Table of contents for Summer 2015 in Practical Boat Owner

with the editor To receive the editor’s monthly email newsletter, sign up on our website: www.pbo.co.uk According to Ratty, in his famous quote in The Wind in the Willows, there’s nothing in life half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. I wouldn’t disagree, but sometimes the challenges set by sailing at sea lose you something of the dreamy, limpid tranquillity beloved of Kenneth Grahame’s Water Rat. I was reminded of this fundamental difference between river and canal boating and the coastal cruising undertaken by most PBO readers this weekend, when I attended Beale Park Boat Show. Set around a lake just off the River Thames in Berkshire, Beale Park is the embodiment of Ratty’s dream. On shore, the sun glistened from mirrorsmooth varnish perfectly applied to…

An official report has been published almost a year after the fatal collision between a cruiser and a dredger off the coast of Felixstowe. On 8 June 2014, the dredger Shoreway and the sailing yacht Orca collided seven miles offshore, causing Orca to sink rapidly. The yacht’s skipper was rescued by Shoreway’s rescue boat but the skipper’s wife, Bernadine Ingram, could not be found. Her body was recovered from the yacht by divers the following day. A Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) investigation has established that the vessels collided in good visibility as neither the chief officer, alone on the bridge of Shoreway, nor the skipper of Orca, who was below deck in the cabin, were maintaining a proper lookout. The report said: ‘Orca had generated a clear target that…

■ Hartlepool Marina June Boat & Auto Jumble, 21 June, from 10am, the Morris Minor club will also be in attendance. All welcome. ■ Golowan Maritime Festival, 26-28 June, www.golowanmaritimefestival.co.uk ■ Round the Island Race 2015, 27 June, Isle of Wight, www.roundtheisland.org.uk ■ Fisher Owners Association (FOA) 45th anniversary rally to Middelberg in the Netherlands, 29 June-3 July, www.fisherowners.org ■ Inaugural Swallow Boats Raid, June 29 to 3 July, Mylor, Falmouth, http://swallowboats.com/programme-for-swallow-boats-raid-2015-at-mylor-falmouth ■ Titchfield Boat Jumble, 5 July, Hound Hill Farm, Titchfield, Hampshire. PO15 5DY. Entry £4, www.boat-jumbles.co.uk ■ America’s Cup World Series in Portsmouth, 23-26 July, www.americascup.com ■ Torbay Royal Regatta, 21- 26 August, www.torbayroyalregatta.co.uk ■ Portsmouth Boat Jumble, 23 August. Fort Purbrook, Cosham, Hampshire. PO6 1BJ. Entry £4, www.boat-jumbles.co.uk ■ Holyhead Traditional Sail Festival, 28-31 August, www.oga.org.uk ■…

AUGUST ISSUE ON SALE THURSDAY JULY 16 PRACTICAL Engine cleaning and painting ■ Fettling Hantu Biru’s engine, fitting a shaft seal and final alignment Plus ■ Drop keel removal and repair ■ Upgrading circuit breakers ■ How to remove stubborn fixings ■ How to mend an outboard handle ■ Making a windlass work with a deck-mounted chain locker TESTED Tiller tamers ■ Tiller locks, clamps and clutches to give you an extra hand on board Snatch blocks ■ Useful and versatile to have on board: but which works best? BOATS Automated sailing ■ Could two daggerboards and a laptop change sailing forever? Tug yacht test ■ ‘A proper little ship’ SEAMANSHIP Shore lines in the Med ■ How to safely take a line ashore Emergency sail repairs ■ Tips for…

Mad about the boat 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 Sometimes I surprise myself, because just occasionally – not often – something goes right. I’m not talking about actual sailing, ‘cos although I have survived on several occasions I’ve never had a day on the water totally free of recrimination, self-doubt, guilt, fear, shame or a pontoonbashing cock-up. In fact, that was a good day. Most of the same, apart from the pontoon bashing, applies on land: for while there’s no doubt my Sailfi sh is practically a boat, I’m not really a very practical boat owner. I’m more of a Practical Boat Moaner, which strikes me as a good name…

