Table of contents for March 2017 in Practical Boat Owner

with the editor Tech should be at our beck and call This morning, I listened to Remona Aly’s ‘Pause for Thought’ on Radio 2, in which she lamented the passing of the handwritten letter. I paraphrase, but she said that she used to love the care and craftsmanship that came with the use of pen and ink, and saw the post box as her gateway to the variety and adventure offered by the outside world. Like many of us old enough to remember a pre-internet world she has embraced the age of email and social media, but not without a pang of nostalgia for a simpler time. Communications have developed beyond recognition and in many ways have made our planet smaller, but at the same time have reduced the strangeness…

FUSION AV-600G STEREO BUNDLE A complete bundle comprising the AV-600G marine stereo, MS-BT100 Bluetooth module and a pair of MS-EL602 slimline 6in speakers. See full specs at the Force4 website. ▪ Force 4, Tel: 0345 130 0710 www.force4.co.uk PRICE: £349.95 (RRP £599) SAVE £249.05 SAILMAKER REPAIR KIT Kit includes: 1 Liverpool pattern No5 sailmaker’s palm (left or right hand); 1 tube of five assorted (No13 to No19) reduced-edge sailmaker needles; 1 cop of waxed sewing thread; 1 traditional block of beeswax. Supplied loose or in stowage bag. ▪ Jimmy Green Marine Tel: 01297 20744 www.jimmygreen.co.uk PRICE £21.60 (£24 with stowage bag)…

Sam Llewellyn is editor of The Marine Quarterly, www.marinequarterly.com, and author of nautical thrillers. Three years ago he bought a Corribee on eBay It is raining. I am standing on this deck wearing full oilskins, or what passes for oilskins. Water is trickling through the outer layer of these highly technical garments. They are lovely state-of-the-art breathable wet-gear items, but they are designed for lounging around in the cockpit of something forty feet long in a Mediterranean Force 3, and I am crawling around on something twenty-one feet long in a Force 5, and what with the abrasion and the grubbiness they are just no longer waterproof. I paid hundreds of pounds for the ruddy things, and it is becoming apparent that they do not work. I have seen old-school…

Building a kit boat is a bit like a child’s dot-to-dot drawing. The framework is made entirely from straight bits, and seeing the finished shape requires considerable imagination. It’s not until you start bending the stringers into position that the lines of the boat really start to become evident. Our kit came with the stringers planed to size, but the longer stringers were in sections – perhaps unsurprising when the whole lot has to be packed up to be shipped halfway around the world. That left us with a choice: join the lengths with butt-straps (short lengths of timber doubling the stringer at the joint), or scarf them together. Butt-straps are the easier option, but we chose to scarf for two reasons: scarfing avoids ugly joints on the inside of…

Q now that the galileo satellite navigation system is at last up and running, i have three questions. Will it work on my garmin Montana 600 chart plotter with Bluechart g2? if it does, will i get 1m accuracy? And does it use the same 0° meridian as gPs/Wgs84? Clive Hathway, by email CHRIS ELLERY REPLIES Unfortunately your Montana will not work on Galileo at present, and Garmin Europe cannot tell me if they propose a software update to enable this. I did find that the GPS19 antenna they produce should be capable of Galileo reception, again after a software update which has yet to be released, but they cannot yet provide a firm date for when this may happen. This might have been an option to add to your Montana…

Q Over the winter, while not sailing, i try to brush up on a few forgotten skills – one of which is sail trim. Most printed and online articles are helpful, but there is one aspect i find difficult to understand: it is often stated that foresail sheet cars should be brought aft in heavier winds, but surely this will induce more leech twist aloft and, therefore, increase rather than decrease power? Can you explain this, please? Geoff Packe, Tollesbury IAN BROWN REPLIES: The power that a sail generates is a function of how deep (full) it is as well as how efficient the aerofoil shape is. Moving the sheet lead aft firstly increases the tension in the foot of the sail relative to the leech, which means that the foot…

If, like me, you’ve lost count of the spotlights that you’ve thrown away because of the naff little switches they’re fitted with, then this one’s probably for you. Over the course of a decade I’ve waved goodbye to well over 100 quid’s worth of spotlights, and probably quite a lot more. The annoying thing is that these otherwise fine spotlights are fitted with bargain-basement, next-touseless plastic switches that have limited life. Might they have been installed with this very purpose in mind? Built-in obsolescence? Perish the thought! Cynicism aside – and faced with not one but two useless spotlights thanks to broken switches – I decided that the time had come to see if I could retrofit proper metal ones as replacement for the toytown plasticky originals. I tried chandlers,…

Battery safety We’ve all heard about exploding batteries on Samsung’s phones recently. Torqeedo claims comprehensive safety protection for its batteries: they only use cells sourced from reputable manufacturers with the highest quality standards. Unlike lead-based batteries, lithium batteries have a battery management system (BMS) to protect against overcharging, overheating, excess voltage, deep discharge and short-circuiting. If the electronic components of the BMS fail, Torqeedo has a built-in duplicate hardware backup for all safety components, just like the automotive and aerospace industries. The BMS also safeguards the battery’s life expectancy and deep-sleep operation. All Torqeedo batteries are waterproof to IP67 (immersion at a depth of 1m for at least 30 minutes without suffering any damage) and each battery is individually tested in production prior to delivery. There’s a film on YouTube…

