Staysail Stay, Roller Furling and Fixed or Hanks and Removable
posted by John & Phyllis
Web Site
Question: [edited for brevity] I’m refining the deck layout on the 41' voyaging boat I'm fitting out from bare hull. She will be sailed as a sloop, but fitted with an inner forestay for heavy weather. I am currently weighing the benefits of keeping that sail on a furling unit versus hanking it on to a removable stay. As she will be sailed shorthanded and pointed away from the equator, I like the safety and flexibility of having the sail ready to go on a furler, but worry about the problems of tacking the genoa through the 5' slot between headstay and inner stay when sailing in normal to light conditions. I am wondering what your experience is with this, and how you balanced the equation.
Answer: The key to this decision is the shape and size of the forward headsail. If the boat is a true cutter, like our own Morgan’s Cloud seen above, with a relatively large foretriangle and a high cut 100% (no overlap) jib topsail (yankee jib) then I think that a roller furler that can’t be removed is the way to go. The advantages, some of which we wrote about in this post, outweigh the slower tacking.
(Our technique when tacking short handed, which is most of the time, is to simply leave the staysail cleated and let it back on the new tack until we have ground in the jib topsail. Handled this way, the jib topsail slides across the staysail and between the two stays relatively easily. Once we have the larger sail all set we then tack the staysail at our leisure. The backed staysail does slow the boat a bit, but then everything on a boat is a compromise.)
On the other hand, if the boat is really a sloop with a staysail used only for heavy weather, and particularly if she is fitted with an overlapping headsail (genoa), then I think the problems of getting a genoa through the foretriangle outweigh the benefits of roller furling and a staysail hanked on to a removable stay is the way to go.
Generally, all other things being equal, our recommendation is that a boat to be sailed by a relatively fit couple should be a sloop with a removable staysail stay if her displacement is under about 28,000 pounds (12,700 kg), and a cutter if over. (Morgan’s Cloud displaces 52,000 pounds 23,600 kg).
We prefer cutters over two masted rigs like ketches as the answer to the problem of individual sails that are too large for a short handed crew; but each to their own.
Labels: Boats and Design
The S word - stability
posted by Colin Speedie
Web Site
Bringing our new boat home for the first time
From the first time I saw one, I thought that one day I’d like to own an OVNI for long distance cruising. Living and working for part of each year in France meant that I encountered OVNI’s and their sisters from Garcia and other builders regularly, and saw them return battered but proud from distant shores again and again. Listening to their skippers only made me more envious – all of them had nothing but the highest regard for the seakeeping abilities of these quirky craft. One day, I thought, one day…..
So when the time came to put our money where our mouth is, there was no hesitation. And I can honestly say that the vexed question of the supposedly limited stability of the OVNI was never an issue for us. I simply thought of Jimmy Cornell taking his OVNI 43 Aventura III to the Antarctic and Alaska, and then crewing aboard Igloo, an OVNI 39, to Spitsbergen. I also thought of many other well known high latitude boats, Pelagic, Seal, Parati (to name a few), all lifting keelers that have made equally illustrious voyages. Now we’ve a long way to go before we dare to include ourselves in the company of these immensely capable boats and their crews, but you have to aspire to something.
Nonetheless, I thought it would be interesting to check the numbers. The OVNI 435 has an EU category A (Ocean) rating, and that’s good enough for most people over here. Being no naval architect, the complexity of the formulae needed to come up with comprehensible figures made my head spin, so when I heard about the excellent Sailing USA web pages (www.sailingusa.info/cal__avs.htm, for example), where simple data entry can be calculated to give a wide variety of figures that might be pertinent to ocean cruisers, it seemed a good place to start. So using the manufacturers’ data from our owners handbook, the website allowed some basic calculations to be effected.
The OVNI 435 has a ballast ratio of 135% - about average for today’s cruising yachts, and has high form stability, as we found when we sailed her home recently. The stability value is 34.15, and the Angle of Vanishing Stability (AVS) is 126.57, within the boundaries deemed acceptable for ocean crossing. The capsize screening value is 1.84, anything less than 2 being considered good. So looking solely at the stability numbers there is little to be overly critical about.