Got a question? Email pbo@timeinc.com Here’s just a selection of the latest questions from PBO readers. Email or write to the address on page 5 and our experts will answer your queries Q On my Horizon 273, the fuel lines are of reinforced PVC between the primary and secondary filters and on the fuel return to the tank. The tube from the fuel tank to the primary filter via the fuel cut-off valve is narrow-gauge, non-reinforced PVC. This was as installed when I bought her five years ago and no comment was passed on by the pre-purchase survey, although more recently eyebrows have been raised. It is possible these tubes are now 20 years old, and they are quite hard. Replacing the reinforced tube is not difficult even if thickerwalled…

Q I’m looking for info with regard to changing the cutless bearing in the P-bracket on my Princess 33. I’m hoping I don’t have to pull the shaft, so if you can pass on any tricks or tips – everything from finding the holding-in lugs to fitting the new ones – that would be much appreciated. Michael Powell By email PAT MANLEY REPLIES: I’m not familiar with the shaft configuration on your boat: there seem be to a few different alternatives. The cutless bearing is likely to be held in place by two grub screws, often completely hidden under layers of antifouling paint. If you strip off the antifoul you should see the grub screw heads: they normally have hexagon sockets, which will also need to be cleaned out. They…

If it’s too windy for a spinnaker, or you’re not happy flying one, then poling out the jib is the next best thing. Here’s a way to set up the pole safely. The pole is clipped on to the windward spinnaker sheet, which is then taken to the jib’s clew. Attach the pole to the mast, then lift it over the windward rail. You can now go back to the cockpit and do everything else from there – easing off the leeward jib sheet and pulling on the new windward sheet (we’ve used a spinnaker guy here). You can also adjust the up- and downhaul to make it fly right. The important part is that you can do it all from the cockpit, out of harm’s way. For a diagram…

During my time running a marine engineering company in Falmouth I was contacted by a boat owner who had just bought an Ocean 42 and wanted my opinion on it. I had been carrying out pre-purchase surveys for some years, so I was quite happy to take a look. The boat had suffered from poor DIY repairs and maintenance plus overlooked leaks in the cooling system: one bad leak was on the raw water side of the header tank on the starboard Volvo TMD60A. It was mid-season, so I made a temporary repair using plastic metal and left it until the season’s end. Somehow the owner and I never got round to a proper fix, and I then moved on to working on superyachts so we lost contact. However, I…

Canvas bucket The traditional yachtsman’s canvas bucket has been an essential on many boats for decades. The benefit of canvas is that it doesn’t scratch the hull or deck when fetching water – although plastic doesn’t either! It’s also easy to stow because the material collapses. In addition, you can leave the retrieval line attached to the handle and it stores easily in the bucket. Canvas buckets are reasonably watertight, particularly when ‘seasoned’. At the time of going to press, the cheapest canvas buckets we could find online were available on the Jimmy Green Marine website, with a 10lt (2gal) capacity. Nowadays they are manufactured from man-made polycotton acrylic so they won’t rot like traditional canvas. Lanyards are made using 8mm 3-strand hempline and are 2m long, including a soft…

Many people now use LED strings either internally to light areas such as the galley and heads, or externally – ie in the cockpit. We do the latter, and I wanted a dimmer control to allow us to wind the light level up and down. LEDs are essentially currentsensitive devices, and although the output brightness can be controlled by changing the supply voltage, when the level is changed frequently it’s better to control current. Luckily there are DC converters which come with current limiting as standard, so I adapted one of these for my dimmer control.…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Emrhys Barrell has worked in boatyards including Macwester, Groves & Guttridge and Palmer Johnson, and built Great Britain 11 for Chay Blyth. He was technical editor of Motor Boat & Yachting then launched Motor Boats Monthly, followed by Luxury Yacht and Canal Boat & Inland Waterways. He lives beside the Thames in Goring. Have you ever come down to the boat and found your engine start battery flat? It could be that someone has left a light on in the cabin, or the bilge pump float switch has stuck on, or just that the battery has been losing capacity over the years and the first start of the season has killed it. Whichever, you are stuck: and unlike with a car, you can’t just pull another one…