Email your projects and tips to pbo@timeinc.com or write to us at the address at the top of page 5. We pay at least £30 for each one published COST £25.49 (in total) RUBBING ALONG RATHER NICELY Every winter I go around the cockpit of Polly, my Impala 28, with some colour-matched gelcoat to fill any dings or (more regularly) chafing and damage from lines being pulled over the edges of the gelcoat. Last winter, I decided I’d had enough and fitted some chafe protection. Having previously tried the self-adhesive pads, we’d discovered that the 90° angle was too steep for them to stick properly. Clear silicone tape worked better, but looked unsightly. This time, I fitted stainless steel rubbing strakes over the worst-offending areas. These were two areas low down…

SEND US YOUR STORIES Email news editor Laura Hodgetts at newspbo@timeinc.com, tel: 01202 440825 A family from Newquay, Cornwall are appealing to the boating community for help in finding their yacht after being forced to abandon it during a transatlantic crossing. James and Fran Coombes, their two children Heath (aged nine) and Isla (aged seven), and crew Tony White, were sailing their 15.8m (52ft) Hanse sloop from England to the Caribbean, when they lost their rudder around 400NM east of Barbados. The yacht Dove II was equipped with a satellite telephone which they used to contact the UK Coastguard in Falmouth and the Coastguard in Martinique. Skipper James battled 18ft seas and gales for three days and nights in an attempt to rig a temporary rudder, setting out drogues and…

Email pbo@timeinc.com or write to us at the address on page 5. Photos are appreciated, letters may be edited. Berth pangs: are mooring fees rising unfairly? It was interesting to read the article by Laura Hodgetts (‘Price rise ahead’, Regional News, PBO January) saying that mooring fees in Guernsey Harbour were due to rise by 1% and that although this was above inflation, the harbour master considered that the rise was ‘reasonable’. Having just had my annual berthing renewal letter from MDL for my 9.4m lift-keel Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 32.2, and seeing that the fees were noticeably higher than the previous year, I rang the marina to ask why this was. Apparently MDL’s head office puts the fees up by 2.5% each year: however, the renewal letter doesn’t mention the…

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 No one ever said that boat ownership was cheap, but there are occasions when the calls on cash peak both cruelly and unexpectedly. Well, not exactly unexpectedly, since vague notions of impending monetary assault had been bubbling in my consciousness for some time. Let me explain. Shindig is currently in Grenada, the southernmost of the Windward Islands in the Caribbean and, incidentally, a place of great charm and humour. As one of the conditions of our insurance, she has been laid up ashore there during the hurricane season (July through November) while we – Chele and I, that is – were discharging six months of grandparental and…

Q We are having problems maintaining hot water overnight in our calorifier. it is mounted in the lazarette and is insulated with 2cm of foam, which is not bonded but consists of two hemispheres strapped around the tank (which is a sigmar dating from 1997). On previous boats, if we started off with a hot tank in the evening by either engine or shore power, then we always had some hot water in the morning; but this tank water is cold in the morning. is it simply a matter of insulation? Jonathan Moss, By email STU DAVIES REPLIES: Yes, it’s the insulation – there isn’t enough – besides which, the lazarette is in the cold! My Beneteau 381 has 5cm+ glassfibre insulation inside a container inside the saloon, under a bunk…

Q My latest trailers have al-KO ‘sealed for life’ bearings. Can i immerse these in salt water without ruining the bearings, and do i need to maintain them? if so, how would i go about this? i like to check things out before driving on the roads. Clive Marsh, Rye, East Sussex COLIN HAINES REPLIES: By ‘sealed for life’ bearings, I understand you to mean the bearings inside the hubs that support the road-going wheels of your trailer, and that the bearings have plastic seals to keep the lubricating grease in place. Dunking any ‘sealed for life’ bearing in water is not a good plan: such seals are designed to keep lubricating grease inside the bearing and are not intended to resist any water pressure on the outside from pushing water…

We all know the good and the bad about junk rigs, don’t we? The good is that they’re easy to handle. You sit in the cockpit and pull a string from time to time. Tacking is a doddle. Gybing is gentle. Reefing is a revelation if you’re used to winding winches and fighting with flogging canvas. Performance is good off the wind because the whole sail continues to work efficiently, yet you can take the drive out of it simply by letting it swing forward of the mast. You don’t need to round up into the wind to reef the sail or lower it. There’s no standing rigging to maintain, replace or get in the way. The sail consists of small panels, each relatively lightly loaded and easy to repair.…