In terms of performance and comfort, the OVNI shows up well. The displacement to length ratio is 258, firmly in the moderate category, whilst the sail area to displacement ratio (with the standard genoa) should provide more than enough power for fast passage making at 22.42 – ours will be lower, though, as we are having a yankee rather than a genoa as our working headsail, giving us a rating of somewhere just under 20 – more cruiser territory. And finally, she has a motion to comfort ratio of 31.17, which when combined with the soft ride associated with internal ballast should make her a comfortable boat to make long passages aboard. All in all, a steady, middle of the road design built for long distance cruising.
Of course, these are “dry” figures, so we’ll be making sure that we don’t overload our boat. She has been kept deliberately simple, and even with only two of us aboard for most of the time, we’ll still be watching the weight. We’ve also kept weight down aloft – radar on the stern arch, hanked on staysail and so forth to keep the stability levels up, and in keeping with all our previous boats, we’ll be stowing everything possible below decks on passage. Keep it low, keep it light and keep the decks clear is a good way to go, we believe.
Another factor we’ll be looking to exploit is the ability to lift the centreboard when going downwind, not just to gain extra speed (although that’s good, too) but to avoid “tripping” on the keel and broaching. Many experienced OVNI sailors report lifting the keel in bad weather, allowing the boat to slide when hit by bigger waves, rather like a multihull. Well, if and when we have to face that, we’ll find out how well it works!
But at the end of the day, these are all just figures, and as it’s not unknown for well respected ocean cruisers to get into serious trouble if caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, we’re not kidding ourselves that we’ll be any less likely to suffer if it’s our turn one day. And so we’ll be out as soon as possible learning how our new boat likes to heave-to, run or work her way upwind in strong winds, and what survival tactics or equipment will be most suitable for our boat, so that we’ve at least a good working idea of where to start when the going gets really tough. There’s nothing like empirical experience, as the sea soon deals with the complacent, and at the end of the day it’s down to the way the crew handle the boat in so many cases, and staying away from the most dangerous places and conditions if at all possible.
The Sailing USA website makes this abundantly clear, quoting the 1998 Sydney – Hobart race review report that gave the following as one of the significant findings: “There is no evidence that any particular style or design of boat fared better or worse in the conditions. The age of yacht, age of design, construction method, construction material, high or low stability, heavy or light displacement, or rig type were not determining factors. Whether or not a yacht was hit by an extreme wave was a matter of chance.”
The numbers for the OVNI are reassuring, and may be one of the reasons why so many experienced sailors over here choose them for ocean crossings, which is good, but it is surely only a small part of the picture. We always felt we had chosen wisely long before we looked at the numbers though, and felt that as others had gone before us and come back to tell the tale, then with time, experience and humility in the face of the sea, maybe we shall make it too. So now it’s down to us, a good strong boat and yes, that indefinable entity – luck.
[This post is part of a continuing series on the selection, building, and fitting out of an aluminum Ovni 435 by guest writer and very experienced offshore sailor Colin Speedie. You can read earlier posts in this series by clicking here and scrolling down to Colin's posts.
If you want to make sure that you don’t miss the next installment in this series, without having to keep checking this blog, subscribe to our feed or automated notification e-mails, both available on the side bar. You will then receive a short notice when the next post comes up. Of course we will respect your privacy and will never divulge your e-mail address or shower you with junk. If you don’t like the feed you can unsubscribe in a moment.]
Labels: Boats and Design
A practical cruising rig
posted by Colin Speedie
Web Site
Here in Europe the standard rig for most yachts sold as “cruisers” is still the sloop, usually with a large overlapping genoa of 130% or more. That might be fine in sunny sheltered waters with an army of gorillas to help out, but is less than ideal for shorthanded crews sailing in windy and exposed seas. This is when the ability to shift gear to suit the conditions by reefing swiftly and safely is far more important, and the true cutter rig comes in to its own.
