practical boat owner - october 2014 uk

HYBRID DRIVESEssential kit or eco-rubbish?

Tips for handling a heavy tender

MAINTENANCE · PROJECTS · GEAR REVIEWS · SEAMANSHIP · CRUISING

PLUS: How to plan an uneventful Biscay

crossing

WIN!

Coating and fairing with epoxy resin

Contessa 32 restoration:

How an Arctic adventurer

returned to her family roots

Restore a teak deck

step by step16- to 19-footeRs fRom just £500! Peter Poland's pick of pocket cruisers

ELECTRIC v PRoPAnE oUTBoARDSPLUS: 6 non-slip paints

A year's Jotun nonStop antifouling

HoW to fIt A fuRLeRUpdating our 1960s project boat for the 21st century

TESTED

BRITAIN’S BEST-SEllING YACHTING MAGAzINE

No. 579 OctOber 2014

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Welcome to the October 2014 issue

Contents

5 Waiting for the tide The editor’s welcome to this month’s PBO

6 News Solo sailor’s North Sea ordeal and rescue,

update on Croatian boat fees situation,

Southerly Yachts folds again... and more

14 Regional news Terminally ill woman completes

fundraising voyage round UK, ship

collides with wind turbine... and more

16 Readers’ letters – your views

18 Dave Selby Circumnavigating Canvey Island

20 Sam Llewellyn Emerald Isle

meanderings

22 Andrew Simpson A bight on the backside

32 Ask the experts Bonding metal skin fi ttings to external

sacrifi cial anodes, assessing battery packs

– and more reader queries answered

51 PBO products and services

Cover photo: Swift 18 by David Harding

PRACTICAL

REGULARS

GEAR

BOATS

CRUISING

TECHNOLOGY

SEAMANSHIP

24 How to fit a furler Updating our project

boat for the 21st century

54 Coating and fairing with epoxy resin

Basic techniques explained,

PLUS epoxy-coat a battery box

59 Tips for handling a heavy tenderMaking life easier when moving rigid

or semi-rigid tenders about on land

70 Make a cockpit ‘booster’ seat ...and an improvised anchor light,

PLUS more projects and tips

72 Restore a teak deck Step-by-step refurbishment advice

75 How to make a mitred through dovetail jointDovetail strength with mitred edges

118 Keep your dinghy safe Tips from the PBO Sketchbook

28 Help for a Kelt PBO’s Sail Clinic helps a Kelt 550

suffering from windward reluctance

80 Watch out for unlit buoys! A reader recalls a hair-raising night passage

off the Frisian Islands, running with the tide

and trying not to crash into unlit buoys

95 How to plan an uneventful Biscay crossingA well-prepared boat and crew, and a close

weather watch, makes all the difference

13 New boats at the showPreviewing the new boats appearing at

Southampton Boat Show for the fi rst time

36 16- to 19-footers from just £500!Peter Poland’s pick of pocket cruisers

82 Contessa 32 restorationHow an Arctic adventurer returned

to her family roots

90 Saffier boats tested PBO assesses the

Sc 8M Cabin and Se 33

47 Electric v propane outboards

Can they provide a viable alternative to the

petrol motor? PBO compares a selection

62 New gear A fi rst look at new products making their

debut at the Southampton Boat Show

87 6 non-slip paints Which works best to help

maintain footing on a wet, pitching deck?

41 Milford HavenA useful guide into and around this

expansive and scenic cruising ground

100 Amazing Albania A stress-free cruise to Gjiri i Sarandës

76 Hybrid drivesEssential kit or eco-rubbish?

41 Milford Haven

SAVE MONEY AND SUBSCRIBE! Great offers on page 86

WIN! A year’s Jotun

NonStop antifouling

– page 9

28 Help for a Kelt

24 How to fit a furler

Practical Boat Owner 579 October 2014 • www.pbo.co.uk 3

HYBRID DRIVESEssential kit or eco-rubbish?

Tips for handling a heavy tender

MAINTENANCE · PROJECTS · GEAR REVIEWS · SEAMANSHIP · CRUISING

PLUS: How to plan an uneventful Biscay

crossing

WIN!

Coating and fairing with epoxy resin

Contessa 32 restoration:

How an Arctic adventurer

returned to her family roots

Restore a teak deck

step by step16- to 19-footeRs fRom just £500! Peter Poland's pick of pocket cruisers

ELECTRIC v PRoPAnE oUTBoARDSPLUS: 6 non-slip paints

A year's Jotun nonStop antifouling

HoW to fIt A fuRLeRUpdating our 1960s project boat for the 21st century

TESTED

BRITAIN’S BEST-SEllING YACHTING MAGAzINE

No. 579 OctOber 2014

36 16- to 19-footers from just £500

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EditorialCONTACT PBO EDITORIALBy email: [email protected] Via our website: www.pbo.co.ukBy post: PBO, IPC Media Ltd, Westover House, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 1JG By phone tel: +44 (0)1202 440820By Fax: +44 (0)1202 440860

Editor David PughEditor’s PA Roz JonesDeputy Editor Ben Meakins Technical Editor David HardingArt Editor Kevin SlaterProduction Editor Julian PeckhamSub-editor Marco RossiNews Editor Laura KitchingContributing Editor Sarah NorburyDesigner Kevin BeachTechnical Illustrator Graham SmithCharts and maps QrystofPublishing Director Simon Owen

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H aving a passage plan is, without doubt, a good thing. It’s very tempting, especially in familiar waters, to have a quick look at the tide, drop the

mooring and go sailing, but if your crew have to take over, or even if you get caught out by a stronger-than-expected tide, a plan gives a useful starting point from which to reassess the situation. And if the worst does come to pass, the insurance company will look much more favourably on someone who can show that they were properly prepared.

Anyone who has attended navigation classes will know how emphatic the RYA are about having a detailed passage plan. They’ll also know that, hand-in-hand with having a plan comes having a plan B. Where experience comes in is knowing when to abandon plan A for plan B, or even to relinquish them both and start again.

I was brought face to face with this situation just the other day, when my brother and I joined my uncle Dick and his boat in Guernsey to help make the passage home to Poole. As we arrived in St Peter Port a light north-westerly rippled the harbour, forecast to build into a Force 4 and back to the west – perfect for a sail north. With barely a pause to boil the kettle we left the marina and headed towards Alderney. Our plan was simple: take the afternoon tide up to Braye harbour, which with the wind forecast to continue to back overnight and moderate should give us a quiet night and a daylight crossing in light winds the following day.

The plan worked perfectly, giving us one of those rare, intensely memorable moments: the wind just right for full sail and a smooth sea offering little resistance, all gloriously garnished in declining summer sunshine. The east coast of Alderney glowed, the shadows picking out the old fortifi cations in mysterious detail.

As we turned the corner to head west towards Braye, the mood changed utterly. The going was heavy as the back eddy we had planned to catch kicked up short seas against the fresh westerly. We arrived in the last shreds of dusk and picked up a mooring, made dinner and turned in, only to spend the night chasing elusive slumber as the remnants of swell left by the north-westerly crept around the breakwater to leave us and the rest of the harbour rolling our masts in unison.

The next day, we left at fi rst light in next to no wind, motoring most of the Channel until a light south-westerly allowed us to hoist the spinnaker for a couple of hours as we approached the Dorset coast.

Hindsight is a marvellous thing, and with its benevolent advice we should have carried on and sailed through the night.

As none of us slept anyway a broken night would have been no privation, it

would have saved us a wind-over-tide slog and we would have had a grand sailing breeze for the fi rst part of the passage, at least. Even worse, we all thought of it as we turned west towards Alderney, but none of us said a word. If just one of us had suggested it, I suspect the decision would have been taken, the plan revised and a better passage made.

I’m forced to conclude that although a passage plan is indeed a lovesome thing (God wot), one can be too rigid. The sea is a capricious mistress, and at times it’s best to simply do her bidding.

There’s plenty to read this month – we’re fi tting a furler as the fi rst of a series of upgrades to the project boat, electrical guru Nigel Calder explains when hybrid drives work and when they don’t, Peter Poland shows how you can get sailing for just £500 and we follow the restoration of Willy Ker’s legendary Contessa 32 Assent. All this and more in PBO – I hope you enjoy it.

Fair winds, David Pugh

www.twitter.com/p_b_o www.facebook.com/practicalboatownermag

To receive the editor’s monthly email newsletter, sign up on our website: www.pbo.co.uk

PBO is also available on these digital platforms

At times, a passage

plan can be too rigid

Adaptability is a rite of passage

Waiting for the tide

with the editor

ABOVE Ken Lievesley’s Hurley 22 Gavina was battered, but survived the storm. RIGHT Gavina’s stemhead fi tting was torn out

News

6 Practical Boat Owner 579 October 2014 • www.pbo.co.uk

News

News and current affairs from the world of boating

News SEND US YOUR STORIES Email news editor Laura Hodgetts at

[email protected], tel: 01202 440825

Solo yachtsman tells of North Sea rescue ordeal

came for him as he had told the

coastguard he didn’t want a

helicopter but was ‘in desperate

need of a tow.’

‘I told him: “I’m stopping with

my boat.” We argued for a bit

and he assured me the lifeboat

was on its way and would take

my boat in tow, and everything

would be fi ne.’

Ken says he thought ‘this poor

man has risked his life to come

down on your boat,’ so he

allowed himself to be airlifted. He

was treated for hypothermia at

Norwich Hospital, and his arrival

via the helipad saw doctors and

nurses lined up ‘as though I was

royalty. A bit embarrassing, but

really good treatment.’

Ken was discharged from

hospital the next day. He

contacted Hull Marina the

following day, only to discover

Gavina was still at sea. The lifeboat

had been stood down once there

was no longer a risk to life.

‘I was devastated,’ he said.

Ken hired a survey vessel and

spent 22 hours searching for his

boat. Just when he thought all

was lost, Ken received a call from

the Dutch coastguard. Gavina had

drifted into Dutch waters and had

been towed into Den Helder by

a naval ship. Her mast was

damaged and front rails smashed,

but the yacht was in one piece.

Ken’s mobile phone, passport

and wallet were on board.

Ken’s son, who lives in

Amsterdam, has since posted

Ken’s passport home to him so

he can make the trip back over to

the Netherlands. ‘It’s going to be

pretty expensive to get Gavina

repaired, she wasn’t insured,’

Ken said.

‘The night before I was airlifted

off, the wind must have been

Force 9. The boat was hove to,

the engine was out of action and

I was watching out for ships on

the AIS. One ship looked like it

was heading straight for me. I

struggled to get into the cockpit

as the movement of the boat

was so violent.

‘When I had got a good grip of

the rail I looked up and saw the

dreaded green and red lights

of a ship. I felt I was staring

death in the face. I

unlashed the tiller, sheeted

in what was left of the

foresail and Gavina tore

over the waves. I was soon

clear of the ship, so I put

Gavina back into hove-to

mode and went below again.

‘I knew of the Hurley 22’s

seagoing reputation, but

what I now know far

exceeds anything I’d

previously heard.’

A Maritime and

Coastguard Agency

spokesperson said: ‘After

the sailor was rescued, an

assessment was made of

weather and sea conditions to

determine whether his boat

could be safely recovered.

‘With winds gusting at almost

50mph and a heavy swell it was

deemed too risky to take the boat

under tow. As it was away from

shipping lanes, the decision was

taken to consider retrieval when

conditions were more favourable.

‘In cases such as this, the rescue

of the person on board is our fi rst

priority: however, we must

also consider the safety

of the crew on the

rescue craft and, as

there was no longer

any life at risk, the

lifeboats were stood

down.’

The Hurley 22

was taking on

water, its sails

were in tatters

and the engine

had failed amid

46mph gusts of

wind and a 3.5m

raging sea

Gale-force winds were

blowing when an RAF

rescue helicopter

winchman landed on Ken

Lievesley’s stricken yacht in

the North Sea.

But the 78-year-old single-

handed sailor, who was showing

signs of hypothermia, initially

refused the airlift as he did not

want to abandon his beloved

Hurley 22 Gavina.

Ken was 28NM off the north

Norfolk coast when he made

the Mayday call to Humber

Coastguard at 4.45pm on 18

August. Gavina had withstood

fi ve days of gales during a

crossing from Holland but now

her storm jib had split, the engine

was fl ooded and Ken could not

turn on his navigation lights in

the approaching darkness.

The Yorkshireman was

‘surprised’ when the winchman

Ken Lievesley – and his boat Gavina –

separately weathered North Sea gales

News


➜

One of the biggest names

in British boatbuilding,

Southerly Yachts, has folded

again, writes Barry Pickthall.

This latest setback to the

Southerly name comes just

13 months after the brand had

been rescued from an earlier

receivership with debts of

£1,972,520. The builder, which

once employed 165 people at

Itchenor Shipyard and its moulding

operation in Havant, went down

with the loss of 50 jobs.

A creditors’ meeting held at the

Gatwick Hilton Hotel on 22 August

was told that efforts to refoat the

building arm of the business had

failed and that once three yachts

currently under construction for

customers were completed,

production of the Southerly

brand would cease.

Chris Stephens from FRP

Advisory was once more

appointed receiver but, like last

year, when the assets available

to offset debts amounted to little

more than the offce furniture and a

database of potential clients,

there are precious few pickings.

A spokesman for FRP Advisory

refused to divulge the list of

outstanding creditors for

Southerly Yachts Ltd or its level of

debt to boating businesses, stating

that this will eventually be published

by Companies House.

The land and buildings at

Itchenor are owned by Sunchalk

Ltd and the mouldings, intellectual

property rights to the Southerly,

Fisher and Vancouver yacht

brands together with equipment

and machinery, all remain outside

the grasp of the receiver.

Northshore Yachts was formed

in 1971 and purchased by Lester

Abbott from founder Bryan Moffatt

for a reputed £4.5m in 2003. Mr

Abbott invested heavily in

expanding the Southerly range,

constructing two new factory

buildings – the latest of which was

opened by Princess Anne in 2010.

After the previous crash, Mr

Abbott faced criticism for leaving

key suppliers high and dry. Their

reluctance to supply the new

Southerly Yachts business with

vital parts forced Mr Abbott to pay

off past debts, and companies like

Irons Brothers which manufactured

Southerly’s unique swing keels

and was owed £59,000, is said to

be owed just £38 this time.

Spokespersons from Tek Tanks,

Houdini Windows, Holman Rigging

and IPC Media, which all took

considerable hits in the 2013

bankruptcy, also reported that

debts had been cleared.

Southerly Yachts folds again

Enthusiasm for sailing in

Croatia is shared by around

13,000 boat owners from all

around the EU, writes Stuart

Bradley, Past President of the

Cruising Association (CA).

The CA’s Mediterranean Section

includes more than 600 members

who provide reports to keep

information on the CA’s website

up to date. We have received

many reports from sailors whose

boats are out of the water and

won’t be launched until they’ve

paid r600 in cash to the marina’s

agent. Because of this, one of the

largest Croatian marinas is known

to have lost 150 private berth-

holders this year.

Unfortunately, although the

EU has recognised that some

progress has been made in

dealing with corruption in Croatia,

a report published in June stated

that Croatian citizens’ trust in their

key institutions remains low.

However, sources in Croatia’s

marine industry report that, in

response to approaches by

several EU countries and

unfavourable international

publicity, ‘a soft solution’ will be

found to the requirement to use

agents to establish ‘free

circulation’ in the EU.

The British Ambassador in

Croatia, David Slinn, contacted

Croatian customs to query the

need to go through an agent

and the costs of doing so.

Customs are now insisting that

this is not ‘an absolute requirement’,

but this information seems not to

have percolated down to regional

offces or individual Croatian

customs offcers.

In addition, the Croatian

Ambassador in Britain has

forwarded a report of the

situation, including the PBO

article (August 2014 issue), to the

relevant bodies in Croatia and

requested a response which is

currently awaited.

It is important to stress that the

problem of over-charging only

applies to boats that were already

in Croatia and had contracts with

Croatian marinas on 1 July 2013.

Boats entering Croatia for

the frst time this season have

generally been welcomed with

few formalities. Anyone planning

a cruise in Croatia should obtain

a T2L form from HMRC – a

straightforward procedure.

Update on Croatian boat fees situation

The Southerly Yachts yard at Itchenor in West Sussex

Volunteers with the National Coastwatch Institution keep

an eye on British coasts

Barr

y P

ickth

all/

PP

L

The National Coastwatch

Institution (NCI) has been

allocated a national licence by

OFCOM for the use of VHF Ch65,

with strong support from the

Maritime and Coastguard

Agency (MCA).

The dedicated channel will allow

communications between NCI

lookouts – run by volunteers –

and seafarers on routine matters.

Stations will be able to respond

to requests from passing as well

as local sailing craft and fshing

vessels for radio checks plus

actual weather and sea state

conditions. They will also be able

to provide information on facilities

including local moorings, charted

anchorages, water taxi contact

details and local hazards.

National Coastwatch stations will

go live on Ch65 on 1 October. In

the meantime, stations will be

equipped with a dedicated radio

for this purpose and the service

will replace the practice of some

stations currently holding a

temporary licence to operate

on marina Ch37.

National Coastwatch gets its own VHF channel


Vecta Marine • Tel: +44 (0)1672 564456 • www.vectamarine.com • [email protected]

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Three Maritime Rescue

Co-ordination Centres

(MRCCs) at Solent, Portland,

and Brixham will close between

September this year and

December 2015.

Meanwhile, sites at Liverpool,

Swansea and Thames will become

Coastal Operations Bases and will

no longer have a search and

rescue coordination function. As

part of The Future Coastguard

programme, the remaining nine

MRCCs will be upgraded to

Coastguard Operations Centres

(CGOC) and, together with a desk

at the London Port Authority, will

be networked through the new

National Maritime Operations

Centre at Fareham to create a

national command and control

network. Staffi ng patterns will be

reorganised to mirror incident rates.

The MCA will give the volunteer

Coastguard Rescue Service (CRS)

better access to training and

support. From April 2015 the MCA

will take on additional search and

rescue helicopter responsibilities,

managing a single contract for

search and rescue helicopters

across the United Kingdom rather

than the current mixture of military

and civilian arrangements.

In 2015 new bases will open

at Inverness and Humberside,

Caernarfon and Manston, Cardiff

St Athan, and in 2016 at Prestwick

and Newquay. Coastguard

helicopter bases at Sumburgh,

Lee-on-Solent and Stornoway will

transfer to the new system in 2017.

A revamped IT infrastructure will

enable remote working, and the

MCA says that for employees who

remain in the service, there will be

greater responsibilities, training and

career progression, and better pay.

A short cruise to Spain turned

into a 16-year, round-the

world adventure for sailing

couple Clive and Jane Green.

After testing the water to ensure

they could live together on their

10.7m (35ft) yacht, the Jane G, the

Greens visited 51 countries. During

their fi rst ocean trip, to Barbados,

they travelled so slowly in light

wind that Clive swam alongside

the yacht holding onto a rope

while Jane was at the helm.

Their adventures took them

around the Caribbean, up to

Bermuda, to Connecticut, around

New York during rush hour when

they were sailing past the cars in

traffi c jams, to Newport, Rhode

Island, then mast-down through the

Erie and Welland canals to Lake

Ontario. They left Staten Island two

days before the 9/11 terrorism

attacks on New York.

They spent three-and-a-half years

in Australia and New Zealand.

In early August this year the

couple returned to Pembrokeshire,

having sailed 51,000 nautical miles

across the globe. Prior to leaving,

the Greens spent 10 months doing

up Jane G and rented out their

home to help fi nance the trip.

Clive, 62, said: ‘I took early

retirement and Jane chucked her

job in because she didn’t want to

be at home working, with me

sending her postcards.’

They lived on £130 a week,

bartering their belongings for food

and other supplies, including one

of Jane’s bras on an island off Fiji.

They also made countless repairs

to their yacht – and helped many a

fellow sailor – along the way.

Sixteen-year cruisers return to UK

Clive added: ‘I’ve never charged

another sailor to help and haven’t

been charged either. If we had a

problem with the boat we had to fi x

it ourselves. Jane is just as capable

as me, there’s nothing on this boat

she can’t do.’

They survived up to 23 days at sea

by desalinating seawater, wrapping

potatoes individually in newspaper,

keeping cheese in cooking oil and

packing butter in salt. One of their

biggest scares was being followed

by a boat in waters inhabited by

Somali pirates, which turned out to

be skippered by an injured Eritrean

fi sherman seeking fi rst aid.

Since returning home, the Greens

have been amazed by the media

attention. Clive said: ‘If it encourages

other people to follow their dreams,

that’s great. We really have gone full

circle: all the way around the world

at an average speed of 4.5mph.’

A n employment specialist is

suing one of BritainÕs most

famous yacht race companies,

the RollOnFriday.com legal news

website has revealed.

The annual Clipper Round The

World Yacht Race, run by Clipper

Ventures PLC, was founded by Sir

Robin Knox-Johnston, the fi rst

sailor to perform a single-handed

non-stop circumnavigation of

the globe. Ruth Harvey, an

employment lawyer who used to

be a partner at Hunton & Williams,

is suing Clipper Ventures. Harvey

signed up for the race, joined the

yacht Jamaica and appealed for

donations towards the £40,000

cost of entry. The fl eet left

Southampton last September and

arrived back in the UK in July, but

without Harvey on board. Like

Employment lawyer sues Clipper Ventures

Coastguard shake-up under way

many participants, she had

dropped out of the race before

the fi nishing line.

Harvey is claiming that both

victimisation and harassment

were behind her failure to fi nish.

She claims that she was an

employee of the race organisers

despite her paying Clipper

Ventures PLC to take part. A

preliminary hearing was held in

the Southampton Employment

Tribunal on 18 July. In November,

the tribunal will rule on issues such

as jurisdiction and whether she

can be classed as a worker.

Harvey wouldn’t elaborate on the

nature of the alleged harassment

or victimisation, and a spokesman

for Clipper Ventures said: ‘It is not

our policy not to comment further

upon ongoing legal matters.’

Ruth Harvey (right) is in a legal argument with Clipper Ventures

LEFT Jane G in her element at sea

BELOW Globetrotting Clive and Jane Green

News

Clip

per

Ven

ture

s

News


IPC standard terms and conditions apply. The winner will be drawn at random after the closing date of 8 October 2014, and will be contacted by phone within four weeks.

Jotun NonStop antifouling for your boat

Jotun have teamed up with PBO to offer fi ve lucky readers two 2.5-litre cans

each of NonStop antifouling – enough to keep most small leisure craft

foul-free for a season.

NonStop is a self-polishing antifouling based on advanced hydrating binders,

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Suitable for all types of boats up to speeds of 40 knots, NonStop provides an

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With a long history in the leisure yacht industry, Jotun is dedicated to offering

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■ Premium antifouling

■ Unique effect against fouling

■ Available in six colours including pure white

■ No scraping or sanding

The 2014 Aberdeen Asset

Management Cowes Week

resulted in more members of

public than ever trying their

hand at sailing.

More than 450 people took to

the water for taster sessions on

Colgate 26 keelboats run by the

offi cial event charity, UKSA. Each

participant was asked to donate £5

towards the UKSA’s scheme to

enable every Year 6 primary

schoolchild on the Isle of Wight

to experience

watersports – some

1,600 pupils.

The historic

yachting event was

established in 1826

and has run every

August since –

except for during

the two World Wars.

Big names

participating in this

year’s regatta

included Princess

Anne, Pippa

Middleton,

Olympian Heather

Fell, actor Warwick

Davis and British

Sailing Team

members. A special Victory Race

was held to mark the 80th

anniversary of the Victory Class.

The UKSA’s Boss up a Mast

fundraiser saw 15 managing

directors and company chief

executives winched up a 30m

(100ft) mast with their mobile

phones and not allowed back

down until their contacts pledged

donations. At the time of going to

press, Cowes Week had raised

more than £33,000 for UKSA.

Following months of

controversy regarding

the new Greek circulation tax,

the Greek government has

introduced two changes which

cut harbour dues, the Cruising

Association has revealed.

Until August 1 harbour dues in

Greece were collected by the

Hellenic Coast Guard, colloquially

known as Port Police or PP. Fees

comprised an entry charge (paid

per visit) and a berthing charge,

payable from midnight to midnight

for each day the boat was in port.

They were charged per metre

LOA, plus VAT.

The new changes mean the

entry fees are no longer payable.

Secondly, berthing fees will now

be collected by the municipal or

local authority (Limeniko Tameo)

responsible for managing the

quay. Advance payments for

a month or more will earn

discounts. Marina fees, which

broadly seem to include any

privately-managed quays or

pontoons, will be collected as

before, by the marina operator.

Jim Baerselman from the CA

said: ‘The old system of hunting

down a port police offi ce hidden

in some tiny back street was very

unpopular. The net result was that

large numbers of cruising folk just

didn’t pay, and there has been

very limited investment in

quayside facilities. Dropping the

entry fee is welcome. And if

collection agents now come to the

boat, far more people will happily

pay harbour dues. Genuine

agents will offer a tax receipt.

‘From now on, visits to the port

police will be only be required on

entering the country, or once a

year after that to have your DEKPA

or transit log (Greek cruising

papers) checked for the new

circulation tax (TPP) payments.

This is the controversial tax which

came into force in January, but

there is still no indication if or

when TPP collection will start.’

The CA has compiled a detailed

schedule of the local authority

fees payable: fi nd it online at

www.cruising.org.uk/news/

greeceupdate

Some good news for cruising yachts in Greece

Cowes Week round-up

HRH Princess Anne was among the Cowes Week participants

UK

SA

News


DIARY DATES

Get the latest boating news online

every day. Visit the PBO

website, www.pbo.co.uk

Breaking news

■ Southampton Boat Show,

12-21 September,

www.southamptonboatshow.com

■ Solent Boat Jumble,

5 October, Royal Victoria Country

Park, Netley, Southampton.

■ Kent Boat Jumble,

12 October, The Hop Farm,

Paddock Wood, Tonbridge, Kent.

■ East Hants Boat Jumble,

2 November, Havant Leisure Centre,

Civic Centre Road, Havant,

www.boat-jumbles.co.uk

■ Scotland’s Boat Show,

10-12 October, Kip Marina,

www.scotlandsboatshow.co.uk

■ Mumbles Oyster and Seafood

Festival, 16-19 October, Southend

Gardens, Mumbles, Swansea,

www.mumblesoysterfestival.com

■ The 2015 Anstruther Harbour

Festival will be held 29 to 31 May.

■ 2015 Beaulieu Boatjumble

26 April 2015

See more online at www.pbo.co.uk

A Northamptonshire couple

who were diagnosed with

cancer have achieved their

dream of sailing around Britain

to raise money for charity.

Alan Sinfi eld and his wife

Geraldine, from Polebrook near

Oundle, spent three months

completing the 2,000-mile

circumnavigation in their 10.4m

(34ft) Bavaria yacht Tante Helena.

They hope to raise £10,000 for

The Urology Foundation, the only

charity in the UK that covers all

urological conditions, including

prostate, bladder, testicular and

kidney cancer. It is a charity dear to

their hearts as Alan was diagnosed

with prostate cancer and testicular

cancer in 2013. Earlier this year

Geraldine was diagnosed with

bladder cancer. Their diagnoses

are all the more upsetting as Alan

lost his fi rst wife Wendy to cancer

in 2002, and Geraldine’s fi rst

husband Ian also died from the

disease four years later.

Tante Helena left Shotley Marina,

near Ipswich, in early June and

returned at the end of August.

Highlights have included seeing

hundreds of curious seals on the

Humber, ‘howling’ seals at Holy

Island and 12 dolphins in

Inverness. Alan described the seas

off Ramsgate in their approach

back to home port as the worst of

the whole trip.

The 71-year-old said the adventure

had ‘defi nitely lived up to

expectations. Everyone we have

spoken to has been interested in

our story, and some marinas waived

Disabled sailing teen Natasha

Lambert successfully scaled

the 2,907ft Pen Y Fan in the

Brecon Beacons to complete her

Sea and Summit Challenge, then

modestly summed up her

achievement as: ‘Not bad’.

Almost a month after leaving her

hometown of Cowes, Isle of Wight,

the 17-year-old, who has athertoid

cerebral palsy, achieved her aim of

sailing 440 miles around England’s

south west coast to Wales before

climbing Pen Y Fan, the highest

peak in southern Britain.

Accompanied by a 17-strong

support team, including four

members of the Central Beacons

Mountain Rescue team and four

military personnel, plus parents

Gary and Amanda, eight-year-old

Maritime communities are

being urged to help

combat threats from criminals

and terrorists as part of a

revamped coastwatch campaign.

Reporting channels for Project

KRAKEN – a joint initiative now

being delivered by the National

Crime Agency (NCA), Border

Force and police forces – have

been simplifi ed to make it easier

to report suspicious water-based

activities, through the 101

non-emergency police number or

Crimestoppers anonymously on

0800 555 111.

Sir Charles Montgomery, director

general of Border Force, said:

‘Border Force’s fl eet of cutters,

supported by its dedicated

surveillance aircraft, operates 24

hours, 365 days of the year and

can be deployed to shores across

the UK with 30 minutes notice.’

NCA, Border Force and

Hampshire police offi cers carried

out a public outreach activity at

Cowes Week, meeting competitors

and visitors and sharing key

messages of the KRAKEN

campaign. Similar activity will be

carried out around the country.

mooring fees in place of donations.’

Geraldine accompanied Alan for

most of the trip. At other times he

was joined by his friend Mike

Maconochie and the boat’s

previous owner James Hancox.

■ www.tantehelena.com

Survivors’ challenge

‘Miss Isle’ conquers Sea and Summit Challenge

sister Rachel and sailing coach

Phil Devereux, Natasha started the

ascent at 6.45am on 22 August

and reached the summit three-

and-a-half hours later, using a

special Hart Walker walking aid.

Through Sea and Summit,

Natasha has so far raised more than

£11,000 of her £15,000 target for the

RNLI, the Ellen MacArthur Cancer

Trust and the RYA Foundation.

Dad Gary said: ‘I am incredibly

proud: I’ve always been proud of

her, I know what she can do and

this is just the icing on the cake.’

Natasha sails her 6.4m (21ft) Mini

Transat boat, Miss Isle Too, by

breathing through a straw in a

specially-engineered bicycle

helmet designed by her dad.

■ www.missisle.com

Cancer sufferers Alan and Geraldine Sinfi eld have sailed round Britain to raise money for cancer charities

The Miss Isle team conquers Pen Y FanINSET RIGHT Natasha is queen of the mountain

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New BoatsDavid Harding makes a second pick of the new introductions at the Southampton Boat Show

Few boat shows pass

without a new model

or two from Beneteau,

Hanse or Bavaria. At

Southampton this year

you can see the latest offerings

from all three.

Bavaria will be introducing the

Easy9.7. From the outside she

looks remarkably like the 33

Cruiser, and for good reason: she’s

a basic version of the same boat,

stripped of a few trimmings such

as styling stripes, hull ports, some

galley facilities and the odd door

down below. This brings the price

down to £60,000 (all bar a fver),

ready to sail away, though there’s

scope to put some of the missing

bits back on if you like.

Beneteau are following the

budget theme too. This time

they’re showing theOceanis35

which, like the Oceanis 38, is

offered in three guises: Daysailer,

Weekender and Cruiser.

Recognising that not everyone

buying boats of this size wants

a layout designed for staying

aboard for more than a few hours

at a time, Beneteau have made

the Daysailer totally open-plan

and given her minimal trim. With

the Weekender and Cruiser you

have separate cabins and a

choice of layouts.

Whichever version you choose,

there’s plenty of volume in the

broad-sterned hull with its chines,

twin rudders and twin wheels.

Prices start at £86,737.

And so to Hanse, whose

455 replaces the 445. The extra

length – the hull really is longer –

allows generous helm seats abaft

the twin wheels that combine with

the hinge-down transom to create

a fully-enclosed cockpit. A

re-styled deck brings her

appearance more into line with

ContaCt details

BavariaEasy9.7Berth M360 www.clippermarine.co.uk

BeneteauOceanis35Berth M252www.beneteau.com

Hanse455Berth M266www.hanseyachts.co.uk

Nautitech40Berth M350www.keyyachting.com

Tofnou8Berth M354www.keyyachting.com

QuickboatStand A14www.nestawayboats.com

Seaward25E14Berth M122www.seawardboat.com

displacement hull designed to let

her keep going in any weather, she

boasts increased headroom and a

host of refnements down below.

Prices start at around £113,000.that of her larger sisters but, for

her size, this isn’t an expensive

boat at a spit under £200,000

commissioned and ready to go.

If two hulls of a cruisy-but-quick

nature tickle your fancy, have a

look at the Nautitech40,

designed by Marc Lombard as the

French builder’s third-generation

offering of this size. Sporting

reverse rake to the stems,

generous freeboard and

rectangular ports in the topsides,

she looks every inch the modern

cruising cat. You can have one for

around £321,025.

The new Nautitech distributors,

Key Yachting, have also recently

taken over the Tofnou range from

Charles Watson and will be

showing theTofnou8 – a

high-performance daysailer that

blends the modern and traditional

in a very eye-catching way. Now

that the daysailer concept is

beginning to gain some

momentum in northern

Europe, this fn-keeled

fyer (a centreboard

is available) with her

teak deck and sleek, beautifully

varnished coachroof is sure to

stop visitors in their tracks. She

might also encourage a few to

part with £108,000.

Moving down a few sizes we fnd

something that might make the

perfect tender for your Nautitech,

Hanse, Beneteau or Bavaria:

the Quickboat. Distributed by

Nestaway, specialists in portable

boats of all descriptions, this one

comes from Australia, folds fat into

two bags, has a hull weighing just

35kg (77lb), can be assembled in

a couple of minutes and will

apparently do 22 knots with a

10hp outboard (though not when

carrying four adults). Your £3,950

buys a specifcation that includes

epoxy-foam panels and Kevlar-

reinforced, heavy-duty hinges.

On the powerboat side, the

new-look Seaward25E14

will be worth a visit. With twin,

shaft-driven props and a semi-

Hanse455

BeneteauOceanis35

Nautitech40

Seaward25E14

Quickboat

BavariaEasy9.7

Tofnou8


Send us your local news stories. Email PBO news editor Laura Hodgetts at [email protected], tel: 01202 440825, or write to the address on page 5

News from your cruising area

Regional News

SOUTH

Boomfatality

A man in his 30s died after being

struck by the boom of a yacht while

saiing off Gurnard Ledge in the Solent.

The incident occurred in near-gale-

force south-westerly winds on 11

August. Crew on the ketch radioed

Solent Coastguard, and the Cowes

Atlantic 85 lifeboat, a police launch

and the Lee-on-Solent-based rescue

helicopter raced to the scene. A

helicopter winchman was lowered to

the yacht, and after he had assessed

the casualty the yacht was escorted to

Trinity Landing at Cowes by the

lifeboat. The already deceased man

was then taken to St Mary’s Hospital.

americanquest

A Bulgarian man found suffering from

severe seasickness in a 4.3m (14ft)

dinghy off the Dorset coast told

rescuers he was trying to reach

America. The solo sailor was spotted

off Hengistbury Head on 16 August,

and the coastguard was alerted.

Mudeford RNLI lifeboat was launched,

and a crew member was transferred to

the dinghy to assess the situation.

The man was cold, wet and being

violently ill, but refused assistance. He

had bought the dinghy earlier that day,

packed a bag of food and a bag of

clothing and was trying to sail to the

USA. The dinghy, which had no safety

equipment on board, was taking on

water. The crew eventually transferred

the man to the lifeboat and kept him

warm while he was taken to Mudeford

Quay and an awaiting ambulance

crew, coastguard and police. The

lifeboat crew then retrieved his boat,

which was taken to the local slipway.

CHANNEL ISLANDS

all-faithseaservice

Despite adverse weather, more than

100 people attended the annual

all-faith Sea Service at Creux Harbour

on Sark’s quayside on 17 August.

Guernsey’s Salvation Army Band was

taken to the island by the passenger

launch Brecqhou Lass. Both the RNLI

and St John Ambulance were

represented by Guernsey’s relief

lifeboat Daniel L Gibson and the

ambulance boat Flying Christine III.

lifeBoatrestoration

A dilapidated but complete 10.7m (35ft)

mystery boat that has languished in

the Guernsey bay of Grande Havre for

many years has been identifed as the

Liverpool Class lifeboat JB Coupe, which served in Scotland in 1949.

The boat was brought to Guernsey in

1974, then renamed L’Étoile du Nord.

Used as a fshing boat for some years,

the Étoile was eventually moored near

the LW mark in Grande Havre and

largely forgotten. It is hoped that the

boat will now be restored and kept

afoat in the same bay.

SOUTH-WEST

schoolclosurefears

A sailing school is facing closure,

unless it can raise £13,000 a year, after

losing Plymouth City Council funding.

Plymouth and Devon Schools Sailing

Association (PDSSA) is a not-for-proft

volunteer organisation which has been

operating since 1966. Peter Couch,

former elected committee member of

Tamar River Sailing Club, said: ‘One

wonders why school sailing in

Plymouth does not move to the Tamar

River Sailing Club at Saltash Passage

in Plymouth, which sought and

accepted public money on the basis

that the club made its premises

available to the wider community.’

www.pdssa.org

voyagecompleted

A terminally ill mother from Devon has

fnally completed her voyage around

the UK, just over a year after she was

forced to abandon the trip when her

appendix burst. Lori Murdock from

Topsham has an aggressive form of

skin cancer and was initially given only

months to live. The 59-year-old retired

solicitor and law lecturer decided to go

sailing and fundraise £10,000 for

cancer charities FORCE, Hospiscare

and Macmillan.

With her Patterdale terrier Betty, she

left Falmouth in May 2013 on board

Kasuje III, a 1953 Yeoman Classic

cruiser-racer. They sailed anti-

clockwise and had reached the west

coast of Scotland when Lori’s appendix

burst at Ardrishaig on the Crinan

Canal and she was rushed to Oban

Hospital for an emergency operation.

In May this year, Lori sailed from

Totnes via the Isles of Scilly to

Holyhead. In August, she completed

the fnal 200 miles from Anglesey back

to Ardrishaig. She said: ‘I’m so

pleased to have done it, and so

blessed to still be alive to sail it.’

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/

team/Lorimurdock

Around 100 residents gathered on

25 August to protest about the 17,000

tons of harbour silt dredged to create

the marina being dumped on a nearby

car park.

IRELAND

capsizetragedy

A sailor drowned off the coast of

West Cork after the 5.8m (19ft) yacht

he was on capsized. The 66-year-old

man and two other crew members

were reported missing on the evening

of 13 August. The upturned

Drascombe Lugger, Zillah, was

discovered in Roaring Water Bay

around 1.5 miles from shore by the

coastguard’s inshore RIB and

all-weather lifeboat. Early the following

morning, rescue crews discovered two

of the missing crew, a man aged 76

and a woman aged 60, on Castle

Island. They were both suffering from

hypothermia. They were airlifted to

hospital. The rescued sailors told

emergency crews their friend had

drifted away from them as they swam

for shore. The man had been wearing

a lifejacket. His body was found by

lifeboat crews on 14 August.

storm-struckdinghies

More than 200 people and 87 sailing

dinghies were hit by stormy weather in

Strangford Lough. Belfast Coastguard

was alerted on 11 August that some of

the GP14 World Championship Race

participants’ boats had capsized, while

others were struggling to cope in the

strong winds and squally showers.

The Bangor and Portaferry Coastguard

rescue teams, the Portaferry and

Newcastle RNLI lifeboats, the Irish

Coast Guard helicopter and a

helicopter from RAF Valley attended,

along with police and ambulance

crews. Ten people were injured, with

some showing signs of hypothermia.