McMurdo’s new SmartFind and Kannad SafePro EPIRBs combine multiple frequencies into a single beacon for optimised alert, location, tracking and accelerated recovery. They are said to be the world’s first distress beacons that can support each of the four frequencies used in the search and rescue process: 406MHz and 121.5MHz for beacon transmission, GNSS for location positioning and Automatic Identification System (AIS). The majority of today’s EPIRBs use 406MHz and 121.5MHz frequencies via satellite communication to provide location and positioning data to global search and rescue personnel who may be several hundred miles away. Additional AIS channels on the new McMurdo SmartFind G8 AIS and Kannad SafePro AIS EPIRBs will send position signal information to standard AIS electronic equipment on nearby vessels for complementary local tracking and rescue capabilities. The…

▪ The Ultralight 403 (also ultra-quiet) is claimed to be the lightest outboard on the planet. It’s also Torqeedo’s smallest, an electric trolling motor, equivalent to 1hp, which was demonstrated on a Hobie kayak. ▪ The Travel range (1.5hp and 3hp equivalent) is suitable for tenders and small sailing boats and produces power equivalent to conventional 3 to 4hp outboards. The Travel 503 will suit vessels up to 750kg, while the 1003 can propel craft up to 1.5 tonnes. Two shaft lengths are available and, with a weight of 9kg less battery, they are easy to handle and transport. A 50W solar charger, travel bag and other accessories are also available. ▪ The Cruise range (5hp, 8hp and 20hp equivalent) for power and sail craft is suitable for tenders and…

My late father, Colin Ryan, was a shipwright and serviced my engine for the first few years I owned Triola, my much-loved 1970s Albin Ballad, before he encouraged me to have a go myself. He suggested that not only would this save him a job (leaving him free to drink coffee, eat doughnuts, watch me work and comment that I had ‘missed a bit’), but it would also give me a greater understanding of my engine should anything happen at sea far away from any marine engineers or my father. Being a man of poor memory and much documentation, I made sure I created notes around the process. Every year since then, when I service my engine with my own son (Thomas, now 4), or discover a new process I should…

SOUTH GIPSY MOTH IV Gipsy Moth IV has returned to its original home on the Beaulieu River, Hampshire, 50 years after Sir Francis Chichester set sail on the river to become the first person to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe. To commemorate the golden anniversary of the circumnavigation, the historic yacht will be ‘circling Britain’. She will depart Plymouth on 29 May, marking Chichester’s return 50 years ago, and travel clockwise. In preparation, Gipsy Moth IV is to get a new set of sails. Built by Crusader Sails, which kitted the restored 16.1m (53ft) ketch with new sails more than a decade ago, the cloth will be supplied by Bainbridge, which celebrates its centenary year. Gipsy Moth IV, which has been berthed at Cowes, will be out of the water at…

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 Sailing has transformed my life, changed my entire worldview… for the worse. To be frank, it’s a disaster, and I blame my Sailfish. For the fact is that ever since I bought the blasted thing in 2004, women have found me even less attractive. But I think there’s more to it than that. If you click on the internet you’ll see that it’s mostly full of stuff about why women don’t really like sailing. Basically, it’s because of men, but the weird thing is that not all men own Sailfishes, so there must also be something even more seriously wrong with the blokes who don’t.…

Q My painting of Keppel’s sheerstrake has been a success, and i’m very pleased with it. However, it has ended up with a slight orange peel effect: this i attribute to my tipping-off skills being less than perfect. although i’m happy to leave the project ‘as is’, i’m interested to explore options for a final polishing to ameliorate the effect. in cutting back the three other coats i found that a Scotchbrite pad was very effective, so my question is this: would a Scotchbrite pad remove the orange peel (i’m assuming it would), but without too much loss of gloss? the system included two undercoats (the second of which was 40% toplac) and then two coats of toplac. Richard Hare, by email RICHARD JERRAM REPLIES: If you are happy with the finish you…

SWI-TEC Anchor Buoy The SWI-TEC classic, the Original Anchor Buoy, has been a nautical favourite for more than 20 years. Throughout the world, the SWI-TEC automatic Anchor Buoy helps boaters determine the exact position of their anchor, always floating right over it. The standard tether is suitable for a water depth of up to 20m (65ft). For those who anchor in deeper waters, a 10m (32ft) extension tether can be added to the Anchor Buoy. Priced at $365 (£288). www.swi-tec.us…

My faithful 20-year-old petrol two-stroke Suzuki 2hp outboard engine is showing its age, so it was no contest when I had the chance to try Torqeedo’s Travel 1003 electric outboard (equivalent to 3hp) to get to and from my swinging mooring, three-quarters of a mile away. In this scenario, battery angst (or ‘range anxiety’ as it’s called!) was no problem. I could get to and from my mooring several times, without running down the battery, providing I didn’t go full throttle. The whirring sound as I glided silently past other moored boats had people cocking a hand to their ear in disbelief and giving me a thumbs-up. The hazards of my wife being ‘elbowed’ as I pulled a cord starter, the noise of piston power, the exhaust fumes and petrol…

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: pbo@timeinc.com…