So we have opted for a roller furling Yankee, coupled with a hanked on staysail on a detachable stay. The mainsail is fully battened, using Harken cars and mast track – simply the best there is. All reefing will be by single lines lead aft to the cockpit handled by a power driven winch. The aim is to achieve (as far as possible) the ability to reef all sails from the cockpit with the minimum of fuss.
We have specified spare halyards for most sails, believing that the extra complexity and windage should be more than compensated for in terms of safety and reliability. This is not all that awkward to achieve – although our rod kicker (theoretically) does away with the need for a topping lift, we’re still going to have one as it will also double as a spare main halyard. The spinnaker halyard is having an extra long tail, to double up as a lifting halyard for our dinghy, and also so it can be deployed should we have to rescue anyone from the water. As this halyard is led aft to the power winch, this should prove a useful and practical feature.
All OVNI’s are supplied with Sparcraft spars, which seem robust and well finished. A full set of folding mast steps are being fitted to simplify regular rig inspections aloft, conning the boat in shallow water and in case of the need to make emergency repairs. As OVNI’s are true centreboarders, the mast is mounted well forward above the pivot point of the keel to ensure good balance of the hull and rig. This means that the boom doesn’t sweep the cockpit, a useful safety feature on any cruising boat. For the first time on any of our boats we have specified a boom brake, in our case the new model from Wichard. This is a clever looking device, derived from climbing equipment, and has no moving parts, relying solely on friction to slow the travel of the boom and will double, we are told, as a preventer when fully tensioned. It will be interesting to see how well it works.
The rig is well stayed, in the best traditional cruising manner. Many modern yachts are going over to one single chainplate per side to handle all standing rigging, combined with aft swept spreaders, features that don’t appeal to us on a cruising boat. In contrast, Pèlerin has fore and aft lowers giving vital support where it matters in the bottom panel of the rig, combined with parallel spreaders that reduce chafe on the mainsail, and make it easier to reef the main off the wind – a hardship at times with a fully battened main even with parallel spreaders. Some crews find the running backstays on cutter a nuisance, but we like them as they stiffen the rig up immensely, and are very reassuring in strong winds. Twin standing backstays offer a simple and dependable failsafe in the event of one failing. All in all, it’s a simple, strong, belt and braces set-up in line with our overall philosophy of safe, self-sufficient cruising.
[This post is part of a continuing series on the selection, building, and fitting out of an aluminum Ovni 345 by guest writer and very experienced offshore sailor Colin Speedie. You can read earlier posts in this series by clicking here and scrolling down to Colin's posts.
If you want to make sure that you don’t miss the next installment in this series, without having to keep checking this blog, subscribe to our feed or automated notification e-mails, both available on the side bar. You will then receive a short notice when the next post comes up. Of course we will respect your privacy and will never divulge your e-mail address or shower you with junk. If you don’t like the feed you can unsubscribe in a moment.]
Labels: Boats and Design
The London Boatshow
posted by John & Phyllis
Web Site
We just got back to our cottage in Nova Scotia from the London Boatshow. While the people we met and the old friends we reconnected with made it a great trip for Phyllis and me, and well worth while, I have to say that the show itself was a disappointment.
The trend toward focusing ever more on gadgets and ever less on seamanship and good boat design and build seems to continue unabated. Does it really matter if your plotter has a million features that you will probably never use and is connected by some whizbang network so it can display everything from your fuel consumption to how many cans of tomatoes you have left in the galley? Come to think of it, it does matter since all this interconnection now means that the whole works can crash at once. I’m as much a technology lover as anyone, having spent most of my business life in the computer industry, but this stuff is starting to bore me witless.
Two gadgets I did like: AIS transponders that will not only tell you about the ships around you but also tell them about you. Now that would be a real comfort when heaved-to in a gale, particularly if you had a bunch of gear like a sea anchor over the side. I also liked a new design passive radar reflector that claims to substantially upgrade radar visibility and will fit exactly where our old Firdel Blipper is mounted.
