Bubba's Boat Projects

[Bubba the Pirate]

The main projects I need to accomplish before going back in the water are replacing throughulls, barrier coat, bottom paint, rebedding deck hardware, tracing the one pesky leak I know I have, and the standing rigging; which will include rewiring the mast and replacing lights and antennas aloft. I will prolly have the mast pulled as it will make wiring easier, I think, and also I have a Furuno radar dome up on the mast that I want to get working again. It is not currently hooked up the the original display/console. Also, the furler is not an offshore unit, darn near dangerous anyway in my opinion. I will remove that and sell the foils and sail to someone else. So, I'll have to make a yankee and a genoa or gennaker or both. I'm considering a composting head.

While I'm hiding out from the cold-ish weather, I'm working on a few boat projects here in Florida. 

I have decided to replace my standing rigging with Dyneema. I'm making dyneema dead-eyes here at the campground; a la Rigging Doctor, Zingaro, Tula, & Kraken Structures. I believe I might save as much as $500 over wire and StaLok fittings on each end of 9 shrouds & stays. Really that will allow me replace a lot of chainplates, tangs, and toggles within my budget. Where with SS wire rigging I might have been tempted to cut some corners.

Rigging Doc
https://youtu.be/ZqPf-i1jy10
Tula
https://youtu.be/JfVbzKPlI7k
Zingaro
https://youtu.be/tRe6q7jjbsY

Also, I'm going in with both feet on Openplotter using a Raspberry Pi. I have a bunch of components on the way. Two RPi's actually; one will run Openplotter and the ship's data, the other will be a media center -- primarily music. I have about 400 CDs ripped to a hard drive and various downloads just waiting to be enjoyed.
http://sailoog.com/openplotter

I plan to head back to Wilmington early in the last week of January.

I have lots of projects, mostly medium and small projects, many of which can be done at anchor. I will be doing a running evaluation of how much needs to be done on the hard vs. how soon can I get out of the boatyard and it's related expenses. These would include cabin wiring, upholstery, a more heavy replacement staysail, some canvas work, a bit of electronics like a new VHF, an Engel or similar, etc and making her my own.

I'm going to play around with sheet-to-tiller self steering at first. Hopefully I can find a used CPT or similar autopilot for motoring. Openplotter has some autopilot possibilities included but they are relatively new and I haven't read much about it; sounds like it is still basically a beta version. The ladder on the stern is dead center and in the way of a windvane, and the stern pulpit was designed with it in mind. But those are decisions down the road.

[Norman]

That is a reasonable list of projects, and getting the below water line duties done early makes sense.

Many wind vanes do not have to be on center, it just makes linkages harder to arrange.

If you use one that powers the tiller directly, there may be no problems, just adjust where the related blocks are mounted.

Was the Furuno radar recently working?  That can be expensive to repair, and keep in working condition.

Rather than going full off shore to start, I would be inclined to keep the furling jib until I had a year of coastal cruising, then do the work of selling and replacing it.  You may find that it is adequate, and convenient for single handing.  Crossing to the Caribbean Islands should not be a "Blue Water" adventure, everyone just waits for a good weather window, and crosses, even with 23 foot boats.

I think Frank will agree, making any crossing at the wrong time is a mistake you do not want to make, cruising is supposed to be fun.

Things like a tiller pilot are essential, you have to be able to take a break from steering, no matter how good or bad the weather is.  Sheet to tiller is comparable, once you have found the balance of your vessel, but that is not going to be in the first weeks or even months of sailing, if you are alone.  Someone must be tending the vessel while you are dealing with a system that is not in tune with either the boat itself, sea conditions, or wind.

You need to have those issues sorted out before you commit to going on the fore deck to change out sails in rough weather.  The furling sail will tide you over those introductory months.

I am sure that Charlie and Frank will chime in with some guidance on these items.

[Bubba the Pirate]

While I don't like furlers in general, I should add my concerns about this specific one.

The PO was not really a sailor's sailor, but enjoyed sailing. Also, I don't remember the brand. And perhaps, it's not even really a furler, but was being used as such. 

It is a similar rig to what I've seen on sails like a Code Zero. There is not a furling drum that rolls up the line. It is a wheel, a bit like the top of a self-tailing winch. The upper and lower discs of the wheel are metal, they have some ribs or nubs like teeth on the inside to engage with the line. The line is a continuous loop that runs down the starboard deck, but is sorely lacking a snatch block or something on the aft end. While the aft end loop is simply loose, the line runs through two pair of fairleads on it's way aft from the bow.

I moved the boat about 60 miles in July to get to a DIY boatyard I had found. What I discovered while motorsailing the boat is that whoever stiched the two ends of the "furling" line together made a huge messy knot. There is one particular fairlead that the messy knot was too big to go thru. Furling stops and I even gave it a couple good yanks in a panic.

The other thing that I discovered was that when unfurling the sail, the line skips on the "furling" wheel. This caused the messy knot to not always be in the same place. A couple times in pinch, when I really wanted to furl the sail, I'd hit that knot and could not furl any further. At least twice, I pulled the sail all the way back out with a sheet and furled it inside-out, the opposite direction, so that I could avoid that stupid knot and douse the sail. It's a big genoa, though I don't know the exact size -- it must be at least a 135.

All the above could be fixed if I re-stitched the knot.  However, I do not like that the rope can skip on the furling wheel. What that really means, in my humble opinion, is that in a squall or any good blow, the furled sail is not really secure. If the "furling" line is not going to hold the furling wheel tightly in position, it could unfurl at any moment when the right wind caught the rignt edge of sail.