NORTH-WEST

WindturBinecollision

A ship was damaged after hitting a

wind turbine pile at Walney Wind

Farm, off Barrow-in-Furness. The

Liverpool Maritime Rescue

Coordination Centre (MRCC) received

a call on 14 August reporting that the

Danish-registered standby safety

vessel, OMS Pollux, had collided with

a pile supporting a turbine. The vessel,

with a crew of around 18 on board,

stayed afoat and there were no

reported injuries, but the ship began

leaking marine diesel. OMS Pollux moved under its own power, away

from environmentally sensitive areas,

escorted in relay by the Barrow,

WALES

visitornumBersBoost

Major dredging works and fne

summer weather have boosted visitor

numbers at Hafan Pwllheli Marina in

North Wales. In the last few months

the marina, situated on the south side

of the Lleyn Peninsula, has welcomed

nearly 1,000 boats from all over the UK

and Europe. Work to dredge the

marina basin and main channel was

completed in May, and there is now

access for most yachts at virtually all

states of the tide. More than 90,000m3

of dredged material has been

removed from the harbour, and the

channel is back to its original design

depth of 0.6m at chart datum.

porthcaWlmarinaopens

Porthcawl’s long-awaited marina is

now open for visitors on the south

coast of Wales. All tide berths at

the pontoons hold around 2m of water

below chart datum, with some berths

saved for visitors. The £3.2m marina is

operational about three hours either

side of HW. Visitor fees are £1.80 per

metre per night, with electricity and

water supplied.

The annual all-faith Sea Service at Creux Harbour, Sark

Lori Murdock has completed her fundraising voyage around the UK

Ton

y R

ive


NOVEMBER

ISSUE ON SALE

THURSDAY 9 OCTOBERNext month

Co

nte

nts

su

bje

ct to

ch

an

ge

PRACTICAL

Making sails ■ How they’re made and how to

take accurate measurements

PLUS■ Epoxy sheathing and laminating

■ Antifouling – do we need it?

■ Real-world hybrid drive effi ciency

■ Laying synthetic teak

TESTED

Towed generators■ What are the pros and cons of

towed electricity generators?

Dehumidifi ers■ What’s best to keep your boat dry

adnd mould-free when it’s cold?

BOATS

Buying a mini cruiser■ Peter Poland’s pick of

second-hand 20-23 footers

SEAMANSHIP

Batten down the hatches■ How to prepare your boat on her

mooring ready for winter gales

Navigate Biscay■ Navigation advice for crossing the

Bay of Biscay

Weighing anchor■ How to break out the anchor

under sail

CRUISING

Scottish special■ Kintyre to the Treshnish Isles

■ Troon to Shetland

Visiting Cherbourg■ Pilotage guide and new facilities

at this cross-channel destination

NOVEMBER ISSUE ON SALE THURSDAY 9 OCTOBER

liferaft. The lifeboat crews recovered

the liferaft, then stood by until the

burning yacht sank completely.

SEAL POPULATION GROWTH

Teesmouth’s harbour seal population

has grown again this year with the

birth of 18 pups, bringing the total

number in the River Tees to 100. The

population’s growth over the past 30

years testifi es to the efforts of industry,

regulators, conservationists and The

Crown Estate working together to

clean up the river. Teesmouth is the

only known estuary in north-west

Europe where seals have re-colonised

an industrialised estuary as a direct

result of environmental improvements.

EAST

CLUB CELEBRATION

A formal opening ceremony at Walton

& Frinton Yacht Club on 22 August

celebrated the completion of its

redeveloped clubhouse. The new

facility boasts a high level of thermal

insulation, solar panels and a marine

source heat pump system. It has full

disabled access including a passenger

lift to the upper fl oor where there are

two large function rooms.

MARITIME FESTIVAL

Ipswich Haven Marina welcomed

more than 140 visiting yachts for the

culmination of the town’s Maritime

Festival. These included a 40-strong

fl eet of Old Gaffers, a V39 wartime

steamboat, classic barges and the

oldest RNLI lifeboat, the James

Stevens No14. Spectators were treated

to a laser lightshow along the marina

on 16 August, while a fi rework display

rounded off the event on 17 August.

SOUTH-EAST

YACHT CLUB ARSON

Two teenage boys have been arrested

in connection with a fi re at a former

yacht club building at Southend.

Essex Police were called to assist the

fi re brigade with road closures and

crowd control after the fi re broke out

at the Alexandra Yacht Club building

on 23 August. Two boys aged 16 and

17, both from Westcliff, were arrested

on suspicion of arson after being

stopped by police. They have been

bailed until September 12 pending

further enquiries. The building had

been considered unsafe, and a

decision was taken last April for it to

be demolished.

RYE MOORINGS UPGRADE

Chain moorings in Rye are to be

replaced by pontoon moorings. Work

on the £228,000 project, jointly funded

by the Environment Agency and the

European Union, is scheduled for

completion by March 2015.

INLAND

£3M CANAL IMPROVEMENTS

The Canal & River Trust (C&RT) has

announced a £3million package of

additional investment in the

waterways. Around £2million will fund

dredging projects on the Erewash

Canal, Trent and Mersey and sections

of the North Stratford Canal. Just over

£1million will go towards vegetation

management, repairing waterway

walls and towpaths, improving

sanitary stations and mooring

locations and simplifying lock

operation. The projects will be

completed by April 2015.

Another 18 seal pups have been born in Teesmouth’s cleaned-up estuary

Davi

d M

iles

Lytham and Hoylake lifeboats. A

surface sheen, 5-10m wide and

around 0.7NM in length, was reported

to be trailing the vessel, but unlike

heavier forms of fuel, marine diesel

should evaporate or disperse naturally.

SCOTLAND

HARBOUR ORDER FURY

Boat owners have voiced their anger

at being ordered to move their boats

from Portgordon Harbour by the end

of September. The Crown Estate says

the move is necessary on safety

grounds after a 12m (40ft) section of

the harbour’s east pier collapsed in

storms last winter. Repairs will be

carried out towards the end of 2014,

but the Portgordon community harbour

group says the harbour is safe and

claims the order will jeopardise plans

to install 50 or 60 pontoon berths.

CANAL INVESTMENT

Boaters visiting the Crinan Canal can

now enjoy the comforts of home after

the opening of a new facilities building.

The environmentally-friendly block at

Crinan Basin features toilets, showers,

a laundry room and an outside

terrace, all with disabled access. The

£360,000 new block has been

designed with a sedum living roof

system and Scottish larch panelling,

plus low- and zero-carbon technologies

such as LED lighting, heat recovery

systems and underfl oor heating.

NORTH-EAST

YACHT FIRE

A French sailor made a 999 call when

his 11m (36ft) yacht went up in smoke

15NM off Sunderland on 22 August.

The lone yachtsman told Humber

Coastguard there had been an

explosion on board, so he had

abandoned the blazing yacht and was

in his liferaft. Hartlepool RNLI all-

weather and inshore lifeboats launched

and reached the stricken yacht within

35 minutes, by which time an RAF

rescue helicopter from Boulmer was

already winching the sailor from his

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16 Practical Boat Owner 579October2014•www.pbo.co.uk

Readers share their thoughts and opinions

LettersEmail [email protected]

or write to us at the address on page 5.

Photos are appreciated, letters may be edited.

PUZZLE 181

It’s dark and you are sailing due north at 6 knots through the water when a crewman falls overboard.

You struggle forward through the companionway hatch to press the MOB button on your chart plotter to mark his position. It takes 30 seconds to do this.

The tide is fowing south at 1 knot.It takes another two minutes to

bring the boat to a stop. For the purposes of this exercise we’ll assume that the boat is travelling at 6 knots for the duration of this time.

You then spend a further two minutes dropping and securing the sails with the boat not moving through the water.

How far away from the boat is the casualty now?

Solution to No 180

H, G, E, C, A/F, B, D.

rEfuELLing sourcEs for East coast saiLors

full flling advicen DennisHaggertywas

unfortunatelymisdirectedin

Woodbridge(Letters,PBO

September),sincefromhis

mentionofafour-mileroundtrip

hewaspresumablydirectedup

totheA12.Infact,thereisa

fllingstationonlyaboutamile

fromtheTidemillYachtHarbour

onMeltonRoad,B1438–and

there’saSparconvenience

storetheretoo.

WhenhewentuptheOrwell

accident preventionn Iamalifelongbreederand

trainerofworkingLabradors,and

IagreewithDavidLines(Letters,

PBOSeptember)aboutthe

problemoffoulingbydogs.

Forthelast27years,when

sailingmyFisherwithitsenclosed

wheelhouse,oneortwoofour

Labradorshavesailedwithus.A

seagoingdogmusthavearun

ashoreatleasttwiceaday,early

morningandlateevening:midday

aswell,iffeasible.Ihaveno

problemwithrestrictingthedogs’

bodilyfunctionsafoat:thesame

applieswhentheyareinthe

house.Someyearsago,asailing

magazinepublishedsupposedly

helpfuladvicefromareaderwho

lethisdogashoreeverythirdday:

onecanonlyimaginethesuffering

andpotentialrenaldamage

inficteduponthepoordog!

Onthesubjectoffouling,blame

thoughtless,carelessowners–not

thedog.Dogsinamarinashould

beonashortleadandwatched

carefullytomakesuretheydon’t

foulthewalkwaysorpeeon

mooringlines:theyshouldbe

marchedpastanypotential

name that boatn Ibought

this4.1m

(13ft6in)

glassfbrehull

torestoreor

makeintoa

useableboat.

Doesany

PBOreader

recognisethetype,modelor

maker?There’snoplateor

markingonit,apartfromthe

shadowofaname,PIG II.Itlooks

likeit’sfromaproductionmould

ratherthanbeingaone-off.Any

informationwouldbeappreciated.

Geoff Tily

By email

time for tn ReIvanDunn’squeryabouthis

T31(Letters,PBOSeptember),I

ownaT27whichwasdesignedby

GuyThompson,notTucker.Iam

awareofT24s,andIbelieveGuy

alsoproducedaT31:Googling

GuyThompsonwillproducea

goodnumberofrelevantsites.

Although40yearsold,myboat

White Wytchisstillinremarkable

condition,withheroriginalgelcoat

fnish.Ihavereplacedtheoriginal

petrolenginewithaYanmar

1GM10,andshehasnewsails.

Sheperformsverywell,although

sherequiresadecentbreezeas

sheweighs4tons.

Ian Smethurst

Congleton

this one’s older still, i’ll warrantn Ican’tremembertheopening

gambitinPBO’s‘oldestyachtclub’

correspondence,buttheRoyal

Norfolk&SuffolkYachtClubwas

inauguratedon16April1859,after

apreviousmeetingof‘boating

gentlemen’attheMaid’sHead

HotelinNorwich,todiscussthe

formationofaclub.Theentrance

feewastwoguineasandthe

annualsubscriptiononeguinea.

ThefrstclubhouseinLowestoft

wascompletedin1886,onland

leasedfromtheGreatEastern

Railway.Theroyalwarrantwas

grantedin1898byKingEdward

Vll.Itiscertainlyoneoftheoldest

yachtclubsinBritain.

Robin Friend

By email

cleats beat ringsn Securingayachttocleatswins

handsdownoverringsforspeed

andsafety–particularlyif,likeours,

yoursisahusband-and-wifecrew.

Asaslightlyarthriticgetting-on-

for-80-year-old,Ifndgettingdown

andthreadingropesthroughrings

anawkward,almostdangerous

process.Fromnowon,Iintendto

askmarinamanagerstoprovide

cleatswheretherearenoneand,

ifmyrequestisreceived

unsympathetically,tochallenge

themtoshowmehowtouserings

quicklyandsafely.I’llbetfewcan!

Mick Wigfield

Hythe, Hants

Securing a yacht to cleats is quicker and safer than threading ropes through rings, claims Mick Wigfield

piddlingplacesuntiloutofthe

marinaandasuitablespotis

found.Ifagenuineaccident

happens,cleanitup,hosethe

areadownifahoseisavailable

(somemarinasnolongerkeep

them,unfortunately),andnoone

willgetupset.

Terry Bailey

by email

Can any readers identify reader Geoff Tily’s 4.1m

(13ft 6in) boat?

fox’s for fueln IfMrHaggertywastoberthin

Fox’sMarina,ortakeabuoyclose

totheOrwellYachtClubonthe

RiverOrwell,thereisapetrolstation

200mfromtheFox’sentrance.On

theRiverDeben,Isuggesttalking

tothestaffatTidemill:some

assistancemaybeavailable

MondaytoFridaywhentheyard

staffarearound.

Peter Hinks, by email

DennisHaggertyreplies:

This local knowledge is really

helpful. I must say, my use of online

‘nearest petrol station’ location

heshouldhavecalledinatSuffolk

YachtHarbour,theonlylocal

marinawhichsellspetrol(Irang

themtoverifythattheystilldo),

wherehecouldhavegotitonthe

fuelberthinsteadofhavingahike

whenhegottoIpswich.

Terry Bailey

By email

searches led to my dismay at the

length of the hike required to get

fuel. Even a mile seems a long

way when toting a full outboard

petrol tank, which isn’t exactly a

friendly shape to carry.

If PBO staffers take the Project

Boat HantuBiruon anything

much longer than a weekend

sail, they too might need to get a

move on in light airs and start

realising that an auxiliary petrol

outboard can turn a sailing trip

into a hiking holiday!

can you fnd the man overboard?


Letters

PEYTON’S PICK FROM THE PAST

SEADOGOF THE

MONTH

Darren Robb and his partner

Sarah rescued Tobin from cruel

ownership when he was a pup.

He and Darren are inseparable,

and Tobin sails with Darren on

Lough Foyle and Lough Swilly.

Darren organised a sail

around Ireland to raise funds

for Macmillan Cancer Care and

left at the end of June: to date,

he has raised over £10,000.

I have only joined Darren in

Galway, but Tobin has done

the whole trip.

We are setting off at time of

writing to complete the fi nal few

legs back to Derry/Londonderry.

Unfortunately the cancer has

returned and Darren is

terminally ill now, but he is

determined to fi nish this journey.

Ken Curry

Send us your seadog photos for our

web gallery and your pet may be

lucky enough to become Seadog

of the Month and win you £30

Seadogs galore!Visit our seadog gallery at www.pbo.co.uk/seadogs or scan this QR code with your smartphone

Ins and outs■ Re ‘Techniques for cruising in

shallow waters’ by John Simpson

(PBO August), some errors need

to be corrected regarding Ashlett

Creek in Southampton Water.

The chartlet featured in the article

is about fi ve years out of date.

Changes in the creek entrance

have been caused by local

fi shermen who have been

dredging the shallows for shellfi sh:

this has fl attened the seabed and

fi lled in the old gutters.

For more than 50 years, Ashlett

Sailing Club has marked the creek

with the best route in and out. The

entrance has been slightly

adjusted this summer and is now

marked with two port-hand buoys

followed by a port-hand and

starboard-hand buoy on the

shallowest part of entry.

Visitors are welcome to visit the

creek and the facilities of Ashlett

Sailing Club and the Jolly Sailor

TAKING ANOTHER PEEK AT ASHLETT CREEK

Flour power■ Regarding your articles on epoxy

glue (PBO August and September),

if like me you are boatbuilding in

wood, or making wooden boat

items, then the ideal thickener is

wood fl our. It makes for strong

joints with a teak/mahogany

colour depending on the wood it

comes from. The main supplier of

wood fl our is Fyne Boats of Kendal:

their prices are reasonable and

their service is excellent.

John Epton

Lincoln

To further clarify!■ Re binoculars and ‘It all becomes

clear now’ (Letters, PBO Sept), the

BaK4 designation seems to refer to

two defi nitions of glass type, barium

and phosphate crown glass. I

suspect the phosphate one might be

PhK4, perhaps? Great mag as usual.

Robin Friend

By email

Richard Biggs of Action Optics

replies: BaK4 only has one defi nition;

it refers to glass made by Schott AG

and it is barium crown. BAK4, as

used in many Chinese binoculars, is

the same as Schott’s PSK3 which is

dense phosphate crown. It is

ÔLot of fun to be had with a boat like that.Had one myself years ago.Õ

Taken from Practical Boat Owner October 1986

cheaper to make and has a lower

refractive index, and permits twice

the bubble count of Schott’s BaK4.

The Chinese have BAK6 which is

much closer to Schott’s Bak4, but I

have yet to see it in a binocular. PhK4

is not known to me and does not

appear on any Abbe diagram that I

have seen. I hazard a guess that it

might not exist.

I originally wrote that ‘phosphate

crown found in many Chinese

binoculars is BAK4’, but it appeared

on the page as BaK4. It was this

confusion that I was trying to clear

up. BaK4 (small ‘a’) is the better

Schott glass, whereas BAK4 (big ‘A’)

is the cheaper glass used in many

Chinese models.

Brian CorneliusÕ sketch shows changes to the entrance of Ashlett Creek in Southampton Water

Sluice change■ In Cornwall, a problem has arisen

for all small-boaters who live

aboard: how to empty the portable

toilet? Big boats may have holding

tanks or discharge their heads at

sea, and day-sailors may ‘bucket

and chuck it’: but spending a longer

time aboard requires emptying of

the toilet in a sluice.

There no longer appear to be any

facilities at Fowey. Falmouth Harbour

Commissioners have facilities at the

town quay, but Falmouth is a long

way to go just to empty a potty. Mylor

Yacht Harbour have adopted the

public toilets on the quay which were

previously closed by Carrick Council,

but sadly not including the sluice

which was formerly there. Our legs

are crossed, and we’re wondering

where to go?

David Roberts

Newport, South Wales

Mid-wharf midwife■ I spotted this thought-provoking

sign in Greece...

Dave Hallam

Ringwood,

Hampshire

pub, but we

would not

recommend

vessels drawing

over 1m to

enter on Neaps

or tides of

less than 4m

(Southampton

ABP tide tables)

as the high

water stand is

unreliable and the

tide can drop one

hour after fi rst HW.

The other warning is that jumping

over the side to push a boat off the

mud when stuck in Ashlett Creek will

result in the crew member sinking

rapidly into soft mud with no hard

bottom, resulting in recovery of the

crew member being both diffi cult

and smelly!

Finding the gutter with a fi shing

rod or dipping pole is unlikely to

be successful due to the liquid state

of the Ashlett mud. If you do

run into this mud it has strong

adhesive qualities which make it

diffi cult to extract a boat. Using

the standard navigational

methods of port and starboard

buoys and stakes will bring

visitors into Ashlett Creek with

little or no trouble.

Brian Cornelius

Ashlett Sailing Club


Dave Selby is the proud owner of a 5.48m (18ft) Sailfish, which he keeps on a swinging mooring on the picturesque Blackwater estuary in Essex

LISTEN ONLINE

Hear Dave Selby’s

podcasts on the PBO

website www.pbo.co.uk

Dave SelbyMad about the boat

As a veteran of two solo circumnavigations I’m generally up for a spot of light recreational

adventure. Neither am I particularly risk-averse, although I’d draw the line at walking into the Queen’s Head in Maldon wearing a pair of red trousers – I’m not that brave or stupid. I know my limits.

So when Tony Smith phoned me up and said ‘Dave, I’ve got a plan,’ I knew from experience the smart thing to do is say: ‘I’d love to, Tony, but I’m busy that year.’

Unfortunately, Tony has a way of drawing you in: and although you know you’ll likely end up wet, cold, scabbed and bruised, covered in mud and, ultimately, traumatised by one of those steak and kidney puds he steams in his boat kettle, you just can’t say no.

Tony, aka Creek Sailor, has taken sailing to new heights and extremes, cruising Shoal

The advent of selfi e-steering gearThe future is evidently still orange, but fi rst there’s the small matter

of a circumnavigation of Canvey Island to get out of the way

‘It’ll get really ugly if

they lose their mobile

phone signal...’

Waters, the boat formerly owned by legendary small-boat adventurer Charlie Stock, up creeks and anchoring in pools no bigger than an osmosis blister on a Westerly Renown. He has since built a duck punt in which he’s sailed up the main street in Tollesbury and probed crevices no larger than a gelcoat crack. (Read these adventures in Winkler’s Tales, a little pocket-book gem.)

So when Tony outlined his plan for a circumnavigation, I was hooked. After all, Captain James Cook didn’t even manage to complete his third one, which ended when he fell out with the locals in Hawaii.

After Northey Island and Osea, both on the River Blackwater, if I could add a third by encircling Canvey I’d be making history – not so much three peaks, more three troughs. Besides, as we had no intention of stopping along the way we hoped to avoid Cook’s fate.

When I asked Tony if he’d done a risk assessment, he said:

‘yeah Dave, it’s risky.’ That was good enough for me. Tony had borrowed a 22ft Drascombe longboat from somewhere and had conscripted a load of cousins for our crew of eight.

The organisers at Benfl eet Yacht Club, judging that although our boat was the largest and carried the most crew we would likely be the slowest, shrewdly set us off fi rst. In no time we got into a rhythm.

Tony’s cousins were all from London so had never seen trees before, and didn’t know what oars were for. Nevertheless, they soon got the hang of it, whacking each other on the head, in the back and kidneys. Mostly though they texted selfi es to their pals and girlfriends, telling them they were on a ‘yacht.’

In the meantime, virtually every other boat in the 20-strong fl eet of skiffs, kayaks, canoes, rowing gigs and sailing dinghies overtook us. We’d had a go at sailing, but this disagreed with Tony’s cousins as the sails

fl apped and created shade, interfering with their attempts to turn themselves evenly orange.

By then they’d also spotted our substantial outboard motor, which they reckoned would be ideal for towing them behind in infl atable doughnuts like they do in Ibeefa. When the cousins discovered we didn’t have any doughnuts the whole mood of the boat became darker, as we passed the ominously-named Deadman’s Point on the south side of Canvey in the Thames.

I’d taken the helm, as other than diving overboard it was the only place to avoid being hit by oars, and Tony was still rowing wholeheartedly, while the cousins’ vital organs began to fail. Their thumbs had stopped texting! Us sailor types were more concerned that the fl ood was running out, there was no wind, and we were less than halfway round the 14 miles.

In Holehaven Creek the tide turned against us as we vainly tried to tack uptide and row. We were not getting anywhere, and the water was disappearing as glistening mud began to emerge. There was more harmony on the Bounty. Thinking about it, Bligh was cast adrift with loyal crew, but our boat was full of orange mutineers in designer shades.

And we still faced the prospect of lowering the mast on four occasions to pass under tidal barriers and bridges. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston never faced obstacles like these on his circumnavigations.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, Tony started singing sea shanties to raise spirits, which depressed everyone and made some think of cannibalism.

Prudence prevailed, we lowered the mast, started the outboard and in no time the cousins perked up and started texting again. When I got back home, battered, bruised, scarred, scabbed and orange, I also texted Tony and said: ‘Thanks for a great day out. I’m busy next year. And the one after that.’

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Sam Llewellyn is editor of The Marine Quarterly, www.marinequarterly.com, and author of nautical thrillers. A year ago he bought a Corribee on eBay

Sam LlewellynFlotsam and jetsam


As the sailing season wears on, it sometimes becomes apparent that life has been gritty

with salt for long enough, and it is time for a drop of fresh water. Some swear by the Thames. Milford Haven sailors like to drift away from the open sea into the black pools of the Eastern Cleddau, sounding nervously with an oar. The other day we went river sailing in Ireland, taking Lucille, the open Drascombe Longboat, equipped with a tent, a galley box, a pair of oars and a fl y rod inside a bit of plastic pipe with a screw cap on either end.

The sea off the shores of the Emerald Isle is a busy spot, full of waves that have come most of the way from America and ventilated by winds with a lot of Atlantic low in their ancestry. We hung around catching mackerel in the tide off Ram Head for a while, and drank a spot of Murphy’s stout in the ancient town of Youghal, where Sir Walter

Emerald Isle meanderingsFor a change of pace, a sojourn up a lazy river does the trick

Sail up the Blackwater to Dromana in the early

morning and you might just see fi sherman

Nick Grubb netting salmon. And because it’s

Ireland, you might also see some rain

Raleigh grew Europe’s fi rst potato, maybe. Then, as the weather looked like going from inclement to apocalyptic, we headed inland.

This is not diffi cult to do, as Youghal lies at the mouth of the mighty Blackwater River, whose 16-mile estuary runs north from the town. Get past the coast road bridge (clearance 6.5m, so the Drascombe can squeeze under it) and you are in a new world. Its banks are lined with huge Georgian houses built on foundations

that were once castles, so it is no accident that they tend to be just out of cannon-shot of each other.

There is very little water over the fl ats above Ballynatray, where even the Drascombe, which draws about 9in board up, can touch bottom if you are not careful. You can absorb Dutch courage for the rest of the voyage at Clashmore, a tiny village with at least three pubs.

Sailing on rivers is odd. The wind funnels straight up or

downstream, gusting violently, and smells not of ozone but of mud and a kind of fl at, green stagnancy. The birds are different too – ducks instead of gulls, and maybe an osprey on passage, though the cormorants have found their way up here, reckoning that salmon and sea trout in shallowish water are an easier mark than mackerel in 60 metres.

There is an otter, champing noisily at its breakfast eel, and a deer wetting its whistle before nipping off to wreck a fi eld of barley. Progress is slow, but the tide urges you on. It is tempting to let go of the tiller and lie on the side deck, watching the clouds wheel round your head as the boat spins in the eddies, listening to the clonk of the ripples, or head down an alley made by thatch-cutters in the reeds to make like Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen.

If you can tear yourself away from such diversions there are more castles, and more houses, and at the top of the tide you will probably have got to Cappoquin. It is a good idea to put up a tent on the boat and spend the night in one of the long, quiet pools below the town. On the right evening, sea trout will be jumping all around you. A few casts with the fl y rod may even persuade one into the frying pan. The next morning you can take the tide back to Youghal, with the salt washed off, once again ready for sea.

Apparently the clever people at Nissan,

the car makers, have invented a paint

that repels water, grease, oil, dirt and

indeed almost everything except buyers.

Short-sighted motorists will see this

as a way of avoiding the timeless

suburban Sunday morning ritual of car

washing. Boat people will see bigger

possibilities. If the water runs straight

off, this means no friction. No friction

means no vortices. No vortices means

perfect laminar fl ow as the boat moves

through the water, so higher speed.

Furthermore, it sounds as if it will give

the barnacles something to think about.

I use an antifouling called Slippy

Bottom which does roughly the same

thing, with a pinch of biocides just

to make sure. But it has now gone

tragically extinct. So there are three

choices. One, a big antifouling

manufacturer could restart Slippy

Bottom production with an order of 500

litres. Two, groan and apply the

old-school eroding stuff. Or three, slap

on the Nissan and hope for the best.

Slip-slidin’ away

Farewell, Slippy Bottom:

we hardly knew ye

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Yacht surveyor and designer Andrew Simpson cruises with his wife Chele in his own-design 11.9m (39ft) yacht Shindig. Read his blog at www.offshore-sailor.com

Andrew SimpsonMonthly musings

There are many manoeuvres and drills buried deep in sailing lore that one respects, even venerates, and has

prepared for. Take heaving to, for example. We all know it involves lying aslant to wind and waves, usually under a deep-reefed main and a jib aback – but when did we last do it? In my case, I really can’t remember – certainly never in the last score or so of years.

Then there are storm jibs and trysails. These, I suppose, you can regard in the same way as fi re extinguishers, in that they remain unused until confronted by a corresponding crisis that demands you use them. However, unlike fi re extinguishers – most of which become spent and irrevocably useless once triggered – storm

A bight on the backside

Some 18mm-diameter octoplait is pressed

into service as a rope bight trailing behind

Shindig, and does a grand job

For directional stability in a cross-swell,

the old advice about trailing bights of

rope astern isn’t such a bum steer

sails are without exception reusable. Yet, in my days as a yacht surveyor, I was amazed at how many such sails I found neatly stowed in their original bags with the sailmakers’ binding – quaintly a strip of sailcloth, cut from a handy offcut – still tied around them.

Clearly they had never been spread, even to see which end was up, let alone set to ensure they fi tted. Neither were there any signs of sheets.

I thought about this just a couple of weeks ago. Shindig had quit the Med and was a few days into the Atlantic, heading for Lanzarote in the Canaries. The sailing was excellent: wind Force 5-6 almost dead astern, with a long ocean swell that exhilarated. We had stowed the main and were running under a

single headsail, mopping up the miles at around 7 knots. The Monitor windvane self-steering gear was holding the course well, allowing the watchkeeper to concentrate on… well… simply keeping watch.

It was late on day four that things got uncomfortable. The wind picked up a little, but the main irritant was a persistent cross-swell that now rolled in onto our starboard quarter, slewing the stern to port, causing the headsail to gybe – defi nitely an annoyance we could do without. A small course change to put the apparent wind more

emphatically on the quarter had helped a bit, but night was approaching and there was no doubt that further taming infl uences would be useful.

When in the Med we very often towed the infl atable astern, largely through laziness but also to keep the decks clear. And there was no doubt that the drag aft added directional stability to Shindig’s nether quarters. Down below was a Galerider drogue that we had bought and never used for its

intended purpose – downwind stuff of a rather hairier nature – but to deploy it in such relatively modest conditions seemed a disproportionate palaver. By the time we had it dug it out, rigged it and had it properly adjusted (for maximum effi ciency, the drogue should sit behind the second wave back from the transom), it would be dark and well into our night-time watch routine.

Then I remembered the 100m of 18mm-diameter octoplait we kept, primarily for the Galerider but also for running long lines ashore – almost every inch of it on one occasion in Menorca. Now, of course, trailing bights of rope was one of those ancient practices employed by sailors of yore when the broaching of a tall ship was not to be contemplated with any relish.

It was also one of those practices – familiar, complacently acknowledged but never seen working – that I mentioned at the start of this article. And here was something we could do without major effort. After a little thought, and a short discussion with the ladies of the crew, the decision was made to put it to the test.

In fact, it took less than 20 or so minutes to have the bight streaming astern – one end of the rope secured to the starboard mooring cleat and the other to port. I must admit, I found the immediate effects rather disappointing. It was only when I realised that the

Monitor wasn’t working as hard as before and that the headsail now held

its set without gybing that I appreciated that very real gains had been wrought. Now with the sail drawing constantly, we may also have picked up a little speed.

So we sailed through the night, with the wind and swell gradually abating. Since I had drawn the dawn watch, it fell to me to retrieve our rope bight – I must say with a small measure of pride that it had worked rather well. Now, what else can we practise?

It took less than 20 minutes or so to

have the bight streaming astern

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PRACTICAL

Fitting a furler

There’s no doubt that

roller furlers have

made a huge difference

to cruising yachts.

They cut the cost of a

full sail wardrobe from up to fi ve

jibs of different sizes to just one

or two, and make short-handed

sailing signifi cantly easier.

As Hantu Biru’s sails were at

the end of their useful lives, we

decided to fi t a furler before

commissioning a new suit, in

order to modernise the boat’s sail

plan and keep things simple. We

called on Wareham-based Kemp

Sails, fairly local to the PBO offi ce

in Poole, but fi rst we needed to fi t

the furler so that they could take

the correct measurements from

the new set-up before making the

fi rst cut in the sailcloth.

There are furlers of different

designs available from a number

of diverse manufacturers –

Plastimo, SailSpar, Harken,

Barton, Schaefer Marine, Profurl,

Rotostay and Furlex being the

main players. We went with a

Furlex, for a few reasons. Cost-

wise, it comes in at the middle

of the market: but more than

that, the 50 S model that suited

Hantu Biru’s 23ft length is a neat,

high-quality system, which is

available in a kit that is designed

A tape measure is used to check that the bottlescrews are in the same position on both sides Rob Kemp sights up the mast to ensure it is correctly set up

The forestay’s bottlescrew position is marked with tape to ensure correct length measurement

Before commissioning a new suit of sails for the PBO Project Boat Hantu Biru,

a furler needed to be fi tted to modernise the sail plan. Ben Meakins reports

turned up to give us some expert

fi tting advice, joined by Rob

Kemp, boss of Kemp Sails, to

lend a hand and measure up for

our new sails once the roller furler

was fi tted.

Forestay wire lengthFirst, Rob and Chris set to

work tuning the rig. For a full

explanation of this process, read

David Harding’s guide to rig

tuning in PBO May 2012 – or you

for DIY fi tting by boat owners as

well as professional riggers. It

also comes with a new forestay,

which keeps our existing stay free

should we wish to repurpose it as

an inner forestay in the future.

The fi tting kit duly arrived, and

we motored Hantu Biru from her

mooring to the nearby Poole

Yacht Club, whose members

had kindly loaned us their mast

crane for the day. Chris Evans

from Poole-based XP Rigging

can download it for free at www.

pbo.co.uk/rigtuning. To briefl y

summarise, they used a

tape measure to check

that the bottlescrews

were in the same

position on both sides,

then used a halyard

to confi rm that the rig

was upright side-to-side

before checking the rake

by hanging a weight from

the main halyard.

A little aft rake was present, so

they then tightened up all three

sets of bottlescrews, sighting up

the mast to check the mast was

correctly set up and tweaking

each stay in turn to correct any

slight bend.

We found there was a little

sideways ‘S’ bend above the

spreaders which could be

corrected by releasing the port

forward lower and pulling on the

starboard.

Finally, Chris marked the

forestay’s bottlescrew position

with tape to ensure the length

measurement would be correct.

With this done, it was time to

remove the forestay. You can

drop the mast to do this, but

as we planned to be sailing the

following day we did the job with

the mast stepped.

See the PBO Project

Boat on berth M465 at the

Southampton Boat Show


Fitting a furler

➜

STEP 1: Removing the forestay1 First, we slackened the backstay and the aft lowers to allow the mast to come forward a

little. We took the genoa halyard, spinnaker halyard and pole uphaul forward, tying them off

to the jib’s tack eyebolt – not using the snap shackles – and tensioned them onto their cleats.

With these taking the weight of the mast, Chris went aloft using Poole Yacht Club’s mast crane to

pull out the clevis pin and lower the old forestay. With the forestay released, we could readjust

the bottlescrew to its old setting, marked with tape.

Chris Evans of XP Rigging went aloft using Poole Yacht Club’s mast crane to pull out the clevis pin and lower the old forestay

STEP 2: Assembly of the luff extrusionFurlex advise that assembly should be

carried out on a horizontal surface. The

extrusion consists of the headfoil, which

is joined with internal ‘join sleeves’ and

secured by snap-links. Between the internal

sleeves are plastic packing pieces, known

as ‘distance tubes’. Chris connected the

extrusions to each other, starting with the

lower bearing assembly. A useful tip is to

mark the joining pieces halfway along their

length, so you can be sure that they are

correctly spaced and fi tted together.

2 Chris assembled the rest of the foil in

the same way, making sure everything

was snugged up together. The top extrusion

is the short one, which can be cut to the

correct length along with the distance tube,

as calculated in the table in the manual.

1 Chris fi tted the 80mm-long connecting

plate into the short (600mm) extrusion,

sliding the distance tube in fi rst, followed by

the join sleeve. He pushed the two pieces of

extrusion together so that the plate snapped

into place, located in the holes. Pushing back

on the distance tube then centralises the join

sleeve on the join, locking the plate in position.

2 Now Chris could measure the forestay length (FL) with just enough tension to keep it

straight. Furlex provide a useful calculation table, which takes you through measuring the

forestay and adjusting for toggles and bottlescrews, as well as the cutting length for wire and

extrusion alike.

With the new forestay length calculated, Chris marked the wire with a permanent marker,

but did not cut it at this stage. At the top of our rig is a toggle, with a fork at the lower end to

attach to the eyebolt on the stemhead fi tting. The relevant lengths to deduct are listed in the

helpful manual.


practical

Chris untwisted the strands of the wire (clockwise, as viewed from the wire’s end) and

inserted the cone on to the central core. The strands of the wire should protrude approx

2mm from the cone. Chris re-twisted the outer strands of the wire evenly around the cone:

it’s important to make sure there is no strand of the wire in the slot of the cone.

The wire forming collar was dropped into the base of the terminal, before screwing the

base in place and tightening the ftting carefully with adjustable spanners so that the wire

was forced into the socket and the outer strands were bent inwards by the cone and

collar. We then unscrewed the ftting again and checked that the outer strands were evenly

spread around the cone. If one strand lay over another, we would bend it back in place.

Two or three drops of locking adhesive were applied on the thread and the terminal was

screwed together again and tightened securely so it was now permanently locked. Finally,

the tape holding the top eye was removed.

1Chris stretched out the Furlex

wire by hand on a fat surface.

He had already measured the wire

from the middle of the hole in the swaged

end, and accurately marked the cutting

length WL on the wire with a marker pen.

The wire has a burnt, conical cut which

simplifes later assembly into the extrusion,

so we didn’t cut the wire until it had been

fed through the extrusion.

2The lower end of the

forestay would be

terminated in a Sta-Lok

ftting (see PBO July 2014

for a detailed guide to

ftting one of these

terminals, or download it

for free at www.pbo.co.

uk/rigtuning). Chris

unscrewed the eye,

wedge and former from

the terminal. We threaded

the wire through the luff

extrusion from the upper end until the

wire termination eye stopped against

the extrusion top guard. If the wire

jammed inside the extrusion, Chris

rotated it clockwise to move it past the

obstacle. With the wire through, one

person held the top eye correctly in

place, while another checked that the

distance between the cutting mark and

the bottom of the furler assembly was

correct – about 40mm.

3Chris cut the wire, de-burring

the end with a fle.

NowwecouldfttheSta-Lokterminal...

StEp 3: Furlex wire assembly

6The lower edge of the sail feeder was

hooked in the extrusion and pushed up

against the joint sleeve. The connecting piece

was pressed on from the front. Make sure the

top swivel is above the feeder before ftting.

assembly of the luff extrusion – continued

5Now the top guard could be ftted to the

top extrusion and fxed with the pre-ftted

screw. Chris tightened it until it ran out of

travel, taking care not to overtighten.

4Chris pushed the lower bearing

assembly onto the extrusion and

tightened the screw so that the bearing

was clamped in place.

3Now is a good time to slide the top

swivel onto the headfoil. It’s worth

keeping at the bottom so that it doesn’t

come shooting down as you hoist the

forestay up the mast!

Loading the drum

Fitting a furler

BEFORE

AFTER

STEP 6: Fitting a halyard guide The fi nal thing to do was to fi t a

halyard guide to the masthead. The

Furlex is designed for the jib halyard

to meet the top swivel at an angle

of 5-10°. As it stood, our halyard ran

parallel to the forestay, which ran

the risk of catching in the furler and

becoming horribly wrapped. This

can even lead to failure of the rig

in extremis, so we fi tted the guide

supplied with the kit. Chris went

aloft for the fi nal time, using two

self-tapping screws to fi x the halyard

guide in the correct position.

NEXT MONTHNew sails versus old sails

The Furlex could now

be fi tted to the boat.

It’s important not to

bend the extrusion

at this stage. Chris

was winched aloft

in the mast crane

once again, taking

a light line with him.

Rob lashed this around 1m below

the top of the extrusion with

two clove hitches, before Chris

pulled it upwards. The helpers on

the dock then carefully walked

forward, keeping the extrusion

straight, until Chris could push

the clevis pin home through the

ABOVE It’s important to keep the extrusion straight

LEFT The lower end is attached to the stemhead fi tting

Roll up about 25 turns of the

furling line on the line drum by

turning the extrusion by hand.

If the sail’s UV protection is on

the starboard side, then the

line should run out on the port

side of the line drum. Turn

the extrusion clockwise. If the

UV protection is on the port

side, turn the extrusion

anticlockwise. The line will

run out on the starboard side.

3 Chris fi tted the supplied lead

block to a stanchion before

adjusting the alignment of the line

guide towards the lead block and

tightening the screw to secure it.

2 Next he could fi t the line

guard over the wire terminal

and position the locking block

from the opposite side. (There is

an ‘UP’ mark on the locking block

to help.) The line guard can be

adjusted vertically so that it is

midway between the line drum

fl anges to avoid friction and chafe.

1 Chris fed the furling line

through the hole in the line

guide fi tting and then through the

hole in the line drum’s lower

fl ange, before undoing the self-

tapping screw. He placed the end

of the line in the recess on the

underside of the drum, then

tightened the screw through the

line and into the drum (the head

of the screw should be fl ush with

the drum).