It was sad to see how few sailboats there were when compared to motorboats. Maybe $100 a barrel oil will fix that. Of the few sailboats that were there, most were, in my never humble opinion, very poor offshore designs with flat U-shaped sections forward and wide sterns with too much buoyancy aft. Boats that will pound hard enough to shake your fillings out when going to windward offshore and bury their bows in every convenient wave. Add a lightly built spade rudder and a deep fin keel that will drive up through the bottom of the boat the first time you hit something, and you have a recipe for broken dreams.
The Hallberg Rassy 43 was an exception to the above although I still think the stern is a bit wide. All the builder needs to do is get rid of some accommodation and increase the deck-accessible storage from the current amount that might be just adequate for three fenders and two dock lines. Two heads and two showers in a 43’ boat, give me a break. Lose the acres of teak too; no voyager has time to take care of it. How about a voyaging version? No teak on deck, one head only and use the space saved for an expanded engine room and parts storage area with workbench. Cut down the cabins a bit and let’s have a real lazarette and a decent sized locker forward. Combine these changes with HR’s undeniable quality (the engine and mechanical installation is a work of art) and the HR43 would be a nice voyaging boat, albeit at a hefty price.
A bright spot in all of this was Colin Speedie’s new Ovni that he has been writing about on this blog. This is definitely an offshore boat. When I got past the hard chines and flat area at the very bottom of the hull (so she can dry out) I realized that she might be a surprisingly sea-kindly hull too. Add to that the incredible value for money (at least in Euros) and Alubat’s willingness to make substantial customizations at reasonable cost, and you have an interesting alternative to a custom-built boat in aluminum. Of course there is the stability question that rears its head whenever we talk about centerboard boats, but I think this concern is overblown. Ovnis have been everywhere and centerboard boats like “Seal” and the “Pelagics” have seen a lot of heavy weather without any of their crews wearing them as a hat. Colin will be dealing with the stability issue at some length in a future post.
In summary, there are better boat shows for offshore sailors: Several people told me that both the Düsseldorf and Paris shows have more serious voyaging sailboats on display. Although I have not been to one for 10 years, I suspect that for North Americans the Annapolis Boat show is a much better value than trekking all the way to London.
Now to tackle the mountain of email, including several interesting questions from our readers that will make it to this blog in the next few days. After that, it’s back to the heavy weather series.
Labels: Boats and Design, Rants and Musings
A practical interior at sea or in harbour
posted by Colin Speedie
Web Site
Our new saloon taking shape
A boat designed for extended offshore cruising has very different priorities from one designed for the occasional weekend aboard or a two week annual holiday. The former, is, after all, going to be your home, and you will be spending the majority of each year aboard at anchor or in harbour. The emphasis therefore shifts towards practicality, stowage and liveaboard comfort.
The OVNI comes with an aft cockpit, so that to some degree dictates the layout below. We have made a significant number of departures from the standard layout, starting in the bow area where we have done away with a heads and shower module, replacing it with stowage and a small fixed workbench. Years working on charter boats and sharing cabins with heads units made this an easy choice! The standard forward cabin has an offset double forward to port, but this loses width due to the shape of the hull, so we have opted instead for a big central double, lots of stowage and a small writing desk. This is a bedroom, in effect – forecabins are of limited use at sea (unless you like being flipped like a burger), and we want a civilised, comfortable sleeping compartment for when we are in port.
The saloon is very much as per the standard OVNI layout, which is largely governed by the presence of the centreboard case. Sensibly Alubat make a virtue of this, offsetting the saloon seating and table to port, and using the case as the backrest of the central seat. We have asked for the chart table to face forward (it normally faces aft – which just feels wrong to us), and have altered the corner angles of the saloon seating to ensure that we have two good sea berths as a result. Although we are more used to having an island galley aft, this is not an option, so we’ll have to get used to a galley down the starboard side of the saloon – let’s hope it works well.
Aft of the galley we have opted for an enlarged head and shower, with full standing headroom. Again, we want a home, not a compromise, and with plenty of grab rails should have a heads that works as well at sea as in harbour. This modification loses us space in the starboard aft cabin, but we had already factored that in. Instead of the standard double berth in this cabin, we have opted for stowage and space for all of our vital services. What we want is instant and unobstructed access to all equipment that will need regular servicing – the watermaker and heater, for example – as our motto is “if a job’s easy – you’ll do it”.
