End of Sailing Season Comments

[James Taylor]

As we come to the end the 2010 sailing season are there any comments or suggestions about our boat series (B40 and 43) that we might like to share? Good and not so good! Nice voyages, equipment installs that added to boats comfort and efficiency, other general topics worth sharing.?
James
B43#19

[Mike Brown]

James, nice idea. I'll add comments about AIS. I installed a ICOM recieve only unit over the winter and love the thing. I now can tell if that ship, tub and barge are coming at me or not. And for those times when I'm in doubt I now have a name to go with the vessel and simply radio for clarification. Very nice add on.
Mike

[James Taylor]

During our trip to New York this summer we were caught in fog at Barnegat NJ. NWS reported VSBY 3F it was more like 1/2mile with fog. Leaving Barnegat inlet in ideal conditions is complex enough. There was no turning back once we were pass the inlet so we limped along the east coast in calm water for most of the morning. Fog lifted around 1pm. We will be installing radar this winter. It will be raymarine rd218 2kw (24 mile) radar. I completed the v5.52 update on the E120 so it can handle digital radar.We plan to return to NE US this summer. AIS module, sirius weather/music module, and the ems100 engine monitoring module are on my wish list .

Our boat (B43) has been very good this year. We had to find and fix the leaking aft shower drain and a couple other minor issues but overall the boat has been very, very good.
After traveling all day from Cape May New Jersey to Sandy Hook NJ (7am-2am) under sail (except 2 hrs to top off batteries) I found our boat to not only be reliable, it is extremely comfortable. I dropped the anchor with plenty of scope in Sandy Hook NJ at 2am, went below, had a fabulous meal (excellent refrigeration, stove, and preparer) then took a nice long hot shower (in a real shower) and passed out til 7am. We then continued on to NYC.
James

[Aquamarine]

Has anyone considered installing Std Horizon GX2100 DSC/VHF/Hailer/AIS all in one. I see Mike installed the ICOM AIS (and apparently likes it a lot), but I was also cosidering electronic Fog signals which then is all packaged in one. I also read it needs a multiplexor. Hmmm, wondering if it could be connected to the autopilot like the current ICOM radio (M422) for GPS to DSC...

[Mike Brown]

James, we got caught in heavy fog leaving Cape May last summer but were able to turn back. Glad we did as Delaware Bay got hammered wiuth severe storms all day long. It was enough cause for me to add radar last winter. Of course no fog this year but that's OK. I used it anyway just to get accustomed to it so when the weather does set in we should be good to go. I think you'll like the RD218HD. I overlay it on the chart plotter which is nice. I find that you have to bring it in to apx 1 to 1 1/2 mile range to pick up on small boats. Even then some never show up so it's not a 100% fool proof.

[James Taylor]

Radar will be more than welcome on our boat!
Spoke to Bret at the local (Hampton Va, Winters Sails) Neil Pyrde sailmaker loft today. Have to replace the lower vertical batten on our furling mainsail. He informed me that losing vertical battens on furling mains can be an issue for motor-sailors.
He said something along the lines of motor sailing puts additional strains on sails and somehow can cause the battens to chaff through the bottom of the batten pocket. I am not sure what happened to my batten. We did not see or hear it hit the deck or splash. I will do a closer inspection of the batten pocket when I get to the boat to determine how it got out..
He recommended first drilling two small holes in the top of the new batten before installing batten in pocket, then stitch the batten to the sail once you have the batten in the pocket. This way should the batten chaff it's way through the bottom of the pocket you will not lose your batten. He also recommend have the bottom of the batten pocket reinforced with a couple layers of dacron as a reinforcement patch.
Anyone else lose a batten?

[Mike Brown]

Haven't lost any battens yet. Struggling to understand how motorsailing causes more stress on the main though. Not that it's an issue as 99% of the time we set the genoa when we motorsail. Easier to see and control, not to mention zero risk of an accidental gybe.

[Aquamarine]

Hello All,
Can someone recommend propeller treatment to retard barnacles? After this season I have quite a bit of build up on the prop.
Rgds,

[Mike Brown]

There's a product called PropSpeed that does a good job. The down side is it's expensive. This spring I applied lanolin, which is a major component of PropSpeed, to my prop and reports from the diver in October was that the prop was barnacle free. The hub and shaft were not so lucky so I'll apply a bit more next spring prior to launch. We're bringing the boat up to Riverside NJ this weekend and will have it hauled later in the month so I'll be able to share more at that time.

[Aquamarine]

Mike, Do you do anything special with the bow thruster to keep barnacles off, as well?

[Mike Brown]

Just cover everything in sight with bottom paint. Thruster still works well so I'm assuming it stayed fairly clean.

[James Taylor]

Mike, what type lanolin (commercial grade or over the counter)? How did you apply it?
Looks like NW winds at 10-15 this weekend should be great sail.Stay warm and enjoy your sail to home port. Do you have a fully enclosed cockpit?
Aquamarine, I used the Pettit underwater metal systems kit on the prop and shaft. I have not had the boat dived on since it was splashed in late April so I do not know what condition the bottom and bottom parts are in. We are hauling for the winter 1 Dec and get a look at the shaft, prop, and bottom then. We applied 1 coat primer( trinidad 6455), 1 coat of "tie coat" and two coats of hard bottom antifouling paint to the shaft and prop. This was recommended as a alternative to PropSpeed. The boat was handling well all season and we did not notice much of a power loss. We had the boat in fresh water (Potomac) for May and half of June so it has not spent the entire season in salt or brackish water. Our 1st year using Sea Hawk BioCopTF bottom paint and it appears to have held up very well, I have seen no barnacles at water level.Will be interesting to see bottom. Thanks for the info on the Std Horizon GX2100 DSC/VHF/Hailer/AIS all in one. I looked at it and it is a very nice piece of equipment. Did you connect yours to your chartplotter and does that involve additional equipment? I am leaning towards the ICOM unit as it is a very simple install and I would not have to remove my current transceiver and remote mike.
James

[Mike Brown]

James, I used over the counter lanolin and just smeared it on with my fingers. Yes the winds are predicted at 10-15kts NNW which should be perfect for both days as our course will be NE. We do have a full enclosure but are bringing our warmest clothes for the trip as it should be sunny but temps only around 50-52F. It's apx 6 to 7hrs running time both days so staying warm will be key to a good trip.

As for the AIS the ICOM connects to the existing VHF antenna which keeps it simple. I haven't noticed any degradation on VHF signal strength which is good. The hardest part of the installation was running the data cable to the E120 in the cockpit.
Mike