STEP 5: Fitting the line

Two self-tapping screws were used to fi x the halyard guide in the correct position

Chris goes aloft once more to fi t the halyard guide

STEP 4: Refi tting the forestay

toggle and secure the upper

end. This done, he slid down

the rig and, with backstay

and aft lowers still slackened,

could attach the lower end to

the stemhead fi tting. Once this

was attached, he could fi t the

line to the furler.

Halyard guide

Practical Boat Owner 579 October 2014 27

Last summer I took a

trip to Norfolk to look

at John and Sheila

Taylor’s Kelt 550.

Their problem was that

the boat didn’t like sailing upwind

and became unmanageable in a

breeze. Beating against the tide

was hard work, and other boats on

the river would go straight past.

This was unacceptable: action

was called for.

The issues we found and the

improvements we made at the time

were covered in PBO December

2013. We achieved a good deal

that day, but there were things

we couldn’t do on the spot.

I left John with a list of further

improvements to carry out over

the winter.

With John doing the work, my

side of the bargain was to see the

effects of these further

modifi cations, so this

summer I headed back to

Brundall on the River Yare

for another sail.

The story so farThe Kelt 550 is a light,

beamy and lively little

cruiser in the style of a big

dinghy, designed to the

Micro Cup rule. October

Dream has a centreplate,

but the design was also available

with a fi n keel or daggerboard.

The problems we identifi ed

on the fi rst outing were:

FLAT CENTREPLATE AND

RUDDER Nothing can be done

about the centreplate – it wouldn’t

fi t in the case otherwise – but the

rudder blade could be improved.

THE OUTBOARD WELL WAS

CREATING A LOT OF DRAG

I suggested John make a fairing

plug and put the outboard on a

transom bracket for river use.

UNDER-SIZED JIB It was about

3ft (1m) short in the hoist. A new jib

was needed.

MAST TOO

STRAIGHT AND

RAKED TOO FAR

AFT More pre-bend and

less rake would help.

RIGGING TOO

SLACK The design of the

chainplates meant we

had to go easy on the

tension, so John would

beef them up.

MAINSHEET SYSTEM

It was pulling the boom down too

hard. We rigged a temporary

alternative that John would

convert to a proper system.

Winter workJohn set to work when the boat

was out of the water, and I returned

this time to fi nd a lot of changes.

HELP FOR A KELT The boat we persuaded to go to windward

Following a second visit to a Kelt 550 suffering from upwind

reluctance, David Harding outlines the steps that transformed the

boat’s performance

Flat centreplate and rudderPROBLEM The rudder presented two

challenges. One was that the aluminium

blade was fl at, except for a chamfer on the

leading and trailing edges, which meant

that it stalled readily. The other was that it

was unbalanced, with all its area abaft the

pivot point, and became unmanageably

heavy when the boat heeled.

ACTION John sheathed it in plywood,

creating a profi led section and, at the

same time, extending the leading edge

by about half an inch (12mm).

RESULT A much improved shape

that helped to keep the boat on track

The easiest way to add balance is to allow a pivoting blade to swing further forward

30 Practical Boat Owner 568 December 2013 • www.pbo.co.uk

Seamanship

Practical Boat Owner 568 December 2013 • www.pbo.co.uk 31

Upwind sail clinic

If your cruiser

won’t beat down

the river against

the tide, what do

you do? Call the

PBO Sail Clinic,

that’s what!

David Harding

came up with

some ideas to

help a Kelt 5.50

➜

Help for a Kelt: the boat that wouldn’t beat

It’s always interesting to

hear from readers whose

boats seem reluctant to

sail as they should. Every

challenge is different – even

if some of the same problems do

crop up pretty regularly – and

when John Taylor got in touch

about his Kelt 550, it sounded

an interesting one.

John and his wife Sheila sail

from Brundall in Norfolk, where the

River Yare is both tidal and narrow

enough to call for frequent tacking.

John’s suspicion that the boat

wasn’t going properly was

confrmed on one occasion when

a couple of other yachts tacked

straight past him and left him

struggling to stem the tide.

Something had to be done.

Talking to John before my visit,

it was clear that he was no novice:

he had sailed on competitive

quarter-tonners on the Blackwater

for several years, and had also

enlisted the help of another

experienced sailor to make sure he

hadn’t missed anything obvious. I

headed for Norfolk hoping to fnd

something, but with little idea what

to expect. I did, however, know that

October Dream had a fat steel

centreplate and a fat rudder

blade. This would inevitably

make her more challenging to

sail than the alternative versions

of the Kelt 550 that have a fxed

fn or a daggerboard, both

profled. It would call for a

different approach to sailing in

the confned waters of the Yare.

WaywardwindStrong winds caused the most

obvious problems, John told me:

the helm would become heavy,

the rudder would lose grip and the

boat would round up. It was then

diffcult to get her going again, as it

was to pick up speed after a tack.

Finding plenty of breeze

hasn’t been a problem in recent

summers. For my visit, ideally we

wanted a good wind from the

north-east or south-west to give

plenty of opportunity to beat

against the tide, but the isobars

seemed to go on holiday the week

we earmarked. All we could do was

to meet in Brundall on the most

promising day we could fnd.

A quick check over the boat

confrmed, as I had suspected, that

The wind is dead astern, but this is as far as the original 4:1 mainsheet would allow the sail to go out...

... so we reduced the purchase to 2:1, which allowed us to ease the sail until it was against the rigging

A dog’s BREAKFAsT: This is not how shackles should be used! They need to be replaced with an adjustable link tang

rig problems

The lack of pre-bend in the mast

meant that the mainsail was

too full, with the draught too far

forward and the leech closed so

the top of the sail was stalling.

The jib wasn’t perfect either,

being short in the luff so the head

was well short of the hounds.

That wasted sail area, and area

high up, is doubly critical in a

river where the wind sweeps over

the reed-beds and there’s often

very little at deck level. On the

positive side, at least both sails

were relatively new.

There were things we could do

to improve matters in the rig and

sail department, but not a great

deal there and then. We took

some turns on the cap shrouds

and reduced the tension in the

lowers to try to induce some

pre-bend, but soon ran out of

thread on the bottlescrews.

Several shackles had been added

to the bottom of the forestay to

make it longer, which had the

effect of increasing the mast’s

rake and shortening the caps.

Excessive rake would have

contributed to the weather helm

in a breeze and, what’s more,

shackles are not designed for

applications like this. A rigger

would have a ft. If extra length is

needed, a steel link tang is a better

solution – a pair of stainless steel

plates with adjustment holes, as

commonly seen in a dinghy’s rig.

A further complication was that

the chainplates – simply channel

sections of stainless steel bolted

A straight mast leads to an overly-full sail and a closed leech

This is a lot of rake for an 18-footer – it’s almost 60cm (24in)

A distorted chainplate on the starboard side is forcing a bend into the cap shroud’s bottlescrew. Adding toggles would allow some articulation

through the fange of the

hull-to-deck joint – were

distorted and, most notably on

the starboard side, forcing an

unhealthy bend into the cap

shroud’s bottlescrew.

I left it with John to straighten

the chainplates and replace the

forestay shackles with a tang.

That would make the rig stronger

and allow the rake to be reduced

and accurately adjusted.

the rig was set up better than

many, though the mast had

insuffcient pre-bend and what

looked like too much rake.

As usual in these situations,

however, I wanted to sail the boat

as she was before making any

adjustments – or, more precisely, I

wanted John and Sheila to sail and

I would observe. Then we would

start addressing the problems.

DownwindsailingFrom where we started, it was a

matter of ‘you have to run before

you can beat’, so we set off down

the river with the wind astern.

Although downwind sailing had

presented John with no specifc

concerns, we were wasting sail

area because the mainsheet

was too short and only letting the

boom out to about 45° from the

centreline. As a temporary

measure, we re-rove the 4:1

purchase to make it 2:1. In

relatively light downwind

conditions, 2:1 would still provide

adequate purchase while allowing

the boom to go out further. It would

also reduce friction for easier

trimming. We subsequently

changed the sheeting arrangement

completely, as we’ll see later, but

the point here is that if the boom

isn’t out as far as it can go on a

run, you’re not presenting the

maximum sail area to the wind.

You’re also increasing the risk of

broaching when the breeze picks

up because the mainsail’s centre

of effort is further aft.

UpwindsailingWhen we reached an open stretch

of river with relatively clear wind,

I hopped ashore and took some

photos as John and Sheila sailed

back and forth. In a pleasant 10-12

knots, everything was just fne: the

boat appeared to be going nicely

and showed no hint of

misbehaving. This was evidently

the wind-strength equivalent of the

Goldilocks Zone: enough to get

her going, but not so much as to

over-press her and induce any

wayward behaviour.

The wind soon dropped,

however. By the time I was back

aboard and we had headed a little

further downriver to a stretch that

gave us a dead beat back, it was

a variable 8 knots or less.

That’s when the problems

started. The boat was lethargic,

even allowing for the lack of wind.

She was slow to accelerate and, on

coming out of a tack, would spend

a lot of time going sideways with

the keel stalled. By the time she

eventually got moving, we would

have reached the opposite bank

and would need to tack again.

A number of factors were

contributing to this lacklustre

performance. The rig was one

of them, so let’s start there.

The mast is too straight and excessively

raked, while the jib is short in the hoist –

but these were not the only problems

WIND WIND

THE RUDDER AS IT WAS: a fl at plate with chamfered leading and trailing edges

Pivot point

Rudderstock

Rudder blade

An unbalanced rudder blade, with all the area abaft the pivot point


Seamanship

➜

Problem The outboard

well was essentially a hole in

the aft end of the cockpit sole.

Creating an enormous amount

of turbulence, it was probably

the single biggest performance-

sapping factor.

Action On our sail last year

we wedged a plastic picnic box

into the aperture as a temporary

fx. That made a big difference.

The plan was for John to make

a removable fairing plug but,

after he started, he realised that

a much quicker way to ensure

a smooth hull was simply to

glass in a piece of plywood

fush with the bottom. It could

always be cut out again to

restore the well at a later date.

In the meantime, the outboard

lives on a transom bracket and

works perfectly in the fat water

of the river. It’s also a lot quieter

outside the boat.

result Now the brakes are

off! The increase in boat-speed

is dramatic. It was like cutting

loose a bucket that had been

dragged from the stern.

Further Action None

needed (unless John or a

future owner wants to use

the well again).

It wouldn’t be so good out at sea, but in the river the outboard is fne on a transom bracket

… that can be covered to leave a smooth cockpit sole

... it also made a handy locker for the petrol tank…

John’s solutIon: glassing a piece of plywood into the bottom has created a fush fnish to the hull...

last year’s ImprovIsed Instant Improvement: picnic box to the rescue

as It was: trouble in t’well. this hole must be flled!

the rudder as It Is now: plywood bonded to the blade now gives it a proper section and makes it less prone to losing grip

The outboard well was creating a lot of drag

in some lively gusts during our

second sail. The blade gripped

much better and also improved

control in light airs, though the boat

was still prone to stalling on the exit

from a tack, especially in light and

shifty conditions, because of the

fat centreplate.

Further Action Despite its

improved grip, the rudder was still

heavy because its entire area was

abaft the pivot point. The simplest

solution would be to modify the

stock to allow the blade to swing

further forward. This would save

changing the blade itself.


Sail Clinic: sailing to windward

Problem It was a case of

multiple, inter-related problems

with the rigging. To set enough

pre-bend into the mast to match

the luff-round in the mainsail, we

needed more tension in the cap

shrouds. We couldn’t tension the

caps as far as necessary because

the forestay was too long as a

result of a mishmash of shackles

attaching it to the stemhead. That

in turn meant we had insuffcient

thread left on the bottlescrews. We

were also concerned by the

poorly-aligned chainplates that

were bolted through the fange of

the hull-to-deck joint with the load

spread only by small washers.

Caution seemed prudent.

Now a link tang and bottlescrew have replaced the shackles: easier to adjust and stronger too

Originally the chainplates, especially on the starboard side, were misaligned, forcing a bend into the bottlescrews

What a mess! A forestay should never be attached to the stemhead like this

Chainplates properly aligned and toggles on the bottlescrews to make sure there’s no unfair loading

Rig and rigging The forestay was too long and the rigging too slack

Problem Originally the sheet

was a 4:1 purchase from the boom

to a strong-point on the cockpit sole.

This exerted too much downwards

pull and closed the leech of the sail

while not bringing the boom close

enough to the centreline.

Action During our outing last

year we rigged up a temporary

transom bridle. John has now

refned the bridle and led the sheet

along the boom to a ratchet block.

result Our makeshift bridle got

the mainsail working much better

and created a clearer cockpit –

even with just two people in the

cockpit, the centre sheet got in the

way. The new bridle, with proper

blocks and line rather than those I

happened to have in my sailing bag

As it WAs: the centre sheet detracted from the sail shape and cluttered up the cockpit

Our makeshift bridle last year opened up the leech of the sail, allowed the boom to be sheeted closer to the centreline and created space in the cockpit

As it is NOW: the bridle in its latest form and with the sheet led along the boom to a ratchet block

Mainsheet system It was exerting excessive vertical pull on the boomat the time, works even better, while

the ratchet block reduces the load

transmitted to the hand yet still

allows instant adjustment.

Further Action Other than

some very minor tweaking here

and there, the system is sorted. It

works beautifully.

Action Last year we wound

down what tension we could (and

dared) on the bottlescrews. Over

the winter, John realigned the

chainplates, spread the load with

a strip of stainless steel, ftted

new bottlescrews complete with

toggles and replaced the forestay’s

shackles with a link tang for

strength and easier adjustment.

result Greater integrity in the

rig allowed us to increase the cap

shrouds’ tension appreciably,

leading to extra forestay tension

for upwind performance in a

breeze (more speed and better

pointing combined with less heel

and weather helm). The extra

tension should also have

increased the pre-bend in the

mast, which was our principal

objective, but getting it to bend

enough – despite the slender

section – proved impossible, even

with the lowers slackened right off.

Before tensioning the caps further

we shortened the forestay by

moving the pin in the link tang

down a couple of holes, both to

make sure we would have enough

thread on the bottlescrews and to

reduce the excessive rake.

Further Action We could

have taken the pin down a few

more holes to reduce the rake still

further. Reducing the rake also

moves the hounds forward in

relation to the chainplates,

increasing the effect the swept

spreaders have of pushing the

middle of the mast forward. This

should increase the bend to help

match the 55mm of luff curve that

Kemp built into the mainsail. A

problem was that one of the new

bottlescrews had seized, so we

had to replace it with an old one

that John had on board.


Seamanship

foReStaychainplateS

PBO conclusion

Until last summer,

October Dream was

lacking performance

all round, hopeless at short-

tacking and unmanageable

in anything more than about

14-15 knots: she would heel

over, round up into the breeze

and refuse to be tamed. On our

outing last year we had light

conditions but made changes

that helped her performance

both then and, as we hoped

they would, in a breeze too.

This time, although the wind

was up and down, we had a

spell when it was gusting to 16

or 17 knots. The boat was still

heavy on the helm because of

the unbalanced rudder, but

keeping her under control,

short-tacking up a narrow river

and sailing reasonably fast was

no problem. She was a different

boat from the one she had been

just over a year ago.

While there’s still scope to

improve the mainsail’s shape by

inducing more pre-bend in the

mast, to reduce the rake, to

balance the rudder and, while

we’re at it, to make the kicking

strap more powerful and quicker

to adjust, it’s 85% job done.

Faced with as wayward

and temperamental a boat

as October Dream had been,

many owners would have

simply given up. Instead, John

took the initiative, contacted

PBO, noted in all the suggestions

and made the modifcations.

He now has a boat that he,

Sheila and, importantly, the

grandchildren, can enjoy and

sail with confdence.

n If you would like help from

David Harding’s PBO Sail Clinic

email [email protected]

Short of making one change

at a time and measuring the

effects of each, it would be

impossible to say which made

the biggest difference. We

suspect the outboard well had

the greatest effect on straight-

line boat speed, particularly off

the wind. It was noticeable how

quickly the boat accelerated in

the gusts with the turbulence

now eliminated, helped by the

drive of the new jib.

During our tweaking we

happened upon a Yeoman (a

20ft/6m keelboat that’s popular

and widely raced in East

Anglia). Unable to pass up the

opportunity to pace ourselves

against a well-sailed boat –

even one that’s longer and

almost certainly faster – we

gave chase as we short-tacked up the river. Not surprisingly, the Yeoman

gradually pulled ahead but we hung in there pretty well and were happy

with the way we were going.

The under-sized jibProblem The jib we sailed with last year was way short in the hoist, the

head being about 3ft (1m) below the top of the forestay. This wasted

a lot of area and drive and probably contributed to the weather helm too.

Action Kemp Sails made a new, full-hoist jib that maximised the area.

result Luff length is important with headsails and the new sail

undoubtedly made a big difference in pointing, speed and balance.

Further Action As far as the jib is concerned, it’s job done. All

John realised he should have asked for is a window in the foot.

… but has now been replaced by a new one that’s full-hoist

Increased mast rake reduces the deflection of the cap shrouds by the spreaders and, therefore, the extent to which the spreaders push the middle of the mast forward to induce pre-bend.

With the mast more upright, the angle of deflection is increased so the spreaders work more effectively

Cumulative effects

Originally the jib was far too short in the luff…


Sail Clinic: sailing to windward

Too much rake: this was about 24in (60cm)

Less rake – but still too much. It’s now about 18in (46cm), so the forestay can be shortened further

RAKE


The Volvo Penta MD 2040D engine fi tted to Nigel

Williams’ boat surges rhythmically at low throttle

Q I bought a u sed

Volvo Penta MD

2040D and ran it

for a couple of

years with

increasing oil

usage and

exhaust smoke

despite easy

starting. On

stripping the en gine,

glazed bores an d

sticking rings

confi rmed the

diagnosis that th e

previous owner had

probably used it

often for battery

charging under

little load.

I had the bores

professionally s coured

and we fi tted new rings.

However, when r emoving the

engine we inadv ertently cracked

the timing gear casing so we had

to replace it, which meant

reinstalling the throttle linkage in

the new part. We also removed

the setting screw controlling

maximum fuel volume before

discovering that it had been

factory-set.

The engine now runs well

with clear exhaust, but surges

rhythmically at low throttle.

We’ve tried everything: we

had the fuel and high-pressure

injector pumps professionally

tested, we checked injectors, we

tested fuel lines for air and fuel

leaks, fi tted new throttle linkage

balance springs and checked

Got a question? Email [email protected]

Ask the expertsHere’s just a selection of the latest questions from PBO readers. Email or write to the address on page 5 and our experts will answer your queries

THE PBO EXPERTS To ask a question email [email protected] and include your address. Pictures are helpful

INSURANCE

Simon Tonks has

worked in marine

insurance for over

18 years as a broker

and insurer

SEA SAFETY

Will Stephens is

Staff Offi cer

Operations (Coastal

Safety) at the RNLI

CRUISING

Stuart Carruthers

is the RYA Cruising

Manager and has

sailed extensively

SAILS

Ian Brown of the

International

OneSails loft group

is an expert on sails

ELECTRICS

Paul Holland is

chairman of the BMEA

and MD of Energy

Solutions (UK)

MASTS & RIGS

Mike Coates worked

in the spar and

rigging business for

many years

ENGINES

Pat Manley is

a diesel engine

course instructor

and marine author

SURVEY AND

CORROSION

Colin Brown runs

a marine survey and

consultancy company,

CB Marine Services

It’s not a wind-upQ Over-zealous winding

of the lifting keel on my

Etap 23 Mystique has seen me

break the winding mechanism’s

crown wheel.

Do you know where I can

buy spare parts?

Simon Tookey

Broadstone, Poole

COLIN HAINES REPLIES:

Etap is no longer in business,

so you won’t be able to buy a

replacement from them – although

the fi rm has been taken over by

another Belgian company, so new

Etaps may once again emerge.

In the meantime, there are still

several options open to you.

You haven’t said what sort of

material the broken gear is made

from, or the year that your boat was

built. At one point, Etap made the

crown wheels that turn the keel’s

jacking shaft from plastic, and

then changed to making them in

stainless steel: I’m guessing that

yours is made from plastic because

stainless steel crown wheels are

too strong to be broken by over-

enthusiastic winding of the pinion

wheel that engages with them.

When any company goes out of

business, be it a car maker or

boatbuilder, this provides an

opportunity for somebody to start a

business supplying spare parts.

There was a German company

doing this a couple of years ago,

but I don’t know if they’re still active.

Dealers who once sold boats

made by a defunct company are

ENGINES

Searching for a surging cureTRAILER-SAILING

the centrifugal governor parts.

We also refi tted the saildrive

to run the engine under a bit of

load to see if that cures it – but

all to no avail.

I have been in touch with

helpful technicians from two

main Volvo Penta agents on the

South Coast and from Perkins

UK, but none could confi rm that

the setting screw was the culprit,

nor could they say how to set

it, but they did give advice

leading to the checks already

mentioned. Any other ideas?

Nigel Williams

By email

PAT MANLEY REPLIES: This

is a diffi cult one, especially as

you’ve already consulted a

powerful line-up of experts with

no obvious progress towards a

solution. You appear to have

done all the right things, but still

have the problem.

I have only two thoughts,

really. Firstly, the hunting may

disappear when the engine

is run in as the friction of the

reworked bore and rings is

reduced. Secondly, despite

the checks, it could still be due

to friction in the governor or play

in the linkage.


WILL STEPHENS REPLIES:

You’re not the frst person to think

about using an aircraft liferaft instead

of a maritime one. As you say, they

can be much lighter – but this also

means they’re likely to be more

expensive and less hard-wearing.

Although heavier, the maritime

liferafts tend to be a lot more

durable than aircraft ones,

which may not include much

protection and leave you open

to the elements. Other

advantages of the maritime

raft include:

n Double tubes for in-built

redundancy should one be

punctured (many aircraft rafts are

only made from a single tube).

n Large ballast bags offer more

stability – the ballast bags can

be small on aircraft rafts.

➜

ELECTRONICS

SEA SAFETY

gaS FITTINgS

Peter Spreadborough,

of Southampton

Calor Gas Centre,

has 20 years in

the industry

PaINT aNd aNTIFOulINg

Richard Jerram is

former UK technical

manager of

International Paint

TRaIlER- SaIlINg

Colin Haines is a

design engineer

who has trailer-

sailed for 25 years

ElECTRONICS

Chris Ellery of

Greenham-Regis

Electronics is a

former Merchant

Navy officer

TOIlETS aNd

PlumBINg

Gary Sutcliffe of Lee

Sanitation knows

about holding tanks,

toilets and plumbing

YaCHT dESIgN

Andrew Blyth is a

naval architect with

interest in stability

and buoyancy

WOOd

Richard Hare is a

wood technologist

and long-time

wooden-boat owner

50 of the most frequently asked boating questions are answered by our experts on the PBO website. Visit www.pbo.co.uk

BOaTBuIldINg

Tony Davies has

been building and

repairing wooden,

GRP and steel boats

for 40 years

Q I have a Westerly Fulmar

with a JRC 2kW radar dome

mounted on a Scanstrut pole on

the starboard side of the transom.

I’d now like to mount a Rutland

wind generator on the port side

of the transom, but am not sure if

this would cause interference

with the radar or too large a blind

spot for it.

The height of each from deck

level would be similar, but they

would be almost a full transom

width apart.

also a natural place to turn to for

spares: the Woodrolfe boat sales

company near Maldon that was

once an active and helpful Etap

dealer may be able to help.

dIY sparesYou can source a replacement part

yourself, which is not as diffcult

as you may imagine. I am retired

after a career spent designing

machines that sometimes needed

gears that were not off-the-shelf

items. I would send out drawings

to local gear-cutting companies to

get quotes.

After describing a typical Etap

crown wheel to a frm in West

Yorkshire, I received a guesstimate

price of £200 for one wheel. Nearly

all this cost pays for setting up the

machines to make the wheel, and if

you asked for a second to be made

at the same time, it would cost

next-to-nothing to make – a small

business opportunity, perhaps?

There are a number of gear

forms that look very similar, and

to be sure that the right shape

is generated by the cutting

machines, it would be prudent to

send both the broken crown wheel

and the good bronze pinion to the

gear cutting company.

Q I can no longer easily

handle my infatable dinghy

and outboard, so I’m selling

them. As the dinghy would have

been called into service as a

liferaft, getting rid of it leaves me

without a raft in an emergency.

I read with interest the test of

fve budget liferafts (PBO March

2014), but I was concerned that

the smallest was for four crew,

and the lightest one weighed a

not-inconsiderable 19.1kg. I

then looked online at light

aircraft liferafts for two crew

and found they weigh less than

a third of that.

I day-sail on the Clyde in

my Leisure 23, mostly single-

handed and occasionally with

my wife, but I am always within

a couple of miles of land and

carry a PLB and handheld radio

along with the usual safety gear.

Would it be worth buying one

of these lightweight liferafts?

Ross Robertson

By email

n Survival equipment such as

fares – aircraft rafts tend not to

have this.

For leisure liferafts for use in cold

water areas such as around the UK

coast, it’s worth looking for a raft

built to ISO 9650 Part 1/Type.

To minimise weight, you could go

for a valise rather than a canister,

but make sure it is stowed in an

easily accessible position that is

out of harm’s way.

One-man rafts similar to those

provided to fghter pilots are

available. They’re small and light,

and may provide adequate

protection for what you want – but

as the name suggests they will of

course only take one person.

Ultimately the choice is yours,

but any raft is better than no

liferaft at all.

I have considered making a full

stern gantry to mount the radar

centrally with the Rutland above

it to one side, but this would be

quite expensive and add rather

more above-deck weight than I’d

like on a 32-footer.

Chris Stone

Tavistock, Devon

CHRIS ELLERY REPLIES: I’d be

inclined to avoid mounting a wind

generator in the same horizontal

plane as a radar scanner. I can’t

actually say that I’ve seen the effect

this has, since most people avoid

installing in this way.

Any blind spot or ‘area of reduced

sensitivity’ would be less the further

the two units are apart, but I’d be

much more concerned with the

wind turbine refecting back radar

signals from varying angles and

causing a confused radar picture.

Better is to put one above the

other, either by a new gantry as

you suggest or, if you have plenty

of cable, moving the radar scanner

up the mast instead.

I do not have the weight fgures

for a JRC 2kW scanner at hand as

this unit is no longer sold in the UK,

but a comparable 2.2kW Furuno

scanner weighs around 4.5kg, and

is quite often ftted on the mast of

vessels around 32ft in length.

Mounting the scanner higher

would improve the radar picture

too, as mounted at a lower level

the JRC unit can struggle to

provide a decent radar picture

at longer ranges.

Wind turbine versus radar? It just doesn’t scan

Lightweight lifesaver

Ask the experts

Do lightweight aircraft liferafts constitute a viable alternative to maritime ones?

Sw

itlik

Ask the experts


David Atkins wants to know if an electric outboard or, separately, a tube heater

and CD player can be run from an 800A booster battery pack

INSURANCE

ELECTRICS

Q I am increasingly

uneasy about taking

crew overseas. I have been

to and fro without incident

many times, but looking back

I am increasingly aware that

I might have been taking

undue fi nancial risk, for both

them and me.

One or two tales have

come to recent notice, like a

dismasting in France and a

holing off the Norwegian coast.

Should the yacht manned

by myself and any invited

crew members suffer such an

incident, and should the boat

be unable to get us back to UK,

am I insured to pay for their

unplanned return?

On one incident the boat’s

insurers would not pay for

repatriation of the crew, and

then each of the crew’s travel

insurers would not pay up

either for their accommodation

and fl ights because sailing was

deemed a ‘hazardous sport’.

Furthermore, after the boat

has been repaired, one must

then get skipper and crew back

overseas to sail the boat home.

Casual discussions with boat

insurers at a recent London

Boat Show revealed that

companies do not seem

to have a defi nite ruling

themselves, and to be caught

between the boat and travel

insurers each disclaiming

responsibility is unsatisfactory.

Any ideas?

Frank Pullen

Bosun of Forth

Q I have a Ring 12V 800A

34Ah hour booster battery

pack, with a built-in 300W

inverter (and a 3-pin socket

for a plug).

Can I run a small electric

outboard off this battery?

Also, can I run a 60W tube

heater (obviously not at the

same time as the outboard)

and a CD player?

If I can, for approximately how

long can I expect the battery to

give power?

David Atkins

By email

PAUL HOLLAND REPLIES: A

small electric outboard will draw at

least 30A at full power. At that rate

of discharge I would expect you to

get about 20 minutes to half an

hour of use from this pack – so it is

possible, but not for longer trips.

You can certainly run a tube

heater. My estimate is that you

may get four hours use from the

How do I look after my crew overseas?

Does this battery pack much power?battery for this.

The uncertainty

is down to

the way that

manufacturers

state battery

capacity. All lead

acid batteries will

release more

power if that

energy is taken

slowly. Logic

would tell you

that a 100Ah

battery would deliver

100A for 1 hour or 1A for 100

hours – but in reality this is not the

case. Battery manufacturers will

normally state the capacity of the

battery based upon either a C10 or

C20 rating. This means the power

is taken evenly over a 10- or

20-hour period. All the examples

you have given are over a much

shorter period so the amount of

energy the battery delivers will

be signifi cantly reduced.

Q As the owner of a mature

plastic cruiser I have always

found something of interest

in the series concerning the

refurbishment of the PBO

Project Boat Hantu Biru. In

the June issue the team were

refi tting skin fi ttings, but no

mention was made concerning

bonding the metal skin fi ttings to

an external sacrifi cial anode. I

have always hard-wired my skin

fi ttings to the bolts holding the

anode. Is this still considered

good practice?

Colin Mark

By email

COLIN BROWN REPLIES: The

benefi ts of bonding all of the

underwater fi ttings into one circuit

have been found to be limited, and

in some cases the bonding can

actually accelerate corrosion by

forming a route for stray currents.

For an anode to work it has to be

immersed in an electrolyte (the sea)

and be electrically connected to the

object it is supposed to protect. The

voltage differences that are involved

are very small so the circuit has to

have low resistance to work:

typically 1Ohm or less.

To achieve this you must have

SURVEY AND CORROSION

Thinking in isolationheavy-gauge wires and clean

contacts. Furthermore, an anode

has to be able to ‘see’ an object to

protect it, and it’s doubtful whether

the anode would ever ‘see’ the

inside of a skin fi tting or a seacock.

It’s easy to check whether

your anode is working: using a

multimeter, you should be able to

measure the resistance between an

anode and an object it protects.

A well-known and investigated

case of a brass skin fi tting failure

through dezincifi cation was the

angling boat Random Harvest in

1999. The MAIB’s report found

that wires bonding the underwater

fi ttings had probably carried stray

currents and accelerated the rate of

corrosion of brass skin fi ttings. They

recommended the use of higher-

quality fi ttings and leaving them

galvanically isolated.

This doesn’t apply to most

propellers. Manganese bronze is

the most commonly used alloy for

propellers, and as it is a brass it’s

subject to dezincifi cation and

requires galvanic protection for

a reasonable lifespan.

It seems likely that Hantu Biru will

not have an inboard diesel this year.

If that is the case then it would be

reasonable to fi t no anodes at all.

SIMON TONKS REPLIES

What’s important is that you

choose a policy that complements

your sailing and reassures you

that, should the scenario you

mentioned occur, then you and

your crew are looked after.

If sailing outside UK waters,

then alongside your own boat

insurance it is paramount that all

crew have a travel policy in place

and they have fully disclosed

sailing as an activity – some travel

policies can exclude sailing.

Moving onto your own boat

insurance, I can’t comment for

other insurers but Navigators &

General includes ‘Get You Home

Cover’ which is added on to

Brest-Elbe cruising ranges and

gives cover up to a maximum of

£1,000 to repatriate crew to the

UK and to get a delivery crew to

return the vessel to the home port.

This is if the vessel is damaged,

rendering her unseaworthy by

something covered by the policy;

if it puts it out of use for seven

days minimum; if someone on

board is injured or becomes ill,

preventing them from sailing for

seven days minimum and if it

leaves the boat without suffi cient

experienced crew.

If your crew and/or guests suffer

fi nancial loss as a result of an

incident caused by your negligence

as the owner/skipper, they may

be able to claim back some or all

of their costs under the liability

section of your insurance policy.

The key is to fully understand the

policy you have purchased, and

then you can enjoy your boating.

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Choosing a boat can be a bit of a lottery – especially if it is elderly. Even experienced sailors scratch their heads. If you are looking at a brand new model you can

demand a trial sail, but this won’t tell the full story. If you test it on a sunny day

Peter K Poland hears from some satisfi ed owners

about a variety of affordable 4.9m (16ft) to 5.8m

(19ft) boats, all readily available second-hand

with light winds, what will she be like in a blow, and vice versa? Reprints of test reports can provide useful extra input and help build up an overall picture, as can the opinions of existing owners. By and large, you have to tap into the experience of as many people as possible to build up a picture of any boat’s pluses and minuses.

When it comes to second-hand boats, trial sails are the exception rather than the rule. Even the best broker is unlikely to drop everything and take you for a spin on one of the many boats on his books. The owner – if it is a private sale and the boat is afl oat – may offer a trial sail, but again this cannot be guaranteed. Your surveyor might also chuck in a general comment, such as ‘great little boats’ or ‘I wouldn’t own one of

these if you paid me.’ All in all, however, you are on your own.

You should also put three key questions to yourself, as we often encouraged Hunter clients to do. These are: where are you going to sail it, how often, and with whom? It was amazing how often clients went for something a bit smaller once they had conducted this self-cross-examination.

And then there is the expectation of what you want from a sailing boat. Some owners relish top performance and a design that will slice upwind in fair weather and foul: others are less fussed about speed or close-windedness and are happy with a boat that will trundle along satisfactorily and safely without setting the world on fi re. Some are happy with

Prelude 19, available from £1,400 second-hand

16- to 19-footers that are kind to your pocket

The Rob Humphreys-designed Gem: available second-hand from around £2,900

Bargainboats from

£500


Boats

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peter K Poland crossed the

Atlantic in a 7.6m (25ft) Wind

Elf in 1968 and later spent

30 years as co-owner

of Hunter Boats. He

is now a freelance

journalist.

Hu

mp

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ach

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Pra

ctical B

oat

Ow

ner

Many sailors downsize to these small cruisers after

retiring, deciding to ‘own little and charter large’

adequate if spartan accommodation, while others want maximum space and comfort down below. The fi eld is wide and sometimes confusing – far more so than when selecting a new motorcar – and some represent better value for money than others. Buying a tired example of an obscure model can mean ‘throwing good money after bad’.

Starting at the small end of the scale, where should you look if you want a pocket cruiser in the 16ft to 19ft range? Many sailors make their fi rst purchase here, having graduated from dinghies or just decided that a small boat would offer a lot of fun without being a millstone. Indeed, many downsize to these small cruisers after retiring and deciding to ‘own little and charter large’.

Landing a Sailfi shHow better to start in this search for sensible 16- to 19-footers than by consulting two stalwart PBO contributors and champions of the smaller boat, Dave Selby and Sam Llewellyn.

Dave owns a Sailfi sh 18. He paid £2,000, which included an excellent trailer (worth half the total purchase price, he says). This versatile small cruiser was designed by Leonardo da Costa and built by Maxim Marine in converted farm sheds in Hampshire. Thanks to the clever marketing policy of offering it as a package complete with outboard motor and trailer, it sold like hot cakes. It was launched in 1970 and around 900 were built.

The Sailfi sh’s LOA of 18ft 6in, LWL of 15ft and beam of 7ft 1in – combined with a huge cockpit and generous topsides and coachroof height – meant it offered good space for its size. Dave says: ‘You can sleep on a king-sized airbed in its 6ft

cockpit. The original tent even has windows, creating an extra room or conservatory. The builder’s original brochure claimed it slept six!’ He recalls that some friends towed their Sailfi sh to Disneyworld in Paris, put it in the caravan park and lived in it, along with their two children. An adjacent child exclaimed: ‘That caravan looks like a boat!’

The Sailfi sh offers more, however, than space. Its vertically-lifting keel, operated by a worm drive, weighs 250lb (out of a

displacement of 1,000lb) and decreases draught from 3ft to 1ft so the boat is easy to trail, launch and retrieve. It also sails well and is simple to handle. Dave says he got caught in heavy winds off Felixstowe on an early trip and found that the wide companionway meant he could stand on the keel box in the cabin and reef the sail, and adds: ‘I was surprised when friends said later it was a Force 7.’

However, Dave advises against using the keel as an echo sounder: unlike a pivoting plate, it does not fl ip up. He recommends the Sailfi sh UK Class Association, which offers advice galore on maintenance and also sources spare parts – should you ignore his advice and crunch the keel. Indeed, he believes that a good

association providing friendly support and sociable rallies is an essential part of any elderly boat’s inventory.

In similar vein are the Sandpiper 565 and Ockelbo OS19 da Costa designs, but most were built overseas.

An ideal ‘minimum boat’Sam Llewellyn has also graced PBO’s pages with many an article about his Cornish Shrimper 19 (19ft 3in LOA), praising it as an ideal ‘minimum boat’. ‘I owned a

30ft ketch when the family was small,’ Sam explains, ‘which

was a slow but very good sea boat: then a Drascombe Longboat when I got fed up with paying mooring fees for the ketch. Slow again, but also a very good sea boat. Then I had a Cornish Crabber MkI until I got fed up with not sailing too well…

‘Then I bought a Cornish Shrimper because it was solid and had a roof and sailed quite well and, most importantly, it was trailable.’

Sam is keen on trailability, adding: ‘I like being able to sail in the Hebrides and Scillies in the same year, without spending weeks on passage.’ He now has a Corribee 21, summing up his philosophy of boat ownership by saying: ‘the smaller the boat, the bigger the fun, within reason. Friends have Discovery 55s

Sailfi sh 18: projects from £500, otherwise from around £1,600

Cape Cutter: available from £13,950 second-hand,

new from £21,995

Cornish Shrimper 19: from £9,500 second-

hand, new from £24,750


Buying second-hand: 16- to 19-footers

➜

Dave S

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David

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Den

nis

Og

le

Westerly Nimrod, from £1,900 second-hand

Silhouette: projects from

£500, otherwise from £1,500

Express Pirate: available from £550-£1,200 second-hand

‘I can’t stop grinning: I frequently outsail larger

yachts in our club, especially in light winds’

and mighty Olin Stephens classics. The haunted expression on their faces tells its own story.’

The Cornish Shrimper is one of the UK’s most successful small boats: more than 1,000 have been sold. It comes with a variety of interior layouts and the choice of an outboard in a well or an inboard Yanmar diesel. It weighs 2,348lb and draws 1ft 6in with the pivoting centreplate up and 4ft with it down so it’s trailable, albeit behind a beefy car.

I often suspect, however, that the Shrimper’s major appeal lies in its lovely lines and elegantly proportioned gaff rig. It’s almost a ‘cult’ boat, and an active class association organises an extensive programme of sailing and social events. Its accommodation is not huge for its length, but – as on the Sailfi sh 18 – a good cockpit tent works wonders when at anchor in wet or windy conditions. If you like the idea of a versatile and attractive day-sailer-cum-weekend-cruiser, the Shrimper won’t let you down: and if you don’t fancy a gaff rig with varnished spars, the new Adventure version has an alloy-sparred Bermudan rig with a semi-fathead mainsail and no backstay. Both versions will always be easy to resell should your circumstances change.

Value for moneyA similar but less known trailer-sailer-gaffer is the Dudley Dix-designed and Honnor Marine-built Cape Cutter 19. At 2,535lb it’s slightly heavier than the Shrimper, while its draught with centreplate up or down is almost identical. Its slightly longer waterline and wider beam – combined with a longer full-width coachroof – mean that it offers more space down below, and its cutter rig is more adaptable than the Shrimper’s single genoa rig.

Charles Erb (www.travellingaurora.wordpress.com) recommends the boat’s

class association website (www.capecutter19association.org) and sums up the boat’s appeal perfectly. After considering a Hawk 21, a Drascombe Longboat, a Shrimper and a small Beneteau he went for the Cape Cutter, saying: ‘We chose it because it looks very handsome, it can sleep all four of us – I didn’t think this would be possible until I saw inside one – and handles really well. It is also excellent value for money.

