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After a long day at the Boat Show last week, I was rarin’
to get over to the Cruising Association to hear Chuck Paine, master yacht designer, speak on ’35 Years of Cruising Design’!!!
- He was an architect who wanted to be a naval designer
- so he designed a small yacht based on a fishing dory profile that he admired one day and called it ‘Frances’.
- He started to build his boat (a double-ended cutter) in a small shed…
but
- the shed – and boat – burned down after one year (though not before Tom Morris, soon-to-be great boat builder saw it).
- Chuck rebuilt it from scratch with the help of his twin brother
and
- Yachting World gave it a GREAT review.
- This review was so good that it generated the most positive inquiries YW ever got.
- four builders asked to build it – Chuck picked one, the Desty brothers.
- This became the Frances 26 class,
- a good enough start to launch a design company on.
Chuck builds a design company
- Tom Morris, now upcoming-great boat builder, hires him to design the Morris Leigh in the US (in the UK, called the Victoria 30).
And next
- Chuck really wanted to design for Rival Yachts, a British boat builder, too.
So
- he set up a stand at the London Boat Show and started sketching his stuff – stuff that maybe Rival Yachts might like to make.
- 2 suits from the London banking district admired his work, and trotted him over to the Rival Yachts boat show stand nearby.
- They tell Rival Yachts that they will each buy a yacht on the spot if Rival uses Chuck’s design.
- And they did.
Growth
Chuck designs:
- Morris Linda 28
- Morris Annie 29
- Morris 30
- Morris 32
- Morris 34
- …
- Morris 52
More Growth
Chuck designs:
- the Paine keel (adapted from the Sheel keel)
- the largest aluminum boat at the time in the US (125 feet)
- Vela
- Te Mana
- Onora
- Seal
- Carol
- Cabo Rico
- Bermuda series
- Tangier 31
- Erica 45
- Gusto 44
- and a bunch of other stuff that the Can Opener couldn’t write down fast enough as the power point slides flipped past…
- … and finally the Frances II.
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Then Chuck retired and wrote a book.
The original Frances
Turns out that the namesake of the original Frances class boat (Frances Cairncross, former editor of the Economist and Rector at Exeter College, Oxford) was in the audience that evening, so Chuck introduced her. Round of applause.The book
Chuck summed up all of the above in a great big book (with hundreds of illustrations) which we haven’t read yet but sure looked nice.Great speaker with a pretty fantastic life story to talk about. A++ for another great Cruising Association lecture.Ever heard Chuck speak?Where and when? What did he speak on?I could listen to that guy for days.–Captain Cat(transcribed by the Can Opener)Cruising Lectures
Next: Jimmy Cornell Speaks - Previously: Battery Capacity
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Battery Capacity
‘The most unreliable part of the boat is its electric systems.’–Tony BrooksAt the Boat Show we managed to attend 2 (free!) mini lectures, the second of which was on ‘Electrics for Boaters’ with Tony Brooks.
Tony is an instructor offering boaters’ courses and technical help. His site with some good technical notes on it can be found here.
He only had 20 minutes to speak and focused on calculating how much battery capacity you actually need to have on your boat.
Here are the highlights…First do an energy audit- Turn all electrical items off on your boat. Then one by one, turn each item on and off to determine how many amps each item on your boat draws (eg lamp uses 3.4 amps, pump uses 5 amps).
- Estimate how many hours you use each item for per day (eg lamp used 2 hours, pump used 2 hours).
- Multiply each item’s amps by the # hours/day used – this will give you amphours per day per item (3.4×2=6.8 and 5×2=10).
- Add up all the amphours of all the items together (6.8+10=16.8 amphours).
- This tells you the amount of usuable battery capacity needed.
BUT
- You can’t use 100% of any battery all in one day!
- In fact, you should only use up 50% of the charge in your batteries each day (otherwise you significantly shorten the battery’s life).
- AND you can only realistically charge the battery to 80% of its so-called total rated capacity.
- Therefore really only 30% of the battery’s claimed capacity is available to you (80%-50%=30%).
Then calculate battery capacity
- 16.8 amphours per day is only 30% of rated battery capacity needed. So how many amphours of rated capacity do you actually need?
- Solve for x:
- 16.8/x = 30/100
- x = 56 amphours needed per day
So 1×110 ah batteries should be enough.
On the other hand, if you only charge your battery every third day, then you’ll need 168 amphours and should do fine with 2×110 ah batteries.
