
You need to move that hole 4″ farther aft!
🙂
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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John,
I have not sailed/anchored my 424 enough yet to speak first hand about this particular design, but I have owned several split-rig cruising sailboats in the past. In my experience, ketches and yawls in general can often benefit by flying the mizzen sail at anchor, sheeted in tightly, to keep the boat’s head to the wind. I can’t imagine the Pearson 424 would act all that differently.
Perhaps one reason a lot of sailors don’t make maximum use of their mizzen sails is because they don’t really know how to use them. Some years ago I wrote an article on this subject that appeared in a couple of magazines. It’s online at http://www.tor.cc/articles/mizzen.htm . I doubt whether it will tell anyone in this group anything they don’t already know, but it does list the reasons I bought another ketch-rigged boat, the ready riding sail among them.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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