A big double berth aft to port will be for guests, as well as being split as an additional sea berth. One of the things we are looking forward to most is company along the way, and this comfortable double ought to make even the most picky sybarite feel at home!
Wherever possible we have specified equipment that we know will be dependable and easily serviced. Quality equipment always pays for itself in the long run, so it’ll be Force 10 in the galley, Lavac in the heads and Webasto for the heating system. We are, after all, going to have to live with our choices day in, day out, and so we’re spending good money now in the hope we shall save it in the long run.
Labels: Boats and Design
Self defence in harbour
posted by Colin Speedie
Web Site
A practical foredeck with a range of mooring optionsThose of us with aspirations to cruise in higher latitudes tend to focus on obviously important kit – sails, ground tackle, engine – but sometimes at the expense of simpler and less apparent elements. For example, some of our time will still be spent in port, but that almost certainly won’t be the sort of haven we’re used to in more developed areas. Over the years a few fishing ports have put in small pontoons that yachts may be permitted to use, but as often as not if you are seeking shelter from bad weather (and you will be, at some stage) it will mean rafting up with fishing vessels and work boats. And here it will be just as important to be prepared for port as it would be for an exposed anchorage.
Production boats these days tend to be designed for marina dwelling, not mixing it up with the big boys – mooring cleats that are too few and too small with inadequate fairleads, and often poorly secured to the deck. A bad night in a small fishing port with a big storm surge finding its way around the corner will soon find any weaknesses. And when FV “Cruncher” arrives with an exhausted crew at 0300 and berths alongside you, will they be able to spot your cleats, or even drop one of their hefty lines around one? If not, look out, as they will have to make fast to whatever is most obvious, and not necessarily what you might have chosen.
The answer is to scale up accordingly, both above and below deck. For our new boat, we have specified oversized welded cleats, and added a huge additional pair in the bow, where from previous experience we know we’ll need them. We have no fairleads, simply wide and open access to the cleats, allowing all angle attachment. Extra cleats also allow one warp for one job, essential when additional warps such as shore lines are required.
At least a couple of really long warps are essential, especially in areas with a high rise and fall of tide, to make fast to bollards or rings on the pier. Robust protectors for these (we use reinforced loo pipe) where they pass over the edge of the pier, will stop chafe devouring them in a few hours. We’ve even seen warps with chain ends for this purpose, and didn’t think that was overkill at all.
A must is a robust fender board, especially when alongside vertical pilings, allowing the fenders to remain in place. It is possible to link sausage fenders into a horizontal daisy chain in normal conditions, but once your boat starts to surge back and forth, nothing but a fender board will do – they are also ideal when alongside barnacle encrusted jetties, too.
Our boat is also having a welded, unpainted rubbing strake just below deck level, for those unfortunate moments when a fender slips out of place, and the topsides grind against a dock, which should save paint and pride in equal measure.
For when the storm hits, you’re on your own, and preparation for every eventuality is vital. And if you have made everything as strong as it needs to be, with the gear to back it up, then you will be ready to face the challenge, confident that you and your precious boat will still be there in the morning.
Labels: Boats and Design
Making the most of aluminium
posted by Colin Speedie
Web Site
Our new boat - welded everything!
Aluminium has many obvious attributes as a construction material – high strength to weight, durability, lack of maintenance – but there are other, subtler benefits that aluminium can be offer, especially if starting from scratch. Careful thought at the planning stage to take advantage of that potential is time well spent.
It is an easy material to work in. Louise has just returned from France where she has inspected our boat at the completion of welding. From start to finish it has taken around six weeks from a pile of plate to a finished hull and deck. She was also able to view the completed joinery waiting to be dropped into place. This is, in effect, “furniture”, and not structural, a benefit in terms its long term integrity, as well as ease of access for periodic inspection of the hull or in the event of any structural damage that might necessitate welding. It also demonstrates how an aluminium yacht in the hands of the right builder need not end up being colossally expensive.