SEND US YOUR STORIES Email news editor Laura Hodgetts at newspbo@timeinc.com, tel: 01202 440825 News and current affairs from the world of boating The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) has written to Belgian marinas and clubs with visitor moorings to encourage them to lobby the current Belgian Minister for Finance to reinstate permission for visiting British yachts to use red diesel. In Belgium, the use of marked red diesel in a private pleasure craft is unlawful regardless of the country in which the diesel was purchased, and an infringement of Belgian law carries the risk of a fine. In January 2014, in response to falling numbers of visiting British yachts, the then Belgian Minister for Finance Koen Geens acknowledged that the Belgian Government ‘must adopt a pragmatic approach’ to the issue…

Despite the confusion on online forums and among many sailors, iPads with a 3G chip have their own GPS – but their cheaper cousins, the Wi-Fi-only range of iPads, don’t. It has always been possible to convert the cheaper Wi-Fi-only iPad, using a Bad Elf or similar plug-in third-party GPS. But the latest update to Apple’s operating system, iOS 8.3, has caused many third-party positioning devices to stop working with the iPad. So, if you’re heading out on the water and plan to use a Wi-Fi-only iPad as a chart plotter using a third-party GPS, it’s probably best to delay upgrading to iOS 8.3 until you’re safely back ashore: or, if you’ve already upgraded, to check the compatibility of your third-party GPS with your iPad navigation app before you need…

Carbon monoxide (CO) kills – on average – one person a week in England and Wales: and about 200 people a year need to be taken to hospital after suffering its effects. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has issued a safety warning to boaters about CO, which gets into the bloodstream through the lungs, blocking the oxygen your body needs. Prolonged exposure or very quick exposure to high concentrations can kill you. Symptoms of CO poisoning include irritated eyes, headache, nausea, weakness and dizziness. These are often confused with seasickness or too much drink, so people who experience it often don’t receive medical attention. Causes of CO build-up in your boat include inadequate ventilation, exhaust gas from engines – yours or someone else’s – and heater outlets. Marine surveyor Tony…

CHATHAM SPORT COMMODORE DECK SHOE In leather, moccasin construction, stitched down onto a rubber sole unit. Leather laces, padded EVA insole. Available in walnut and navy/brown. ■ Jimmy Green Marine Tel: 01297 20744 www.jimmygreen.co.uk PRICE RRP £59 NOW £49.56 LED LENSER FROGMAN TORCH Watertight to a depth of 60m, shockproof body. 150 lumens light output, 180m beam range. Integral lanyard. ■ Force 4. Tel: 0845 1300 710 www.force4.co.uk PRICE MRP £51.95 NOW £34.95 AQ40S FLASHING, WATER-ACTIVATED LIFEJACKET LIGHT Small size and ease of attachment make this suitable for retro-fitment to any inflatable lifejacket. * The offer price of the Waevco inflatable featured in last month’s Bargains is £249.99 (RRP £289.99). ■ Gael Force Tel: 01463 229400 www.gaelforcemarine.co.uk PRICE RRP £19.99 NOW £14.99…

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 The clock said quarter to four in the morning, and a thin light was crawling in through the curtains. Under normal circs I would have ignored it, rolled over and collapsed into the welcoming pillow. But the circs were far from normal. In two short days we were off on the first cruise of the season, and there were lists to make. Normally I forget everything not actually bolted to the boat. This time, I was going to make lists. Sails list: three of them, this year’s treat, lovely and new from Crusader, cream, with a big cruising chute in cheerful red. Lazarette list: kedge and warp.…

Q My British Folkboat has a hollow wooden mast: I’m buying a new mainsail, and am wondering about the feasibility of using nylon slugs in the spar grooves, and not a bolt rope. This would mean that I could leave the luff of the sail on the mast when lowered, and it would make raising and stowing the sail much simpler. What might be the drawbacks? Someone mentioned the possibility of the slugs making point loads along the wooden lip of the groove, which could cause a failure at those points. Also, if in a wooden groove, even a well worn one, could the slugs be more likely to jam than if in a metal channel? David Jenkins By email MIKE COATES REPLIES: I wouldn’t recommend using a slug in…