‘The main alternative was the Shrimper, but it’s a lot more expensive and doesn’t do anything more or better.’ Trailer-sailing was also an important factor, given that Charles lives in the Midlands.

Dennis Ogle is grateful that he stumbled across the Honnor Marine stand at a Southampton Boat Show, saying: ‘I have sailed Mary Ann for six seasons and I cannot stop grinning. It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It’s the sailing performance that really does it for me. I frequently outsail larger yachts in our club, especially in light winds. When it’s blowing I am often out enjoying it,

while the bigger boats are tied up at the club marina.

‘I mainly sail single-handed, and the Cape Cutter is ideal for this. The cutter rig gives lots of options as the wind strength varies, especially if you opt for a Yankee rather than a genoa: my boat came with both. The Cape Cutter carries a lot of sail so it will reach hull speed in the lightest of breezes. At the other end of the scale, it’s not overpowered in a Force 6 with a single reef in the mainsail and the staysail only.

‘As a result of living aboard with my wife when on holiday on the Frisian waterways I have modifi ed the internal arrangements to make life more comfortable for two.

‘My wife is a reluctant sailor, but she’s very happy with the domestic

arrangements on the Cape Cutter.’PBO was responsible for another owner

settling on a Cape Cutter. While waiting to catch a plane to holiday in Greece, Chris Wilks ‘picked up a copy of PBO at the airport and spent the fl ight reading about the new Cape Cutter 19. Although I have a fair sailing experience, I had never owned anything bigger than a Comet dinghy. Having read the Cape Cutter article, I was captivated: this was the boat I wanted to own one day.’

To cut a long story short, he went on to buy a small olive farm overlooking Platanias and the Aegean Sea – and a Cape Cutter 19. ‘Since then we have spent our summers mainly day-sailing in the Aegean and occasionally going further afi eld to Skopelos and Alonnisos. We fi nd our Cape Cutter a fantastic boat, well made and feeling very secure in a blow. With the centreplate up we can approach and anchor at any beach in a few inches of water.’

Chris and his wife Kathryn let the cottage on their farm and often sail with guests. Search Olive Store Cottage

to fi nd them.Perhaps the most

intrepid Cape Cutter 19 adventure, however,

was Mike Brooke’s 1,783-mile trip around Britain. This took 86 days, and he visited 60 ports. The voyage aimed to raise £27,500 for a fast light scanner for Moorfi elds Eye Hospital: Mike’s godson Theo was diagnosed as blind at the age of six months, and this machine could help him and thousands of other children with the same condition. You can read about the voyage on www.theosfuture.org or buy Mike’s excellent book from the same website. The book proceeds go to the charities Fight for Sight and the Cetacean Research and Rescue Unit.

On a sportier level, Mike won the Small Gaffers Class in the Round the Island Race on three successive years. All in all, the Cape Cutter is a versatile delight.


Boats

David

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David

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David

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Above-average performanceReverting to Bermudan rigs, one of the most successful yet most overlooked designers of small trailable cruisers was Ian Proctor. He’s famous for his many great dinghy designs – Wayfarer, Wanderer, Topper, Osprey et al – but his Nimrod, Prelude 19 and Pirate 17 are all excellent pocket cruisers with above-average performance.

Westerly commissioned the 17ft 9in Nimrod as a starter boat for families graduating from dinghies. Most have a pivoting lifting keel, weighing 260lb out of an all-up 1,050lb. The draught goes from 8in (up) to 4ft (down), and a generous sail plan (giving a SA/displacement ratio of 21.7) combined with a slippery hull provides sporty performance. The cabin is on the small side, offering occasional overnight accommodation, while the long cockpit makes the Nimrod an ideal day-sailer. If you want a trailer-sailer that can live in your drive then give hours of fun afoat, this boat could be on the list.

The Rydgeway Marine-built Pirate or Express Pirate (17ft 3in LOA) is of similar size but very different in character. The drop-keel version has a draught of 2ft (up) and 4ft 9in (down). Fin (3ft 9in) and twin keels (2ft 3in) were also offered. The Pirate was a top seller, and about 400 were built. The fn- and drop-keel versions are obviously the quickest and offer sparkling performance, as you would expect from Proctor. The three-berth interior, complete with compact galley, is surprisingly spacious, although the cockpit becomes a bit crowded with three or more crew.

The Pirate’s ability to go to sea was dramatically illustrated by a cowman from a farm near Cirencester. The 51-year-old Phil Ashwin sailed his Pirate Laynee 1,732

miles single-handed around Britain to raise money for Help the Heroes. Farmers Weekly magazine quoted him as saying: ‘There were grown-up seas, wonderful wildlife – dolphins, seals and a whale – and tremendous scenery, but best of all there were great people all around the UK who couldn’t have been kinder, more helpful and more interested in the project.’ PBO also featured Phil’s great adventure.

The 19ft 3in Prelude was another top seller. Once again, Proctor offered a choice of fn-, twin- and swing-keel versions, and all sail extremely well. The twin- keel version was way ahead of its time, featuring shapely, CG-lowering bulbs on slender foils. Rydgeway Marine and Pegasus Yachts built around 500 between them. A busy owners’ association (www.prelude-owners.info) provides valuable back-up.

The Prelude offers good accommodation with her excellent performance. There is a

double berth in the forepeak (with WC under) and two berths in the saloon, along with a galley unit and small dining table. Extensive use of inner mouldings means that the boat’s interior ages well, and the well-styled coachroof gives ample sitting headroom.

A while ago, a Prelude owner told the owners’ association: ‘Our Prelude, Pela, has a fxed fn keel. Fifteen years ago my wife and I lived aboard her for 14 months, sailing from Bristol to Greece and back. For a couple of weeks in Majorca, we even had four people living aboard.

‘The frst three days it didn’t stop raining, and the next three days it rained every morning until 1pm! With all our equipment, and the unnecessary items our two guests brought out with them, it was

quite a character-building event. Still, that was the last rain we saw for 17 weeks.’

This just proves what a versatile little yacht the Prelude is. I confess that in the old days I used to dismiss it because it was deadly competition to our Hunter 19 Europa, but now I am able to see it for what it is: an outstanding boat from a brilliant designer.

The evergreen SilhouetteIf you are happy with a more sedate pocket cruiser available at budget prices, the evergreen Silhouette is worth a look. Huge numbers of the 17ft 8in MkII version (which is about 6in longer than the original MkI) were built in plywood before Hurley Marine introduced GRP construction. The later MkIII version is 10in longer on the waterline, draws 5in more, carries 165sq ft extra sail and has a rounded rather than chined bilge. The majority are bilge-keelers.

Enthusiastic owner Ed Hughes sums up the Silhouette’s appeal – and a few of its drawbacks

– and provides useful advice for small-boat buyers.

‘I drew up a shortlist of three trailable bilge-keelers under 18ft,’ Ed remembers, ‘the Hurley Silhouette Mks II and III, Leisure 17 and 17SL and Rydgeway Express Pirate. Although these three look different, their statistics are similar. Accommodation-wise, the Leisures and the Pirate have much better arrangements plus cabin headlinings compared to the Silhouette, which has a very basic two berths and nothing else.

‘After an extensive search I found Misty,’ Ed continues, ‘bought for £2,250 including many sails, trailer and outboard, in good but untidy condition. Trailability was a requirement but I had no intention of trailer-sailing, the pursuit

Leisure 17: from £500 second-hand

Hurley 18: second-hand

around £2,500 – or project boats

from £500


Buying second-hand: 16- to 19-footers

39

➜

‘With the centreplate up we can approach and

anchor at any beach in a few inches of water’

David

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David

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Missed any of Peter K Poland’s boat features? You can buy them online from www.pbo.co.uk by clicking ‘Find PBO articles’. Or call the Copy Service on tel: 01202 440830

COPY SERVICE

Swift 18: available from around £4,000

Hunter 19 Europa: from £1,900 second-hand

Beneteau First 18: from £3,500

second-hand

of which is only for the dedicated. To rig and launch Misty would be a major team effort, taking over an hour and requiring complete immersion of the trailer in salt water. Worth it if you’re going to sail from a venue for a week and have somewhere to park the car and trailer, but not for my “turn up and sail away solo” routine. Many owners do trailer-sail these and similar small cruisers, though.

‘Although the Silhouette and her contemporaries were marketed as small family cruisers, their accommodation made them realistically only suitable for overnighting alongside or in a sheltered spot. Their cockpits suffered from the addition of the cabin, and I’d be hard-pushed to get four in Misty’s small cockpit.

‘The next stage up, ie the Alacrity and similar at almost 19ft, were a much better option for a sailing family. That said, for one or two persons prepared to rough it, these small yachts are more than capable of coastal cruising by marina hopping or using sheltered anchorages.’

Ed concludes: ‘I would have no qualms about crossing the Channel. Misty has given me a great deal of pleasure: she is slow in light airs, but great fun when reefed in a Force 5. She was solidly built with an honest “no frills” interior and is easy to sail alone, but sadly is now worth very little. My annual berthing fees and running costs are more than I could realise for her in today’s market.’

The Silhouette Owners’ Association (www.soia.org.uk) offers assistance, advice and rallies. This is a very sociable class. For example, the 2014 Solent Cruise and AGM/dinner packs a busy schedule into seven days of pottering around Solent watering holes, starting on September 7. Sounds like a lot of fun without busting a gut.

Leisure timeThe Leisure 17 and 17SL are similar to the Silhouette in many ways, but designer Arthur Howard succeeded in endowing this popular twin-keeler with above-

average performance for its type. It’s a successful little club racer as well as a versatile cruiser, and it has Atlantic crossings and an epic solo dash from Turkey to Plymouth to its name. With a ballast ratio of 45% on an all-up weight of 1,477lb it can take a blow, and its pretty little bubble of a coachroof covers excellent accommodation for its size. An active owners’ association (www.leisureowners.org) is full of advice and runs annual class events. All in all, it should be on any list for a budget pocket cruiser.

Of similar length but very different character, the Hurley 18 is another winner. This Ian Anderson design is a proper little yacht with a long keel (draught 3ft 3in), a 42% ballast ratio (out of 2,350lb displacement), a spade rudder and a surprisingly spacious interior. Its

looks and sailing ability, however, are its trump cards. One YBW forum contributor writes: ‘I don’t know of another 18-footer that I would go offshore in with the same level of confi dence in her seakeeping.’ Many would agree. For more information, see www.hurleyownersassociation.co.uk.

The 5.5m Micro Ton Cup class is a happy hunting ground if you prefer sportier 18-footers, most of which have pivoting or lifting keels. One of the top-selling British examples is the Swift 18.

John Charnley’s wife Caroline says: ‘The Swift 18 came about when John sold Sunsail. The Swift 18 seemed the perfect antidote to big-boat sailing, a trailer-sailer that could be towed behind a modest car – and great for spending a night or two aboard. It all started when John met Colin Silvester. His design conformed to French Micro Cup rules, but he needed a builder. John and Colin modifi ed and developed the design to produce the Swift 18.’

The result was a pretty little hard chine

hull with a 7ft 11in beam and a draught of 3ft 6in (keel down) and 9in (up). She weighs 1,520lb and has four berths, a concealed chemical WC and a mini galley unit down below. Several hundred were built, and a class association (www.swift18.org) provides help and information. It’s a great little boat.

PBO summed it up in 1982 with these words: ‘In a nasty Force 6/7 and with two reefs in the main she stayed light on the helm, was well balanced and galloped along like a racehorse’.

If you like the Micro Ton recipe, the Humphreys-designed Gem and Finot-designed First 18 are also worth a look. Both sold well and perform excellently. And if a sporty single- or triple-keel cruiser-racer with transatlantic pedigree, reasonable four-berth accommodation and lovely lines appeals, the Lee-designed

Hunter 19 Europa takes some beating. The nippy little lifting-keel Hunter 490 is another great sailer

– albeit with minimal accommodation.There are also other popular twin-keel

pocket-cruisers with adequate if undramatic performance. The Newbridge Navigator 19, Seawych 18, Mirror Offshore, Foxcub 18, Alacrity 19, Caprice et al have their followers. It depends on what sort of sailing you prefer. But either way – sporty or sedate, dated or modern – there’s a host of 16- to 19-footers out there. So set your priorities, choose carefully, Google class associations, avoid near-wrecks… and have some small-boat fun!

NEXT MONTHSpotlight on 20- to 23-footers

Sporty or sedate, dated or modern, there’s

a host of 16- to 19-footers out there


Boats – Buying second-hand: 16- to 19-footers

David

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David

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David

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Destination Guide

Milford Haven is a

large commercial

port that is busy

with tanker traffi c

handling 29% of

Britain’s seaborne trade in oil

and gas. Once inside the haven

entrance, however, the great

expanse of unspoilt sheltered

tidal waters of the Pembrokeshire

Coast National Park provide

ample and scenic cruising

grounds for visiting yachtsmen.

Natural hazards are few, but

mariners need to familiarise

themselves with the nearby

Castlemartin Range Sea Danger

Area and the MOD Aberporth

Range situated in Cardigan Bay,

north of the Milford Haven Waterway

beyond Strumble Head. Web links

providing details of live fi ring can be

found on the Port of Milford Haven

website www.mhpa.co.uk by

MILFORD HAVEN

➜

clicking on Marine Leisure Services.

As with any commercial port, there

are rules to follow. All small craft

must keep a minimum distance of

100m away from all ships, terminals

and ships at anchor. All ships on the

move should be considered as

having a moving exclusion zone

around them – and bear in mind that

a ship’s forward line of sight may be

greater than 100m. Continuous

watch must be maintained with the

Port Authority on VHF Ch12. Patrol

vessels are deployed throughout the

summer and peak periods to assist

leisure users.

FacilitiesThe Pembrokeshire Coast National

Park consists of approximately 23

miles of sheltered inland tidal

waterways. There are many

tributaries that are home to an

abundance of breeding habitats for

Milford HavenAt fi rst glance, the commercial port of Milford Haven appears to offer little to the

visiting yachtsman, but a closer look reveals the ‘haven’ aspect of this expansive

and scenic cruising ground. Cameron Snell guides us in and around

a variety of birds and other wildlife.

The local authority provides

seasonal pontoons where small

boats can moor to explore villages

offering waterside restaurants and

family pubs. A designated Water

Ranger undertakes regular patrols,

providing information, advice and

assistance to all waterway users.

The Water Ranger can be

contacted using VHF Ch16 or

Ch12 and can be approached for

advice on and off the water.

The excellent Milford Haven

Waterway Leisure User Guide is

produced annually and can be

downloaded or free from

www.mhpa.co.uk/uploads/

PoMH_LUG_2014.pdf.

With almost 200NM of coastline

it’s diffi cult to cover everything in

one article, so we’ll concentrate on

Milford Haven Marina, Neyland

Yacht Haven and Dale.

Dale Yacht Club’s Moorings restaurant has a rooftop terrace and great views

Cleddau Bridge

Pembroke Dock

Valero refi nerypontoon

Neyland Yacht Haven

Milford Haven Marina


Destination guide

Getting in to Milford Haven and the marina


1 The seaward entrance to Milford Haven is divided into two

shipping lanes to the east and west of Chapel Rocks. It is

advisable to keep clear of these channels as there is suffcient space

and depth to approach outside of them. Larger ships will always use

the west channel: all other craft are advised to use the east channel.

My approach was from the south, crossing the Bristol Channel

from Cornwall, and a southerly Force 8 began to blow as I arrived.

This image shows the confused seas at the approach to Studdock

Point and the rock of Sheep Island on the eastern side. In calmer

conditions it is safe to pass outside of the buoyage.

2 The plateau of Thorn Island Fort is easily distinguished from

seaward. This approach is from the eastern side. East Chapel

port-hand buoy can be seen in the foreground. Conspicuous

chimneys on the mainland of Great Castle Head can be seen

between the red buoy and Thorn Island.

Thorn Island Fort

Sheep Island

Studdock Point

3 Shipping will pass to the west of Thorn Rock West Cardinal.

With careful consideration to the chart a safe route can be

found between this cardinal mark and Thorn Island. The white

building on the mainland accommodates the light of Great Castle

Head. A white sector light illuminates from here at night.

Thorn Rock West Cardinal

New lock gates will mean even better access to Milford Haven Marina

Milford Haven Marina has 328

berths, diesel fuel, a great range of

shops, restaurants and cafes as

well as other standard marina

services. To obtain a berth call the

friendly Marina Control on VHF

Ch37 or tel: 01646 696312.

www.milfordmarina.com

Access to the marina dock basin

is via the entrance lock. Times are

available by calling marina on the

number above or online at

www.milfordmarina.com.

A freefow period operates two

hours before high water, until high

water. All traffc using the lock is

controlled by the pier head staff

and it is essential that they are

contacted via VHF Ch14 before

leaving a berth or entering the

dock basin. Milford Docks Pier

Head can be contacted on VHF

Ch14, call sign ‘Pier Head’, or

tel: 01646 696310.

The Port of Milford Haven is

currently working on a £6million

project to develop new lock gates

that will allow more frequent

access and secure Milford Haven’s

future as a top sailing destination.

The gates are be constructed

inside the existing lock.

Delightful DaleJust to the west of the entrance to Milford Haven is Dale, an unspoilt

village in the heart of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The

area has an abundance of wildlife including birds, seals, dolphins and

porpoise. Dale Bay lies in a sheltered valley: anchoring is safe in all

but an easterly. Peace and tranquillity are foremost here, and ‘dead

slow’ speed restrictions apply. Anchor outside of local moorings.

Dale is a local centre for sailing. Windsurfng is taught in Dale Bay,

along with sailing and boat handling courses. Dale is also often the

location of sailing galas. Seasonal pontoons for visitors (ideal for

trailer-sailors), stretch out into the bay. Fresh water is piped to the

inner of these pontoons. One delightful pub and a friendly yacht club

with restaurant complete this heavenly village.

PR

PA

/Patr

ick R

oach

Dale is found just to the west of Milford Haven entrance


Milford Haven

107

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Chartlets not to be used for navigation

4Once around Thorn Island and heading east, the frst green

main channel marker will appear. This image shows the Chapel

Buoy viewed from the main channel. There is suffcient depth to pass

this buoy outside of the channel, in order to safely avoid the shipping.

Chapel Buoy

5A line of three green buoys leading up to the Al Khor north

cardinal mark indicates the starboard extremity of the South Hook

turning area between Thorn Island and Popton Point. Pass between the

Al Khor north cardinal and the RNLI Angle Lifeboat Station. The

chimneys of the Valero Oil Refnery are distinctive by day and night. It

is recommended to stay close to the buoys, just outside the channel.

6In the distance on your port side you’ll see the Qatar RW

Fairway buoy and Stack Rock Fort. Yachtsmen shouldn’t be as

close as this photo – you’d be in the centre of the main channel.

Valero refnery

pontoon

7When you reach the next green buoy named East Angle you will

need to consider crossing the main channel if you wish to head

over to Milford Haven Marina. If you are proceeding further upstream

then it is essential that you maintain a 90m clearance from the Valero

(formerly Chevron-Texaco) refnery pontoon to starboard. A leading

line marked on the chart will direct you toward two large white

leading markers on the hill above Newton Noyes.

8Milford Haven Marina is located on the northern side of the

channel. Entrance is via Milford Lock. A row of buoys, beginning

with a preferred channel marker RGR, displays a clearly defned line

to the lock entrance. A waiting pontoon is located on the starboard

side of the lock.

Waiting pontoon

Turn the page to see how to get into Neyland Yacht Haven

Green buoys

➜


Destination guide – Milford Haven

Neyland Yacht Haven

Approaches to Neyland Yacht Haven

2 As you come around Carr Spit, a distinct display of buoyage

and beacons appears. The large Cleddau Bridge spanning the

channel in the background is located just beyond the entrance to

Neyland Marina. Follow the buoyed channel toward Cleddau Bridge,

passing the last red buoy off Neyland Point. Continue toward the

bridge, heading for the fxed vertical lights on the columns, until you

can look north-north-west into the marina. This will ensure you clear

the drying shores off Neyland Point.

3 The entrance to Neyland Yacht Haven is clearly defned with red

and green buoys. A red brick building with two distinct

chimneys should be directly astern of you as you make your

approach toward the buoys.

Red brick building

Pennar

Large white triangle

NeylandYachtHavenTel: 01646 601601

VHF Ch80

Neyland Yacht Haven has 420

berths, all fully serviced with water,

electricity and free WiFi, and offers

full marina facilities. The Brunel

Cafe, the Bar Restaurant, a

chandlery and a laundry are on

site. Diesel and petrol are operated

by Dale Sailing.

Neyland Yacht Haven is divided

into two basins: the lower basin is

accessible at all states of the tide,

while a sill retains the water in the

upper basin. Tide gauges indicate

the height over the sill.The upper basin at Neyland Yacht Haven is reached over a sill

LOOking ASteRn

Carr Spit

neyland Point

Wear Spit

Upper basin

Lower basin

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straightforward in clear weather. The channel is wide

with little buoyage. A leading transit comprising a large white

triangle on the foreshore at Pennar Flats and another on a

tall post at the datum line will guide you around Wear Spit

before the river curves to the north-east. Tall masts sit

beyond and above the transit. Follow the river north-east

toward Pembroke Reach between Wear Spit and Pennar until

you can see the tall Carr Spit green beacon.

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Gear

➜

With a few

exceptions, the

petrol outboard

has a monopoly

on propelling

our tenders and small boats.

These engines are cheap,

easily repairable, easy to refuel

and dependable enough to

get us where we need to go

in any weather.

Here at PBO we’ve been using a

4hp 2-stroke outboard on the

back of our project boat Hantu

Biru to get us around when there’s

no wind. But it’s smelly, noisy,

heavy and requires us to carry a

can of fuel on board. Is there

another way?

We assembled a selection

of alternatives to the petrol

outboard – powered by either

propane gas or electricity – and

took them for a spin, frst on the

back of Hantu Biru and then on a

2.6m Zodiac infatable tender.

The Lehr outboards range,

imported from the US by

Lymington-based Hypro Marine,

runs on propane, either from a

small canister that sits in the

engine cowling or from a remote,

larger ‘patio gas’ type cylinder.

We also tested electric

outboards, some of which

have been seen in the pages

of PBO before.

Most electric outboards are

‘trolling motors’, designed for

American lake fshing when the

large outboard is switched off and

the fsherman wants a slow, silent

means of propulsion. However,

there are now some more options.

The frst on the scene – and the

market leader in electric

outboards with performance –

was Torqeedo. They make a

range of electric outboards,

developed in Germany, which

are claimed to offer performance

comparable to petrol engines, and

have been developed to be light

and powerful.

We also tried some cheaper

alternatives, made in China and

sold in the UK by Marathon

Leisure, which offer improved

performance to the traditional

trolling motor at a low cost.

How effective are electric (left) and propane (right) outboards when compared with the humble petrol equivalent?

Electric v propane outboardsAre electric or propane outboards a

viable alternative to the ubiquitous petrol motor?

Ben Meakins and the PBO team test a selection to fnd out

48

Gear test

Electric enginesO

n the face of it, an electric outboard seems the ultimate

solution for a boat – lightweight, quiet, and it doesn’t pollute

the water. There’s a catch, of course, and it’s a big one:

battery power.

Batterytechnologyismovingoninleapsandbounds,andthere’s

achancethatintimealightweightbatterythatdoesn’tcosttheearth

andgivesalongrun-timeandquickrechargingwillbedeveloped.

Butfornow,batteriesarethestumblingblock–they’reheavy,

and/ortheyhaveashortruntime.

Torqeedo Travel 1003sPrice: £1,449

Contact: www.torqeedo.com

TecH SPec

Shaft length: 62.5cm (short), 75cm (long)

Weight: 13.4kg

Maximum yacht speed: 4.5 knots

Acceleration to 4 knots: 26 seconds

Acceleration to 5 knots: not applicable

Bollard pull: 32kg

Tender maximum speed: 3.6 knots

We based our tests at

MDL’s Cobb’s Quay

Marina, where we

installed each engine on the

outboard bracket attached

to Hantu Biru’s transom.

Welookedatthetophull

speedachievedatfullthrottle,

headingupanddownwindto

establishanaverage.Wethen

slowedtheboattoastopand

selectedfullpowertocompare

acceleration,timinghowlong

ittookfortheboattogetto

4knots–andalsonotingthe

timeittooktogetto5knotsif

theycouldmanageit.

Thisdone,wetransferredtheenginestotheinfatabletocarry

outabollardpulltestusingaspringbalance.Finallywetookthe

enginesforatripinthetenderwithtwopassengersaboardto

measuretopspeed,andalsotomakeanassessmentofhow

usefulthey’dbeingeneraluse.

How we tested them

Benchmark engineThefrstmotor’sperformancewemeasuredwasHantu Biru’s

usualoutboard,a4hp2-strokeMarinerSailMate.Thisis

prettymuchtheoptimumpetrolenginefortheboat–relatively

lightweight,withafne-pitchpropeller,chargingcoilandan

exhaustthatexitsthroughthepropellerhubtoreducenoise.Itcan

berefuelledeasilywithreadilyavailablepetrol.Onthedownside,

it’sthirsty,smokyandcanbepollutingiffuelisspilled.

Mariner SailMate 4hpPrice (Second-Hand) from around £400

TecH SPec

Shaft length: 50.8cm

Weight: 25kg

Maximum yacht speed: 6 knots



Bollard pull: 45kg

Tender maximum speed: 5 knots

Measuring top speed two-up in an infatable tender

The compact Travel 1003s is extremely quiet, especially at low revs

Thiscompactenginecomeswith

itsownpaddedcarrybag.It’s

lightweightand,bestofall,hasan

integralLithiummanganese

batterywhichslotsintothetopof

theengine.Twomodelsare

available–the503(£1,249),which

hasastatedequivalentof1.5hp,

andthe1003,whichwetestedand

whichsellsfor£1,449,ratedat3hp.

Inuse,theTravel1003sdelivered

almostinstantpowerviaits

twist-griptiller–abitofashock

untilwe’dgotusedtoit.Thetwist

gripalsofacilitatesswitching

betweenforwardandreverse.

Itwassoquiet,especiallyatlow

revs,thatmanoeuvringwaseerily

calmandsilent.Itsbollardpullwas

third-highestofalltheengineson

test.ThereisanLCDscreenontop

ofthemotorwhichdisplaysGPS

speedaswellasbatterycapacity

andtheestimatedrangeremaining

atthecurrentthrottleposition.

Inthetenderitwasideal,being

smallandcompact,andpushed

usalongatausefulspeed.

Thechargingissueisstillthe

maindrawback.Itcanbe

rechargedviamainspower,which

meansyoucanchargeitonboard

viaaninverterorusingshorepower

atamarina,whichwouldtake

around15hoursforafullcharge.

Afastchargerisavailableforjust

under£80,whichreducesthe

chargingtimetoaround7-8

hours.ATorqeedosolarpanelis

alsoavailableforatricklecharge,

anditcanbeconnecteddirectlyto

thebattery.

Atfullthrottleitgaveusarun

timeof40minutes.


Alternative outboards

Haswing Proturar 2hp Price: £449.99

Contact: www.marathonleisure.co.uk

tech SPec

Shaft length: 90cm (adjustable)

Weight: 14.3kg (motor), around 60kg (batteries)



Acceleration to 5 knots: not applicable

Bollard pull: 34kg

Tender maximum speed 3.9 knots

This motor offers improved performance to the usual trolling motors.

For one thing, it’s rated at 2hp rather than the 55lb thrust seen on most

electric engines, which is a sure sign that it has been designed to

compete with petrol engines.

It requires 24V (2x12V batteries wired in series).

In use, after a momentary confusion that forward and reverse were

incorrectly labelled, it performed well – not as well as the Torqeedo,

but at less than £500 it is considerably cheaper. The difference in

speed between full throttle and anything under – a quick drop-off –

was noticeable, but was fne once we were used to it.

It was impractical in the tender due to the two heavy batteries

needed, but on board the yacht it was impressive, providing

appreciable power for a low cost. It has a simple battery condition

indicator, and the shaft length can be easily adjusted. A wireless remote

and joystick can be used if required.

haswing comax

This 55lb trolling motor looked promising, but the unit that arrived

for test had been abused by a previous tester and was dead on

arrival. We hope to try another soon, and will report in the New Gear

pages at a later date on how it compares.

Torqeedo Cruise 2.0TSPrice: £2,499 • SeParate Li-ion

Battery £2,099

Contact: www.torqeedo.com

tech SPec

Shaft length: 62.5cm (short), 75.5cm (long)

Weight: 17.5kg (motor), 24kg (battery)



Acceleration to 5 knots 20 seconds

Bollard pull: 55kg


The Cruise 2.0TS gave instant power and the second best acceleration on test

On the boat, the Haswing Proturar provided appreciable power for a low cost

➜

The Cruise 2.0TS is a bit of a

beast. Sold as equivalent to a 5hp

petrol engine, it was much more

suitable for our 23ft yacht than to

the small tender. It’s a 24V motor,

which came with a Torqeedo

lithium manganese sealed and

waterproof battery. This cost

£2,099. The alternative is to use

two 12V deep cycle batteries

wired in series, which works out

much cheaper – our two Rolls

batteries cost £222.40 each, but

you could use a cheaper battery

still. These will weigh much more

than the Torqeedo battery’s 24kg

though – our two came in at 60kg.

In use, it gave us instant power

and the second best acceleration

on test. It felt like a proper, well-

sized engine for the boat. Its

long tiller/throttle made it simple

to use and placed the engine

controls to hand.

On a yacht the batteries could

be mounted for best weight

distribution, but in the tender they

felt vulnerable.

The motor is well made and well

thought out. A pin can be

installed to lock the motor in a

fore-and-aft position. An LCD

display, as on the Travel models,

gives battery state, GPS

information and useful range

remaining at the current speed.

At full throttle it gave us a run

time of 1 hour 10 minutes.

50 Practical Boat Owner579October2014•www.pbo.co.uk

Gear test

Propane enginesW

e tried a pair of

propane outboards

from Lehr Marine.

These were developed as an

alternative to petrol – after

all, most forklift trucks in

warehouses run on LPG to

avoid petrol spillages, so why

shouldn’t outboard engines?

Onthefaceofit,therearemany

advantagestousingpropane.

Unlikepetrol,afuelspillagewon’t

pollutethewater.Aslongasyou

havethecanisterswithyou,

changingtoafulltankiseasy.A

threadedconnectorscrewsonto

thepropanecanister(witha

reversethread,asusualfor

propane).Thesesmallcanisters

cost£9fromcampingshopsand

shouldlastforaroundonehourat

fullthrottlefora2.5hpengine.We

alsousedaMacGasGasLight

lightweightcompositecylinderas

aremotetank,whichwasa

revelation–lightweightandmade

fromplastic,soisnotlikelyto

damagetotheboat.

Thepropanemotorsaremuch

simplerthanequivalentpetrol

outboards,withnochokeorfuel

tap–yousimplysetabout1⁄3throttleandpullthecord.

Aswitha4-strokepetrolengine,

though,youstillneedtolayit

downthecorrect(tiller-sidedown)

waytoavoidengineoilleaking

intothecylinder.

Lehr 5.0hpPrice: £1,150

Contact: www.lehruk.com

TecH SPec

Shaft length: 38cm (short), 50.8cm (long)

Weight: 23kg

Maximum yacht speed: 6 knots



Bollard pull: 45kg

Tender maximum speed: 5 knots

Lehr 2.5hpPrice: £729

Contact: www.lehruk.com

TecH SPec

Shaft length: 38cm

Weight: 17.5kg



Bollard pull: 25kg


The2.5hpoutboardwastoosmallforHantu Biru,butnonetheless

pushedheralongnicelyat4.9knots.Itcanacceptaremotetank,likeits

largersiblings.Ittookonlyafewpullstostartfromcold–andpropane

engineshavetheadvantagethatyoucan’tfoodthecarburettor.Itwas

asnoisyasapetrolengine.Ithasforwardandneutralgears.Onthe

backofthetenderitwasmuchbettersuited,beingagoodcompromise

betweensize,weightandpower.Aremotetankwouldgiveyou11hours

atfullthrottle,whileacanistershouldlastanhouratthatspeed.

The Lehr 2.5, noisy as a petrol engine, only took a few pulls to start from cold

The 5.0 gave good acceleration and enabled a strong bollard pullINSET A remote gas bottle allows for greater range

Thisenginewasagoodsizefor

theprojectboat.Its5hppushed

usalongatanequivalentspeed

toourpetroloutboard,withgood

accelerationandastrongbollard

pull.Tostartitneeded1⁄3throttle,

androaredintolifeatthethird

pull.Itsidlespeedwashigher

thanapetrolengine–afeatureof

propaneengines–anditwas

noisierthanour2-strokeMariner

withitsunderwaterexhaust.Its

Reverse-Neutral-Forwardgear

selectorworkedwellfor

close-quartersmanoeuvring,and

accelerationwasgood,even

whencold–usefulwhencoming

alongsideorleavingthepontoon.

Theremotetank–aMacGas

GasLightcompositetank–sat

unobtrusivelyinthecockpit.

You’dneedaself-draininglocker

forasafepermanentinstallation,

butyou’dbestoringonlyone

typeoffuelforbothyourmotor

andgalleystove.

Rangeislimitedbythesizeof

tankyouuse.Thesmall395g

canistersshouldlastaround30

minutesatfullrevsormoreat

lowerrevs(thecompanyquotes

1.4hoursat3,000rpm).Thelarger

compositetankshouldgiveyou

fvehoursatfullthrottle.Weintend

toftonetotheprojectboatfor

someextendedtripslaterinthe

yeartofullyevaluateitsrange

andperformanceovertime.


Productsand services

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PBO verdict

All of these motors have

their advantages and

disadvantages. The

propane outboards are neat,

compact, simple and non-

polluting, but the availability

and cost of the small gas

canisters could be an issue. If

you’re using a remote tank, it

will need to be in a gas-tight

locker that drains overboard.

Their performance was

equivalent to a petrol engine.

The electric outboards are

near-silent and are lightweight,

■ Thanks to Barden Batteries, who kindly lent us a pair of Rolls 95Ah

batteries for the test. Barden sell batteries, chargers and solar and

wind systems online and from their base in Fareham, Hampshire.

www.barden-uk.com

We tested seven 5hp long-shaft petrol outboards in the Summer 2012 issue of PBO. You can buy a copy online from www.pbo.co.uk and click on ‘Find PBO articles’. Or call the Copy Service on 01202 440832

COPY SERVICE

The electric outboards are lightweight and near-silent, but size, charging and battery capacity all have to be taken into consideration

but battery capacity, size and

charging are all issues.

The Torqeedo Travel is a great

solution if you use your tender

for short journeys and have

suffi cient charging capability. Its

larger sister, the Cruise 2.0T, was

a feasible solution for larger craft

like Hantu Biru, delivering plenty

of power and enough speed to

get you out of trouble. The only

problem is the batteries, which

are either very expensive if

you go for the Li-manganese

option, or very heavy and bulky

if you wire up two 12V deep

cycle batteries in series.

The Proturar 2hp was

surprisingly effective. The

build quality wasn’t up to that

of the Torqeedo and neither

was the performance, but for

a fraction of the price it was

worth considering – if you can

work out what to do with the

large and heavy batteries.

The propane outboards

come close to petrol

outboards when it comes

to choosing one for use on

board. It’s down to your own

views on storing gas on board

and on the availability of the

small canisters, but there’s

no doubt that the propane

engines are less polluting to

the water than a petrol engine,

and the motors are much

less smoky than 2-stroke

petrol engines.

Ultimately, neither electric

nor propane outboards rival

the fl exibility that a petrol

engine gives you, but each

have their advantages – which

might fi t perfectly with your

location and type of sailing.


PRACTICAL

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

In the third part of this series on epoxy resin, David Parker describes the

basic techniques when using it as a fairing and coating material

David Parker

is a marine

journalist

who has built

and restored

various

boats. He owns a Seaward 23

motor cruiser he moors on the

River Hamble.

Fairing is the process of

giving a surface a smooth,

even fi nish. It can involve

anything from fi lling in holes

used for fi xings to building

up hollows which may have

been caused by distortions or

irregularities when building the

skin of the hull.

On commercial builds, such as

racing yachts, whole hulls are

faired with epoxy compounds:

epoxy fi llers shrink less and are

superior to compounds which

use polyester resin.

While the practice is often

carried out on a large scale on

professional new builds, with

home projects too you’ll need

to ensure you have a fair hull,

whether you plan to sheath, coat,

or go straight to painting or

varnishing your boat. Fairing is also

a key part of both minor and major

repairs after boat damage.

When it comes to fairing there

are specialist epoxy resins, but

the same standard resin/hardener

mix used for bonding and fi lleting

(see PBO August and September

issues) is perfectly adequate. What

you change is the fi ller you add to

the mix.

Epoxy is tough stuff, but fairing

compounds by their very nature

need to be as easy to sand back

as possible when cured. A fairing

compound needs to be workable

before and after it sets hard.

To make up a fairing compound

you use what is known as low-

density fi ller. The manufacturers’

literature will specify the relevant

product names: for example, they

Fairing and coating

may be called phenolic

microballoons and glass bubbles

or microlight fi llers.

The powder used in these fi llers

typically consists of hollow spheres

or microspheres. These spheres

have a hard shell and therefore

don’t actually absorb the resin.

Instead, they give the resin mix

bulk by displacing themselves in

it – unlike microfi bres which do

absorb the resin and therefore

cure to a much harder and

stronger compound.

Proper preparationWhatever the level of work being

undertaken, the basic rules of

working with epoxy resin still apply.

As well as ensuring epoxies are

mixed accurately, surface

preparation and working

temperatures are very important.

It’s tempting to rush things,

particularly if you are facing a

larger-scale project such as fairing

or coating a hull. You might be

working late on dark winter

evenings in a cramped, cluttered

space – so sit back and plan. On a

small build, for example, it’s always

easier when fairing, coating and

sheathing to have the hull inverted –

Prime the surface with epoxy resin before applying fairing compound

On rough surfaces use a notched spreader. This produces ridges in the fi ller which will be easier

to sand

When the fi ller has cured, the ridges can be sanded fl at

When fairing, lightweight, low-density fi llers are added to the epoxy resin mix. When cured these are much easier to sand. Coloured powders to blend in with wood are also available, as shown here

Epoxy for beginners

Fairing technique

so don’t rush to remove it off the

stocks once the planking is done.

Conditions for the amateur

boatbuilder are rarely ideal, so you

have to be even more organised.

I once built a boat outdoors and

spent forever covering and

uncovering it between rain

showers – not to be recommended.

When fairing, after ensuring that

the surface is clean and dry,

prepare the area fi rst by abrading

with a 60-80 grit sandpaper, and

at this stage remove any bumps or

Illu

str

atio

ns:

Am

y P

ark

er

➜

ridges. Remove the dust with a

vacuum cleaner or solvent.

Surfaces should then be wetted

out with a resin/hardener mix before

applying the fairing compound. You

can let this epoxy primer coat dry,

but if you do it must be sanded

down again before applying

fairing compound on top of it.

If working overhead it’s best to

let the priming coat gel before

applying the fairing compound,

otherwise the compound may

sag or slide.

For very small indentations such

as screw holes you don’t need to

pre-coat fi rst.

Controlling the mixTo make the fairing compound, mix

the resin and hardener thoroughly

fi rst in a plastic mixing vessel or

something else big enough so that

the fi ller powder is contained when

mixing and doesn’t become an

airborne cloud. Remember to use

a mask.

Use approximately up to 2½

times by volume the amount of

fi llers to the resin/hardener mix.

In addition to microballoon/

low-density fi llers, a small amount

of colloidal silica can be added

if necessary to give additional

non-sag characteristics to the mix

for vertical or sloping surfaces.

Add the fi llers until you have a

workable peanut butter consistency:

but you can vary the consistency of

the mix depending on the job. The

thicker you make the mix the easier

it will be to sand when cured.