Listening to this lecture also showed us… we don’t know a thing about engines yet either. Hmm.So the Can Opener will be trolling the electrics section in our Don Casey’s Sailboat Maintenance Manual as well. And the RYA marine Electrics course has also been bumped up the list…
Have you ever done an energy audit?
Find any surprises?–Captain Cat
(transcribed by the Can Opener)
Cruising Lectures
Next: Chuck Paine Speaks
Previously: Diesel Bug
Boat Show 2012
I took the Can Opener to the boat show last Tuesday and herewith my report…How was the London Boat Show 2012?
Awesome!Highlights?- watched match racing in the sports pool with cute ‘mini 12m’ Illusions
- boat tours at the Southerly stand
- mini lectures on diesel engines and electrics for boaters
- comparison shopping at the chandlery stands
aaaaannnd…
- finally invested in foul weather gear for the Can Opener (Musto Ocean HPX)!
Hi / Low Point
Thought I saw Dee Cafari passing the Marine Super Store stand, but the dratted Can Opener was too quick. He snaffled me into a sturdily built sail sack before I could even think about launching myself off the clothes rack into her shopping bag.Conclusion
Nevertheless, all in all a great day!Did you make it to the Boat Show this year? Any more great sites to see we missed? There was really too much to take in in just one day.
–Captain Cat
(transcribed by the Can Opener)
Maiden Voyage – Reviewed
links below at bottom of post Book the Captain just finished snoozing on: Maiden Voyage
Just finished Maiden Voyage by Tania Aebi. It describes her solo circumnavigation starting at age 18 from New York in 1985 and finishing 2 years later in 1987.
Zipped through the whole book in less than a day. Obviously a gripping tale.
The stuff I loved- She did it at 18 years old – holy shiny binnacles, Batman!
- She did it on a boat that was only 26 feet long!
- At the time, she was the youngest person ever to circumnavigate (minus 80 km during which she had a friend on board)
- She seemed like a cat lover – she took along 2 cats!
- I got through the whole thing in less than a day – I was riveted.
Concerns
She left on an intended circumnavigation:- with little sailing experience
- without knowing how to anchor, navigate or fix an engine
- without fixing simple factory defects in her boat that could easily have been found during shakedown voyages*
and most disturbingly…
- en route, she gave away one of her cats!!
Yikes! Who could do that??I found it fascinating, interesting, insightful, and was totally hooked… until the unforgivable moment of madness at the end of the book when she gave away one of her cats!!!!!!!After that, I did not have the strength to carry on and assigned it to the Can Opener.Any other books you would recommend for cruising? I am researching for the next round of additions to our sea library…
–Captain Cat(transcribed by the Can Opener)* Wikipedia, Tania Aebi
Other Book Reviews
Previously: Self-Sufficient Cruiser – Book Review
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http://ws.amazon.co.uk/widgets/q?rt=tf_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=GB&ID=V20070822/GB/thecrukit01-21/8001/bede2c89-2a19-47af-8071-30906883f0ca <A HREF=”http://ws.amazon.co.uk/widgets/q?rt=tf_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=GB&ID=V20070822%2FGB%2Fthecrukit01-21%2F8001%2Fbede2c89-2a19-47af-8071-30906883f0ca&Operation=NoScript”>Amazon.co.uk Widgets</A>Après-Boat Show Cocktail Party
We went to an ‘Après-Boat Show’ cocktail party at the Red Tabby Yacht Club last night!Why do they hold this each year? Because it seems like a fine idea. And it is.There’s not much better than wallowing in all things marine till you’re so tired yer gonna drop… and then popping over to the boat club the next day to celebrate the start of a new sailing season with like-minded folk.Pussy Galore was there, surrounded by every unattached cat in the place. What they see in her, I’ll never know. Naturally, I ignored her.Then I discreetly organised an on-the-spot bawdy song chorus in the bar with the remaining late evening stragglers. My good buddy, the retired rock-ocracy scion who goes by the moniker ‘Prince (and some name beginning with an A)’, made a fine and able assistant. We both agreed the ‘stop-that-screeching’ comments from the lobby were entirely unnecessary.If that doesn’t get her attention, nothing will. Not that I wanted to, you understand.–Captain Cat(transcribed by the Can Opener)Diesel Bug
Just back from the Boat Show – which was brilliant!
Amidst all the boat and gear ogling, we also managed to attend 2 (free!) lectures, one of which was on ‘caring for diesel engines for cruisers’ with Tony Brooks.