Aluminium lends itself to one-off design internally too. In a GRP yacht the position of bulkheads is still to some degree dictated by their structural role, making the interior layout far less flexible. With aluminium, bulkheads, heads units and so forth can in theory be wherever you like. The only limiting factor for us is the factory philosophy of limited modification at sensible cost – but if we had wanted a custom built interior, we’d have to be prepared to pay for it, so we’re very happy with what we’re getting.
The OVNI has a number of features that make good use of the potential of aluminium construction. All tanks (fuel and water) are integral and welded into the hull, and have removable plates to enable cleaning and internal inspection. All of the lead ballast (3.5 Tonnes) is encapsulated in plastic and then plated in to the bilges. In the event of the hull being pierced in any of these areas, only a tank or a ballast chamber will be breached, hopefully averting a potential loss. At our request the builders extended the forward bulkhead behind the anchor locker to full depth, welded and watertight, giving us a crash bulkhead against collision with any floating objects – that ought to help us sleep easier!
Where we have really tried to exploit the benefits of alloy construction is on deck. Our motto is, “if it can move - weld it”. Not just from the point of view of structural integrity, but also to avoid leaks and corrosion caused by dissimilar metals where fittings have been screwed or bolted on. So all grab rails (and we have plenty), dorade vents and tangs for deck gear are welded. We have also had fitted welded breakwaters around both forward hatches to protect the seals from deck sweeping seas, as well as a solid breakwater where the cockpit dodger will be mounted. All have been easy and cheap to achieve at this stage of the build – the watertight bulkhead, complete with inspection hatch cost around $300, for example. An additional anchor stern roller in line with a sheet winch was easily incorporated, a simple custom boat hook holder mounted on the stern arch, tangs for webbing davits – simple things, but worthwhile we feel, all adding in their own way to a functional, sturdy, and (hopefully!) leak proof home.
Labels: Boats and Design
A boat built to travel
posted by Colin Speedie
Web Site
A well protected rudder and prop are essential for cruising in remote waters
For us the choice of boat was dictated by our need for a traveling base camp for our wildlife photography interests, as much as for recreation. As the places we wish to visit are generally remote from civilization, we need a craft that can go virtually anywhere, for extended periods, and be as self-sufficient as possible – something like an ocean going 4x4. We think that the OVNI 435 more than fits that bill.
All OVNI’s offer the benefits of aluminium construction, including high strength to weight, resistance to penetration and abrasion together with integral fuel and water tanks. Combine this with the simplicity of modifying many elements of the construction and thus producing a semi-custom boat at the price of a good production boat, the package is attractive. In terms of what can be changed, the rule of thumb at the builders (www.alubat.com) seems to be that if it has been done before, or will not materially slow down the production line, then it can be accommodated at modest or no extra cost. As ours will be OVNI 435 number 104, the design-improvements and suggestions of the previous 103 buyers will ensure ours is as near to perfect as we can hope for.
Of the models on offer, the 435 has the most positive attributes of the range for us, including many “traditional” features such as a well-stayed cutter rig, a skeg hung rudder and protected propeller. The size is right for two of us to handle on our own, as well as being big enough to make a comfortable home with adequate tankage and carrying capacity. The sail plan is modest and well divided, and so should be easily manageable, important for us, as we both have backs that have seen better days!
The 435 draws 2’6”ft with the plate up, 8’4”ft with it down, and with a flat run along the centerline of the hull will sit upright when dried out on a level surface. Both plate and rudder are hydraulically controlled, and have an ingenious safety device in the manually operated pump, where copper plugs are designed to rupture in the event of either foil striking an object, allowing them to swing freely to avoid structural damage.
The benefit of true shoal draft like this opens up many cruising areas, and is ideal for the exploration we have in mind. Not only that, in many wild places, the ability to anchor further in can make a huge difference to comfort and safety in bad weather – with deep draft you are often sitting just too far out from shelter, sometimes exposed and uncomfortable. And it also means that in the event of maintenance or cleaning of the hull, you don’t need to head for the nearest marina Travelhoist, but simply find a suitable place to take the ground – autonomy, once again.