Maybe there is a way to put enough tension on the loop, like with a snatch block on the aft end, thereby securing the line in the wheel. I don't know at this point. However, if I have the mast down and am re-rigging the boat, it seems as good a time as any to ditch that furler or whatever it is.

It's a REALLY nice sail, fairly new, with the foam inserts parallel to the luff to maintain sailshape when partially furled, but I just don't trust the system.

I've googled around and can't find anything that matches my memory. It is similar to this but is grey in color and appears to be cast metal. Makes me think of a 1940s car part.


Here is a picture of my ill-timed arrival last month.  You can kind of see that it is not a drum at the bottom of the furled jib.

[CharlieJ]

No knowledge of furlers. Never had one, actually never felt the need. The jib on Tehani has reef points, just like a main sail. Takes it down to a storm jib size. You can see the grommets in this pic

[CharlieJ]

Oh since I have gotten older, i have purchased all the hardware for a down haul on the jib. So I won't have to leave to cockpit to drop it

[Cyric30]

Hay Bubba
Im attempting to build a raspberry pi chart-plotter and autopilot as well. Ive gotten most of the components lined out, all im waiting on now is a stable build of openplotter for pi4...whats your plan ?

[Bubba the Pirate]

I didn't want to wait.

I bought a RPi 3 for Openplotter and an RPi 4 to play with, to run my music collection, and to do basic spreadsheets or writing documents.

Eventually I'll spend the money to get a RPi 4 when all that catches up.

[Cyric30]

Hum...i guess i could get a RBi3 and do the same, i imagine there cheaper now that the 4s are out... also what type of case/container have you decided to go with? and also what type of monitor/screen?

[Godot]

I put together a RBi3 a couple years ago. I used the official 7" touchscreen display and case with it, so it is pretty self contained. I have a GPS puck for position.

For what it's worth, it generally seems to work fine. There is a strange issue in that the touch screen was built upside down, which is crazy; but the solution is pretty well documented. Also, I found that using it via touch screen was frustrating and hooked up a mini wireless keyboard/trackpad to operate it.  I didn't sail last year and OpenCPN has been updated I believe since then, so perhaps the touch usability has been improved.

I really like OpenCPN and often run it on my laptop to plan routes and as a backup chartplotter (plus I can get the AIS signals from my radio into it so I can see traffic easier). Sadly, the laptop uses a lot of power; which is fine if I'm motoring a lot, but not so much if the weather is conducive to actual sailing. Using the Pi3 (which was adequately powerful...I don't think it is necessary to have the newer model, though I plan on trying it out anyway) I got most of the bang for a lot less of the electrical buck.

[Bubba the Pirate]

I'm using the official pi 7" touchscreen as well. I found a nice case for the screen and pi. Whenever the moitessier hat comes back in stock, there is an optional back for the case that will fit a hat. The case is the SmartPi Touch 2 which I bought from Adafruit.

Also, I'm using a wireless mini keyboard w/trackpad from Canakit.

I had music playing thru the RPi 4 this evening but I'm going to get a DAC card and some good speakers eventually.

I can't wait to try Openplotter. I am waiting on an sdcard to burn the image.

Godot - I will be in the Chesapeake this summer. As crew in May and hopefully on my Bayfield later. Not sure where.

[Godot]

We should try to get a Chesapeake Sail<far>in setup this year!

[CharlieJ]

On the Thursday night chats, Jim_Me , Cyric,  myself and a couple others have been trying to set something like this up.

[Bubba the Pirate]

Sounds great.
I'm hoping to be back in the water and headed that way approx July.

[Cruiser2B]

We should try to get a Chesapeake Sail<far>in setup this year!

Im game, just let me know when and where...

[w00dy]

I'd join too, boat or no boat!

[Bubba the Pirate]

Here's a bit of progress:

Raspberry Pi's:
From the Camper Van Computer Lab. On the right, an RPi3 as Ship's Computer; chartplotter, instrumentation, weather data, etc. On the left, an RPi4 as potential laptop killer; screen camera for vid calls and full fledged mini computer for browsing, writing, spreadsheets, etc. Both are works in progress, assembled by me from components.



And the first bits of my new standing rigging:
Dyneema deadeyes and a couple soft shackles for fun

[Bubba the Pirate]

I'm crewing on sv Aletheia again next week.
Made 8 soft shackles while staying in b/c it's $&#^¥€ cold here in Florida.
4 are for Aletheia, and 4 for my Ruth Ann.

[Crazer]

On the subject of furlers, I was ambivalent as well but have found that I really enjoy the ease of use and simplicity a good furler provides. After messing with an ancient Hood furler, that came with my new to me Cape Dory 28, for half the season I sprung for an Alado furler and I have been delighted with it. It has its own halyard so there's no risk of wrapping the halyard around the forestay which was a huge problem with the old unit. It has a sturdy aluminum foil and no bearings to wear out and fail. I plan to take it offshore and have no concerns about it.

[skylark]

How are you cooling the Rpi's?

[Bubba the Pirate]

The cases I'm using for the 7" touchscreen and each RPi came with a little fan which can run at 5v or 3.3. The R4 runs hotter than the 3, so I installed the fan with the 4. Tonight I was messing around with the R3 & an SDR dongle, trying to get set it up for weather fax. I felt a little warmth which is either the SDR or the 3 but I may need a fan there too. I have a Moitessier HAT coming and will have to figure out how to set up the HAT and a fan.