However, if you add too much the

paste becomes unworkable and

too dry. On small areas, or when

working overhead, it is easier to use

a stiffer mix. Electric stirrers are

available – but you won’t need

them on small-scale projects.

In the previous articles we’ve

talked about how mixing epoxy

resin and hardener produces an

exothermic reaction – it generates

heat. Once you have your fairing

mix you can transfer it to a board

and spread it out to help dissipate

heat and give you more working

time. A plasterer’s hawk is ideal if

you have a large area to fair.

Applying the fi llerApply your fairing compound with

a spreader to the epoxy-primed

surface and work it to shape.

It’s best to build up thin layers to

avoid air pockets. An average

thickness of 2mm is ideal, and try

not to go deeper than 3-4mm at a

time. Let each layer partially cure

before adding the next.

Leave the fairing compound

proud of the surface, but remove

any excess thickened epoxy

before it cures.

To keep the profi le of the hull when

fairing, fl exible battens are useful.

When curved over a surface they’ll

show up high spots or hollows. The

batten could be a piece of fl exible

them into practice, so start with less

rather than more because you can

always build up the layers. For large

areas use a slow hardener.

On really rough surfaces a

notched applicator can be handy

because it leaves a furrowed

surface on the fi ller. When the fi ller

is cured you only have the high

points to sand down. This

technique means less fi ller is used

and sanding time is reduced. Then

you can spread a thinner topcoat

to fi ll the hollows.

Sanding downRemember to wear a mask when

sanding, and don’t get the dust on

your skin if the epoxy is not fully

cured. For heavy sanding move

up through the grades, starting

with coarse – say 50 grit – and

moving upwards.

If it’s really hard you can use

a surform to get the worst off,

followed by a random-orbit sander

or fairing board. Fairing boards

are useful because you can apply

plenty of pressure but still follow

the shape of the hull.

Aluminium oxide paper is better

for coarse sanding, followed by

120-280-grade wet and dry to fi nish

it off. When you’ve sanded back

you’ll probably see more voids

which you need to fi ll.

When the surface is at last fair

you then apply a couple of coats of

resin/hardener mix and allow this to

cure before a fi nal sanding. Finish

off with conventional coatings to

protect the epoxy from damaging

UV sunlight.Use a smooth spreader to apply the fairing mix in thin layers to

build up the hollows and smooth to shape

When cured, abrade the fairing compound to the profi le you require

Fairing and coating with epoxy


BELOW For large areas a fairing board can be used. This 3M Hookit board measures 30in long by 4in wide (760 x 100mm) and takes 114mm x 762mm Hookit abrasive sheets. These boards are also very handy for quickly sanding down large sheets of plywood when they have been epoxy- coated in preparation for a project such as building a dinghy or making a bulkhead

If you’ve used a notched spreader, a small amount of fairing compound

will fi ll the furrows

Epoxy fi ller can be faired quickly with a random-orbit sander

Epoxy fi ller was used to repair crazed gelcoat on the PBO Project Boat

softwood timber or PVC piping.

How much fairing compound is

required will obviously depend on

the job, but as a rough guide one

litre of fi ller spread evenly over an

area of a square metre will produce

an average of about 1mm

thickness. Written-down fi gures are

hard to ‘guesstimate’ when putting


Coating with epoxy

Before moving on to the

subject of epoxy coating,

a few words of caution

are in order. When considering

epoxy resin as a coating, the

fi rst thing which might spring to

mind is the use of it as a barrier

coating for osmosis repair in

GRP craft.

However, if signifi cant gelcoat

blistering has taken place consult

an expert before considering

using epoxy as a DIY remedy.

You can do the job yourself (see

how one reader tackled it in ‘DIY

osmosis repair’, PBO December

2012) but osmosis treatment is

a specialist subject beyond the

scope of this beginners’ guide.

You might also think of epoxy

coating as a bit of a ‘cure all’ to

revitalise or restore old wooden

boats, but there are some horror

stories resulting from when,

literally, the rot has set in as a

consequence of these materials

not being used properly.

Epoxy should only be used to

coat timber if that timber has been

properly prepared, is completely

dry and if you are able to

encapsulate every bit of it. You can’t

coat the outside of a wooden boat

and leave the inside, or any parts,

untreated because the untreated

timber will continue to absorb

moisture and shrink and expand.

On an old boat the only way to

do this would be to take the boat

apart and then rebuild it again – it

has been done, but requires

enormous commitment.

Epoxy should also not be used

to coat boats where movement

between planks is expected:

epoxy is a rigid thermoplastic not

designed to shrink and expand.

The coating will fail and the

moisture trapped as a result will

inevitably cause rot. Only fl exible

coatings should be used over

traditionally-built boats.

Accentuate the positiveNow we’ve looked at what not

to do, let me say that an epoxy

coating will give you an excellent,

durable, abrasion-resistant

waterproof surface for many varied

projects provided an appropriate

UV fi nish is also used.

Before coating an entire boat

such as a new home-built

dinghy, for example, it’s worth

considering whether a traditional

paint fi nish would be just as

adequate, cheaper, lighter and

less time-consuming.

If you do decide to go for coating

then epoxy is ideal when used on

new, dry timber and for boats

designed to be coated and

sheathed when they are built.

We’ll look at sheathing in the

next article. There are many strip-

planked, plywood, cold-moulded

or glued clinker boats where

using epoxy is integral to their

construction, and these

designs have revitalised

amateur boatbuilding.

Coating not only applies to hulls

and decks but also component

parts like rudders or centreboards. I

would recommend, though, that

with coating – as with bonding,

demonstrated in the last issue – it is

best to start on a small-scale project

fi rst: see the battery box project on

page 58.

Solvent or not?For coating, as with fairing,

standard solvent-free epoxies are

normally used, but there are

solvent-based epoxies available for

high-specifi cation projects.

The standard solvent-free epoxies

give better waterproofi ng and

abrasion resistance and have

stronger adhesive properties so

they increase panel stiffness. They

PRACTICAL

also have better gap-fi lling

properties and only a few coats are

required to give good protection.

However, they do have a shorter

pot life than solvent-based epoxies

which offer a longer working time

over a big area. Solvent-based

systems also offer better light

stability and clarity, while another

advantage is that they behave more

like a two-part paint or varnish –

Make your own foam-roller brush

An excellent way to smooth an epoxy coating after it’s applied by roller or brush is to

make yourself a dragging tool from a cut-up foam roller. Get several of these ready

before you start because a new foam head will be required to smooth each coating.

1 Take a 75mm (3in) thin

urethane foam roller and slice

it in half using a fi ne-tooth saw (a

hacksaw will do). Alternatively you

can use longer 175mm (7in)

rollers, cut them into two or three

shorter tubes and then slice these

in half lengthwise.

2 Prepare a short wooden

handle about 150mm (6in)

long and around 1in (25mm)

square. Make an angled saw cut

in one end approximately 6mm

(1∕4in) deep. A standard tenon saw

gives a good width of cut.

3 You can now slot the foam

heads into the handle as

required. Make sure the internal

plastic sleeve in the roller is a

snug fi t in the slot so it doesn’t

fall out as you use it.

A new-build dinghy is an ideal candidate for epoxy coating

Use a temperature and humidity meter to ensure the environment is suitable for epoxy work


Fairing and coating with epoxy

requiring less skill to apply well

and achieving a fl atter fi nish with

each coat.

‘Low-build’ solvent-based epoxy

systems give a very smooth fi nish

and could be considered for

interior use of fi tting out where

fewer coats would be required.

However, they go on thinner

and you will need to double

the amount of coats applied

and consequently extend

drying times. They have

a longer pot life and

are more tolerant of

lower temperatures,

but they can shrink on

curing by at least 50% and don’t

hide imperfections as well. The

chances of a coating blistering

through solvent entrapment are

increased and can lead to a

semi-cured coating.

Solvent-based epoxies cannot

be used as glues.

And then of course there are the

fumes that make them unpleasant

to use – so here we’ll just

concentrate on standard epoxies.

The right environmentBefore starting to coat it all comes

down to preparation. We want

clean, dry timber (wood is

strongest and stiffest when dry)

and previous coatings have to

come off.

Temperature is critical and the

working environment needs to be

warm and dry so that the epoxy

fl ows nicely as you apply it. You

can get away with local heating on

an area if you’re bonding but if

you’re coating a hull, the air

temperature in the workshop

should ideally be between 15°C

and 25°C. (Note that unvented

propane heaters can inhibit epoxy

cure if unburned hydrocarbons are

present in the atmosphere.)

At low temperatures the

handling and cure characteristics

of the epoxy will prove a problem

and the viscosity of the resin

becomes thicker when it’s cold.

Humidity should not be more

than 85% and you should avoid

subjecting materials to sudden

extremes of temperature.

Give cold timber plenty of time to

warm up. If you decide to take the

boat outside on a sunny day to

coat it then warm expanding air

from the timber will form bubbles in

the freshly-applied coating surface.

In hotter weather also remember

to use a slow hardener.

After temperature the next

consideration is the moisture

content and with timber this

shouldn’t be above 12%. There are

various types of moisture meter

available. There is a sensor which

has two probes that go into the

timber to give surface readings, the

other is a capacitance meter which

can record moisture levels up to

8-10mm deep. Thicker timber may

have moisture inside it.

Simple sanding down can give

you a good idea of timber moisture

content because if the paper

clogs the wood is too damp. If the

workshop is very damp, consider

a dehumidifi er because amine

blush (a wax-like by-product on

curing) is more pronounced in a

cold, damp environment.

Applying a coatFor coating use the standard mix

ratios of the resin and hardener as

given for bonding. When coating,

fi llers or additives aren’t required,

but you can use a small amount of

colloidal silica to prevent sag in

awkward overhead areas.

When the resin is thoroughly

mixed it can be applied by brush

for small or awkward areas, or a

roller for large areas.

Spraying is not an option as

epoxy is diffi cult to atomise and

airborne particles of epoxy are a

health hazard.

Brushes usually coat thicker

than rollers: normally when epoxy

coating you’d apply two coats with

a brush or three coats with a roller.

On a fl at surface, a good tip is to

use a squeegee to spread out the

resin to dissipate heat and cover a

large area quickly, then smooth it

with a brush or roller.

High-density disposable rollers

are ideal for coating and allow

you to lay down a controlled fi lm

thickness of epoxy. These rollers

consist of a thin layer of foam on a

stiff fi bre backing. If you use a

normal soft low-density foam roller

you can put air into the coating.

For component parts, like a

centreboard case, you can coat

items in batches – but remember

that you’ll have to fi nd space to

leave things to dry. A large

structure like a hull should be

coated when fully assembled.

Don’t spread the epoxy on too

thickly as this will leave craters. Roll

or brush lengthwise and crosswise

to ensure a nice even coat. Then

smooth the coating using a

dragging tool – this also removes

air bubbles left by a roller (see

‘Make your own foam-roller brush’,

opposite page).

Make sure the initial coating

encapsulates all the wood and go

over areas that look like they’re

drying too quickly.

How much resin is absorbed will

depend on the type of timber and

its grain, but as with coating you’ll

fi nd the end grain will absorb a lot

more resin.

Coverage rates vary, but West

System quote about 35 sq ft per

pound of mixed resin for coating

(around 3.25 sq m per half kilo).

Depending on how much time

you have, you can let the coats

cure and then sand down between

applications. When sanding

between coats, abrade the surface

lightly by hand or use a pad sander.

Ultimately quicker and easier,

and with good results, is to apply

epoxy wet on wet: when a coat of

resin becomes tacky and starts to

cure, you immediately roll on

another coat. This eliminates the

need for messy sanding and

cleaning up between coats.

Blemishes and blushYou may come across ‘fi sh eyes’

in the fi nished coating. If you see

them while the resin is curing they

can be brushed out.

These can occur because you

haven’t sanded down properly

during preparation, or they can

be caused by the wrong mix

ratios, direct heat from the sun or

surface contaminants.

In cooler temperatures, and if the

surface still feels tacky after it’s

coated, this is due to the surface

by-product of amine blush which

needs to be removed. Wet sanding

is the best way to deal with this – it

not only gets rid of the blush but

prepares the surface nicely for the

next coat or painting or varnishing.

Ultimate protectionEpoxy will break down under long

exposure to sunlight, so all epoxy-

coated surfaces that will be

exposed to UV light must

themselves be protected.

Traditional marine paints or

varnishes can be used, but

two-pack systems are the ideal.

Although two-packs are expensive

you’ll save money because the

epoxy coating will itself already

have produced a high build and

protection so you’ll need fewer

coats of two-pack, and the epoxy

keeps the moisture content in the

wood under control, leading to a

longer life for the coating.

Paint manufacturers will tell you

that if there are any failures in paint

systems over epoxy coatings it’s

pretty well always due to applicator

error. The big paint companies

have technical helplines – so use

them if you’re in any doubt about

what paints or primers are suitable

for protecting your epoxy coating.

➜

Cheap, disposable brushes usually cost less than the solvent you’d need to clean them for re-use

If brushes shed bristles, try pinching the metal

collar tighter

Rollers, plastic spreaders and a paint tray – essential tools for epoxy coating and fairing


PRACTICAL

NEXT MONTH Sheathing and

laminating. Missed parts one and two?

Call the Copy Service on 01202 440832

The completed epoxy coating provides a durable, waterproof fi nish.

Once it is fully cured, paint or varnish should be applied after fi rst lightly abrading the surface

Epoxy-coating a battery boxA

n epoxy coating will give a

durable, waterproof surface

to this plywood battery box (I

showed how to make it in PBO last

month). I’m using new timber here

but remember that any surface must

be free of contaminants such as oil

or grease before applying epoxy.

When coating components, plan in

advance how you can treat all the

surfaces but still leave it to dry without

affecting the coating too much.

For example, when coating rudders or

daggerboards I have put temporary

fi xings in one edge to literally hang them

out to dry. Here I placed some wooden

battens on the bench to raise the edges

of the pieces off the workbench slightly

and prevent the coated edges sticking

to the work surface as the epoxy cures.

Plastic parcel tape stuck on the battens

would make them even more ‘non-stick’.

1 Ensure the working area is well prepared,

with everything to hand so you can work

systematically. Make sure you have plenty of

light to work in.

2 Mix the resin and hardener accurately and

then decant it into a larger vessel such as

a paint tray to give you the extended working

time required for coating.

3 Use a brush in awkward areas and ensure

the whole surface is coated well. Pay

particular attention to internal angles which are

easily missed.

4 A high-density thin foam roller is used on

larger areas and will quickly produce a

thin, even coat.

5 After the roller, tip off the coating with the

home-made foam brush dragging tool to

smooth the surface and remove air bubbles.

6 Pay particular attention to vertical surfaces

where runs might occur and use the foam

brush to remove them.

7 When the previous coat feels tacky the

next coat can be applied so it goes on

‘wet on wet.’ If it’s left to dry then it must be

abraded before the next coat. Two or three

coats form an effective barrier.

8 When applying each coat, work the roller

both horizontally and vertically with an

overlapping motion.

9 Tip off each coat and use a new head in

the foam brush for each new coat.

DIY PROJECT

STEPBY

STEP


I’m a great fan of rigid

tenders. They row

and motor better, last

longer outdoors and

are often considerably

cheaper than their infatable

alternatives. While an

infatable is invaluable to

have aboard on cruises, a

good little rigid dinghy can

be much more convenient to

leave on the hard for regular

use such as getting in and

out to and from a mooring.

But while the weight and

lack of portability of a rigid

dinghy can be seen as a

positive advantage when it

comes to deterring thieves,

it can be downright awkward

when you do need to move

it about on dry land.

My regular tender is

Mahogany Bob, a 4.3m (14ft)

LH Walker Tideway dinghy that

will turn 50 years old next year.

She gets admiring glances

everywhere she goes, but the

price we pay for that is the

maintenance. She has to come

home at least once a year for

rubbing down and varnishing,

which involves turning her over

as well as swapping between

road trailer and launching

trolley. While there seem to be

plenty of takers for a trip upriver

with picnic baskets on a June

day, when it’s November and

she needs hauling onto her

road trailer in the drizzle, for

some reason I often seem to be

doing that bit on my own. She

weighs well over 100kg and is

almost 1.8m (6ft) wide, so I

have collected a few heaving

tips that are transferable to

any small boat.

For boat owners, a rigid or semi-rigid tender is

often the heaviest and most awkward-shaped

object we have to move about on land, especially

if we end up having to do it on our own. Jake Frith

has some tips and tricks to make life a little easier

Shove me tender

Never underestimate the value of a front

dolly wheel on the launching trolley of

anything much bigger than a Topper.

My boat has almost no nose weight as

she is perfectly balanced on her trolley.

However, that trivial weight makes a

tremendous difference when you are trying

to pull her up a slipway as well as lift her bow

off the ground. With a nose wheel I can get

back to the transom and heave her along

with my full body weight behind her.

After some years with a swivelling nose

wheel on the trolley, I’ve settled on a fxed

one now. The swivelling ones seemed to

point the wrong way at inopportune

moments, and the hard pushing part (up a

slippery slipway) is all in a straight line

anyway. It’s actually miles better as it stays

dead straight when I need it to, then when

I’m parking the boat on the fat surface of

the dinghy park I can just push down

slightly on the transom to lift the front wheel

to steer the boat. Towsure currently sell

these for £16.95 for a fxed one and £17.95

for a swivel one: search www.towsure.com

for ‘Trailer Castor Wheel’. Just budget a few

pounds extra for a solid rubber-tyred wheel

to replace the standard pneumatic one,

which has a cheap Chinese tyre that will

fail after six months’ sunlight.

A third wheel

Moving a rigid tender

➜

Getting a rigid tender or rowing boat into and out of the water by yourself can be easier with a few tricks up your sleeve

Pushing is easier if your trolley has a fixed rather than castored nose wheel

This really is an absolute last-ditch

technique for when you cannot get

a heavy boat up the slipway on

your own and the place is deserted

of anybody likely to help.

In fact, one of the most effective

features of this method is that it

looks so absurdly hard and

long-winded that anyone who does

pass by will more than likely take

pity and offer you a push.

Here’s a quick little tool I

knocked up in about an hour to

help make steep slips a doddle.

Portable winches have been

available for years: however, they

are expensive, heavy, corrosion-

prone and designed for winching

cars and the like, so they’re

massively over-engineered for

what’s required here. They also

don’t have the real benefi t of a

yacht winch, which does not

PRACTICAL

Using a DIY portable boat ramp winchhave a captive line, so any line can

immediately be positioned on it at

any point on that line. This makes it

quicker and easier to set up and

start winching, especially if your

boat already has a long bow line.

My device is simply a Barton

plastic yacht winch I had spare, a

winch handle and a cheap plastic

cleat, all bolted to a bit of scaffold

plank. The only real tip I would give

is to ensure you bolt the winch base

on an angled wedge, as I have

done. Because the trolley’s towing

point will be higher than the winch,

mounting it without a wedge to

angle it would result in an immediate

riding turn on the winch. An old

halyard or similar low-stretch line

makes for a perfect winching rope.

My ‘winch on a plank’ has a hole

at the back of the plank for tying it

to any handy stationary object (tree,

car etc) somewhere behind, but as

That said, it does work and has

got me out of trouble a few times,

so it’s always worth remembering

for when the chips are down.

You chock the wheels in turn and

then pull the nose of the boat round

the chocked wheel to about 45°

from the intended direction of travel.

You then move the other chock up

under the uphill wheel then repeat

but I’ve moved a ton of

trailer-sailer and trailer up a

hill using this method.

If you have no chocks with

you, blocks of wood or even a

couple of wedge-shaped stones

off the beach can work fi ne.

A swivel dolly wheel helps,

especially if your boat has a lot

of nose weight on her trolley.

Chocking wheels up a steep slip

my local slip has a sharp edge at

the top I’ve also bolted on some

short steel legs at the back to

grip over this edge. Because I

also kneel on the plank to keep it

in place, I stapled a bit of carpet

on top for comfort. Ironically,

these staples have

uncomfortably worked their way

out of the carpet and into my

knee on several occasions.

It works extraordinarily well,

but would be massively

improved by a self-tailing winch.

Mind you, if I had a spare

self-tailer I’d be bolting it to my

boat rather than an old plank.

As an alternative take on the

same theme, If you are using a

road trailer with a boat winch on

it, you can sometimes exit the

winch strap or wire forwards out

of the winch to a fi xed point on

the slip and pull the boat up

with its own trailer winch.

the other side, and so on.

Providing your boat is longer

than it is wide (I hope it is), the

turning leverage you can exert

on the trolley along its length will

move even a very heavy boat up

a steep hill. Each pull of the trolley

nose across the slip pulls the boat

up about 18in in the desired

direction so it takes a while,

Place chock behind wheel, then haul trailer sideways before chocking the other wheel. Repeat. Many times.

Swing the boat from side to side, chocking alternate wheels

MAIN A portable winch makes light work of hauling the boat

up a slopeINSET LEFT Winch close-up


Chockpositions


Whether we need to turn over a

wooden boat to varnish her, or

we’re turning a GRP boat upside

down for the winter to keep her

free of rainwater and jetsam, it’s

worth thinking about how we’re

going to manage before we

launch into it. For many years I

lifted the boat to the balance point

then gingerly crept round to the

other side, rushing underneath

at the last minute to lower her

down. This resulted in dropping

a few boats, usually with no

harm done other than the odd

detached thwart, but it looked

pretty unprofessional.

A far better method is to use a

prop. Ensuring she’s adequately

padded wherever she will touch

if on a hard surface, lift her up,

being careful at the start to bend

This isn’t the simple reverse of

sliding her off the trolley. We

begin by parking the trolley

in front with the bows of the

boat centralised and right up

against the vee of the trolley.

As there will be an element of

sliding involved, some soapy

water on the trolley pads will

help the boat slip much more

easily. We’re going to be lifting

the bows of the boat, so once

again something comfortable

to get hold of will help greatly.

In my case it’s the previously

mentioned webbing strap

through the bow eyebolt, but

there are many options.

You want to create a grab point

low down on the boat so you

can lift her with your legs, using

Moving a rigid tender

Lifting the boat onto a trolley or trailer

Turning her over

Assuming you have a reasonably

balanced trolley or trailer, this is one

of the easiest operations here. If

you are on a hard surface

remember to pad the parts of the

boat that will touch, especially the

heel of the transom which will hit

the ground frst. Removable rubber

foor mats and boot liners from the

car make for excellent temporary

ground pads.

It’s usually best to make no

attempt at pushing the boat

backwards on its trolley or trailer

frst. Simply lift the handle of the

trolley or nose of the trailer until the

heel of the transom hits the ground,

then pull the trolley or trailer out

while still lifting it so the rear of the

boat stays put on the ground. As

as straight an arm as possible.

Usually the bow ftting at gunwale

level is too high, meaning you will

need to bend your arms a lot to lift

the boat high enough, which can

be uncomfortable or impossible.

Awide,grippystrapIf your boat has a deep, sharp

forefoot, then you can often use a

wide, grippy strap just placed under

the bow itself. A webbing strap

placed inside a length of bicycle

inner tube can grip very well.

Lift standing in front of the trolley

axle, so that once the boat is high

enough you can use one foot to

push the trailer under the boat,

enough so that the boat will stay

temporarily with the bows on the

trailer. It is usually far easier to

from your legs, not your back. As

she nears the balance point she

will lighten appreciably. Grab a

suitable prop: something

between 3ft and 5ft long will be

best, depending on the boat. I

ensure the prop is at my feet

when commencing the lift so it’s

easy to reach down and grab it

while still holding the boat up

with the other hand. You can

then prop her up somewhere

close to the middle where you

were lifting and walk leisurely

round to the other side. It’s then

easy to pull her over past the

balance point and lower her

down onto the new side. The

prop will fall onto or into the

boat, so if you are worried about

damage use a light prop that is

well padded along its length.

Getting the boat off a trolley or trailer

you reach the front of the boat, the

point where the curve of the bow

means she is about to drop off the

back of the trolley, you have two

choices. On grass with a light,

strong boat, you can just keep

going: the front of the boat will drop

to the ground with no risk of harm.

With a heavier or more fragile

tender it’s not worth the risk, so

move to the back of the trolley and

lift the bow down from the trolley

while kicking the trolley away with

a spare foot. I tie a temporary

webbing loop through the bow

eyebolt as it’s at the right height to

provide a useful, comfortable

handle for lowering the boat in a

controlled manner.

push the trolley or trailer under the

boat than to drag the boat forwards

onto the trolley while also lifting it. If

your trolley won’t scoot under due

to having no dolly wheel at the

nose you can place the nose of the

trailer on a skid of some sort such

as a plank, or put it on a temporary

log roll of fenders.

Once the bow is on the trolley,

chock the wheels so the trolley

cannot move forwards. You should

then be able to lift and shove the

boat onto the trolley from her

transom. If the trolley pads are

still sticky, a bit of sawing her from

side to side will help get her on.

If your trolley handle

is below the bow of the boat it

can be diffcult to see if you are

pushing in line. In that case, a

Lift the boat, then shove the trailer underneath

INSET ABOVE Rubber car mat

protects the stern from the ground

LEFT Lowering the bow from the trailer

... to then gently lay her down on the ground

Use a prop to hold the boat up while you amble round the other side...

garden cane pushed into the

ground at the nose of the trolley

or taped to the trolley handle

upright can give you a visual

aiming point.

Webbing loop through eyebolt


New Gear

Jefa wheel disengagement system Aztec Marine will

be demonstrating

the new Jefa wheel

disengagement

steering unit at

stand G144 in the

Ocean Hall at the

Southampton Boat

Show. The innovative

unit, nominated for a

2013 DAME design

award, can be used

in all Jefa WP700-WP900 cable steering pedestals.

On yachts equipped with twin wheel steering, the

helmsman experiences the inertia of the unused wheel, and

when sailing on autopilot both wheels have to be powered

up and down continuously, causing high power

consumption and wear.

Jefa’s integral disengagement steering unit enables the

helmsman to easily disengage the unused wheel from the

mechanical steering system.

Disengagement units in steering wheel hubs already

exist, but are expensive: the steering wheel hub is

invariably bulky and really only usable on big, stainless

steel double-spoked wheels. The Jefa unit is integrated into

the steering pedestal, and is easily operated by rotating a

brake knob on the steering wheel boss.

The invention aims to boost safety due to the non-rotating

wheel(s) under autopilot, and means there is no

unnecessary energy loss and steering system wear.

It is retrofi ttable to all Jefa cable steering pedestals, and

costs £236 (n295) for a new system or £560 (n699) for a

retrofi t unit.

■ www.jefa.com ■ www.aztecmarine.co.uk

Hypro Marine offeringsHypro Marine makes its debut

appearance at Southampton Boat

Show with a number of new items on

its stand, D064 in the Windward Hall.

Among them will be LEHR propane

outboards ranging from 2.5hp to 15hp. These run on standard propane such as the

popular 465g (16.4oz) camping bottles (2.5hp and 5hp) or the larger portable gas bottles

as a remote fuel option for all models. (PBO tested two of these outboards: see page 47)

Takacat infl atables will also be exhibited. These new roll-up infl atable boats are inspired

by catamaran design for better stability, speed and safety. Sizes range from 2.2m to 3.4m

for the infl atables with air-decks and 3.4m to 4.6m for the rigid infl atables.

Lectrotab electro-mechanical trim tabs will also be on show: patented designs in the

actuator prevent any water ingress so they come with a lifetime guarantee. Trim tabs are in

marine-grade 6005-T5 aluminium alloy or 12-gauge stainless steel, and are available in

any size with single or dual actuators.

■ www.hypromarine.com ■ www.lehruk.com

Sail-Gen water-driven turbineEclectic Energy’s range of renewable

energy generators, including the

DuoGen and the D400, aim to provide

energy security while reducing reliance

on fossil fuels. The compact Sail-Gen

water generator comprises a rigid welded

aluminium frame with carbon fi bre

driveshaft and cast alloy impeller. At passage speeds of 5-6 knots the Sail-Gen is

claimed to be capable of matching a yacht’s typical power consumption, negating the

need to run the engine to charge batteries. Available in 12V and 24V models, the

Sail-Gen retails at £1,990.

Find Sail-Gen at the Eclectic Energy stand – G028 in Ocean Hall.

■ www.sail-gen.com

Laura Hodgetts reports on new products being launched at the Southampton Boat Show, 12-21 September 2014

BoatBox car roof box/dinghyIt takes an enthusiast to look at a

car roof box and see a boat, but

that’s exactly what entrepreneur

Mark Tilley did three years ago.

Mark has now teamed up with

house, garden and leisure retailer

In-Excess to produce a version

of his BoatBox which can be

assembled at home. We tried

this latest model, the LeisureTour

(priced at £999-£1,049), in Poole’s

Holes Bay, near the PBO offi ce.

As a roof box, BoatBox has one of

the largest capacities on the market

at 650lt – 20lt more than the largest

offering from the best-known

competitor. This is partly because

BoatBox is 11cm deeper, gaining

buoyancy but inevitably increasing

air drag. The base fi ts easily to

your roof bars with U-clamps, and

cleverly retains the paddles and

thwart in the moulding. When it’s

time to go afl oat you unclip the top

(the clips on one side can operate

as clips or hinges, enabling you to

open the box on the car roof), turn

it over, fi t the thwart and trundle it

down the slip on the integral

launching wheel.

On the water, a big roof box

becomes a very small dinghy.

Under engine (an electric outboard

is optional, and the battery stows

neatly under the thwart) the box

shifts along quite zippily, but under

oars the paddles are a bit short, and

if you catch a crab the boat rocks

alarmingly. With two adults on board

it’s too cosy, but for one adult (or

perhaps two children) it works well.

There’s enough integral buoyancy

that it not only won’t sink but will

also allow you to climb back in:

and although such a small craft

inevitably feels slightly unstable, the

chines support the boat just when

you’re sure you’re going swimming.

■ www.boatboxint.com

VerdictIt’s not as good as a dedicated

dinghy, but it’s a practical roof

box and could give you that

on-water fi x if you’re dragged

away from your boat to go

camping, or it could keep the

kids out of mischief for an hour

or two. Mark is planning an

even bigger box, perhaps with

a sailing rig – watch this space.

David Pugh


New gear

Habitent Sirocco cockpit enclosureHabitent will be exhibiting a prototype of their Sirocco unit at Southampton Boat Show. The

Sirocco is a ready-made cockpit enclosure, smaller than the standard Habitent, which offers

an awning solution for most boats with or without a side deck. The Sirocco has an overall

length of 3.25m and is suitable for boats with a stern spanning between 1-1.6m, so the

Habitent range with its ‘universal fi t’ design will have something for most boats with sterns

between 1-2.4m. The Sirocco particularly suits boats such as Swallow, Drascombe, Impala,

Cobra, Crabber, Shrimper etc. See the Habitent prototype on stand B016 in the Holiday Inn

area. Sirocco price to be confi rmed: the current Habitent sells at £360.

■ www.habitent.com

Windvane self-steering – often simply

called vane gears – can relieve

skippers almost entirely of the effort

of long periods at the helm and

provide a silent alternative to an

electric automatic pilot.

According to www.jesterinfo.org,

windvane steering was fi rst

developed as a practical device for

model yacht races in the early 1930s.

It was not until 1955 that effective

vane gears appeared on full-size

yachts – Ian Major’s Buttercup and

Michael Henderson’s Mick the Miller.

When Blondie Hasler originated

the Observer Single-handed

Transatlantic Races, it gave a great

boost to vane gear development.

Blondie started developing vane

gears in 1953. The Trim Tab

system was the fi rst to be perfected,

incorporating a differential linkage to

eliminate the over-steering tendency

of earlier gears.

Hasler’s invention of the Pendulum

Servo system in 1961 enabled yachts

with counter sterns to be steered

effectively in all conditions without

needing complicated modifi cations

to the rudder and rudder stock.

Subsequently, the 57ft ketch Sir

Thomas Lipton, winner of the 1968

single-handed Transatlantic Race,

used a BP1 Hasler Gear and was

only steered manually for 12 hours

during her record-breaking passage

between Plymouth in the UK and

Newport, Rhode Island.

The fi rst commercially-

produced Hasler

Pendulum Servo Gear

was sold in May 1962

and the fi rst Trim Tab

gear in March 1963.

By December 1970,

more than 600 gears

had been supplied to

yachts all over the world.

Henri Lloyd Fast-dri Silver rangeNext-to-skin technology has seen rapid advances in recent years. The new Henri Lloyd

Fast-dri Silver range is promised to deliver improved comfort and performance levels with

great looks. The lightweight, breathable and easy-care Fast-dri fabric is designed to wick

perspiration away from the skin, ensuring comfort over prolonged periods. All Fast-dri Silver

products offer UV protection in the range of 30-50 (50 being the maximum) – a plain white

cotton T-shirt only offers UV protection of 5 when wet.

An anti-microbial treatment utilises silver ion technology

which repels bacteria and helps to reduce body odour

when the garments are used for prolonged periods of

activity. The range features polo shirts, long- and short-

sleeved Ts in men’s and women’s styles, in various sizes

and the colours of red, optical white, marine and black.

Prices range from £25 for T-shirts to £38 for polo shirts.

Henri Lloyd’s technical marine range will be exhibited at

Southampton Boat Show via marine retailers Force 4 (Stands

B017/ D092), Marine Superstore (F006), Andark Diving (F001),

Marine Store (E066), P&B (J054) and Cruising Association

(J102), with Henri Lloyd staff on hand to offer advice.

■ www.henrilloyd.com

Celebrate YOUR Classic Kit! What has served you well? Email [email protected] KIT

Hasler Self Steering wind vane

Elliot Brown watchesHere at PBO, a brimming biscuit

tin notwithstanding, few things

excite us more than quality

engineering, elegantly functional

design and a homespun success story.

Cue Elliot Brown, based two miles from the PBO offi ce

in Poole. The company was formed when Animal

co-founder Ian Elliot and horologist Alex Brown

pledged to design a collection of watches offering

unprecedented integrity, durability and value within the

£325-£600 price range. Accordingly, their Canford and

Bloxworth watches, available in a variety of styles and

case fi nishes, combine discreetly attractive looks with

a stoical toughness unmatched outside of the Bourne

fi lm franchise. So confi dent are the makers of their

product’s unyielding construction that each watch

is essentially tortured before it can pass muster:

pressure-tested twice to 20 atmospheres and smartly

biffed by a 3kg hammer on a pendulum, for starters.

Even the straps are subjected to merciless scrutiny: a

YouTube video shows Ian Elliot cheerfully hanging off

a crane by a Bloxworth watchstrap.

■ www.elliotbrownwatches.com

VerdictAt £325, my test watch, the Canford 202-003, is at the

cheapest end of the range. Nevertheless, it’s a thing of

subtle, rugged beauty: I often found myself lovingly

staring at it like a slack-jawed ruminant, willing people

to ask me the time so I could brandish it with a quite

unnecessary fl ourish. I inadvertently bashed it several

times with a drumstick during band rehearsals, so the

shock-absorbing steel cage within the case evidently

works well. As regards its waterproofi ng, I pulled out

the triple-sealed crowns while messily scrubbing the

PBO Project Boat’s sails then did so again in a scalding

bath thereafter, but no water penetrated the case.

Suffi ce to say, I’m rather smitten. Marco Rossi

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Cockpit ‘booster’ seat


Great ideas and tips from PBO readers

Practical projectsEmail your projects and tips to [email protected] or write to us at the address at the top of page 5. We pay at least £30 for each one published

When checking out the

boats at Southampton

Boat Show – sitting in

the cockpits and studying the

interior layouts – I look for

inspiration for improvements

to my Four 21 yacht Opal Spray.

On one yacht of a similar size

I found a very attractive cockpit

where the seating was angled so

that when the boat was sailing

and heeling, the seating position

was nearly horizontal.

Anyone who sails knows the problem of

making drinks under way. Gimbals are fi ne

for stoves, but impractical for supporting a

tray that can be moved around the boat.

To overcome the problem I made a slanting tray

using UPVC foam board and some spare nylon

blocks which I had lying around. It could just as

easily be made using offcuts of wood.

The cut-outs are designed to hold tankard-type

mugs which have a wide, stable base, and they

stand on the central layer. The large hole holds a

plate steady.

If you’re so inclined…Mike Rossiter makes a well-heeled drinks tray

Looking for a more comfortable sailing experience, James Brooking builds ‘booster’ seats for his cockpit

COST£60

emergency. I contemplated inserting

grab handles but this would

complicate things, so I decided that

a strap could be fi tted afterwards.

The sheet was cut to form a base

and the offcut shaped to provide

the contour I required. The foam is

easy to cut with a sharp, thin-bladed

knife and can be smoothed with a

Surform plane or a sanding disc, but

protection from the dust is needed.

The foam is strong enough to sit

on so tests can be carried out to

see if the cut shape is comfortable.

For durability and appearance I

wanted to encapsulate the foam in

a GRP layup: I made a trial sample

to ensure the foam would not be

melted by the resin. The result was

satisfactory: there was a little

The template for the seat profi le

This drinks tray was made from UPVC and nylon blocks

The cockpit of Opal Spray with the ‘booster’ seats in situ

erosion, but not enough to distort

the shape. I used a combined mat: a

woven mat with chopped strand on

one side. This would give enough

strength and only need one layup.

Without using a mould I felt it

would be hard to get a fi nish to

match the cockpit colour, but a

gelcoat fl owcoat

was the answer. I

ordered it

pre-coloured.

I laid up the

top, front and

back fi rst, let it

harden then

turned the seat

over and

fi nished off the base and ends.

When this was set the edges were

smoothed and a strip of 50mm tape

applied to seal the joints. The fi nish

depends on careful sanding and

removing all dust: tack-free wipes

were used as a fi nal wipe-over.

The topcoat can be applied like a

thick paint: I applied it in stages so

the seats didn’t have to be handled.

Some undulations could still be

seen after the topcoat had set, so

the surface was sanded to remove

high spots before a second

application of topcoat.

I spent around £120, but only

used half the materials. The rest can

be saved for another job.

Opal Spray has fl at seating that

gets uncomfortable after long

periods at the helm. To overcome

this I’d made two 4in-thick foam

cushions, but when sitting my view

ahead was obscured for some

distance by the cabin roof. This was

not a problem out at sea, but made

life tricky coming onto moorings.

During the winter lay-up I looked

at ways of raising the seat and also

changing its profi le. After

determining that an increase of

2-4in in height would be suitable, I

made a rudimentary seat from

wood offcuts to see if I was on the

right track, and then bought a child

booster cushion made of

polystyrene. Having a bigger

posterior than a child I reshaped it

to something more comfortable,

then had a profi le I could replicate.

Still looking for a suitable material

from which to make the seats, I saw

some 120 x 50 x 6cm blocks of roof

insulation foam in a builders

merchants. The foam is light but

strong and does not give easily to

fi nger pressure. I realised that if I

made seats from this material they’d

make good buoyancy aids in an

The foam core was covered with a GRP layup


Spice pot lids are the perfect size to cover the transom shower fi ttings

Practical projects

Readers’ Tips

Having upgraded from a

Hurley 22 to a Westerly

Griffon we now have a cockpit

locker that can easily swallow

whatever we throw into it.

The problem is, everything

seems to gravitate to the bottom

or drift into the great big void

astern of the water tank.

A previous owner had fi xed a

few hooks inside: however, these

are too small to take thick lines

and, as they’re made from mild

steel, are slowly rusting away.

BOTTLE THAT IDEA!

I needed to

anchor

overnight in the

outer harbour

at Ilfracombe in

order to catch

the morning

tide, and it is a

requirement that an

anchor light is displayed.

I normally hang a hurricane

lamp from the rigging but on

this occasion I didn’t have it

with me, so I improvised a light

from a Maglite torch, a plastic

bottle, kitchen foil fl oating in

a few inches of water, and

insulating tape.

The foil in the bottle refl ected

the light with the movement of the

boat (but I’m sure white paper

would have worked as well).