As for the looks, well you either love them or hate them: unpainted hulls may look drab, but mean no maintenance; chines are not everyone’s cup of tea, but add great rigidity to the structure, and so on. We think the 435 looks great - chunky, purposeful, and as Bill Tilman was fond of saying “fit to shunt ice”. She certainly does it for us.
Labels: Boats and Design
Choosing a suitable boat - new versus old?
posted by Colin Speedie
Web Site
An OVNI 435 being framed
There is a strong argument for buying a used boat for long distance cruising. The purchase price is initially more affordable, the boat often comes with a fairly full inventory, and may be well sorted out and ready to go.
Such boats do exist, but experience suggests that the reality is more likely to be just the opposite. The price, which on the face of it may seem attractive, often proves to be less so once the replacement of worn and obsolete equipment has been factored in – refits are never cheap. If your ambitions stretch beyond normal horizons then the equation becomes even more complicated, as suitable boats are few and far between. And upgrading even a well prepared stock boat to meet the needs of a totally independent cruising life will come at a premium price.
The desire for a metal hull narrowed our range of options further. Over several years we’d looked at many steel boats that might have fitted the bill, but all had what might be termed fatal flaws – no insulation, worn out equipment and rust, rust, rust! Such experiences began to divert the search from steel towards aluminium. At the same time more and more highly experienced sailors had turned to this light, durable material for their craft, especially where high latitudes were the destination – think S/V’s Aventura III, Hawk, Morgans Cloud, Northabout, Pelagic Australis, Seal, amongst others. Their reasons for making such choices were highly instructive and chimed with our own thoughts, so the search began for a suitable aluminium boat.
Aluminium boats in the UK are very rare indeed, although far more plentiful in Europe.
Boat builders in France have long seen the benefits of alloy construction, and the Dutch have followed suit, building on their mastery of the art of building in steel. Excellent used boats do come on the market, but we always seemed to hear about them too late – good boats at sensible prices were snapped up, and we undoubtedly missed a couple of beauties. At the same time, the usual mismatches in terms of our baseline, non-negotiable design features came up time and again.
Scrutiny of the prices helped to concentrate the mind – these boats hold their values incredibly well, a good thing if you own one, less so if you are looking to buy. When we focused on a couple of likely boats, worked out the cost of upgrading them to our requirements and added the inevitable bit extra, there was nothing much between them and a new boat, price wise. When we were faced with buying someone else’s compromise, however good the boat, the decision was made – we’d go for a new build. At least, too, with a new boat we stand a chance of having several years of relatively trouble free cruising.
So far we are happy with that decision. We have been able to build in many desirable custom features at remarkably little extra cost, one of the major advantages of building in alloy, and working with a builder who has done it all before. And we have had a major say in the interior, rig, deck and systems to create a boat that suits us from scratch. Time will tell whether we have got it right.
Labels: Boats and Design
Turning the dream into reality
posted by Colin Speedie
Web Site
Ever since I was a small child I have had a fascination with building things, or making them better – boats, cars and motorcycles have all come and gone in this manner. Some started as good basic raw material, others as well formed objects that simply needed fine tuning and affection.
And like many of us who love to sail, my ultimate dream has been to build a boat capable of going just about anywhere imagination can take me. And to my great good fortune, for the last few years I have had a partner in life (and sail) who shares that dream – so now there’s no excuse for either of us not to dream by day. So now, children grown, businesses sold, and the deposit paid, our coin is down the well.
So we now hope to distil a lifetime of sailing experience into creating a boat for 2 (+ occasional friends and family) that will be as safe and comfortable in the tropics as in the high latitudes we are more accustomed to. In my case 15 years as a sailing instructor and professional charter skipper and wildlife researcher, in Louise’s 4 years aboard our existing boat, plus a female eye for details I would undoubtedly overlook or dismiss – wrongly – as unimportant.
