Preparing for Cold Weather Sailing

Preparing for Cold Weather Sailing

As the temperatures drop, fair-weather boaters break out the shrinkwrap and put their vessels to sleep for the winter. The heartier among us know that there’s still some great sailing and boating to do, provided one prepares for the elements. Late October and early November are prime times for checking out the leaves on the Atlantic coasts of the U.S. and Canada and on the Great Lakes. The waters are also much less crowded than during a busy summer season. We checked in with Capt. Dasiel Molina of the South Portland Sailing Center in Maine and he gave us guidelines…
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Pre-voyage inspection of windvane self-steering

Pre-voyage inspection of windvane self-steering

​While many of the latest generation of ocean cruisers enjoy the ease that comes with an electronic autopilot, many die-hard sailors still depend on a windvane self-steering system, which requires zero electrical power to steer their sailing vessels through all kinds of weather. ​If your vessel has a windvane system on its stern and you are planning an ocean crossing, following a few pre-voyage steps will help ensure dependable, accurate steering performancethroughout your next voyage. ​The obvious first step in regular maintenance of the self-steerer is inspecting the entire unit, looking especially for loose nuts and bolts and signs of…
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Enjoying Deep Water Anchorages

Enjoying Deep Water Anchorages

On board Beetle, with her 8-foot draft, I like to anchor in 30 feet of water when possible. This often puts me way out on the fringe of the fleet, and that's fine—there's a reason Beetle carries a dinghy with an outboard motor. Sometimes I can't find 30 feet of water, and the bottom is much further away—150-foot depth is my maximum so far. The general anchoring scope recommendations I've read call for 3:1 or 4:1 on all chain and 5:1 to 7:1 (better) on a short length of chain plus nylon rode. The goal is to present a horizontal…
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Have sewing machine, go sailing

Have sewing machine, go sailing

The tools The sewing machine onboard Beetle is a Sailrite LSZ1, essentially a walking-foot upholstery machine with straight and zig-zag (but not Federal 308, four-point stitch), which handles threads from Tex 30 to 135 for repairs in everything from spinnakers to the mainsail. Fortunately, I have not had to make many sail repairs underway, the exceptions being a damaged light-air staysail and the No. 2 genoa. However, the machine does get used at anchor for building and repairing all sorts of fabric components for the boat: noseeum screens on hatches and companionway, winch covers, mainsail covers, deck awnings, handheld VHF…
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Windlass setup and maintenance

Windlass setup and maintenance

By Rob MacFarlane When out cruising on my Morgan 45 Tiger Beetle, I anchor out rather a lot, so I become a good friend with my windlass for managing the ground tackle. A big enough boat will likely require ground tackle too heavy to lift by hand, and an all-chain rode will make it impossible to raise — unless you can dead-lift that much weight. Enter the windlass, an enormously powerful geared-down motor-driven gypsy and capstan. I installed a vertical Maxwell windlass mounted horizontally in Beetle's anchor locker; consultation with Maxwell established that there were two orientations of the gear…
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What is a MMSI number and why do I need it?

by Ann Hoffner A wellfound sailboat making its way across the South Pacific strikes a whale; within minutes water enters the bilge. It’s impossible to find the source and those on board decide to seek assistance. The crewmember assigned to communications hurries to the nav station, pushes the red distress button on the VHF radio. Why did they do that? It’s only a short range radio, how can it help from the middle of the ocean? Because the red button means its equipped with digital selective calling (DSC), and pushing that button automatically sent out a message and will keep…
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High frequency marine SSB radio propagation

High frequency marine SSB radio propagation

Even though satellite communications is taking an ever bigger slice of the voyaging communications pie, high frequency (HF) marine SSB is still used by voyagers. Here is a rundown of the basics of HF radio signal propagation to aid in using it effectively. HF radio energy traveling through the atmosphere or through space is subject to very little attenuation and the energy would arrive at the receiver as strong as it was radiated. Not all radio frequencies behave in the same way, however. Extremely high frequencies, higher than 10,000 MHz, can be attenuated by moisture and dust particles in the…
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Setting up for a successful boatyard experience

My 45-foot Morgan sloop, Tiger Beetle, is back in the water following a good haul out, bottom job, and replacement speedo through-hull at The Boatyard in Channel Islands Harbor, California. The yard was efficient, the travel lift had an excellent operator, the place was clean, and I was able to do my own work. Eight days from lift to launch and all went well. Below are some of my practices that help make a haul out an enjoyable event. Have all materials in hand before haul out It’s no fun to run out of materials in the middle of a…
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Remember your friend the engine raw water sea strainer

Remember your friend the engine raw water sea strainer

By Rob MacFarlane A raw-water cooled engine draws in sea water from the ocean, pumps it through the motor or heat exchanger to extract heat, then returns the water  overboard. On my boat, the cooling water is combined with engine exhaust gases through the exhaust elbow and wet-exhaust line. An issue with using sea water is there’s no control of what's in the sea water being pumped in — all sorts of detritus can be included, including small fish, sea weed, debris, bits and pieces. The engine cooling system's first line of defense is the lowly sea water strainer —…
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Nordhavn owner tests Starlink satellite system

Nordhavn owner tests Starlink satellite system

  For years we’ve seen satellite domes multiply on boats like so many plastic mushrooms. Now, a new player in the satellite market, Starlink, is making its way into the marine world. Even though Starlink is not officially for marine use, some enterprising boat owners have installed the system on their boats, with some undertaking informal testing of its effectiveness while underway. Among these is Alex Dickinson, the owner of the Nordhavn 60, Cherry, based in Dana Point, Calif. An electrical engineer by training, Dickinson has had two Starlink antennas installed on Cherry. They occupy mounts that once sported sat…
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