It was necessary to cut the lid

off the bottle so that the torch just

fi tted and judicious placement of

the tape allowed the light to be

KITCHEN RAIL LOCKER TIDY IS A GREAT IKEA IDEA

COST£3.50

A visit to IKEA yielded the

answer in the form of a ‘Grundtal’

stainless steel kitchen utensil

rail, available in 40cm, 59cm

or 80cm lengths. We selected

the 59cm version and screwed

this to a block of wood just inside

the locker.

Now we can secure the ends of

fender lines, bucket lanyards etc

with a simple hitch round the rail,

keeping everything in control and

easy to extract in a hurry.

Jerry Armitage

Putting a lid on itIvan Barnetson puts spice pot lids to a new use as transom shower fi tting covers

COSTABOUT£4

Having made polished

stainless steel bezels

for my Nimbus 280C

motorboat’s cockpit lights from

the bottom sections of two Indian

spice pots (PBO March 2014), I

next found a use for the lids.

The soft ‘hinge’ tabs of the rubber

caps for my yacht’s transom

shower and cold water tap had

broken: the caps were barely held

in place and at risk of falling out.

The exteriors of the plastic fi ttings

were also showing their age, but as

the shower head, piping and cold

water tap were still in very good

condition and worked perfectly,

replacement was not warranted.

The pot lids proved to be the

perfect diameter to cover the plastic

fi ttings, but fi rst I needed to fi nd a

means of swinging them out of the

way when the shower was in use.

I tried to locate a pair of suitably

small stainless steel hinges on

the internet and at boat jumbles but

without success, eventually settling

on two chrome-plated cranked

brass hinges instead.

I carefully bent the ends of the

cranked ‘arms’ of each hinge to

follow the contour of the lids, then

used masking tape to fi x the hinges

and lids together on a fl at piece of

wood so that I could mark each

lid with the exact positions of the

holes. I had some small stainless

steel screws and nuts which I’d

saved from other scrapped pieces

of equipment. I covered the

stainless lids with masking tape

to protect the polished surfaces

from swarf scratches, carefully

drilled them to take the screws

and fi led off the burrs before

attaching the hinges.

I taped the lids and hinges in their

exact positions over the transom

shower fi ttings and, having marked

the hull, drilled it to take the

stainless steel screws. It was then

merely a case of using mastic

under the hinges and screwing

them to the hull. Limited space and

the curve of the transom meant it

was necessary to locate the hinge

for the shower head cover at an

angle. The tap cover was hinged

vertically to the side. The covers are

in a sheltered position and remain

fi rmly shut without any locking

device whatever the weather.

Lanyards and fender lines are secured with a hitch round the rail

switched on and off.

The small current drawn by

the Maglite meant that it stayed

lit all night, and indeed I am

still using the torch on the

same batteries.

Bob Hitchings

ABOVE Bob Hitchings’ effective,improvised anchor light... INSET ...makes use of a plastic bottle, a torch, foil and tape

ABOVE The lids open via chrome-plated cranked brass hinges


PRACTICAL

Teak-laid decks look great on virtually any boat, but sooner or later

they’ll need maintenance requiring more than just a scrubbing brush

and a bucket of water, as Richard Johnstone-Bryden explains

By virtue of their

role, laid decks are

subjected to a lot

of wear and tear.

This inevitably

causes problems that will

have to be dealt with either

as emergency repairs or

as part of a longer-term

maintenance plan to

preserve watertight integrity.

From time to time it may be

necessary to replace one or more

teak planks within a laid deck,

either because of rot, impact

damage or because there’s a hole

left by the removal of a redundant

deck fi tting.

You’ll need to inspect the sub-

deck – fairly easy if there’s a fi tting

to remove, otherwise you’ll have

to cut away rotten or damaged

planks with a chisel or router to

see what state the sub-deck is in.

This will determine the overall

scale of the job. If the sub-deck

(usually marine plywood on

wooden boats) is damaged you

may have to either fi t a small patch

or replace an entire sheet or

sheets of plywood. On a modern

production boat you may have to

carry out some glassfi bre repairs

to the GRP sub-deck.

Once you have established what

(if any) repairs have to be carried

out on the sub-deck you can work

out how much of the teak planking

needs to be removed. This will be

infl uenced in part by the position

of the nearest joints – from both a

practical and aesthetic point of

view it’s always better to remove

an entire plank and cut a new one

to fi t the existing joints.

■ Practical demonstrations are

carried out here by Peter Graham,

senior instructor at the Suffolk-

based International Boatbuilding

Training College,

www.ibtc.co.uk.

Refurbishing a teak deckSTEPBY

STEP

1 The fi rst job is to remove the surrounding

caulking sealant. Run a sharp craft knife

very carefully along each side of the old caulking.

This should be done carefully to ensure you only

remove the old sealant and not the wood on any

of the adjacent undamaged planks.

2 Now use a narrow chisel to cut the

bottom seal and help in pulling the

sealant from the seam.

3 Next turn your attention to any fastenings.

Begin by using a mallet and chisel to

carefully cut and prise off the wooden plug

above the fastening.

MAIN Teak planks within a laid deck might need replacing...

ABOVE ...if, for example, they are holed by now-redundant deck fi ttings

How to remove and replace a teak plank


Teak deck repairs

4 Clean out the

screw slot with

a sharpened bradawl

or similar, then with

luck the fastening will

be in good enough

condition to be

unscrewed. Ideally,

use a screwdriver

which fi ts the slot

exactly. For hard-to-

shift screws give the screwdriver a fi rm knock with

a hammer, or try tightening them a fraction before

unscrewing: that might be just enough to break

them free and won’t mash the screw slot.

5 A router provides the most effective

means of removing a damaged plank.

Secure a batten to act as a guide for the

router to run along.

6 By nailing or screwing the batten through

one of the caulking seams you’ll avoid

leaving any lasting marks in the deck. On

wooden decks it’s worth fi xing above a deck

beam – you don’t want screws or nails going

right through the deckhead into the cabin below.

7 Now set the depth of cut on the router. If

the plank is more than 8mm thick, don’t try

to chop it all out in one pass of the machine. If

the plank is 12mm thick, for example, it’s worth

making two passes at a depth of 6mm each time.

This will reduce the chances of the router jarring

and removing more wood than you’d planned.

8 Once the batten is in place and the depth

of the router has been set, simply start

from one end of the section to be removed and

work your way steadily along the length of the

plank with the router.

9Swivel the base of the router to cut into

wood further way from the batten. To avoid

having to adjust the position of the batten for

each plank simply attach an additional wooden

block of an appropriate width to the base of the

router so it stands further away from the batten.

15 The plank is now ready to be secured in

position. To improve the strength of the

bond, the plank is fi rst wiped with acetone to

remove the teak’s natural oils from the lower

surface, then it’s laid on a bedding compound

which has been applied to the sub-deck. While

the bedding compound cures, the plank is held

in position with a series of wooden blocks

screwed along the seam – or it may be screwed

down with countersunk screws which are later

plugged to match the existing planks.

13Use the router again

to cut out the bulk of

the rebate, cutting slightly

to the waste side of your

marked lines…

12Sweep and vacuum

away the mess, then

you can determine the

required dimensions of your

replacement plank – it can be

bought pre-cut to the right

size from your local timber

merchant or, if you have the

tools, you can machine a

suitably-sized piece of teak

yourself. Lay your planks in

place, then mark them up

appropriately so you can cut

rebates to match the existing

gaps of the other planks.

11After

you

have made

several

passes

with the

router, the

damaged

plank will

gradually

be cut

away.

10 Take care when approaching plank end

joints that you don’t let the router chomp

further than you want.

➜

14 … then

use a

small bull-nose

plane to trim

the remaining

excess.


practical – teak deck repairs

recaulking

1The amount of recaulking required after

the replacement of a plank or two will be

determined by the overall condition of the rest of

the deck’s caulking. In this example, much of it

was suspect so the whole lot has been removed

from the foredeck ready for replacement.

2The weathered planks are frst sanded with a belt

sander: this not only improves the appearance,

but helps to level imperfections where some areas have

worn over years of use. In these circumstances it may

also be necessary to increase the depth of the seams

with a router to accommodate the new sealant – but

this will only be possible if the planks are still thick

enough to take a deeper seam.

5Check that the ends of the planks are all

even, marking up any imperfections that

were missed when the planks were frst laid.

6Now trim back to your scribed mark with a

chisel. Vacuum away dust and debris from

all the seams before the next step.

7Primer is now applied along the seams.

For hardwoods black shows how well

you’ve covered the seam, but on softwoods it

can bleed into the end grain so it’s better to use

a clear primer. Ensure the primer is compatible

with the rest of the sealant system.

8A breaker tape is next applied along the

bottom of each seam to prevent the

caulking sealant from sticking fast to the bottom

of the rebate: this way the caulking can expand

and contract between the rebated seam walls

without actually coming unstuck from them.

9A scrap of thin ply can be used to press

the breaker tape frmly into the bottom

of the rebate.

10Use a narrow chisel to cut the breaker tape

at the end of a run. Ensure the bottom of all

rebates are taped, with no gaps.

11Next is the process of injecting caulking

into the seam. Work slowly to avoid air

bubbles which could later undermine the seam’s

watertight integrity. Ensure the sealant stands a

little proud of the seam so that when it settles it

doesn’t drop below the level of adjacent planks.

12Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for

sealant curing time and how long before

the deck can be walked on. When it’s ready, run

a wide chisel over the seams to remove the

excess sealant before using a belt sander to

fnish off.

3Having

cut and

raked out old

caulking it’s

almost

inevitable

there’ll be

some minor

damage to the

rebates. Tidy

these up now

with a chisel,

squaring off

edges and

making sure

gaps are

nicely aligned.

4Localised

areas of

rebate that need

deepening can be

cut with a chisel.


Practical demonstration of techniques by Ian Cook, joinery instructor at the Suffolk based International Boatbuilding Training College (IBTC). ■ www.ibtc.co.uk

mitred through dovetail jointThis joint has

the strength of

dovetails allied

with neat mitred

edges, Richard

Johnstone-

Bryden writes

1Mark out the dovetails and

the 45° mitre on the end of

one of the pieces of wood to be

joined. Leave the dovetails

over-long for trimming later.

2Cut the sloping sides of the

dovetails with a fi ne-toothed

dovetail saw and along the bottom

edge with a coping saw…3

… then trim everything up

true with a sharp chisel.

4Clamp the other piece of

wood, known as the pin

member, on top of the one with the

dovetails, known as the dovetail

member, to use as a straight edge

to chisel the shoulder line.

5Profi les from the fi nished pins

and sockets are now scribed

onto the second piece of wood

from the fi rst – chalk helps to see an

accurate line. Repeat the previous

steps to cut new sockets and pins.

6The bulk of the waste wood

has been removed. The pair

of end (uncut) pins will next be

turned into a mitre.

7With the wood in a vice, saw

the two end pins down to the

mitre mark. Don’t saw too far. Now

make the second cut (inset).

8Now it’s the turn of

the dovetails: simply

cut across the ends to the

mitred line.

9Time for a test fi t. Don’t force the

joint or it may split, but a gentle tap

with a mallet may help. Some of the joints

here look like they’re binding a little too

tightly as they slide together...

11With the

dovetails and

sockets a good fi t,

attention is now turned

to the mitre joint at

the edges. To ensure

everything remains

square, the joint is

held against a square

block as a dovetail

saw is run through

the mitred end.

12There’s still a

saw-blade’s-

width gap between

the dovetail and

the socket’s bottom

edge, so repeat

the procedure of

running the saw

down the mitred

edges. This does

the job of allowing

the joint to snug up

even tighter.13

And here’s the result – a

perfect, tight-fi tting joint.

SKILLSWOODWORKING

How to make a

PRACTICAL

STEPBY

STEP

10… so some fi ne

adjustment with

a chisel is necessary.

14All that

remains is to

saw off the bulk of

the protruding ends

of the dovetails and

pins before tidying

them up with a

smoothing plane.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nigel Calder is author of the

best-selling Boatowner’s

Mechanical and Electrical

Manual. He and his wife

Terrie cruise aboard their

Malö 46 Nada which they used to test

various hybrid drives.

Using both diesel and electricity to drive a

boat sounds a great way to save fuel and the

environment, but hybrid technology is far from

straightforward, as Nigel Calder explains

Hybrid drive

For the past fi ve years I have been

involved in research to determine

if hybrid technology represents a

viable alternative to conventional

marine propulsion systems. I’ve

come to the conclusion that the

answer is a somewhat qualifi ed ‘Yes’ – but

not necessarily for the effi ciency reasons

cited by most proponents.

In this issue of PBO I will defi ne a framework

for gauging the effi ciency issues. Next time

we’ll see how this plays out in the context of

hybrid propulsion systems, and then broaden

the discussion to look at other reasons for

installing hybrids.

First, we need a way of assessing effi ciency. I

am going to use Specifi c Fuel Consumption

(SFC). This is a measure of how much fuel it

takes to create each unit of energy delivered by

an engine. It is typically expressed in terms of

grams per kilowatt-hour (g/kWh). It’s a bit like

what you see on your electricity bill, except that

instead of the cost per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of

energy you have used we are measuring the

fuel consumed in producing each kWh.

The SFC of an engine over its full speed and

power range can be expressed in the form of

a fuel map.

Technology

Could it work for your boat?ABOVE RIGHT One of the electric motors used for serial hybrid evaluation, wired up with test equipment and ready to go

MAIN Another electric motor being installed for evaluation

Nigel Calder’s Malö 46 Nada has been a test bed for hybrid drives


Hybrid propulsion

➜

PropellerloadsWhen an engine is used to turn a propeller we can

plot the power required to spin the propeller as a

curve on the engine fuel map. From this we can

derive the SFC at any point on the propeller curve.

The manner in which a propeller absorbs

energy is such that these curves are almost

always concave and never mimic the full load

curve for an engine.

As a result, the engine full load curve and

propeller curve can only be made to come

together at one point. Typically, a propeller is

sized such that this concurrence occurs at, or

close to, full engine speed and load (the

‘matched’ propeller in Figure 1, above).

If the propeller is undersized, the

engine will reach its full speed

before the propeller fully loads it –

the engine will never be loaded

to its full rated power. If the

propeller is oversized, it will fully

load the engine before the

engine reaches its full rated

speed – ie the propeller curve

will cross the engine’s full power

curve before the engine reaches

full speed, in which case the engine

(and transmission) will be overloaded.

What is apparent is that at no point on

any of the propeller curves is the engine

operating at its peak effciency of 230g/kWh.

It is this failure to load the engine to peak

effciency that defnes the primary window of

opportunity for a hybrid system.

Note that at any engine speed or power

level, the matched propeller is operating in

a more effcient part of the fuel map than

the undersized propeller, and the oversized

propeller is operating in a more effcient part

Creating a fuel mapTo measure specifc fuel consumption (SFC)

an engine is operated from idle speed to full

speed, and from no load to the full load it will

support at any given speed.

The fuel consumption is measured at all

times, and divided by the load to derive the

SFC. This can be displayed in the form of a

fuel map, with contours that look like depth

contours on a chart, except that the contours

with lower numbers represent more effcient

regions of engine operation (ie less fuel is

burned per kWh of energy output) and those

with higher numbers represent less effcient

regions of operation. Typically these fuel maps

have torque or power on one axis of a graph

and engine speed on the other.

Much of our testing was done using a Volvo

Penta D2-75 engine – the fuel map is shown

on the right. Peak effciency of 230g/kWh

occurs at around 1,800rpm and 28kW of load

(as measured at the fywheel). Total fuel

consumption at any point on the fuel map

equals the load at that point (eg 28kW) times

the SFC (eg 230g/kWh): 28 x 230 = 6,440g

per hour. The ‘standard’ weight of diesel is

840g per litre, in which case this converts to a

burn rate of 6,440/840 = 7.67 litres per hour. Figure1: Fuel map for the Volvo-Penta D2-75 test engine

of the fuel map than the matched propeller.

This suggests that we should always use

an oversized propeller – but of course the

overloading may damage the engine and in

any case will prevent the engine from reaching

its full rated power. There are circumstances

in which the effciency gains of an oversized

propeller can be realised without the negative

consequences: I’ll explore these in a

future issue of PBO.

Down the hatch: installing a 22kW diesel generator for serial hybrid testing

Adding test equipment to the conventional engine

LEFT Modifying a generator for serial testing

Engine rpm

Undersized propeller

Matched propeller

Oversized propeller

En

gin

e p

ow

er

(kW

)

Technology


Defi ning the window of opportunityDuring the course of our project we ran a series

of tests with multiple propellers on a 14.6m

(48ft), 18-ton yacht. We recorded SFC versus

boat speed (Figure 2, right). As expected, in

general the lowest SFC for a given boat speed

(ie most effi cient engine operation) occurred

with the oversized propellers tested, the highest

SFC for a given boat speed with the undersized

propellers. The matched propeller curves were

in the middle of the pack. All of the propellers

came the closest to loading the engine to peak

effi ciency at higher boat speeds (ie higher

loads), but none loaded the engine to its peak

effi ciency of 230g/kWh.

If we assume a hybrid system can be designed

such that the engine always runs at peak

effi ciency, the theoretical fuel effi ciency gains are

represented by the region of the graph that is

beneath the propeller curves down to a line

drawn at peak engine effi ciency (in this case,

230g/kWh). This defi nes the principal window

of opportunity for a hybrid propulsion system.

The real-world window of opportunity will

be less than this. So long as the power for

the hybrid system is derived from running an

engine (we will look at situations in which this is

not the case another time), even if the engine in

the hybrid system is run at peak effi ciency, there are additional losses in the hybrid system

that must be taken into account.

In both serial and parallel systems (for an

explanation of the two, see the top panel,

right) the engine drives a generator which

provides power to an electric motor, either

directly or indirectly via the batteries. There are

losses in both the generator and electric motor.

If the energy is stored in batteries before use,

there are additional losses during the charge

and discharge cycles.

The cross-over speedTaking these losses into account, we discover

that regardless of the propeller used, the hybrid

systems are always more effi cient at low boat

speeds, but at some point the conventional

system becomes more effi cient.

We defi ned this point as the cross-over speed

(Figure 3, bottom right). The more effi ciently a

propeller loads the engine in the conventional

system, the lower the speed at which the

cross-over occurs, and conversely the less

effi ciently a propeller loads the engine in the

conventional system, the higher the speed at

which the cross-over occurs.

If the energy in a serial system comes

primarily from the generator, and thus from the

engine driving the generator, the only way the

system will be more effi cient than a conventional

installation is if the boat is operated for most of

the time below the cross-over speed.

A parallel system is different in as much as the

engine is still connected to the propeller shaft.

Given a suffi cient knowledge of the operating

characteristics of the system, and a suffi ciently

sophisticated control mechanism, the system

can be designed such that electric power is

only used at those times when this mode of

operation is more effi cient than conventional

operation. In this case, the system will never be

less effi cient than a conventional installation.

The bottom line here is that in almost any

system there will be a cross-over speed, in

which case determining whether or not a hybrid

system will be more effi cient than a conventional

system becomes a somewhat complex

calculation based on the operating profi le of the

vessel (in particular, how much of the propulsion

energy is expended below the cross-over

speed, where the hybrid is more effi cient, versus

how much above the cross-over speed, where

the hybrid is less effi cient).

This calculation then has to be modifi ed to

take account of other energy sources, such as

shorepower, solar and wind. In PBO next month

we’ll see how these things play out, and explore

some other issues likely to play an important

role in the decision-making process of whether

or not a hybrid system makes sense for our

kind of boating.

Figure 2: Fuel consumption rates with different-sized propellers

Polishing a prop for maximum effi ciency

Undersized, oversized and

matched propellers were trialled on the

same boat

An electric motor for serial hybrid testing is lowered into the boat

Undersized propeller

Matched propeller

Oversized propeller


Hybrid propulsion

There are two basic types of marine hybrid

propulsion systems. One is known as a serial

system, the other a parallel system.

At the present time, both include an internal

combustion engine. The difference lies in the

relationship between the engine and the

propeller moving the boat.

In the serial system, the engine drives a

generator which powers an electric motor

connected to the driveshaft: there is no

mechanical connection between the engine

and the driveshaft.

In the parallel system there is a direct

mechanical connection between the engine

and the driveshaft (as in a conventional

installation) with an additional electric motor

also operating on the same driveshaft – the

two propulsion systems operate in parallel

on the same shaft. The electric motor in the

parallel system can also be driven by the

engine as a generator.

The primary goal in both serial and parallel

systems is to never run the engine at

anything other than peak effciency, and

to use stored electrical energy (which, in

practical terms, means batteries until we

get effective fuel cells) at all other times.

The batteries perform another critical

function, which is to act as an energy

balancer. If, for some reason, the engine has

to be run at a sub-optimal load, the batteries

are charged at a rate that applies whatever

additional load is necessary to maintain the

engine at an optimal load.

For example, if a serial system is running in

For a number of reasons we theorised that

our engine in hybrid use would, in practice,

deviate from peak effciency at times, but

that we would be able to hold it to within

5% of peak effciency. This raises the SFC

for the peak effciency in our test system to

230/0.95 = 242 g/kWh.

We surmised that we could build a

generator with an electrical effciency of

90% over the necessary power range for

the system. This raises the SFC to

242/0.90 = 269g/kWh.

We similarly surmised that we could build

an electric motor with an electrical effciency

of 90% over the necessary power range for

the system. This raises the SFC to 269/0.90

= 299g/kWh. This now represents system

operation in diesel-electric mode.

We used EnerSys thin plate pure lead

batteries (TPPL, a variant of AGM batteries

capable of supporting higher charge and

discharge rates than conventional AGMs) in

our project, for which we surmised combined

in and out (charge and discharge) losses of

15%. This raises the SFC when in battery-

powered mode to 299/0.85 = 352g/kWh.

These losses are represented in Figure 3.

What’s the difference between serial and parallel hybrids?

Figure3: The impact on fuel effciency of cumulative energy losses in a hybrid system

propulsion motor and eliminating the energy

losses inherent in using battery power, when

under electric power the parallel system

must always use the batteries and pay the

associated effciency penalty.

Because the engine in the serial system

is not connected to the propeller shaft, the

generator and electric motor have to be

powerful enough to deal with the highest

anticipated propulsion loads. This requires

powerful, and expensive, generators and

electric motors. In the parallel system the

engine is still connected to the propeller shaft

and as such can handle high propulsion

loads with the electric motor downsized to

handle light propulsion loads.

The batteries in both serial and parallel

systems are used to store energy from other

sources (shore power, solar, wind, etc) and to

absorb regenerative energy if available (the

energy created by a freewheeling propeller

on a yacht under sail, for instance).

diesel-electric mode with a propulsion load that

is not high enough to load the generator to peak

effciency, then the batteries are charged at a

rate that loads the engine to peak effciency.

When the batteries are fully charged and can no

longer absorb this level of charging current, the

generator is shut down and the batteries are

used for power until such time as their charge

acceptance rate is high enough to once again

enable the generator to be run at peak effciency.

In a parallel system, if the engine is being

used for light propulsion loads, just as in the

serial system the batteries are simultaneously

charged at a rate that maintains the engine at

peak effciency. If the batteries cannot accept

this level of charging current, the engine is shut

down and the boat is run under electric power.

Note that whereas the serial system can

sometimes be run in diesel-electric mode, with

the generator directly powering the electric

A large solar array on a catamaran

The author testing the battery pack

Installing electrical test equipment

The mathematics of effciency losses


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Learning from experience

A retired chemist,

Rene de Nijs started

sailing in his late 20s

and now cruises to

France, the British Isles

and the Baltic aboard

his Dick Koopmans-

designed Victoire 1044.

He sails from his home port Middelburg

in the south-west of Holland.

Rene de Nijs has a hair-raising night passage off the East Frisian Island of

Norderney, running with the tide and trying to avoid crashing into unlit buoys

Separating the men from the buoys

there wasn’t much wind but the sun was shining, and we left promptly to take advantage of the tide, heading west out of the River Elbe into the German Bight. We didn’t anticipate any problems as I had done my homework in the preceding days: furthermore, I had sailed boats for more than 30 years, while my friend was a retired river pilot and an experienced sailor himself. However, circumstances can still surprise you, as will become clear.

A few months previously, we had sailed to the Baltic in one go from

Following a two-month summer cruise in Danish and Swedish waters on our 10.4m (33ft) Dick Koopmans-designed Victoire 1044, my wife and I were returning to our home

port in the south-west of Holland. We sailed through the Kiel Canal and stopped off at Cuxhaven, where my wife disembarked and a friend joined the boat for the trip home.

My friend arrived around noon on that August day. The weather was pleasant:


Avoiding unlit buoys at night

*Send us your boating experience story and if it’s published you’ll receive the original Dick Everitt-signed watercolour which is printed with the article. You’ll fi nd PBO’s contact details on page 5.

LESSONS LEARNED

0 15 30

NM

Cuxhaven•

Brunsbüttel •

Wilhelmshaven • • Bremerhaven

Schiermonnikoog

• Norderney

EAST FRISIAN ISLANDS

Dovetief

Kiel Canal

Schluchter

River

Elbe

River

Jade

GERMAN

BIGHT

GERMANY

NETHERLANDS

1Never assume that your trip will be

a piece of cake because of a good

weather forecast. It was stupid of us to

go through the unlit Dovetief channel at

night – and it was even more stupid not to

know that the Dovetief was mostly unlit.

2 Having your plotter at the chart table

may keep it away from salt and wet

conditions, but in an emergency you

need your plotter in the cockpit. At close

quarters the helmsman needs a clear

view of the situation instead of receiving

orders from below to steer to port or

starboard. A repeater function via WiFi

from the plotter below to a tablet in the

cockpit would be an option.

3 We had a searchlight on board but

didn’t use it because the channel was

so narrow, and navigation from the chart

Schiermonnikoog to Brunsbüttel: a Force 4-5 north-easterly had been blowing, and we made the 125-mile trip in 24 hours. However, with a temperature of 5°C during the night and only a single pair of gloves between us, we had to take turns at the helm of not more than one hour in the dark: it was just too cold to stay any longer in the cockpit.

With these memories fresh in our minds we decided against a straight trip home and opted to break the journey with a stop at the island of Norderney, a 70-mile sail from Cuxhaven. This would add a few miles to the passage, but that would be offset north of Norderney by a convenient channel coming from the east, the

We had to stay in the buoyed channel because of our boat’s relatively deep 1.90m draught, and as we got closer to Norderney the light interference from the island became more intense.

I handed over the tiller to my friend and went downstairs to the chart plotter in the companionway. The electronic charts had been updated before we left: I hoped that the German harbour authority had not changed the position of the buoys in the interim, and I also hoped the plotter was suffi ciently accurate to keep us away from them.

I shouted instructions to my friend in the cockpit to keep us in the middle of the channel. We were on a kind of Russian roulette rollercoaster: the tide was going

with us and increasing our speed over ground. The buoys were less than half a mile from each other, and with our speed that only took fi ve minutes. Sometimes I shouted courses to my friend that he refused to act upon as he thought he would hit the

beach and run aground: this didn’t improve the situation. I tried not to think about what could

have happened if the boat had hit a buoy. Would it have sprung a leak? I didn’t know, but just to get the rudder stuck in the chain of a buoy was a frightening enough prospect. We still hadn’t seen any unlit buoys, but according to the plotter we must have passed 20 or so, some only around 15m away. (Coming back through this area in daylight, I easily spotted all the buoys in the Dovetief!)

We made it to the harbour just after 0200 without hitting anything. Our time of arrival was more or less as anticipated, although we had much more adrenaline in our blood than we had bargained for. It was late, but we treated ourselves to a beer and discussed what we could and should have done to avoid the situation.

table to the tiller was so chaotic, that

we had no time to get organised.

4 We also had radar, but again didn’t

use it. It is a very valuable tool at

sea, especially in fog, but I doubted

it would have given the required

information in our situation.

5 The best decision when we realised

there were unlit buoys would have

been to go back to sea and wait until

daylight. We could also have continued

west instead of putting into Norderney.

6 Our planning was poor. It would

have made far more sense to leave

Cuxhaven on the following tide in the

middle of the night, so we would then

have approached Norderney in the

afternoon, during daylight hours.

Dovetief, and a similarly benefi cial channel to the west, the Schluchter.

The tide had gone against us sooner than we expected and we started to use the engine around 1500, anticipating that we would arrive in Norderney Harbour around 0200. We crossed the River Jade at 1800, encountering a great deal of traffi c going to either Bremen or Wilhelmshaven. In the evening there was still hardly any wind, so we kept going using the engine. It was close to midnight and already completely dark when we saw the fl ash of the fi rst buoy in the Dovetief.

Coming from the east, this buoy can be detected easily as its light is distinct from Norderney’s many lights. However, we suddenly realised that there are numerous unlit buoys in the Dovetief, and started to worry that we might hit one of them.

Send us your real-life experience – and win a painting of your boat!*


Boats

AbouttheAuthor

Jessie Rogers is

daughter-in-law to

renowned Lymington

boatbuilder and restorer

of the Contessa series,

Jeremy Rogers. She and

her husband Kit, Jeremy’s

son, work in the family business.

It was winter, and we weren’t in the market for a boat, but Kit came home one day and announced that the Contessa 32 Assent was for sale. Stories of Willy Ker’s high-latitude adventures in Assent

were legendary in Contessa circles, and I’d seen pictures of her in the most awe-inspiring locations, dwarfed by great glaciers and battling epic seas.

Willy had mapped much of Greenland, Iceland and the Faroes in this boat: he wrote the Royal Cruising Club cruising guide for these waters, nosing into previously uncharted areas with his forward-facing sonar, meticulously noting the lie of the underwater landscape of these treacherous shores. He had taken her as far north as any sailing boat had ever been at that time – to Grise Fiord, retreating just in time before the sea ice closed in around him. Willy had also ventured to Antarctica and Patagonia, often single-handed or sometimes with

Refurbishing a legendWilly Ker’s well-travelled

Contessa 32 Assent – a

1979 Fastnet survivor –

accrued legendary

status over the years,

but had latterly fallen

into disrepair. Jessie

Rogers describes the

process of restoring

this plucky vessel and

adapting it for slightly

gentler family cruising

one or two crew. He returned home from the southern latitudes via the Chilean archipelago, the Pacifc and Hawaii, before heading to Vancouver then trucking the trusty Assent across Canada, putting in again at the Great Lakes and heading back across the Atlantic.

After one fnal trip to Greenland, single-handed and at the age of 85, Willy Ker had fnally called it a day: and now here was the renowned Assent, languishing in a sorry state in a tiny boatyard near Plymouth.

Kit wasted no time in heading down to see her, stopping off to meet Willy (now 87) and Alan Ker at their farm en route. It was Willy’s son Alan who helmed Assent in the tragic 1979 Fastnet Race. He and his crew were the only boat to fnish in Class 5 when so many others foundered and many lives were lost. It was almost certainly this one event that established the Contessa 32’s reputation for stability and seaworthiness, leading to a whole

Assent under restoration in the Rogers boatshed at Lymington

Willy Ker took Assent to the icy

extremities of the world: here she is at Anvers Island in the Palmer Archipelago

of Antarctica


➜

generation of sailors choosing the CO32 for short-handed, extreme adventures. For the last 35 years, Willy Ker in Assent has led the way.

To their great credit, both Willy and Alan Ker tried to put us off buying Assent. She was in a shocking state, having been put through just about the most rigorous ‘sea trial’ a boat could be expected to endure and still be afoat. Her bottom showed signs of numerous groundings and her bulkheads had been reinforced in a less than elegant way over the years, after storms and goodness knows what other trials and tribulations she had been through. However, despite their efforts to put us off, the romance of the legend of this little ship was too great to pass up, and for a few thousand pounds Assent – on paper at least – was ours.

NotftforseaAt frst we intended to sail her home, but Willy suggested she wasn’t ft for the sea. It seemed prudent to heed his advice, so we trucked her up to the Jeremy Rogers yard in Lymington. Assent was crammed with a lifetime of equipment and each item told a different tale. An excess of chain and warp, various dinghies with sails, and numerous oars: Willy had never

had an outboard engine as he liked to rely on his wit to get himself out of trouble. Assent’s medical kit was a further example of this self-reliance, meticulously labelled and extremely comprehensive. Out it all came, leaving us with Assent’s bare bones. Alan and Willy had been right – she was a pretty sorry sight.

I’m sure Kit realised what a monumental task we had in front of us, but he didn’t let it show. At frst he tried to convince me that it wouldn’t be that big a job – it was then Easter, and he stated that we’d be launched ‘by late summer for sure’. We didn’t need a fancy boat, we told each other, just a functional one, so we’d do the bare minimum and then we’d be out on the water.

The problem with boats – and old houses, and all sorts of other projects – is that one thing can end up leading to another. And while we were at it…

In restoring her, we felt it was important to try to keep her essence – which is harder than it sounds when a boat needs the sort of refurbishment that Assent did. Inside, she was like a colander where Willy had happily drilled holes to let in cables and attach various items to the headliner or the deck. The washboards looked as though they had been used for

target practice, and Kit and I marvelled at how Willy must have spent a large part of his life not only freezing cold but soaking wet as well.

The foorboards down below were rotten and soaked with grime and diesel, and a greasy line around the inside of the saloon lockers left a tell-tale sign that the boat had probably sat fooded for a time.

On deck and in the cockpit much of the wood was splitting and needed replacing, as did the pulpit and pushpit. The hull was showing signs of osmosis and the moisture readings were high enough to be of concern. Then there was the evidence of the considerable bashing Assent had endured: we later learned that this was the result of having to duck into an uncharted inlet in Greenland when the forestay came adrift. On closer inspection the rudder stock was damaged, which meant a new rudder was also on the ‘to do’ list.

BeginningtherefurbishmentAnd so the refurbishment began. The frst job was peeling the hull. Off came the top two layers of glassfbre as water trapped underneath for decades oozed out, stinking. The hull was then sandblasted and left to dry – for about a year, as it turned out!

The bottom was also peppered with transducers and seacocks. Some, like the forward-facing sonar, we knew we wouldn’t realistically use, so these were removed and flled. The ‘Greenland ding’ was bandaged like a broken leg, and the entire hull was then relaminated with two layers of glassfbre and resin, flled and faired before fnally being sheathed in an epoxy coating.

With jobs like the hull it was clear what had to be done, but the harder decisions were those which weren’t absolutely necessary. Installing a water tank would mean ripping up the saloon foor, but on

Contessa 32 refurbishment

Strip plank facings on the cockpit seats and locker lids will look attractive when fnished

Plenty of holes, nicks and dings to repair – cardboard and blue masking tape protects new woodwork in the meantime

BoatsBoats

the basis that this was already rotting we decided to bite the bullet. Although Willy had always carried his water in jerry cans lashed on deck, we felt that with six of us to cater for, having clean, fresh water in a proper tank was probably a sensible option. Ripping up the fl oorboards also gave us the opportunity to explore right into the corners of all the bilges and to reinforce the bulkheads with layers of glass and resin prior to the stainless steel tank being fi tted. The tank itself also offers an added degree of stiffness and strength to this area of the boat.

Rather than replace the fl oor with a traditional teak and holly we used Kebony, a sustainable teak alternative made from treated maple which we had used on our previous boat Calypso (see PBO October 2010 and November 2011). This had the dual advantage of staying true to the look of Assent down below as well as reducing the use of teak around the boat. (As Kebony is extremely hard we have reverted to teak for the toerails and the chart table, where the need for fl ex and bend in the wood still makes teak the fi rst choice for these jobs.)

Once we had started ripping into Assent’s deepest recesses, the tone was set for the sort of refurbishment we would end up undertaking. We recognised that as the boat was in the yard, dried out and stripped out, it was probably now or never.

Engine managementWe spent a number of months deliberating over what to do about the engine. Willy had obviously managed fi ne with his 10hp Bukh: surely we, who were planning much more modest cruising, could also manage? It was true that Willy had survived the most extreme conditions, but when I asked him how his 10hp engine had got him out of trouble, he looked at me aghast. ‘I wouldn’t use the engine to get me out of a situation – you just have to make sure you don’t get into the situation,’ he exclaimed.

So, with some regrets – mostly about not

being as tough, fearless and resourceful as Willy – the Bukh went on eBay and a shiny new Beta 25 was put in her place, along with a new shaft and prop.

At every turn, Willy’s skill and seamanship took our breath away: to contemplate the journeys he had made, single-handed and in his 80s, while having to go to the mast to hoist, drop and reef is quite jaw-dropping. We have fi tted Spinlock clutches and organisers, which bring all the halyards back to the cockpit and allow reefi ng from there. We also decided to replace the winches with self-tailing Harkens.

The obvious time to put in a calorifi er for hot water would have been before refi tting the engine, but this would mean having pumped water, and we decided that pumps have a habit of breaking. Also, there were too many occasions on Calypso whereby the entire family were woken up by the water pump kicking in as someone reached for a glass of water in the middle

of the night. As for hot water, that seemed like a luxury too far for Assent. The galley does boast a new fridge but I think Willy will approve as, in the absence of glacial meltwater, there needs to be somewhere to cool the beers.

Another feature of Assent’s galley is the kerosene stove, which both Willy and Alan warned us about. Alan delighted in telling me how the whole boat was engulfed in black smoke on several occasions as the temperamental appliance refused to light. On closer inspection there were telltale signs of soot smudged around the galley headliner, and I live in trepidation of having to cook on the thing when we fi nally set sail. We are hoping there’s just a bit of a knack to it and that we will learn to love it, but

Additions, alterations and modifi cations over many years meant some rationalisation was in order for Assent’s saloon...

... and after years at sea, much of the kit on board had seen better days

The forepeak on Assent had been dedicated to storing a huge amount of chain...

Kit Rogers contemplates how the bilge will become home to a new stainless steel water tank

... but once cleaned out was looking much tidier for a new coat of paint



watch this space: a gas installation may be on next year’s to-do list.

With Willy being a single- or short-handed sailor and expeditioning over large distances, this meant that some of Assent’s features didn’t really suit a family of six. Something else we spent a long time deliberating over was whether or not to keep her iconic fi ghter-pilot-style cockpit canopy. Our fi rst instinct was yes: but the reality is that while it was perfect for sheltering one, it wouldn’t do the job for sheltering a family. Therefore, the cockpit canopy went into storage, and a new sprayhood as well as a suit of sails went onto the list of jobs for Peter Sanders from Sanders Sails.

Making connectionsOver the last year we learnt that Willy had a long-standing connection with many Lymington companies from when he fi rst bought the boat back in 1976.

Peter Sanders made special sails for Willy after seeing conventional ones come back in tatters from his expeditions: he then built him the heaviest sails he has ever made for a Contessa 32, which seemed to do the trick. On hearing that we had taken on Assent, the owner of the local electronics company Greenham Regis, who had sold and serviced Willy’s forward-facing sonar, SSB and Navtex, came into the yard with a stack of postcards Willy had sent him from around the world. Although he was certainly no self-publicist, the stories of his extraordinary exploits had fi ltered through the sailing community.

The Aries windvane, essential for single-handed passage making, has been replaced with a swim ladder, and a solar

panel on deck will take the place of the more industrial Duogen wind and towed generator. For now, these things are in storage: and who knows, maybe they will come out again in the future, when we have fewer willing crew.

Launch day approachesThe question of what to do about a liferaft has been another ongoing discussion in our household. The tragedy of Cheeki Rafi ki brought this into sharp focus earlier this year, and highlighted the fact that even if you do make it to the raft you haven’t got long in the cold water, whether you are in the channel or the middle of the Atlantic. In the end we decided that a liferaft mounted on deck and fi tted with a hydrostatic release is the best option: but of course, the better option by far is to stay on the boat.

The encapsulated keel of the Contessa 32 and her ilk is obviously the biggest thing in her favour, but we wanted to consider what else we could do to reinforce her further. Having relaminated and therefore strengthened the bottom we looked at what we could do to stiffen her up from the inside. The early Contessa 32s had fewer stringers in the fo’c’s’le and, although Assent had clearly taken a hammering second to none and lived to tell the tale, Kit and Jeremy agreed that some additional stringers up forward would be belt and braces. The fo’c’s’le, which had previously been dedicated to miles of chain and warp and numerous anchors, would now have to accommodate two of our four boys and so, as part of the reconfi guration of this area, more stringers were added to the list.