Q I have a Maxim 38 catamaran with two Yanmar 3GM30 engines and a 12V system: each engine has its own start battery. The household battery bank is used for the fridge, autopilot, windlass and converter. We have no shore power and no generator. We live on the catamaran in Kenya and want to sail to Mozambique in a month. I have six 120W solar panels as a roof over the back of the boat, and this works well: but if there are a few days of rain the batteries lose charge. I would like to connect the two outputs from the engines to a charger which charges the different battery groups. The household battery group is 600Ah. What would be the best option, bearing in mind that I want…

Great ideas and tips from PBO readers Email your projects and tips to pbo@ipcmedia.com or write to us at the address at the top of page 5. We pay at least £30 for each one published At times, I suspect that our Jeanneau 36i was designed around its fridge. It (the fridge) is huge. Unfortunately, it also uses an awful lot of electricity: despite a domestic battery bank of four 80Ah batteries, we need to top them up every couple of days if the fridge is on. And all of this is while sailing in Scotland, where’s it’s rarely tropical. Realising that this was a bit silly, I had a look at how the fridge cooling was set up, and found that the fan on the heat exchanger was arranged…

Looking for a way to display (or store) your favourite charts and maps at home while planning your next trip? This adaptable wall holder can be made cheaply to display charts/maps of varying sizes, on a temporary or permanent basis, without damaging either your chart or wall (apart from screwing in a picture hook, unless you use an existing one). The chart holder is made from a 2cm x 2.5cm x 110cm pine offcut, into which I’ve screwed six cup hooks equidistant along its length. Foldback bulldog clips are then hung from the hooks, and the charts clipped in. I drilled two holes through the offcut, a quarter of the way in from each end, to thread string through and hang it from a picture hook high on my wall.…

BayCruiser 20 PRICE: £35,940 Yawl-rigged, much lighter than the Shrimper and with waterballast to minimise the trailing weight, she’s different in many ways but still likely to be compared because of her modern-classic appearance and similar size. www.swallowboats.com Kite PRICE: £31,950 Also lighter than the Shrimper and sportier in nature, this new design by Andrew Wolstenholme has a large cockpit, a relatively small cabin and a single-chined hull. Auxiliary propulsion is from an outboard only. Full production is just starting. Méaban PRICE: £POA Built in wood-epoxy near St Malo, this pretty 22-footer is designed for easy trailing, offered with gaff or Bermudan rigs and available for home completion too. Four berths, space for a cooker and loo; outboard engine. www.gomarine.co.uk…

A teenager who suffered serious injuries when a speedboat crashed into a cardinal marker and capsized in Southampton Water is said to be making ‘positive progress’. Crew member Simon Dredge was on board the £1million VR40 prototype powerboat, on a scheduled test run with his father Peter Dredge and two other experienced powerboaters when the dramatic crash happened just outside the Hamble River, close to the Warsash Maritime Academy. UK Coastguard received multiple 999 calls from members of the public on 13 May, reporting the incident. The Search and Rescue helicopter from Lee-on-Solent and Calshot RNLI lifeboats attended. In addition to former RYA powerboat racing manager Peter Dredge and his 17-year-old son Simon, experienced powerboat racer Simon Wood-Power and engineer Lee Hurst were on board the VR40 prototype, which was…

SOUTH WIND FARM GO-AHEAD The green light has been given for construction to begin on the 116-turbine Rampion Offshore Wind Farm. The 400MW-capacity Rampion project is set to become the first offshore wind farm off the South Coast of England. It will be situated 13km off the Sussex coast, between East Worthing and Brighton. E.ON has confirmed that it will invest in and build the £1.3billion development, alongside its project partner, the UK Green Investment Bank plc (GIB). When complete, the wind farm could provide enough electricity to supply the equivalent of around 300,000 homes and reduce CO2 emissions by up to 600,000 tonnes a year. RTIR ON TV Improved television coverage of this year’s Round the Island (RTI) race will include live streaming to a global audience. An outside-broadcast…

