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Hey Adam,
Where/how is your Four Winds mounted? With a wind generator set up on the mizzen mast as mine is, it seems like a hand brake could be awkward. I’d like a way to physically, mechanically tie off the blades when I don’t want them spinning, but I’m not going to shimmy up the mast to do it, or even climb up on ladder steps underway if I can avoid it. So I’m counting on the electric brake to do the stopping for me. Once I have the unit up and operating later this winter I’ll let you know how it works out.
I don’t know the “configuration” of my mizzen staysail, or the weight. Goggle it or look at some photos of 424’s flying one and you’ll see the shape and general placement. They’re always lightweight, maybe a little heavier than spinnakers and sometimes as colorful. I flew one on each of two previous boats I had. A mizzen staysail is easy to handle, fun to fly and can give you another knot on a light-air reach.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Thatcher,
I meant to inquire whether anyone has davits and a windVANE. I’m endeavoring to work out the measurements and logistics of having both on my boat. I believe I’ve got it licked, but had hoped to hear what others have done about that on a 424.
As for wind generators, while I had the masts down last year for re-rigging & wiring I installed and wired a swivel mount on the mizzen mast for a new Air-X Marine wind generator. I haven’t actually put the unit up there yet, though, since I’m still dockside while I continue my refit of this good old boat. Still, I’ve observed Air-X wind generators on lots of other boats here and believe the noise level is quite tolerable.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Right on. I drilled a hole in the lower aft corner of Silver Heels’ rudder last year, so that if the steering system ever does fail I can (theoretically) dive overboard, tie lines to the rudder and lead them to the primary sheet winches to steer the boat.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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That’s a good point about the emergency rudder possibilities of a windvane, Pat. One of the features in favor of the Auto-Helm windvane is that it utilizes a separate, external rudder mounted on the lower transom. That rudder steers the boat when the windvane is operating, not the vessel’s steering system. There are no lines to the boat’s helm or steering quadrant. This Auto-Helm rudder is in turn steered by a trim tab, which is directed by the airvane. If the vessel’s steering system fails, you still have fully operational self-steering, and/or can actually hand-steer your boat with a little tiller arm that’s on the base of the airvane “mast.” Details at http://www.selfsteer.com/products/autohelm/index.php .
I’d still like to hear from anyone who has addressed the windvane/davits issue on a 424.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Bob, you’re right as always. I would love to have one or two of everything, but alas, I would then have to go back to work instead of going cruising. As for davits, of course no sensible cruiser would carry a dinghy that way offshore. That’s not their purpose. And regarding the autopilot interface, I realize I buck the trend here when I say I prefer to be the interface on my boat. Just a personal choice. That said, I admire your set up.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Thatcher,
The downside of using an electric autopilot exclusively is that when it breaks down offshore you’re pretty
much reduced to hand-steering your boat. That’s not so bad if you’ve got a bunch of crew to stand watches, I
suppose, but I sometimes single-hand long passages and otherwise rarely have more than one other person aboard
for any length of time. So I consider self-steering essential for safe and happy voyaging. Of course, a
second, spare, (ideally) identical unit would answer here, but 2 big, internal autopilots is beyond this
cruiser’s budget.Even if the lone autopilot malfunctions in or near port, a cruising sailor must then wait, often for weeks,
for repair or replacement parts. More than one skipper has “missed his tide” for this reason, including a
fellow who wrote an article about it in the October (?) issue of Blue Water Sailing. He did eventually set
sail from Bermuda, but only after a long delay that put his crossing to the Azores farther into the storm
season.For the price of one full-size internal autopilot you can instead have a windvane and 2 or 3 tiller
autopilots, which cost only a few hundred dollars each and use the strength of the passing water to steer the
boat, rather than mega-amps of battery power. When one of the tiller-pilots breaks, you simply put on the
other one and ship the broken unit off for repair from the next port of call. If that one breaks, too, or if
some ill-tempered lightening bolt reduces your electrical system to ballast, you still have self-steering as
long as the wind blows, and using zero amp hours. (Most of us need every amp we can get from our wind
generators and solar panels just to keep a refrigerator going.)Certainly there are many successful voyages made with just one autopilot aboard. But for the same price I hope
to have several back-ups for this very important system.Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Thanks, Rich. I thought there might be some specific way to deal with the peeled-back coax cable sheathing. I’ve been finishing outdoor electrical connections in general this way: First a little Ox-Gard anti-oxidation compound on the wire before putting on the end fitting. Then, if I don’t expect to take the connection apart anytime soon, one or two coats of Liquid Tape over the connectors and adjacent wire surfaces. I’m pretty sure that’s entirely waterproof. Once the Liquid Tape is entirely dry, I double-wrap everything with a 3M product I call self-amalgamating tape. You have to peel off a protective backing from one side. The tape is stretchy, meant to be pulled and elongated as you wrap, and it adheres to itself and the wire & connector surfaces, but it isn’t sticky. I guess it acts like (and maybe is) the silicone tape you describe, forming a nearly solid sheathing over the connection area. I carry the wrap well out onto the wire and can’t imagine water getting in at the ends. Still, there’s the sun. I’m going to start covering what I’ve been doing with a final skin of vinyl electrical tape, as you suggested. Guess I need to go back and do it on connections I’ve already assembled on deck and aloft.
FYI, I buy the black self-amalgamating tape in palm-size rolls for a few bucks each at Home Depot. At my local store it’s hidden on a rack in a far back corner of the electrical section. Ace Hardware probably sells it, too. I know they carry Ox-Gard.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Rich,
When you say, “Peel back the shield and seal it on the ends,” how exactly do you “seal” that peeled-back shielding?
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Bob,
Now that you mention it, I remember. That’s where my mizzen sheet was when I bought Silver Heels. It was so obviously impractical I changed it even before I launched her for the first time. I’d forgotten that I did it.
And, now that you mention it, I can see the practicality of two red Ferraris, as well. Easier on the mind, like matching socks.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Pat,
That’s where my mizzen sheet block is attached, too, as it was when I bought the boat. You wrote, “Some… owner’s have… moved the sheet out there.” Where else would that sheet block attach on a 424?
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Thank you, Rich, for enlightening us – me – on the basics of HF/SSB radios. Two questions:
1) When you talk about digital transmissions, are you referring to sending/receiving text and images such as email and weatherfax?
2) I had an SSB on my last cruising boat and just used it socially and only occasionally, plus for receiving weatherfax prior to and during passages. This time around I’m likely to be sending/receiving email, too, when a shore-based wi-fi signal isn’t available. I’m only going to buy one radio, and it’s not important to me to have the Rolls Royce model, just good all around performance in a seaworthy unit. I’m on a cruiser’s budget, too, and prefer to spend less rather than more, but another one or two hundred dollars isn’t a big deal for something markedly better. Considering all this, I’d be grateful for your opinion of the most suitable one or two or three specific HF models I should be seeking, on eBay or wherever.
If you still prefer I call you to discuss the variables in more detail, I’ll gladly do that today or whenever it’s convenient for you. I’m on the East Coast, too.
Thanks again,
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Hi Rich,
If it turns out it’s not right for Bob, I’m interested: ()
Thanks,
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Different strokes. Personally, I would not have ordered both Ferraris in red.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Hey Bob,
So many differences between our sisterships! Are you able to climb bodily into your boat’s deep bilge area, what I call the sump, or do your holding tank and bilge pumps prevent that?
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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If you have “gobs of space” beneath the salon table, where is your holding tank? Or is there a holding tank?
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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