As launch day fi nally approached we

needed to make a decision about the antifouling. On our previous boat Calypso we had applied a ‘foul release’ manufactured by Hempel and used on huge container ships and military and commercial vessels. Although we were really pleased with it the application had been quite an undertaking, requiring specialist licensed people and taking three days to apply. Recently however, Hempel have refi ned the product for use on yachts for application by owners, so we were keen to give this new incarnation a trial run. In theory the weed and barnacles slough off once the boat reaches a speed of 6-8 knots, but in any case a light brush over is enough to dislodge anything growing on the bottom.

The launch fi nally happened nearly a year later than we had originally planned – a familiar tale, I’m sure!

Contessa 32 refurbishment

Locker doors removed from the boat for a sanding down and fresh coats of varnish

A long-ago argument with Arctic rocks meant the keel’s leading edge needed repair

Jeremy Rogers marks out a template for some new joinery

To cure osmosis, the hull’s gelcoat was peeled and then the hull was allowed to dry out

Rebuild complete, Assent is lowered back into the water

✁

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6 non-slip deck paints

Non-slip paint is essential to maintain footing on a wet, pitching deck. But which

is best, and are DIY solutions as good as proprietary paints? David Pugh reports

➜

We gathered together six fnishes,

some proprietary and some

home-grown. Where the non-slip

fnish was created by adding

another component to a standard

marine gloss paint we used

International Toplac as the base –

a single-pack paint we had used

to good effect on the PBO Project

Boat and of which we had some

remaining. One of the paints,

Kiwigrip, could be applied in two

different ways to give different

levels of grip, so we ultimately

had seven fnishes to test.

We began this test just before

Beaulieu Boatjumble in April this

year, which gave us a unique

opportunity to get a lot of feet to

walk across the paint in a short

time: we applied the paints in

horizontal strips up the viewing

ramp we built to

allow visitors to look

inside our project

boat, Hantu Biru.

With more than

7,000 visitors to the

boatjumble, many of

whom climbed our

ramp, PBO readers’

feet must have

caused more traffc in a day

than many boat decks would

experience in a year or more.

Since Beaulieu, the test board

has been outside the PBO offces

in Poole, experiencing summer

sunshine, torrential rain and the

combined wear of the feet of the

PBO and Amateur Gardening

magazine staff – including some

tyre marks where someone

accidentally drove over it.

With most paint

fnishes on

boats we spend

hours striving

for a blemish-

free, mirror-like surface that

refects the (hopefully) sunlit

water with perfect clarity – until,

that is, we need to stand on it.

I’ve been on some boats, both

new and old, where the builders

have omitted to add a non-slip

surface to some parts of the

deck – and those areas have

been lethal when wet.

That’s where deck paint steps in.

Most paint manufacturers make it,

or alternatively there are several

home-grown recipes or domestic

paints whose proponents swear

are the best solutions to the

problem. A common feature is that

they are all single-pack paints,

which keeps the cost down

compared with two-pack fnishes

and makes them easier to patch,

overpaint or renew.

Each paint tested had

two coats applied, with the

underlying substrate being

18mm WBP plywood primed

with Sandtex High Performance

Primer Undercoat. At the end of

the test there was no sign of any

of the paints losing adhesion. We

tested this by scrubbing each

paint frmly using a scrubbing

brush and detergent, also noting

how easy they were to clean.

What we tested, and how

Non-slip paint was applied to the deck and sole boards of the PBO Project Boat Hantu Biru

88 Practical Boat Owner579October2014•www.pbo.co.uk

Gear test

WeappliedtwotestpanelsofKiwigrip,oneusingamohairroller,and

thesecondbypouringonthepaint,spreadingitwithabrushand

wieldingthe‘loopy-goopy’roller.Wealsotriedathird,separatepanel

(nottested)androlledthepaintwhentacky,butfailedtoachievethe

aggressivenon-slipsurfacessuggestedbytheapplicationvideos–I

suspectthatourdepthofpaintwasinadequate.Anotchedspreader

mightbeabetteroptiontoachievesuffcientpaintbuildififyourequire

thisfnish.Asecondapplicationmadelittleimprovement.

Theroughersurfaceofferedgoodnon-slipcharacteristicsbothinthe

wetandthedry,andneitherpanelshowedsignsofwearattheendof

thetest.OfthetwosurfaceswetriedtherougheronewastheoneI’d

chooseforadeckasthesmootherfnishwastoosmooth;however,as

thegripcanbevarieditwouldmakesensetotryafewtestpanelsfrstto

achievethefnishyouneed.

Kiwigripprovedeasytoclean,withabrightwhitefnishwhenscrubbed.

Hempel Non-Slip Deck CoatingPrice: £26/litre

Contact: www.hempel.co.uk

Oneofthevariations

onthethemeofpaint

withanon-slip

additive,Hempel’s

productissimilartothe

InternationalInterdeck

wetested,with

perhapsaslightlyfner

fnish.It’seasytoapply

witheitherarollerora

brush,andwefound

thattwocoatswere

benefcialtobuildthe

non-slipsurface.

Thenon-slipwason

aparwithInterdeck,

andneverlostgripin

thewetorthedry.

Itdidnotnoticeablywearovertheseason,

andshouldbeeasytorefreshbyrecoatingas

thepaintisasimple,single-packproduct.

Hempelalsosellthenon-slipgranulesasanadditiveifyoupreferto

useadifferentbasepaint.

Thepaintprovedeasytoclean,returningtoareasonablywhitefnish.

‘Off-the-shelf’ deck paints

Asthenamesuggests,Kiwigrip

originatesinNewZealand,whereits

inventorBarryWhalleysolditforabout

15yearsas‘No-Slip’.Itgainedworldwidesales

whenthefounderofUS-basedmarinedistributor

PachenaLLCtrieditonhisownboatandintroduced

therebrandedKiwigripacrosstheUS,Canada,

EuropeandpartsofAsia.

Themanufacturerssuggestarangeofapplication

techniques,varyingaccordingtohowaggressivea

surfaceyourequire.Afnetexturecanbeachieved

withaconventionalmohairroller,butformoregrip

theyrecommendyoustartbyapplyingasinglecoat

approximately2mmthick,usingeitherabrushoranotchedspreader.

Thepaintitselfistheconsistencyofyoghurtandseemsresistanttoruns.

TextureisthenaddedusingKiwigrip’s‘loopy-goopy’roller,arollersleeve

abitlikeaBrillopad.Usedonwetpaintitcanproduceatexturedsurface

inproportiontohowhardyouusetheroller,oranevenroughersurface

canbeproducedbyrollingthepaintagainonceithasbecometacky.

International InterdeckPrice: £28.60/litre

Contact: www.yachtpaint.com

Wewerefamiliarwith

thispaintasit’sthe

samestuffweusedon

thePBOProjectBoat

decks.Bothonthetest

andontheboatithas

sofarproveddurable

andretainedthesame

levelofgrippiness.

Interdeckiseasyto

applywitharoller.It

goesonfairlythinlyso

you’llneedmorethan

onecoat,butthiscan

provebenefcialfor

long-termmaintenance

asit’seasytoadd

anothercoattorefresh

thesurface.

Thegripisprovidedbyafnegritmixedinwiththe

paint.Wefoundthisdistributesevenlythroughthepainton

stirringandhenceformsauniformsurfacewhenapplied.It’snotan

aggressivesurface–morelikefnesandpaper–butnonetheless

performswellinwetanddryconditions.Cleaningitisstraightforward,

althoughthepaintretainedsomestaining.Thenon-slipcomponentis

availableseparatelyifyoupreferadifferentbasepaint.

KiwigripPrice: £40/litre

Contact: www.vitessemarine.com

KIWIGRIP ROUGH KIWIGRIP Smooth

ABoVE Interdeck after scrubbingRIGht Unscrubbed sample was dirty, but cleaned up fairly well

ABoVE A smooth- textured Kiwigrip when scrubbedRIGht the unscrubbed smooth sample

You need a special ‘loopy-goopy’ roller to apply Kiwigrip and get an appropriately textured surface

ABoVE hempel Non-Slip Deck Coating after scrubbingRIGht Before cleaning

ABoVE A rough- textured Kiwigrip after scrubbingRIGht the unscrubbed sample


Non-slip deck paint test

This is the only

home-brew non-slip

which bears any relation

to the Kiwigrip, in that

the grip comes from the

fnished texture of the

paint itself rather than

from an additive.

We made the surface

by applying a generous

coat of Toplac, then

immediately covering it

to a depth of about

2mm with sugar. Once

the paint had dried we

dissolved away the

sugar with boiling water,

leaving the texture

behind. We then applied another coat, but it

shouldn’t be necessary, as the paint tends to fll the

texture left by the frst coat.

The non-slip surface is very good, with plenty of grip in all conditions,

and despite the fact that Toplac is not designed for this application, it

does not seem to have worn over the course of the season.

The problem is the aesthetics – the fnely hollowed surface seems

to trap dirt. We found it impossible to get clean, and hence would not

recommend it. However, as a means of adding texture to varnish it

could work well.

PBO verdict

The good news is that they

all worked. The best

non-slip surface was

actually the DIY sand, with

sugar running a close second.

I wouldn’t choose them

personally as they retained the

dirt and would make your boat

look scruffy very quickly, but

that might change if with a

different base paint or colour.

Next best for non-slip was the

Kiwigrip rough fnish which,

combined with easy cleaning,

wins it our best buy award.

However, Sandtex is a close

second on non-slip characteristics

and is a fraction of the price,

so if you’re prepared to forgo

aesthetics or choose a darker

colour, it’s a good option.

The Hempel and International

deck paints were on a par, with

similar non-slip characteristics

and returning to a similar level

of cleanliness. They have the

advantage of easy application,

and occupy a middle ground

on the price.

Boat enamel and sugarPrice: £30/litre

Contact: Chandlers for paint, supermarkets for granulated sugar

Boat enamel and sandPrice: £30/litre

Contact: Chandlers for paint, builders’ merchants for sand

Mixing in an additive is

the easiest way to

achieve a non-slip

which matches the

surrounding paintwork,

as you can use the

same paint.

We used standard

builders’ sand, which

we spread out and dried

in the sun to remove

any moisture – a bag of

kiln-dried sand might

save that bother.

Instead of mixing the

sand with the paint,

which would have given

us similar issues with

achieving an even coverage as experienced

with Sandtex, we applied a generous coat of

Toplac with a brush before sieving the sand over the top. When the paint

was dry we brushed off the excess sand and overcoated with another

coat of Toplac.

The resulting surface is very grippy – better than the Sandtex owing to

the higher sand concentration – and has so far proved durable. It

performs well both in the wet and the dry but suffers from the same

problem as the Sandtex in that it stains, so it cannot easily be restored

to the original colour.

‘Alternative’ deck paints

This stuff is designed to

be applied to brickwork,

render and all sorts of

inhospitable surfaces,

so it stands a pretty

good chance of sticking

to your deck. The

texture comes from

sand that’s mixed in

with the paint, helping it

to fll gaps in cement –

or offer a grippy surface

for deck shoes.

There’s no mystery

to applying it – just

slap it on to whatever

thickness you like using

a brush or roller. The

tricky bit, we found, was to get the sand to

distribute evenly across the fnish. However much

you stir the paint, the sand tends to clump – not a problem on brickwork,

but less good on your deck. However, with careful brushwork an

acceptable fnish can be achieved.

Sandtex proved durable throughout the test, with no signs of losing

the non-slip surface. It was grippy and effective both in wet and dry

conditions. However, it proved diffcult to clean, retaining the staining left

by muddy, grassy feet at Beaulieu and from subsequent foot traffc.

ABOVE Sugar-coated Toplac remained dirty despite scrubbingRighT The unscrubbed sample

ABOVE Sand added to Toplac provided good grip but didn’t scrub up wellRighT The sample before scrubbing

ABOVE Sandtex retained some dirt after scrubbingRighT Unscrubbed sample was particularly grubby

Sandtex Fine Textured Masonry PaintPrice: £7.20/litre

Contact: Hardware stores nationwide


Boats

Earlier this year I was

walking around the

Düsseldorf boat

show – as one does of

a January afternoon –

when I stumbled across a rather

attractive little yacht in the corner

of Hall 18.

With her spoon bow, pleasing

sheerline, counter stern, teak

rubbing strake, small cabin and

long cockpit she looked like a

detuned H Boat or a modern and

sportier interpretation of a Folkboat.

There was something instantly

appealing about her, so I moved in

for a closer look.

As I stood looking on approvingly,

a voice from behind me said ‘PBO

should be testing this boat’. The

voice belonged to Dennis

Hennevanger, co-owner and

director with his brother, Dean, of

Saffer Yachts in Holland. Dennis

told me that the boat we were

looking at, the Saffer Sc 8M Cabin,

was a recently introduced cabin

version of the Saffer Se 26 on the

other side of the stand.

He went on to explain that Sc

stands for Saffer Classic, while the

Se (Saffer Elegance) models make

up the other half of the six-boat

range that starts at 6.7m (22ft). A

near life-size photograph of the

newest addition, the 33 Se –

a slim-hulled, sporty-looking

weekender with a plumb bow,

fxed bowsprit and carbon rig –

was suspended overhead.

AnametoknowSaffer is a name that will be

recognised by some in the UK,

because a handful of British

owners – some well-known names

among them – have realised that

this Dutch yard builds exactly the

sort of boats they’re looking for.

All models were conceived for

daysailing or weekending. They’re

also designed to sail well and to

look good. In short, they’re the

antithesis of the archetypal,

high-volume modern cruising

yacht. Even the Saffer 10m, with a

relatively shorter cockpit than the Dennis and Dean Hennevanger at the Saffer yard in IJmuiden

Going Dutch for the weekendGiven the number of cruisers that are used only for

daysailing and weekending, shouldn’t more boats be

designed with this in mind? One Dutch builder believes

they should be, as David Harding reports

Saffer Sc 8M


Saffer boats tested

➜

rest of the range, has narrow beam,

low freeboard and generous

overhangs. She looks simply

gorgeous and is an obvious

competitor for the Rustler 33

(tested in PBO Summer 2012).

To introduce Düsseldorf

show-goers to the company, Saffer

were playing a video on a screen

in front of the stand. Along with

footage of the boats and the yard,

it showed clips from Dennis’s and

Dean’s childhood, eight years of

which were spent sailing around

the world with their parents. Their

father, Richard, ran a shipyard in

Australia, where the boys were

born. He then commissioned a

65-footer from Bob Miller (otherwise

known as Ben Lexcen, designer of

Australia II and a name that will

need no introduction to racing

sailors). Richard built the boat

and took his family on their

extended cruise before eventually

settling in his native Holland and

starting a small yard building

commercial workboats.

Dennis embarked on a career

skippering superyachts but, in the

mid-1990s, was back in Holland on

holiday and saw an opportunity to

get involved in the yard. By this time

his father had designed and started

building a 6.5m (21ft) open-decked

keelboat, which Dennis thought

had potential and needed to be

promoted. Taking it to the HISWA

boat show proved his point: he

NEWboattESt

Looking out from within. On the right is the 33 we sailed; on the left is an Se 26, on which the Sc 8M is based

came home with 15 orders, The

6.5, which he describes as ‘a bit like

a northern European version of the

Tofnou 7’, is still in the range.

A few years later Dennis and

Dean bought the yard, chose the

name Saffer and started building

the brand into what it is today.

Following the 6.5 came the 8m,

with a small cabin, and then the 32,

a full-on cruiser that the brothers

soon realised wasn’t the sort of

boat they wanted to build (‘the

customers were more interested

in the colour of their curtains’).

The decision was made to

specialise in weekenders.

EvolvinglinesWith Dean doing the design work,

combining a background in the

technical side of shipbuilding with

an ability to draw fast, attractive

sailing yachts, Saffer has become

well established in Holland and

currently builds about 30 boats

a year. Recognition further afeld

has been helped by two European

Yacht of the Year awards, for the

26 and then the 10M.

If the ambitious, hands-on,

design-build-and-sail Hennevanger

brothers continue as they have

been, Saffer is a name that we will

soon be hearing much more about

in the UK.

Saffer Se 33


Boats

Given that most Saffers to

leave the yard are trucked

straight off to their

owners, timing a visit to coincide

with the availability of a couple

of models to sail was never

going to be easy. Like most

overseas assignments, it

certainly couldn’t be arranged

according to the weather

forecast, though as the date

drew near it became apparent

that shortage of wind would not

be a problem.

Barely two hours after boarding

the plane in Southampton I was in

the marina in IJmuiden, dressed in

full waterproofs and tightening the

chin-strap on my hat. The forecast

was for even more wind on the

way, accompanied by rain, so we

decided to sail the 8M straight

away and then hop across to the

33 before the weather closed in.

Dennis tucked a couple of reefs

into the mainsail as we motored

out into the harbour, powered by

the twin-cylinder Yanmar 2YM. The

folding prop on our test boat is

an extra but,

thankfully, one that

most owners are

persuaded to

have. The other

important part of

the underwater

confguration was

the deeper of the two bulbed lead

keels, giving us a draught of 1.30m

(4ft 3in) instead of 1.03m (3ft 6in)

with the shallower option. Few

boats in this size and price range

have lead keels, but then the

Saffers are designed to perform.

And perform is exactly what this

little boat did.

Initially Dennis set up the rig so

as to make life easy for the boat

and the helmsman, but soon

wound on the power and we

changed up a couple of gears.

With a sizeable sea running in the

harbour and the wind gusting to

about 27 knots, we charged

upwind with the GPS reading up to

6.5 knots. That was pretty good

going for a non-racy 26-footer

sailed two-handed, and was put

into context by our tacking angle

of a consistent 38-40°. I was

struggling to get my head around

the way this little boat was making

allow it, I would expect a little bite

to the helm.

It was easier to keep an eye on

our speed downwind. We went

straight into surfng mode and

played every likely-looking wave

we could fnd, frequently clocking

double fgures and peaking at 11.1

knots. It was fun and, for a boat of

this nature that was also heavily

reefed and being cruised around a

harbour, more than I had expected.

Dennis makes the point that, for

all her easy performance, the Sc

8M is no race boat. Owners who

choose a downwind sail usually

plump for a gennaker; only one

has a proper spinnaker with a

pole. People buy her because she

looks good, handles well and is

easy to sail. On many boats the

Harken 20 self-tailer on the port

side of the coachroof is electric,

for push-button hoisting of the

mainsail and trimming of the

self-tacking jib on its under-deck

furling drum.

Hardware is well specifed. A

second Harken 20 to starboard on

the coachroof handles the rest of

the lines led aft, while an additional

pair can be bolted to the moulded

plinths outboard of the cockpit

coamings for downwind sails or

the optional overlapping headsail.

No traveller comes as standard:

the mainsheet is taken from a

strong-point immediately abaft the

tiller, along the boom and down to

a swivel cam on a raised plinth on

the cockpit sole. It works much

better than a centre-sheeting

arrangement with no traveller.

Unlike many builders of small

boats, Saffer haven’t gone the

backstayless route. They’ve ftted

one with a decent purchase that’s

easy to adjust from the helm. The

theme throughout is simple and

non-racy, but effcient.

As one would hope and expect

on a boat of this nature, there’s no

fence (guardwire). It can be ftted if

you insist. Its absence allows a

comfortable perch for helm and

light of the conditions and

chomping along in such impressive

style, but Dennis seemed

unsurprised by the numbers.

‘That’s about right,’ he said.

Lest anyone should wonder,

there’s no tide to speak of inside

the harbour in IJmuiden, so either

the GPS was telling porkies or

the Saffer Sc 8M Cabin is a

remarkably speedy little ship. Even

allowing for the fact that she

was straight out of the

factory with virgin sails, a

totally smooth bottom,

near-empty tanks and no kit

aboard, it was some going.

Easydoesit

It would perhaps be

stretching things a little to

describe sailing a 26-footer

in these conditions as

entirely relaxing, but the

Saffer presented no

challenges. Probably

because of the reduced mainsail

she carried practically no helm,

making me doubt

that we were

getting the best

pointing out of

her. At times our

speed increased

to 7 knots when

I was glancing

at the GPS and letting her fall off

a few degrees rather than

concentrating on keeping her on

the wind. With the full main or just

one slab in conditions that would

Saffer Sc 8MA fast, classically-styled 26-footer with four

berths, a large cockpit and an inboard engine

Unusually, the twin-cylinder Yanmar diesel is mounted abaft the cockpit to avoid a raised sole or companionway. Access is good, and from aft too

SaffiErSc8Mcabin

PricEfroM£57,695

LOA 8.00m(26ft3in)

Beam 2.45m(8ft0in)

Draught–deepfn 1.30m(4ft3in)

–shallowfn 1.03m(3ft6in)

Displacement 1,800kg(3,968lb)

Ballast–deepfn 720kg(1,587lb)

–shallowfn 800kg(1,763lb)

Sailarea 18.35sqm(197sqft)

RCDcategory B

Engine Yanmar2YM15hpsaildrive

Designer & builder:SafferMaritiem,IJmuiden,

Holland.Tel:+31(0)255512860

www.safferyachts.com

We surfed every wave we could fnd, peaking at

11.1 knots


Saffer boats tested

➜

After the photo shoot with

the Sc 8M, I focused the

lens on the Se 33. With

the wind peaking, fresh water

descending from above to mix

with the salt and the 33 skimming

over the waves at an even more

brisk pace, it was a lively time.

One crest loomed over the

horizon and, rather rudely, broke

right into our photo boat to give

my cameras a salty soaking.

Thankfully the driver – Ryan,

uncle of the two brothers – was

a lifeboat coxswain for several

years and knows how to handle

small boats in big seas.

With the rain becoming heavier,

cameras were put away and we

all swapped boats. Dennis and I

hopped aboard the 33 while Dean

took the 8M back to the yard (just

along the quay) so she could be

prepared for delivery to her owner

in Hamburg the next day.

The 33 had been dropped into

the water the evening before I

arrived and she too was out again

immediately after our sail, having

her 2.1m (6ft 11in) steel-shafted

keel with its lead bulb changed for

the owner’s choice of the 1.7m (5ft

6in) alternative. Other options are

an all-lead L-fn (again 1.7m/ 5ft 6in)

or another T-bulb giving a much

reduced draught of 1.4m (4ft 7in).

Boats are in and out of the water

and the yard at Saffer before you

can blink. When they’re afoat,

they’re tweaked up and ready to

go. The approach here is in marked

contrast to that of yards that have

presented me with weedy-

bottomed test models whose

rigging is so slack they can’t hope

to sail. When the people who

design and build the boats also sail

them, launch and commission them

and generally get their hands dirty,

things seem to work a lot better.

MadefortheMed?

Developing the 33 was a major step

for the yard. The new boat was

intended to broaden their market

beyond northern Europe and the

lakes of Germany, Austria and

Switzerland to new territories

including the Mediterranean. They

needed a fagship for the Se range

that was bigger, faster and more

modern in style – but still a Saffer.

The result does indeed have a

Mediterranean air: she’s sleek,

with a near-fush deck, clean,

Comfortable sitting headroom below decks and everything you need for a weekend. BELOW A fridge uses the space beneath the companionway

Saffer Se 33This retro-modern flyer is fast but still

designed for comfort and easy handling

crew on the weather deck or, if you

prefer, in the long cockpit (with

space for at least fve people)

where there’s a comfortable leg-

bracing width between the seats.

Synthetic teak decks add a

touch of extra class to a boat that’s

already very nicely fnished. It’s

rare to see an 8M without them.

Real teak is used for the toerail

and the optional rubbing strake

with its stainless steel capping.

British owners would need an

anchor roller, which can be ftted.

There’s already an anchor locker

in the bow.

With the rig coming from Seldén,

Dyform used for the standing

rigging, main and headsail

halyards in Dyneema, hardware

principally from Harken and

Spinlock and sails from Quantum,

there’s nothing to complain about

in terms of fxtures and fttings

above deck. Saffer can customise

if you want anything non-standard.

Abaft the rudder stock is an aft

deck with a hatch giving access

to stowage (there’s another locker

to port in the cockpit) and the aft

end of the engine. The engine is

mounted back here because, in

a relatively shallow-hulled boat

of this size, there’s no room for

it further forward without creating

a raised companionway or too

shallow a cockpit.

Having the engine so far aft

means that the keel has to be well

forward to balance the boat. The

correspondingly long distance

between keel and rudder leads to

excellent manoeuvrability.

Accommodation

Below decks you fnd

comfortable sitting headroom,

two saloon berths that run aft

under the cockpit seats, and a

V-berth in the bow. The galley

is amidships, and the heads –

a sea-toilet that pumps into a

holding tank – beneath the

forward berth. A fridge fts

under the companionway.

The interior is formed by a

moulding that’s laminated – not

just glued – inside the hull.

Detailing is good: end-grain is

sealed, sole-boards don’t rattle,

bunk cushions lift individually for

easy access to stowage and the

teak joinery is neatly fnished.

Although production of a boat this

size has to be reasonably slick for

commercial reasons, corners

clearly haven’t been cut. For

example, deck fttings are tapped

into plates of stainless steel – not

aluminium – bonded into the

deck moulding. The fange on

the keel is recessed into the hull

moulding to combine strength

with a fush fnish. All that might

worry me is that the fuel tank is

ftted for life, beneath the cockpit

sole, though the connections can

be reached.

PBO’sverdict

Designed and built by people

who know exactly what they’re

doing, the Saffer Sc 8M is a joy

to sail and to look at and would

be just the job for daysailing,

weekending or coastal cruising.

She’s also an impressive

sea-boat and one that could

make a great little club racer for

a small crew.


Boats – Saffer boats on test

uncluttered lines and a large

recessed sun-lounging area abaft

the long cockpit. She also has twin

wheels. Some people – like me –

would prefer a tiller but, given that

most owners of the 26 choose

wheel steering, there was never any

question. Originally the idea was to

have a single large wheel recessed

into a cut-out in the cockpit sole.

That didn’t work ergonomically,

so twin wheels it was.

This and other refnements

were made during the tooling-up

process. The deck plug would be

lifted up and canted over to 30° so

Dennis and Dean could see how

things worked at an angle. The

quest for style was never allowed

to detract from the practicalities.

A privacy blind to separate the forward berth or when the heads is in use. Alternative arrangements offer a separate heads compartment

Light, airy, modern and open is the theme below decks This is one of three layout options

A neat fold-up backrest for relaxing and stretching out in the saloon

You can buy boat tests online from www.pbo.co.uk by clicking on ‘Find PBO articles’ and entering the type of boat you’re looking for in the search area, or by calling the Copy Service on tel: 01202 440830

copy Service

interior moulding is

cut to a minimum

to save weight.

Bonded into the

hull, it adds rigidity

to the structure as

well. There’s no

dead weight in this

boat: she weighs

just 2,800kg

(6,172lb), and

1,100kg (2,425lb) of

that is in the keel.

We were grateful

for this healthy

ballast ratio as we set off into a near

gale and out into the North Sea (as

we had with the 8M, we poked our

nose beyond the breakwater to see

what it was like). As well-designed,

light and sporty boats with slim

hulls can, the 33 took it all calmly

in her stride. With two slabs in

the main she sliced her way to

windward, rarely slamming even

when falling off the larger waves

and keeping us remarkably dry into

the bargain, though it was hard by

that stage to tell how much of the

general wetness was fresh and how

much was salt.

This boat had no instruments and

my hand-held GPS kept losing its

signal, so we had no accurate

performance fgures. I would

guess that we were averaging over

7 knots on the wind and clocking

double fgures downwind much

of the time – especially after our

pit-stop to collect Dean and the

Code 0. The wind had dropped a

few knots and the temptation to try

a bit of downwind fying was just

too much.

A Code 0 is not the sail to get

the best from a boat in these

conditions – we needed something

for deeper angles – but even so

we all independently reckoned we

were hitting between 16 and 18

knots down some of the waves,

and none of us is a stranger to

those sort of speeds. The wheel

remained beautifully light and the

direct linkage told me exactly what

the rudder was doing. The blade

had a tenacious grip, only allowing

me to slide into one minor broach

when exploring the limits. You’re

allowed to do it once.

Sailingforfun

It’s surprising how much fun you

can have on the water when it’s

blowing old boots and tipping it

down with rain. This boat is a blast

to sail and a doddle to handle. The

cockpit and recessed sun-lounger

between them are big enough to

accommodate a fair-sized party but,

with all sail controls led to the helm,

the idea is that only one person

needs to do any work.

Our test boat sported the optional

carbon rig – an extra £15,000 or so

and well worth having for the gains

in comfort, let alone performance.

We also had an electric Harken 40

to port for the self-tacking jib. The

German-style mainsheet occupied

the starboard winch, so you have to

move across the boat to trim one

sail or the other. I would be tempted

by a straightforward purchase from

the end of the boom to the traveller

instead of the German system.

Sailing the 33 proved

emphatically that a boat that would

look quite at home in St Tropez or

Porto Cervo can also cope with the

North Sea in a pretty vile mood.

She’s conceived as a daysailer or

weekender but, like the 8M, has the

speed and seakeeping qualities to

take you pretty well anywhere. All

‘daysailer’ means in this context is

big cockpit, small cabin and no

guardwires (as standard). If I were

in a gale in the middle of Biscay I

would rather be on this boat (or the

8M, for that matter) than on a good

many of the so-called offshore

cruisers I’ve tested.

Accommodation

In keeping with her external

appearance, the styling below

decks on the Se 33 is much more

modern than on the 8M. The fnish

is simple to save weight – hull sides

are fow-coated, for example – and

light colours create an airy feel.

Future boats will have ports in the

topsides to let in more light.

Various layouts are offered, our

test boat having what will probably

be the most popular with a V-berth

in the bow (heads underneath),

galley amidships and settee berths

in the saloon. Finish is good and

detailing given plenty of thought.

PBO’sverdict

The whole idea of the big daysailer/

weekender has yet to take off in the

UK, but to my mind it makes a lot

of sense. So many fully-fedged

cruisers are used mostly for

weekending anyway.

Instead of calculating a boat’s value

by a formula that uses length, price,

headroom and number of berths,

maybe it’s time to consider factors

such as ’fun’ and ‘what am I really

going to use the boat for?’ If you do

that, you might fnd you end up with

something like the Saffer Se 33.

SAffierSe33PricefrOm£94,410LOA 9.60m(31ft6in)

Beam 2.72m(8ft11in)

Draughtoptionsfrom1.40m(4ft7in)to

2.10m(6ft11in)

Displacement 2,800kg(6,172lb)

Ballast 1,100kg(2,425lb)

Sail area 45sqm(484sqft)

RCD category B

Engine Yanmar2YM15hpsaildrive

While she most certainly looks the

business – and more modern than

the 8M – the lines of the 33 are also

slightly retro. As Dean put it, ’Do we

go modern, or stick with what we

believe?’ He was referring to the

shape of the stern as an example.

Going the retroussé route would

have been a major departure for

Saffer. A more traditional shape, on

the other hand, is in keeping with

what the yard is known for and, with

the transom hinging down to form a

boarding step or bathing platform,

it’s more practical too.

The theme of modernity tempered

by tradition continues throughout.

Unlike the 8M, the 33 is built with a

cored laminate in the topsides. The


➜

Some view a crossing of the Bay of Biscay with trepidation, having heard stories of how formidable the weather can be. I’ve crossed the bay 13 times now, and have motored the

whole way across on fi ve of those trips, such has been the lack of wind and drama. During my latest crossing, in the latter part of April and the beginning of May this year, we motored nearly half the distance across between Portland and Baiona in north-west Spain.

The bay’s reputation could well be a throwback to the time when sailing vessels, with their relatively ineffi cient square rigs, were unable to shape a good course to windward. Having been forced into the shallow water by the prevailing winds from the west, vessels were trapped in the dangers of a lee shore due to the Atlantic swell, which can build quickly with a rapid deterioration in the weather near land.

With more effi cient rigs and sail plans, more reliable engines and intelligent use of easily accessible weather forecasts from a variety of sources, modern yachts are less likely to get into trouble.

There have nevertheless been occasions in the last few years where yachts have been caught in really bad weather, sometimes with loss of life. One wonders how detailed the weather assessments were, and how much of a time imperative was the driving force in setting sail. I know of one delivery skipper who, pressured by the owner to get the yacht back to Britain by a particular date, set off

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sticky Stapylton has a

Yachtmaster Ocean ticket,

runs Arrow Yacht Enterprises

and is an RYA Yachtmaster

Instructor. During his long career he has

sailed most seas and oceans of the world.

Seamanship Ð Crossing Biscay

The Bay of Biscay has a daunting reputation,

but Sticky Stapylton explains how meticulous

preparation of boat and crew, and a close

watch on the weather, will restore perspective

with a forecast Force 9. This trip ended up with loss of life, and of the yacht. The forecast was correct: it was the skipper’s decision to sail that was wrong.

GeographyThe Bay of Biscay is located between the northern coast of Spain and the western coast of France. The average depth of the bay is 1,745m and the maximum is more than 4,000m: parts of the continental shelf extend into the

Crossing the

Bay of Biscay

● Brest

● Brest

Bay of Biscay

Cherbourg●

FRANCE

●

St Malo● Morlaix

Saint-Nazaire●

● La Rochelle

●

San Sebastian

SPAIN

●

Bilbao

●

Bilbao

●

Santander

Iroise

Rochebonne

Yeu

CantabricoFinisterre

Pazenn

WEATHER FORECAST AREAS FOR BISCAY

●

La Coruña

●

La Coruña

Eu

rop

ean

Marin

e O

bse

rvatio

n

an

d D

ata

Netw

ork

Chartlet not to be used for navigation

SPAIN

Continental shelf

FRANCE

UK

Topographic image of the Biscay seabed


bay, meaning there is relatively shallow water in places. In the area approximately 47° 00’.00N 005° 00’.00W, the seabed shelves from 2,100m to 120m over a distance of 20 miles or so. This is almost on a direct line between the Chenal du Four on the west coast of Brittany and La Coruña, often chosen as the arrival port after crossing the bay.

All these factors should lead the prudent skipper to monitor carefully several sources of weather forecasts at least fi ve days ahead of the planned departure date. Get hold of synoptic charts online, learn how to decipher the diagrams, and see how the weather out in the Atlantic is likely to develop.

Boat preparationBefore setting sail it’s worth thinking about your boat’s heavy weather gear, where it is stowed and also all those items that will help to make the onset of heavy weather less of a drama.

Ensure you have a good stock of anti-seasickness pills: these should be issued to any crew members who doubt their ability to avoid mal-de-mer. A number of skippers I have sailed with ignore this advice.

Of course there are some tablets which produce an adverse reaction, but having some crew unable to take part in the sailing of the boat can put a great strain on the remainder. During one of my crossings of the Irish Sea, all four of the crew suffered from severe seasickness and I had to helm the boat for 36 hours. This would be all right for a youngster, but some pensioners might fi nd it a bit of a strain!

Do you have a trysail and storm jib, and have you rigged them in calm conditions? If you have a trysail, your mainsail may have to be removed and stowed below: and depending on how your trysail is rigged, you may need to secure your boom to the deck.

Your storm jib may need a separate forestay set up before the sail is hoisted. You’ll need to think through at what stage you rig these sails, especially if you are not receiving weather forecasts and the weather is clearly deteriorating. You don’t want to be going forward onto a pitching foredeck when the sea has become too rough. If for some reason I have left it too

the bow, there is a good chance they’ll not strike the foot of the storm jib and increase the chance of a knockdown under the weight of water.

The storm jib in the main photo (above) is attached to a sleeve which is run up around the furled headsail. When I tried one of these out, I was surprised how easy it was to haul up the sleeve, though there is the added complication of having to remove the furled headsail sheets and securing the sail with a sail tie.

Another problem is that the clew of the furled headsail can be so high that your tallest crew member has to stand on the pulpit to secure it. This is not something to be done in a rising gale and steep seas, or you could well end up with a sail looking like the one in the photo (left).

Can you remove your dodgers easily, and can your sprayhood be either folded or removed? The dodgers on this yacht look quite a permanent fi xture.

Batten down the hatchesAs a matter of course, your boat’s portlights and scuttles should be closed while you’re at sea. I emphasise during my

Seamanship

late, I position the boat on a broad reach while the sails are made on and then, if needs be and the sail arrangement allows, the sails are hoisted when everyone is back in the cockpit.

Sometimes a ‘straight out of the bag’ storm jib will be made on quite low to the bow. In a really heavy sea and if beating, it may be wiser to have a strop attached to the tack so that if waves are breaking over

PBO tested seven storm jibs in the January 2010 issue

A well-set storm jib is a more effi cient and controllable shape than a reefed

genoa during heavy weather

Too much sail in too much wind and the sails can be torn to shreds


Crossing Biscay

crew briefi ng that no windows or hatches should be opened without my permission. I once had a crew member open the forehatch during a cross-Channel night passage after he’d been sick down below. He moved into the saloon, the sea got up, and when I went below half an hour later to fi nd out how he was doing, I found the whole of the forepeak awash.

Does your boat have dorades, and do y ouhave covers for them? Merely turning y ourdorades downwind will not necessarily mean you won’t ship water in a heavy sea.

Slowing downIf you are going to be a serious passage maker, you need to prepare some form of drag device. For my fi rst long-distance tri pto North Africa, I made up a sea anchor which was fi rst put to the test off Tangiersduring a really strong levanter blowing through the Straits of Gibraltar. It was m adefrom a strong canvas bucket supported b ya cross frame: we lay to this for 36 hours until the gale blew out, and lost only 60 miles to leeward over the time it was rigged.

Nowadays I have a series drogue, which takes up rather a lot of space in a small boat. Getting this out and readying it may take up just a bit too much room in the cockpit, so if you have such a device it is worth working out how to have it fully prepared and not too much in the way. I keep mine fl aked into a large plastic utility tub, but so far I have never have had to use it in anger.

Secure everythingBefore setting sail the wise skipper will have a plan to ensure that nothing is going to shift around if the weather worsens. The security of all gear below must be checked, particularly heavy items such as tool kits and batteries. Are you satisfi ed that the cabin sole boards will stay in place if the boat broaches badly?

You might want to tape up all lockers without positive locking arrangements.

Tidiness is all-important at all times at sea: the photo above right was taken during a bit of boat tuition in the Solent.

Do you have a grab bag? When was it last checked, and are the fl ares in it up to date? Brief your crew on the grab bag’s stowage place, and show them its contents and how and when it is brought on deck.

On long passages, I always offer crew heavy-duty plastic bags in which to place their wallets and valuables: these are sealed up and placed in the grab bag.

A ship’s knife should be kept in a prominent position where it can be found easily when needed quickly – although a good crewman will always have a knife in his pocket too. An even better crewman will also have a marlinspike and a pair of pliers.

I have a cheap multi-tool which looks very smart, but is in fact rubbish: any attempt to loosen a stiff nut with the pliers, and the grippers just twist out of shape. Some of the other functions are more useful (see PBO’s December 2013 test

of 11 multi-tools), but one advantage of mine is that it can be easily picked up if dropped overboard in shallow water and you have a magnet on a string to hand!

Pumping outOn my fi rst boat, the heads would siphon in water on starboard tack if the inlet seacock had been left open. The simple answer was to turn the seacocks off after fi nishing in the heads, but sometimes this was forgotten.

On this boat we had a really deep sump, so my rule was that the bilge was pumped every hour while at sea: as soon as we had more than a couple of pumps of ‘wet’ I knew that either a seacock had been left open or we had a leak.

Despite its frequency of use (or perhaps because of it) I only had to change the bilge pump diaphragm once in 15 years, and this was probably brought on by my drill that after pumping the bilge pump dry, an extra 20 ‘empty’ pumps should be

given to get rid of any gas if we had had a leak. This was before the invention of gas alarms which, to be honest, I do not overly trust even now.

I recommend that boat owners have the handles of all pumps, especially those in the cockpit, attached close to the pump by a lanyard.