Email pbo@timeinc.comor write to us at the address on page 5. Photos are appreciated, letters may be edited. FURTHER BENEFITS OF CROTCH STRAPS The benefits are clear I very much enjoyed your helpful article ‘How effective are crotch straps’ (PBO June), summarising the RNLI’s findings. The benefits are clear. Although the article focused on the main benefits, helping the lifejacket to do its primary job of keeping the wearer afloat and upright, there are two other pluses which should not be overlooked. Firstly, if the lifejacket is fitted with a safety harness becket, crotch straps will help to prevent the jacket from being pulled over the wearer’s head handle on the back. It doesn’t bear thinking about, but at least this would give you something to grab or snag with…

Monthly musings 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 Regular readers of this column might recall Chele and I hunting for a Hypalon inflatable dinghy back in 2013 to replace the Avon we lost the year before, hurriedly quitting an anchorage that had suddenly become dangerous. The vast majority of today’s dinghies are made of PVC, which is susceptible to sunlight and its deleterious effects. Hypalon (more correctly called chlorosulfonated polyethylene) is almost immune and, therefore, much preferred where the sun is fierce. The hunt was frustrating, but not fruitless. Thanks to Simon Clark of Yacht-Tek, a good friend and energetic maritime entrepreneur, a Caribe dinghy made in Venezuela was shipped into Barcelona and…

SEA SAFETY Will Stephens is Staff Officer Operations (Coastal Safety) at the RNLI BOAT BUYING David Harding is a regular contributor to PBO: his photo archive is at www.sailingscenes.co.uk CRUISING Stuart Carruthers is the RYA Cruising Manager and has sailed extensively SAILS Ian Brown of the International OneSails loft group is an expert on sails MASTS & RIGS Mike Coates worked in the spar and rigging business for many years SURVEY AND CORROSION Colin Brown runs a marine survey and consultancy company, CB Marine Services ELECTRICS Paul Holland is chairman of the BMEA and MD of Energy Solutions (UK) ENGINES Pat Manley is a diesel engine course instructor and marine author GAS FITTINGS Peter Spreadborough, of Southampton Calor Gas Centre, has 20 years in the industry PAINT AND ANTIFOULING Richard…

As the leads are ready-made, some careful measuring is necessary – and it is also worth checking what comes in each box as many contain a lead, and if you buy one of the system kits it comes with quite a selection of leads and fittings. One good piece of news is that the new p70 controller fits the same size panel hole as the old one, saving major carpentry. There are two types of controller, one with buttons intended for sailing vessels and one with a rotary control for power: I went for the rotary one. The rudder position sensor is the same too, so the old one was left in place (which saved a lot of work). Before I started pulling things apart I noted the heading from…

Reefing horns work well, but have an irritating habit of throwing off the cringles at the worst possible moment. That’s why a way of securing the cringle onto the horn is useful. Here are some ideas – send us yours if you have a way that works for you! One trick is to use a rubber doorstop, pushed on to the horn, to secure the cringle. These cost £2.48 for two from B&Q, and they work really well. Another option is to add a snap shackle to the horn, either by lashing it on or getting one welded on, to provide a positive method of attachment that won’t shake loose. Another simple option is to use a sail tie or length of shock cord to secure the cringle.…

WASHBOARD STORAGE The standard washboard on my Jeanneau 29.2 is a clear polycarbonate which is easily scratched and damaged if left lying around when not in use. This simple arrangement neatly stores the washboard in the locker, taking up minimal space. A 600mm-long L-shaped piece of varnished wood is screwed to a locker bulkhead, thereby creating a slot into which the bottom of the washboard can be located. The top of the washboard is pressed against the bulkhead onto a piece of foam which has been glued into position. A simple latch is then swung down to secure the washboard. I made the latch from a uPVC offcut and glued it to the bulkhead – the uPVC is fairly soft and unlikely to scratch the polycarbonate. The latch swivels around…

As the owner of an outboard-powered Cornish Shrimper, I feel sure that I am not the first to ponder the idea of fitting a swing-up outboard motor bracket to this type of boat. The advantages are obvious: it would enable you to keep the prop out of the water when the boat was not in use, and alleviate the chore of removing and returning a heavy outboard motor to and from the cockpit locker each time you went sailing. We tried leaving the outboard on our Shrimper Pixie for a whole season but found a build-up of tiny crustaceans inside the water intake which, if not removed, could have restricted the fl ow of cooling water and hence could have caused engine overheating problems. Another option would have been to…