Tony is an instructor offering boaters’ courses and technical help. His site with some good technical notes on it can be found here.
He only had 20 minutes to speak but had great handouts and parts on hand to illustrate his points.
Here are the highlights…For a long lived and happy engine you need:
- a clean fuel system
- a clean oil system
- a clean air system
and
- regular maintenance prevents and pre-solves a lot of problems.
Okay. So far so good. Then came the meat of the talk…
Diesel bug
This is a pretty yucky bug that likes to live in your diesel fuel and turns it a burnt brown colour and lumpy (dead bugs). The solution previously appeared to be to add emulsifier to the fuel.Unfortunately, this emulsifier caused a new problem – a waxy-like, light coloured fuel which blocks up the filter. Not good.
To get rid of diesel bug, you should:- stop using emulsifier
- treat your tank by adding a de-emulsifier with a biocide included in it (eg Marine 16 or Grotamar)
- let it stand to give the de-emulsifier with biocide time to do its job
- pump out the cloudy opaque fuel from the bottom of your tank
- then keep using the Marine 16 or Grotamar regularly
Listening to this lecture highlighted that… we don’t know a thing about engines yet.Even the Can Opener was motivated to jump to the engine section in our Don Casey’s Sailboat Maintenance Manual.
We’re also going to take the RYA Diesel course earlier than planned. As the wise bloke at the Boat Show’s Cruising Association stand said, being able to troubleshoot an engine will make us more appealing as crew. So bring it on.
Have you ever gotten diesel bug in your fuel?
What did you do?–Captain Cat
(transcribed by the Can Opener)Cruising LecturesNext: Battery Capacity
Previously: Stay Alive – How to Cross Shipping Lanes
At The Boat Show!
We are at the Boat Show today.We’ll also be attending a cruising lecture at the Cruising Association this evening.Captain Cat will return tomorrow with tales to tell!–Captain Cat(transcribed by the Can Opener)
Study Sailing in French… and Spanish?
Big load of books (ordered last week) came through the mail slot yesterday! I am celebrating first off with a giant snooze on Tania Aebi’s Maiden Voyage. It looks great!Aaaaaaaannnd… I just ordered:- Mettre les voiles : Le manuel pour choisir son bateau, naviguer, vivre à bord, par Antoine
I figure if the Can Opener’s upgrading his French for cruising in the Pacific Islands, why not kill two birds with one stone (yum) and get a ‘How to Cruise’ text in French to study with?
Come to think of it… the Can Opener’s just a beginner at Spanish. I bet I can find some kind of beginner ‘learn to sail’ book that covers parts of the boat and basic terminology in Spanish.
Maybe something put out by the Spanish yachting association or on amazon.es. Hmm. Off to research…
–Captain Cat
(transcribed by the Can Opener)Can Opener: Okay – I see the logic and all… but are you ever going to include me in your planning?Captain Cat (tail lashing): Why would I do that?
Previously: What Happened to ‘Spanish for Sailing’ Studies??Practical Research on Foul Weather Gear
Just back from taking the Can Opener out for some practical research on foul weather gear and life jackets. Time well spent.
Looks like we have narrowed it down to the Musto or the Henri Lloyd ocean gear.
Next, we’ll do some more targeted price comparison shopping before the big invest.
Feels like things are beginning to move along!
–Captain Cat
(transcribed by the Can Opener)
Spring Cruising Lectures 2012
The party begins!I have researched the lectures that the Can Opener will be attending with me this Spring 2012. With suitable amounts of smoked molluscs hidden in his backpack to ensure my nutritional requirements for the duration. Naturally.Here they are:- London Boat Show: Electrics for Boaters
- London Boat Show: Diesel Engines
- Cruising Association: 35 Years of Cruising Sailboat Design with Chuck Paine
- Cruising Association: Sail Away
- Cruising Association: La Dolce Vita – Cruising the Islands of the Central Mediterranean
- Cruising Association: Hostage – A Year at Gunpoint with Paul & Rachel Chandler
- Cruising Association: Some By-ways off a Circumnavigation
- Red Tabby Yacht Club: Ocean Passage Making
This of course, will mean endless notetaking, transcribing and reviewing for the Can Opener.But he’s up to the challenge. We are very pleased with our First Mate’s continued progress. Yesterday I gave him two gold stars. If he keeps this up, tomorrow I may even share with him my mouse.–Captain Cat(transcribed by the Can Opener)
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The Cruising Kitty 