The main hatch must be secured in heavy weather, but washboards are diffi cult to handle at the best of times. Each entry/exit to/from the boat down below by a crew member necessitates a dismantling and reassembly of the

For more on drogues and their effectiveness, see the test in PBO’s

Summer 2014 issue

Dorades can ship water in really heavy weather. A way of closing or blanking them off is sensible

Ben Meakins and David Pugh deploy a series drogue during the PBO Summer 2014 issue test of drogues

Tidiness is important at all times at sea, even if it’s just a jaunt in sheltered waters

A powerful magnet on a line can retrieve metallic items lost overboard

➜


Seamanship

washboards: this typically involves replacing two to three washboards in the correct sequence and orientation to fi t correctly. If a boat is pitchpoled or has been rolled, the washboards are very likely to be lost overboard, and thus the safety of the boat is more at risk in a survival situation. Washboards which have to be lifted out should be fi tted with a lanyard to hold them fi rmly in place should there be a knockdown.

With boats which have a large cockpit but insuffi cient hook-on points, it is worth either rigging a rope lattice within the cockpit or having lifejacket strops on all available hook-on points. The picture below left shows our set-up on a Dufour 45 I was delivering to Malta a few years back. It meant that, in a heavy sea, a member of the crew wanting to come on

to secure them.On the subject of bolt croppers, have you

tried yours and are they man enough for the job? Imagine cutting through your rigging in a really choppy sea with the boat rolling and pitching. Some swear by a high-quality hacksaw: it is easier to stow and in some ways also easier to handle, but bear in mind the increased motion there will be if your mast comes down.

Prior to leaving on a long passage, it is essential that the linkage on wheel steering is checked. On my latest delivery, the owner made a point of removing partitions and getting into the stern to make a really thorough inspection, even though the boat was only fi ve years old.

Crew selectionIf you are relying on crew with whom you have never sailed, it is a good idea to invite them for a weekend’s sail prior to your trip. Give each of them a turn helming the boat and spend some time practising man overboard drills. Ensure all are familiar with the boat: you should be able to work out their strengths and weaknesses, and you can then choose the least experienced to be on your watch.

I like to run a few ‘what if’ situations past the more experienced crew – without trying to put the others off! We discuss all those subjects which should be covered during the RYA courses, and with crew who are new to a particular boat we cover what should be done in the event of a fi re on board, on holing, the drill for deploying the liferaft, lookout drills, keeping the log, engine maintenance and a host of other topics.

If you can manage it, try to organise the crew so there are at least two with some experience. I endeavour to have fi ve crew on board: this means two on watch, two resting and one as a standby.

Be careful of taking on crew who have limited time: this can often be worse than having too few crew, as you don’t want to be pressured into setting sail with a bad weather forecast and the risk that entails.

Choosing your weatherDespite all the 21st century technology in weather forecasting, you’ll be lucky to get a really accurate forecast for more than about fi ve days ahead. I tend to rely on a three-day forecast and carefully monitor the fourth and fi fth days, as long as I have the ability, once at sea. Be aware that your crossing may not always turn out as planned, and fi nding that weather window can sometimes be elusive.

Weather in the Bay of Biscay is the most vital factor to be considered when crossing. Some of the fi ercest weather conditions of the Atlantic Ocean occur here, the area being home to large storms during the winter months.

Navtex is an excellent system to have on board, although it can be temperamental. On our latest trip we lost signal a number of times and missed weather forecasts. I have never had such a problem before, but

deck could be hooked on before climbing out of the companionway and could get himself settled before unhooking and moving to the place he was aiming for.

Regular checks by members of the watch are essential in rough weather. In my brief to watch leaders, I would be asking that the cockpit drains are checked clear and free, and if blocked the dinghy foot pump is an excellent way of clearing small debris. Deck gear should be checked for security: the spinnaker pole, liferaft, winch handles, man overboard marking gear and their fl oating lights.

In strong winds, all sheets and halyards should be checked that they are not being worn or even chafed. Any spare halyards should be frapped, the jackstays should also be inspected and the fore and aft securing points tested for security.

This pad eye, below, on a new boat gives an idea of how corners are cut with what is an important safety device. I tested this on getting aboard: it came away with a weak yank!

Anchors on most modern boats are

permanently set in the bow fairlead. On one boat I delivered there was no anchor pin to secure the anchor. We found it was virtually impossible to take the anchor off the roller and put it in the chain locker, so we devised a system using a lanyard to tie down the anchor on the roller.

Depending upon where your gas locker is, you may consider changing a near-empty gas cylinder before a blow comes in. Changing the cylinder on my fi rst boat in the lazarette was a nightmare, and I much preferred to do this when at anchor or in port. By the same token, a check of all torch batteries is sensible, as is knowing the location of rigging cutters and ensuring there is a lanyard with which

Check the security of cockpit pad eyes, and fi t strops so you can always be clipped on when moving around

Are your bolt croppers man enough for the job for which they’re intended?

Secure washboards with lanyards to help hold them in place in the event of a knockdown


Crossing Biscay

it is important to realise that in conditions adverse to radio propagation you may not receive a signal.

Late spring and early summer in the Biscay area are cool and cloudy, but large fog banks fi ll the south-western part of the bay.

My fi rst crossing, in the late spring of 1988, was in pre-GPS days, so I was basing my navigation on dead reckoning. We had sailed most of the way across and were about a day’s sail away from La Coruña. I had planned to pick up the lights of three lighthouses at their maximum range for a fi x just before dawn so that I could then shape a course for our destination, and was awoken by the on-duty watch to be told that the lights had been identifi ed. So I took the bearings, plotted a reasonable fi x and worked out our course. This was fi ne until we approached the Spanish coast, where the fog rolled in and we had to slow down, post lookouts and go into restricted visibility mode. I guessed we could not see much more than 100m.

So it was down with the sails, engine on, one man on the bow, listening out for the sound of any other vessels’ engines or fog signals. We had a second man by the starboard shroud, a third by the port shroud and I was by the helm with my aerosol foghorn. We were travelling at a pretty slow 2 knots: the dinghy was infl ated and towed behind us, while the liferaft was on a cockpit seat and our grab bag was to hand in case we had a problem. The lookouts were moved round every 10 minutes or so to keep them alert to the

different dangers in this situation.I was keeping a beady eye on the

echo sounder and noting that we were approaching shallower waters, but in

70m of water the man on the bow yelled ‘rocks!’ and pointed his arm almost straight above his head: or at least, that was how it appeared to me! In retrospect the angle of his pointing was more like two o’clock rather than noon, but it jolted me into grabbing the gear and throttle lever and, after a short pause in neutral, going hard astern. We must have approached an area of the coast where the cliffs descended straight into the sea, and luckily we were going suffi ciently slowly to be able to extricate ourselves without danger.

So now we went back on a reciprocal of our heading, and soon heard the foghorn of a vessel under way – one long blast. Visibility was now clearing, and we were lucky to see the shape of a cargo vessel crossing our bow at about 200m.

We headed for his wake and turned to see that it must have been heading for La Coruña. Luckily for us the fog lifted shortly after: the vessel was indeed heading for La Coruña, so we made port without further trouble.

TimingAs winter begins, the weather turns harsh and severe. Depressions are formed and enter the bay from the west. These eventually dry out and are born again as thunderstorms. They also bring in constant rain to the region, often bringing storms that are almost hurricane-like. Some will recall Hurricane Klaus of January 2009, when the trajectory of a tropical revolving storm

crossed the bay, causing mayhem in France.The system’s central pressure dropped

from 1,000mb to 967mb over a period of some 7 hours (nearly 5mb an hour). This brings home the essential need to have a barometer on board, and having an idea of what a rise or fall in pressure means in the way the weather changes.

The Atlantic swells often form near the coasts and often make many ports inaccessible. In these circumstances it is better to stay well out to sea, clear of land and shallow dangers.

Some will argue that crossing the bay at the equinoxes is taking too great a risk, while statisticians may tell you that equinoctial gales are a myth. I do not have the statistics, but the key must be to watch the forecasts and wait for a favourable one.

If a weather system comes in as you approach north-west Spain, you will need to weigh up whether you are going to seek shelter. It is essential that you avoid a lee shore and are aware that during some of the summer months an easterly Force 8 can blow off Cape Finisterre. On one of my crossings going south, having been warned that the weather might deteriorate, we sailed down the 10°W westing line and closed land when we were abeam of Lisbon. It was an uneventful crossing.

So the time to avoid Biscay is during the winter: my advice to those intent on sailing during this period is to allow plenty of time for a decent forecast and never be held to a time imperative. It is far better to get a boat to its destination intact and with all your crew rather than risk both for the sake of a timetable.

If you fi nd a forecast window of settled weather, give it a go. Check out Frank Singleton’s The Weather Window website, www.weather.mailasail.com – there is a lot of very helpful advice there.

In summaryBiscay has a reputation which is not always justifi ed. Do your homework, and analyse more than one weather forecast: the bay is not a nemesis. However you, your crew and your boat must be properly prepared. The prudent skipper will adopt this approach for all sailing. Avoid mavericks among your crew, and if you are not sure about the weather, think about going well to the west before going south.

A Force 10 in Biscay – not a very pleasant place to be

Hurricane Klaus cut right across Biscay

when it blew in to Europe in

January 2009

Pressure tendency and resultant wind speed

Pressure tendency Resulting wind speed(Beaufort Scale number)

Over sea Over land

1 mb/hour 6 4-5

2 mb/hour 7-8 5-7

3 mb/hour or more Above 8 Above 6

Eu

rop

ean

Mete

oro

log

y a

nd

O

cean

og

rap

hy C

en

tre/U

S N

avy

EU

MeTra

in W

iki

on

Ed

itio

n

NEXT MONTHNavigation for crossing Biscay

Sundowner moored bows-to in Kassiopi, Corfu. Albania, in the far

background, is a mere six-and-a-half miles away


Readers’ cruising destinations, near and far

Cruising NotesWe pay for your published cruising stories and harbour updates. Email [email protected] or write to the address at the top of page 5

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

With a reef in the genoa,

a fi ne south-east wind

took us north-east from

the Greek island of Corfu to the

Albanian coast, a six-and-a-half

mile trip across borders, in the

amount of time it takes to play

a football game.

At 1030 on an overcast morning

in April we left the small but

beautiful harbour of Kassiopi and in

one tack arrived outside the large

bay of Gjiri i Sarandës in the spring

sunshine at 1100 local time,

Albania being UTC+1.

Without much chart information

Amazing Albania

Sandra and

Dennis White

have lived

aboard

Sundowner, a

Heavenly Twins 27 catamaran,

since 1999. They have enjoyed

winters in Italy, Malta, Turkey

and Greece and summers

travelling in between, often

fl ying back to the UK and

Brittany to fi nd work to top up

the limited cruising fund.

we lined up central to the port and

starboard buoys, then radioed the

Sarandë Port Authorities on Ch11

for permission to approach the

harbour. We were answered by the

pleasant voice of Jelja (pronounced

Lela), the assistant of Agim the

agent who we had phoned prior

to our departure.

Jelja told us to prepare our

starboard side to go alongside up

in the pocket of the harbour. After

passing through the wide buoyed

area we guessed the harbour to be

somewhere up and to portside of

the bay, the rest being beachfront.

A large docking area came into

view and at the end, through the

binoculars, we could see the lone

female fi gure of Jelja waiting for us

at the dockside.

We headed over and to starboard

of the berthed hydrofoil ferry and

found she had now been joined

by our agent Agim, waving and

gesturing where we were to come

alongside. With welcoming smiles

they took and returned our ropes,

and Sundowner was secure. After a

greeting chat, uniformed customs

offi cials arrived, welcomed us,

enquired as to whether we

possessed anything illegal, to which

Dennis and Sandra White enjoy a stress-free cruise to Gjiri i Sarandës

we replied ‘no’, they then smiled

and left, not bothering us again – all

very relaxed and informal.

Jelja then took our paperwork

and passports to be processed. We

had a further chat with Agim before

tidying Sundowner and enjoying

home-made pasties for lunch. Jelja

returned after the promised 40

minutes with our paperwork and

stamped passports, together with a

complimentary courtesy fl ag. We

were now signed into Albania, all

very stress-free.

As well as being the independent

port agent Agim is also area

representative of the Cruising

Association, an ex-mariner and ex

harbour master. His experience and

knowledge ensured a hassle-free

visit. Jelja has a good teacher as

she learns the ropes and gains

knowledge to go with her pleasant

and cheery personality. Their offi ce

is just a short walk outside of the

harbour security gate, and also

conveniently sited next to the ATM

to withdraw the local currency, the

Albanian lek.

Zero currencyIt took us two attempts to get

money from the ATM

as we had not

reckoned for the

number of zeros

we’d need to

add to the end

of a fi gure in

order to

withdraw a

sensible

amount of

cash. We then

proceeded to hand

over seemingly huge fi gures to

purchase everyday items from

stalls at the large vegetable market

just down the road. We’re not very

good at bartering, but it was an

interesting experience – and

we’re sure we supplied plenty

of entertainment to the locals.

Jelja provided us with a town map

with all the relevant provisioning

places and points of interest

marked. Not on the map – but

destined to be added to it – is the

superb bakery we found on the last

day of our three-day visit, up a fl ight

of steps and onto the street above

which runs parallel with the

harbourside road.

●

Kassiopi

● Sarandës

CORFU

ALBANIA

ALBANIA

ITALY

GREECE

0 5 10

NM


Cruising Notes

Free parking!Lochranza, Firth of Clyde

Do you have a favourite free anchorage? Send it in! Email [email protected]

Geo

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tew

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, ww

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l.co

.uk

There we also found numerous

other friendly local stores including

some selling fresh vegetables,

which we bought without the

slightly intimidating pressure we’d

found at the big market on our fi rst

outing. We did buy our cheap beer

and vacuum-packed olives from

the supermarket on the lower road,

the weight to carry necessitating

being closer to the boat.

Even closer was the family-run

pie shop with its distinct orange

frontage and delicious cheese,

spinach or onion fi lo pastry pies for

just a few lek.

Agim invited us out for drinks in

the early evening and a pleasant

couple of hours were spent

chatting to his wife Rajmonda, who

wanted to practise her English

speaking, while we learnt a few

words in Albanian.

The original plan was to stay for a

few days, possibly sailing north to

the bay of Palermos overlooked by

Ali Pasha’s castle, then south to

Loch Ranza is a popular

anchorage on the

north-western corner of

the Isle of Arran in the Firth of

Clyde, Scotland – although the

idyllic bay is subject to violent

squalls in offshore winds.

Clyde Cruising Club’s Sailing

Directions and Anchorages,

published by Imray, also warns

sailors entering Loch Ranza from

the north to beware of drying and

submerged rocks extending

south of Newton Point.

The loch dries for about one

and a half cables from the head,

including the area sheltered by

the spit on which the castle

stands. The most popular

anchorage is to the north of the

castle ruin in 4-6m, but it is rather

shoal in this area and not good

holding ground in strong winds. In

strong southerly winds it is better

to anchor in 10m, well out from

the south shore.

There are 12 visitor moorings in

the centre of the loch and a pontoon

for dinghies and short-term berthing

200m east of the pier.

Local services include shops, a

telephone, the Lochranza Hotel, a

restaurant, a craft shop, a distillery

with shop and café, a golf course, and

Calor gas and petrol at Pirnmill. Water

is available from the pontoon.

maybe anchor off and visit the

World Heritage Site of Butrint, an

ancient Greek and then Roman city.

Agim offered to drive us down

to Butrint to see the ruins, but the

next day a north-west howler had

arrived, setting some swell around

and up into the bay. This made us

move further into the pocket of the

harbour and anchor stern-to the

quay with a buoyed trip line that

inexpensive and excellent

cappuccinos and later just as cheap

and good quality local beer while

checking our emails on the free WiFi.

Waking up in the still of the

following morning we decided to

celebrate Sandra’s 50th birthday

with a sail, even though the wind

had stopped for now. It couldn’t be

as strong as yesterday, could it?

While Jelja signed us out

we walked up the steps to the

previously-mentioned bakery

and, rather than exchange the last

of our lek, decided to spend it in

some kind of bakery supermarket

dash. With a fi nal smile and a

farewell, in her perfect English,

Jelja handed back our passports

and exit papers, and we cast off

with a promise to return.

Sandra’s birthday gift turned out

to be helming a small catamaran

through large seas and strong

winds – the weather had got up

again – but in a very short time

we were back in the shelter of

Kassiopi in Corfu.

proved useful later in retrieving

the anchor from the good holding

of mud and rocks. The surge

necessitated being well off the

quay, and the use of the dinghy

to go ashore.

After taking Dennis to the garage

to fi ll the jerry can with diesel, Agim

drove us to the old Lekursi Castle,

high up on the hill above Sarandë,

where we enjoyed spectacular

views of the inland plains and

mountains to the east, Corfu

dominating the west and the island

of Ereikoussa to the north.

We could just make out our lone

catamaran bright in the sunshine,

sheltered in the harbour, and the

whitecaps sweeping down the

channel in the distance beyond.

There were some beautiful

long-haired mountain goats being

chaperoned by a shepherd.

In the afternoon we watched

Sundowner bobbing back and forth

from the panoramic window of one

of the numerous smart bars

overlooking the quay, drinking

Sundowner stern-to the quay in Sarandës

ABOVE A view of the inland plainsINSET LEFT A goat in the grounds of Lekursi Castle

LochRanza

Newton

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BOATS UNDER £10,000

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cRAfT fOR SAlE

Prout Snowgoose Elite37

Launched 2ææ5.Well-equipped forcruising. Twin 2æhp Yanmar diesels.Working abroad forces sale as boat ishardly used. Valued at £95k but accept£82.5k ONO for quick sale.Lying River Crouch – ready to go!Call +44(0)7939 226417

2orfolk +]ps] � ,ull 2o.90 (&uilt 1996)

+reen hull with yellow striT. Hardwood 3-Tiece washboards.

STace heater for storage Teriods. Overall cocOTit cover �green .

Hardwood slatted cocOTit seating. Hardwood seat battens ½tted

on aft decO. Boom gallows and chocOs ½tted on aft decO. Engine

sound Troo½ng. CoTTer Trotection on mast for gaff jaws. Hard-

wood sole in cabin in lieu of standard marine carTeting. ComTass

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ComTactVH* radio ½tted with aerial on mast toT and watertight

decO Tlug and socOet. Autohelm self-steering ST1000 � eUuiT-

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12v electric coolbo\ in Tort cocOTit locOer. *ire e\tinguisher.

Sails, �furling jib . Boat comTlete with Bramber +yTsy trailer. Boat

is ashore in Devon and sitting on her trailer - £20,000 ono.

*or further information � 01647 277��6

e.mail � margaretatrudge@]ahoo.co.uk

(rascomFe 0ugger 199�

New mainsail with window. *ull width

traveller, new. Mercury o/b �hT �s, � yrs

old.New bilge TumT. Re-conditioned trail-

er. Cruising shute. Roller jib. STray hood.

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On land at Thorney Island. £�,500

017�0 �9�774.

[email protected]

'aledonia =awl

±Nellie D´ is a beautiful CaledoniaYawl de-

signed by Ian Oughtread built to very high

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comes with a 2� volt electric outboard

motor and a of 12 volt batteries run in

series. ComTlete with road trailer, cover

etc. £9,000 ono

07��0 090244

cowessailaFilit]@gmail.com

Jeanneau Sun 2�00

200� Lifting /eel � Berth Outboard En-

gine. Lightly used and always stored ashore

ComTlete with road/launch trailer.

Well eUuiTTed - chart Tlotter, dsc radio,

autohelm, radio.cd Tlayer, marine heads

and holiding tanO, tri data instrument

Lying - Pwllheli, NorthWales £21,995

8el� 01��2 770476

[email protected]

<��42 1992 Racer 'ruiser

Lying SingaTore. E\tensive re½t 2012 and has

been used for Asian Regattas and cruising. Larger

boat now forces sale of this lovely boat. New

Engine, mast, North sails and rigging Tlus A/C

means she is good to go anywhere. Ideal for any-

one looOing to start her on her ne\t adventure.

SleeTs si\.

*or more pics�info 47�000 pounds ono

[email protected]

'olZic %tlanta 26ft 19�0

DarO blue hull, tan sails, fully battened

main in TacOaway system, la^y jacOs, single

line ree½ng, jib furling, sTray hood, dodgers,

boarding ladder, manual, anchor windlass,

bruce anchor, 90 feet of chain, 20hT beta

diesel. £8,950Wareham

John 0attimer

4hone 01929 ��226

�� alwour eà �áwes �oneáMee8ooa e n :a W� t 1 9 6 3

L 28ft ß 8.æft ß d 5.æft ahogany on oakframes. | erths. Varnished and in verygood condition. �ll the following new ] Teak�nterior and eta 2æhp engine Éæhrs^+ropeller and shaft^ .ikta spruce ast andrigging^ Lewmar electric windlass with Êæm¥2mm chain. .ails by Leach of Tarbet^Rotostay roller reexng �ib^ �eel bolts^ Tiller.2ß25ltr fuel tanks^ 2 burner gas stove withgrill. Lying illport^ �sle of Cumbrae^.cotland. 077912y4o33

:indo �2

19�6 modern classis e\tensively re½tted

by Tresent owner and e\ceTtionally well

maintained eUuiTTed.

New engine folding TroT, under decO

OctoTus/Raymarine Auto-helm, sails, rig,

fridge, shore Tower, +PS etc.

A comfortable sea Oindly cruiser.

Lying Lymington £29,950 ¯ 0776� 000

�10 ¯ steZe@dra]cotts.co.uk

=anita &uilt 1961

Yanita built 1961 *red ParOer design 25ft

3 berth.Yanmar 1+M10VH* +PS Echo

sounder AutoTilot Little used this year.

Lying Pin Mill ITswich. £3,995

0122� 26��44

[email protected]

Ragtime for Sale

Bavaria 36. 11.�m, 2003. 610 hrsVolvo Tenta 29hT. 1

owner, 2 cabins.Will sleeT 6.The yacht has been main-

tained to a very high standard. I want to sell comTlete

with all the contents. Ready to sail tomorrow.Will

only remove clothes.Antifouled and new anodes ½tted

last weeO. Sails are Terfect, in mast ree½ng and furl ½g-

ure fore sail.The yacht is Taid until end of SeTtember

and has many e\tras, eg. Panavision *rench, Italian and

SOy.The mooring is the best in S.*rance and available.

Cost of mooring Ter year º8,300 Taid monthly. *or

mooring Tost 130 CaTferrac St .ean, Nice. º�5,000

(0)44 7711062094 please ring for further

details Jeff Wragg [email protected]

1irage 2� 1k-- Filge keels

She was built byTHAMES MARINE 1981.One owner

from new and used her as a family cruiser mainly on

the East Coast. Berthed atWoolverstone Marina, always

Wintered ashore. Engine is aYANMAR 2 CYL 18/20

HP new 199�. Sails are roller ree½ng genoa. Behind the

mast roller ree½ng mainsail new 2002. Sails include a

cruising chute and a storm jib.The tender is an AVON

REDCREST. 2.5 HP MARINER new 2003. PLASTIMO

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½\edVH* with DSC red button, hand heldVH* new

2005, *uruno +PS, +armin chart Tlotter new 2009, Echo

deTth sounder. Si\ berths include the oTtion of 2 double

berths. Headroom in saloon is over 6 feet. £10,950.

%lun RoFerts 01494��72�09

[email protected]

Seamaster 2�

19�3, same owner since 1990, lift Oeel, large

cocOTit, standing head room, 5 berths, � seater

dinette, galley, sea toilet, Beta 1� �2005 inboard

diesel, roller ree½ng head sail, la^y jacOs main,

sTray hood, deTth gauge, in¾atable,Yamaha 2

outboard. £3,�85 Lying Lymington

'ontact 01�90 670677

'lassic 20 SUm =acht

Built 19�9, same

ownershiT 23

years. Refur-

bished 200�,

inc. new rigging.

+ood condition,

ready to sail, inc.

sails and outboard.

On shore in Plymouth. £6,500 ono

'all 017�2 �72196 or email

penn].hard]@Ftinternet.com

Van de Stadt

Jupiter 30

Built 1979 commissioned 1980 this exceptionally

spacious fn keel 30 foot cruiser/racer offers 5

berths, heads, good sized galley to starboard and

a suprising amount of storage.

Full suite sails. Thousands spent last few years.

New 2008 upgrades include 20hp beta engine,

standing rigging, cooker & main.

Lying Dale, Pembrokeshire £11,950

tel 0781 333 6956

for more pics info

www.tygwyncottage.co.uk

Malo 34 built 1994

Malo 34 built 1994. 40 HP Volvo engine

Electric anchor windlass. Bow Thruster.

New 2014 Raymarine chart plotter. New

2014 Sea brake. Autohelm. DSC Radio.

Cruising chute. Liferaft. Quality inventory.

Out of water survey done 2013. VAT paid.

Good all round condition.

Lying Sharpness, Gloucester : £67,500.00.

Telephone 01453 451105

Email: [email protected]

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hard standing,which is fully concreted with full electrics. Oh - and we’ve locked all our winter

package deal prices to the 2011 tariff.

Secure storage for winterFor winter storage, but with a security in mind, then

look no further. We offer all the benefits of the new 4

metre walled compound.There are special

deals for Multihulls, jet skis and sports boats.

Quick 2-4 week storage dealsOne of the benefits of the new secure storage

compound is the layout.We can now offer short

turnaround deals - for those who want to do that

winter work quick, and be back in the water fast...

From £39.00per metre

From £4.15 permetre/week

Quay Lane Boatyardin Historic Portsmouth Harbour

Bookings being takenfor Winter Ashore

Tidal Pontoon Berths & SwingMoorings Also Available

Power & Water in Yard & onPontoons

See Website for full detailswww.quaylaneboatyard.co.uk

02392 524214

,urley 30

-an Anderson designed ,urley �� built by

,urley 1arine �9�4 ³&enissimo´.A¾oat,

*owey, Cornwall )ncapsulated lead keel

and skeg 03A ��´��² �9.2m )ngine

2=1�5 new 2��2 )\cellent sea boat.

£�,��

07�20 74�32�

TanHcseaQan$aol�coQ

&rMKK 400s

4 metre rib with 25 litre tank, tonneua

cover on an easy line trailer. Complete

with mavman gps and ½sh½nder. &ay Jrame

with nav lights and gps Antenor. £6,499.

07��7 8�6 123

Westerly War[McO

2� Jt. bilge keel. ��

hp nanni diesel, �4�

hrs., prop repitched

to suit. roller ree½ng

Nib, 2 burner hob,

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chute, autohelm, vhJ radio, depth sounder,

�� m. anchor chain, reJurbished road

trailer. moored ullswater cumbria. good

e\ample oJ this popular 4 berther. £�,�5�

8el� 01768341�2��

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5 &erth A layout, *urle\ roller headsail recent

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2ew engine 2��5 &eta2�, 6aymarine 786�;ind,

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and Cruising Chute. 0ying -pswich £9,5�� 323.

Contact: 01473 780286

8�SBECHYACHT HA-BO2-Prime East coast location with inlandwaterway access.Winter discounts.Town centre pontoon moorings– diesel, electricity, water, showers,toilets, CCTV. 75 tonne travel hoistwith 3 tonne crane for mast, rig/de-rig. Secure hard standing. 12æ tonneslipway facilities.Yacht club.Telephone for brochureæ1945588æ59.Email: [email protected]

THE JACOBS YACHTand boatcradle �T�. �ll siäes and types ofcraft catered for. Probably the bestdesigned and versatile cradle made.Tel: æ1394 448253. �aß: æ13944484æ8. Email�orge�[email protected].�acobsboatcradles.com.�lternatively send for a brochure. E.�acobs F Sons, The �orge, �irton, !r�pswich, Suffolk �P1æ æ!2

HOO !ESSYACHT C�2B�riendly self-help club on the

edway�ull sailing F social programmeTrot F swinging moorings, slipwaysscrubbing docks, 1æT travel hoistlarge lay-up area, tender parks!jß �j�MjÃÆ ßj�W��jßßß³��jÆÆ³�Ã~³Ø

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BOATS �O- SA�E³ uy in �reecewith conxdence. ritish owneroperated brokerage. ,uality Service.�lso bareboat yacht charter. �etailsat www.pinnacleyachtsales.com ortel: ææ3æ Ê947 æ4æ7Ê7

SA��!� EAST COAST thissummer¸ Stop off at Eyemouth�arbour - �reat facilities at greatpricesuwww.eyemouth-harbour.co.ukTel: æ189æ7 5æ223

MARINE DIRECTORY Tel: 020 3148 2001 Fax: 020 3148 8316 email: [email protected]



Suppliers of quality waterproof fabric. Clear 0.35mm PVC plastic sheeting,

Strong outdoor PU breathable polyester, heavy duty polyester canvas,

PVC reinforced extremely strong UV stabilised fabric, light duty polyester.

Made 2 Measure Boat Bags and Covers

Contact us for a FREE QUOTE

15% off your frst order

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DevonSaturday

27th September

Newton Abbot

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TQ12 3AF

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21st September

Carlton Towers,

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South WalesSunday

19th October

Margam Country

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SA13 2TJ

1/5th share in Gib’Sea 372

Based in the -onian, +reece.% comJortable boat [hich sails Jast andhandles [ell, managed by a Jriendly syndicate�much oJ the mechanical and sailing eUuiTmenthas been rene[ed in the last Je[ years. %nautumn meeting agrees booOings Jor the ne\tyear� school holiday dates available iJ reUuired.'hangeovers usually in Preve^a or 2idri, byagreement. Winters %shore.Price ��000.Ring Mike 01832 273168 for moredetails.

1/3 share in 25ft 'olZiG Motor Sailer

Lying Beaulieu river. Bosun service available. Price

includes mooring, maintenance and insurance to

March 2015. Well maintained.4riGe� 1��50

)� maYriGe$meGbird.Go.Yk

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¦ Ì y S � ? Ã j � � S ? a � j Ã Ñ Ö

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after 11 years fun sailing in �onian. +rice Í4^æææ ono.Tj�³ ç¦�ËÑ ÑyçÖÊË w�Ã ��Ãj ajÏ?��Æ³

¦Ìy SHARE �EANNEAU 3Ê .outh�egean �ÝailaMle^ Ê weeks a year ¯2to 4 weeks remaining this year°..ails^ engine^ outMoard all replacewithin last 5years. Í8^æææ 7�T paid.Telephone : æ743215351Ê

SLC MARINE UPHOLSTERY arespecialists in loose cushionupholstery and furnishings for marineleisure craft. www.slcupholstery.co.ukTel:æ1255 431738Email:[email protected]

BUSINESS FOR SALE CHARTER & HIRE

UPHOLSTERY

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MARINE DIRECTORY



BOAT YARDS

FITTING OUT LIFE JACKETS

MARINE ELECTRONICS

TILLERS & RUDDERS

BOAT SCREENS & WINDOWS

PAINTS & VARNISHES

2014�2015

La\�up charges STILL held at 2008 rates

for pacNages invoiced and paid

b\ 30.11.2014

FREE

Tidal Mooring

Offer

Low cost low powerLED ReplacementNavigation andAnchor LightBulbsFrom£10.50

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www.searolf.com Tel. 01283 542718

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www.searolf.com Tel. 01283 542718

TONYMACKILLICAN.CO.UK

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COURSES & TUITION

GLASSFIBRE & SHEATHING

MASTS SELF STEERING

OSMOSIS

SURVEYORS - SOUTH EAST

SURVEYORS - SOUTH WEST & WALES

MARINE ENGINE PROPELLERS

ROPES & RIGGING

RUPERT SMITH – B.Eng(Hons)MRINA MABSE. Surveyor forPre-purchase, insurance, damagesurveys and BSS etc. throughoutsouthern England, the UK and EU.Tel: 01323 898 782Mob: 07931 565 798 Email:[email protected]: www.rupertsmithsurveys.co.uk

SPARS AND RIGGING

CRUSADERSAILS.COMTel: +44 (0) 1202 670580

E-mail: [email protected]

SALES & SERVICE WORLDWIDE

MARINE DIRECTORY



SAILING SCHOOLSYACHT & BOAT DELIVERY

YACHT CHARTER

Solent Based Sailing School

• Competent Crew • Day Skipper • Yachtmaster • Boat

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See us

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CREW WANTED

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MORBIHAN YACHT

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IIMS registered and qualified

Tel: +44(0)7408842287

Tel +33(0)652840396

www.morbihanyachtsurvey.com

SHUT YOUR TRAP

Catch lobsters, crabs, prawns etc inour folding traps & creels. see

range at www.interextrading.com orwww.yachtypots.com or email

[email protected]: 01254 703 516

OUTBOARDS-DIRECT of Brighton

SUMMER SALE, save up to 34% on new

2011/12/13 Yamaha, Evinrude, Mariner

outboards. Spare parts for most makes.

Zodiac tenders. We ship worldwide.

01273 603322

www.outboards-direct.co.uk

S A�A!� OAT � ��7 R� S �T�!ationwide, Continental, 8orldwidefor 40 years. !o weight limit. 24hr�ancashire #ps room. Tel: 01254705225. [email protected]

OATTRA!SPORT �T� 2�,�rance, .pain & .candinaÝia. Tel:07o31 4o6710 ¯ on�.at°. oats 15¿ r50¿ long. www.boattransport.co.uk

MARINE DIRECTORY






MARINE ENGINES INBOARD

MARINE ENGINES INBOARDMARINAS

SAILS

Visit us at PSP Southampton Boat Show (F023) andview the range of Engines, Windlasses & BowTrusters

Tel: 01603 714077

www.peachment.co.uk

UK Distributors for

Nanni Diesel, Lofrans’

and Max PowerMARINA BERTHS

Package Deals Available

Example: 25f boat: all craneage/power wash/three

months ashore and annual mooring from

£1550 inc VAT

KEMPS QUAY

Contact Sarah on 023 8063 2323 or [email protected]

YEARCRUISING SAIL

GUARANTEE T: +44(0)1603 782223 E: [email protected] W: jeckells.co.uk

MANYSAILSINSTOCK

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SAILS WANTEDspinnakers ,cruising chutes and snuffers

Free collection and top prices paid

www.exchangesails.co.uk

01752895004

MARINE DIRECTORY



T I P O PT

et.1986

Clean your sails thi winter...28 YEARS OF SAIL LAUNDRY TO THE SAILMAKING TRADE.

CLEANING HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS OF SAILS, COVERS AND CANOPIES.

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Find your nearest trade partner...

SouthArun Sails Ltd sailmakers.com Arthurs Chandlery arthurschandlery.co.uk Banks Sails banks.co.uk Batt Sails battsails.com Bond Sails bondsails.co.uk C&J Marine Ltd cjmarine.co.uk Coastal Covers coastalcovers.co.uk

Comfort Afoat comfortafoat.co.ukCovercare Ltdcovercareltd.co.uk Cover2cover cover2cover.co.uk Crystal Covers crystalcovers.com Dell Quay Covers dellquaycovers.co.ukDoyle Sails Ltd doylesails.co.uk Elvstrom Sails UK elvstromsails.comFlew Sails fewsails.co.ukGP Sails gpsails.comGR Proclean grpro-clean.co.uk

Chandlers Ltd harbour-chandlers.com Hyde Sails Service fewsails.co.uk Kemp Sails kempsails.com Lucas Sails lucas-sails.comMastercovers Ltd mastercoversltd.co.uk Nickys Canvasworksnickyscanvasworks.com North Sails northsails.com OneSails South onesails.com Quay Sails quaysails.comSailcare Co Ltd sailcare.co.uk

Sail Style sailstyle.co.uk SO31 so31lof.com Sussex Yachts sussexyachts.co.uk Tec Sew tecsew.com Ultimate Sails ultimatesails.co.uk

Eat Jeckells the Sailmakersjeckells.co.uk Lonton & Gray lontonandgray.comOneSails East onesails.com

Northrop Sails northropsails.com Sufolk Sails sufolksails.net Wilkinson Sails wilkinsonsails.co.uk Wet Armada Sails armadasails.com Dart Sails dartsailsandcovers.co.ukJohn McKillop Sails classicsails.co.uk Penrose Sailmakerspenrosesails.co.uk Sailtech sailtech.co.uk

Solo solosails.com Ullman Sailsullmansails.co.uk North Douthwaite Sails douthwaitesails.com Ecossails ecossails.co.uk Storrar Marine Ltd storrarmarine.co.uk Trident UK tridentuk.com

Ireland Downer International downerint.com North Sails Irelandie.northsails.com Olimpic Sailsolisails.ie UK McWilliams uksailmakers.com/ireland.html Quantum Sails www.quantumsails.ie

USING THE BEST CLEANING AND COATING PRODUCTS!

m5... our new Anti-fungacidal process, this involves cleaning and coating of your sail.If your sails sufer from black dot mildew or green algea growth specify this service, it will prevent growth for up to 9 months.

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Seaview... ALL our covers that are cleaned leave the workshop ,with all windows polished ,with our own developed window coating. Watch the rain just run of as standard at no extra cost.

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JOB VACANCY:

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Very hardworking, conscientious person with sailing experience. Working in

our team cleaning sails and covers this winter October – April. C.V’s to [email protected] to apply.

jkNicholsons Hughes Sails Ltd nhsails.co.uk Saturn Sailssaturnsails.co.uk

Scotland




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01394 615755

www.yachtmasterinsurance.co.ukAuthorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

)or aOO t\SHs oIYachts & Motorboats

"Experience You Can Trust"

Fancy regularly sailing a455 Dufour Grande Large?

Share the costs, the fun and thesailing with Fleet Cruising Club.

Moored in Plymouth in thesummer and who knows where

in the winter.RingRogeron 07947 507553 or

visitwww.feetcruisingclub.co.uk

MARINE ENGINES OUTBOARD

INSURANCE

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insurance

Windsor:

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SEE US AT PSP SOUTHAMPTON BOAT SHOW12 - 21 SEPTEMBER ON STAND F022

or call 0345 607888

yacht charter and sailing holidays


to advertise call the credit card hotline: FREEPHONE 0800 783 9683

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Boat Show!

Original Boat Owner’s Sketchbook volumes 1 to 5 are now available to download from www.pbo.co.uk/sketchbook priced at £4.95

each. A limited number of printed volumes 3, 4 and 5 of the original Sketchbook series are still available from the PBO Editorial office

priced at £3.75 each, or all three for £10. Order yours by calling tel: 01202 440830 or email: [email protected]

by Dick Everitt


ww

w.d

ickeveri

tt.c

om

A. Rowing a hard tender rather than motoring an inflatable means we don’t need to

carry stealable items like a pump, repair kit, tools, motor and fuel tank. A name in

large letters and an odd colour scheme helps to deter thieves, but avoid T/T

(tender to) in the name, as it shows the mother ship is unoccupied.

B. An inflatable with an ugly cover over the tubes and the outboard keeps the

tropical sun off and makes it look less desirable.

C. Gear can be locked together with a thin wire strop.

D. Unsecured rowlocks get ‘borrowed’ – captive ones don’t!

E. Closed rowlocks with ‘buttons’ can be locked to the boat.

F. You can also make a bracket to fix them to the thwart.

‘Button’

G. A slide-in lockable box will trap the

oars and protect all of the other items.

H. An inflatable is very vulnerable, so

this locked box is bolted to the transom.

I. Outboard locks help, and a metal-topped

transom is harder to saw through,

deterring outboard thieves.

J. This secure long box lets the oars slide

in, and creates a forward rowing position.

K. A bag conceals stuff from prying eyes

and this one is encased in a steel mesh

wire cage, that backpackers use.

L. A simple fabric seat holdall will at least

keep all the bits and pieces out of sight.

M. If nothing else, hide stuff under the

dinghy and make a show of strength by

securing it. OR, in some places, pay a small

fee to local boat boys to keep an eye on her.

AB

C

D

E

F

G

J

H

I

K

LM

Keep your dinghy and belongings safe while ashore

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practical boat owner - october 2014 uk

Documents

months pbo

southampton boat show87

s project boat

new products

pbo sketchbook28 help

difference13 new boats

plus epoxy

epoxy resin contessa