This infl atable, waterproof lantern by Meridian Zero comes with a solar-powered, rechargeable lithium battery. Made of PVC, it features 10 LED lights with brightness of up to 80 lumens, and weighs 130g. A button switch offers three settings: low, bright and fl ashing LEDs. The built-in 5V/120mAh battery provides six to 12 hours’ light when fully charged by the solar panel. It has a diameter of 13cm and the height goes from 10cm infl ated to 3cm collapsed. The lantern is promised to have a working lifetime of 30,000 hours. www.marinesuperstore.com Verdict This sturdy, lightweight lantern is incredibly handy. It defl ates to virtually nothing at all, is easy to infl ate and boasts an attractive, multi-purpose design. With handles on each end, the lantern can be strung up…

Scenery and settlements This is a proper river, clean and sparkling in the summer sunshine. South of Saint-Jeande-Losne to Chalon-sur-Saône, the river meanders through a pastoral landscape. Saint-Jean’s architecture reflects its proximity to the Jura (stone buildings and fancy tiled roofscapes). With good budgetconscious restaurants and all shopping needs covered it’s great for over-wintering. South towards the Canal du Centre there are few towns, but Seurre was attractive and offered all amenities. A half-day sortie upriver to Auxonne is well worth it for the well-run Port Royal Marina. For those who fancy a taste of the Alps, climb the eight locks up the Canal du Rhône au Rhin (about an hour north of Saint-Jean) to the pukka Jura town of Dole. Public transport can then access lovely hill towns like…

1If you think you hear someone calling for help, assume it’s for real. If Bob hadn’t wakened I might have thought I was dreaming and the cries would have become inaudible as the casualty was carried away by the ebbing tide. 2At night, always keep a powerful torch or handheld searchlight handy. Ours was a rechargeable one and it eventually ran out of charge: luckily the tender crew had a torch with them and were able to locate the casualty in the dark. 3If possible, always send two people on a rescue mission: in this instance, one person would not have been able to lift the casualty on board the RIB. 4Have an MOB recovery plan. Our casualty was unable to sit up, let alone climb up a boarding ladder.…

I was shocked when I found that my 15W trickle-charge solar panel was capable of delivering enough energy to the 105Ah starter battery to take its voltage into the red zone, getting near to 17V. This was really unexpected and probably unusual, but I needed to ensure it wouldn’t happen again if I wasn’t around to monitor the situation. So I used a postage stamp-sized DC converter and a Schottky diode to make an efficient voltage-limiting regulator. These little circuits can deliver 3A, though you should de-rate them down to 2A just to remove the stress – so they are good for trickle-charging only. They are no substitute for a full-sized regulator for a serious solar panel setup (see PBO January 2015 for more about that). A distinct advantage is…

We have owned our 9m (30ft) Feeling 306 for about six years. The cockpit seating is well designed for our needs, but each year we have found ourselves longing for something a little more comfortable than GRP. We considered teak or its man-made substitutes, but eventually opted for fitted cushions. We decided to try making them ourselves, primarily for cost reasons, and to our delight the finished cushions provide not only much-improved comfort but also a feeling of greater security while sailing. We started by enquiring at several boat shows about the materials normally used by suppliers along with general design requirements. We quickly realised that we needed to list our own key design needs, which were: Sailing the boat shouldn’t be hampered in any way The cushions had to…

Using an inflatable dinghy Do you have an inflatable dinghy, and if so, when did you last use it? I recently pulled the dinghy from a charter yacht’s stern locker to find it had no seat and two holes in it, each the size of a 10p piece. (Another dinghy, pictured right, had a missing rowlock.) To add insult to injury, the glue in the repair kit was rock-hard, so a trip to the chandlery was necessary to repair the holes. With yachts based in marinas and sailing from base to another harbour where you can walk ashore, some tenders will rarely see the light of day. It is therefore that much more important that your dinghy is regularly checked. If kept at the bottom of a locker it would…