During my working career I skippered vessels as diverse as a sailing trawler, 72ft sail training ketch and for the last nine years a 39ft cutter. All have helped to inform our view of what will suit us. And like most sensible people we have cultivated a magpie eye for filching good ideas, so we believe that our new home will be both original and new. But as the old saying goes, all that means is that the parts that are original are not new, and the parts that are new are not original. And maybe that’s no bad thing – the sea doesn’t change, and evolution, not revolution probably makes most sense.
But what we both agree on is buy well, buy once and keep it simple. Anyone who has ever worked on even a modestly complicated charter boat knows that cheap and weak gear never lasts, always breaks at the wrong time, and that to opt for less than the best always results in a life of endless drudgery fixing/making/mending. And whilst that ability to repair is vital, constant practice doesn’t just make perfect, it can also ruin an otherwise pleasantly challenging pastime. We’d rather be cruising!
So we have taken the plunge, and our new boat has just begun to take shape. And, no, we’re not building her ourselves – we’ve both worked long and hard to get this far, and we want to get going – the clock doesn’t go backwards. But we have had the luxury of working with an Agent and Builder who are broadly sympathetic to out needs (and occasional demands!). Our choice of boat is (to some) unusual, and maybe wouldn’t be your choice either, but we hope you’ll nonetheless find it of interest to follow our trials and tribulations as ONVI 435 No 104 “Forever Changes” takes shape in the Alubat factory in Les Sables D’Olonne, France.
Over the next months we’ll be writing a regular update right up until she’s launched, and beyond. And we hope our travails may help inform you if this is your dream, too, maybe even inspire you, but never – hopefully – bore you.
Colin Speedie and Louise Johnson
Labels: Boats and Design
A new voice at Attainable Adventure Cruising
posted by John & Phyllis
Web Site
A few weeks ago we got a most thoughtful and clearly written email from a very experienced English cruising sailor named Colin Speedie. Since then we have discussed a variety of issues with Colin via email and have always learned from him. We posted his original communication here.
Colin and his partner Louise Johnson have just embarked on having their dream cruising boat built and have very kindly agreed to share the process with us and our readers in a series of posts on this blog. In addition, since they are from England and are having their new boat built in France, they will bring a European prospective to our blog.
Their choice of boat, while as different from “Morgan’s Cloud” as you could possibly imagine, is a boat that has long interested us. I won’t give anymore away. Welcome Colin and Louise. Look for their first post in the next few days.
Labels: Boats and Design
Our Next Boat? (John)
posted by John & Phyllis
Web Site
We just got back to the boat yard and “The Interminable Refit” —as we call our current project of going over every inch of “Morgan’s Cloud” —after a road trip that included a day at the Maine Boat Builder’s Show in Portland. This is a fun and kind of funky small show that, among other things, features a lot of very cool and sometimes innovative small sailboats.
We love the “Cloud” and hope to go on sailing her for many years to come, but when you are three years into a one year refit, as we are, small and simple starts to look awfully good. (I should say at this point that the three years includes one year spent on family health issues, not boat refitting.)
At the show I saw several small sailboats I liked, including several based on Herreshoff’s classic 12 ½ design, but the real standout for me was the Norseboat, designed by one of my favorite boat designers, Chuck Paine.
From her lines, rig, and what I hear, I’m certain she sails beautifully and her fine easily driven hull augurs well for speed under oars; so no motor required for those calm days—what could be more simple than that? Unlike the Herreshoff, which is a tiny keel boat, the Noreseboat is a big dinghy with all the ease of launching and retrieval that that implies and the special nippiness that only un-ballasted boats have. (I was once, long, long ago, a dyed in the wool 505 sailor and so have a special fondness for dinghies, even one as different from a 505 as this one.)
The guy leaning on the Norseboat in the picture is her developer and builder Kevin, who is grinning, I suspect, due to the success of his brain child.
Labels: Boats and Design, Rants and Musings
Answer: The key to this decision is the shape and size of the forward headsail. If the boat is a true cutter, like our own Morgan’s Cloud seen above, with a relatively large foretriangle and a high cut 100% (no overlap) jib topsail (yankee jib) then I think that a roller furler that can’t be removed is the way to go. The advantages, some of which we wrote about in this post, outweigh the slower tacking.
