Boat Plans Uk | Cats in La Cruz

Boat Plans Uk

We spent a couple of days anchored outside of the harbor before moving into the Marina Riviera Nayarit. As soon as we got into the slip I started on boat projects, one of which was to have the hull and deck polished and waxed. Another was to have the teak cap rails sanded and re-varnished.  Finisterra is all bright and shiny now.
 I also had a refrigeration specialist take a look at our freezer system. Ironically, its been working flawlessly since we got here so there was little he could do to diagnose the intermittent problem. We checked all the basics, which I had already done...all good. He did leave me with some ideas about what to do if the problem recurs. The engine also needed servicing and it now has fresh oil and filters, and is ready for the next adventure.

Now that the chores are done, Ive had some time to cruise around the marina, renew old acquaintances, and check out all the boats that are here. There is no shortage of cruising cats in the harbor. They range from Profligate, Richard Spindlers venerable 63 foot cruising cat to the beautiful new Sig 45, Vamonos.

Note the big daggerboards on Profligate (pronounced PRO-fliget)

Profligate was one of the boats that were "embargoed" by the Mexican government. A couple of days ago it, along with most of the other embargoed boats, was released by the Mexican government. So it appears that this controversy is coming to an end.  Profligate is a modified 63 Kurt Hughes design. Perhaps not the prettiest cat in the harbor, it is a functional and practical boat that gets sailed a lot.


Another interesting design is the 50 foot "Kalewa". This boat has a successful racing record and I believe it has also done at least one Pacific crossing. Ill leave it to you to judge the aesthetics of this boat.

Racy, spacy Kalewa

Extended transoms with what appear to be kick up rudders on Kalewa. Notice the swoopy contours of the deck house and lack of lifelines. A very interesting boat.

This Sunreef 70, Blue Guru, is the queen of the local multihull fleet here in La Cruz. Sunreef Yachts has established itself as a leader in the luxury multihull market.

 Blue Guru

Note the massive proportions of the S-70 and the composite boom.  

This Lagoon 470 is much better looking than the brochure suggests. 

Lagoon is well represented in La Cruz with at least three of them in the harbor. The 470 is the best looking of them.

This Lagoon 420 isnt quite as pretty as its big sister. Yellow for the sunscreens probably wasnt the best choice of colors.

Tigress is a Prout 50. 

The most interesting boat in the harbor is the SIG 45, Vamonos.

Sig 45 at speed. Courtesy of Yachtworld.com

Concave bow on the Sig. 

Sig catamarans are designed in France and are usually built there, but Vamonos was built in California by Westerly Marine. With tiller steering and a wide open bridge deck, this boat stands out from the more cruising-oriented boats in the harbor.

The paint scheme on this meticulously maintained 45 qualifies as art.

With accommodations limited to the hulls, the bridgedeck is wide open. This photo courtesy of Yachtworld.com

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Boat Plans At Mystic Seaport | Hiding from the spring weather

Boat Plans At Mystic Seaport

But its not a complete loss of time.

Its Thursday evening, Im still house sitting my sisters house up in the bush at the top of the hill. This ia a very peaceful place, and I’ve been able to spend some time working on the drawings for both SEI and the Saturday Night Special.  I’ve written building guides for both, materials lists, and some words of general advice.

Both sets are now done, all ready to go out and help people create their dreams. They will be sent off to the print shop and I’m expecting them to be scanned and back to me in digital form about Wednesday next week.

Tomorrow though I’m onto the next one that’s the boat that I’m drawing for my own use, for a particular project / voyage / adventure I have in mind.

“Long Steps” is  if you like a slightly larger version  of Walkabout, long and slim, a reasonable rowing boat that I expect will sail well. She has though the centre area of SCAMP including the self draining cockpit floor with a water ballast tank under, a similar raised locker and veranda “cabin” which like SCAMP provides high up bouyancy to assist righting after a capsize, gives much dry storage and some shelter from the elements.

She will be cat yawl rigged, that’s two masts, a big balanced lug main and a triangular mizzen, will have the same offset centerboard that has been so successful on SCAMP, that gives space in the cockpit which is to be wide and long enough to sleep in, and I am drawing in an area aft of that with the full depth and width of the boat in which to stand and move about when sailing.

Ill be carrying a swimming pool bean bag in there so can sail in some comfort.

The boat is intended for very long range voyaging, at times in areas where there are no harbours for overnight refuge so she will be set up to lie to a sea anchor.

Im going to get this far enough along to allow me to start the new boat, I’ve got two other design projects plus a couple of small modification drawings to do as well.  I need to get them done so I can get out sailing when summer gets here.

Adventure cruising? The years keep ticking past, there are only a limited number of them and no one knows just how many each of us have, so its time I got out there and did some serious adventuring.  My philosophy is that life is what you use to build up the memories that sustain you in your old age.

I’ll have a pic of Long Steps in the next posting on this blog, the current working drawing is a work in progress, and as with all works in progress it’s a mess and wont make a lot of sense to anyone but me.

Oh yes, it will be back to sandpaper and paintbrush on SEI next week.

Watch this space.

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Wooden Boat Plans Australia | In which IAZ P boldly sails forth to new adventures

Wooden Boat Plans Australia

AHOY Mateys, Intrepid Readers, and friends!  I report to you this fine spring day that "I Am Zinea, Pterodactylus" has exchanged sailors in a happy fashion and is southwest bound from New Hampshire to the bustling and exciting 6th boro of New York City.  She is now in the hands of Capn Patrick Danger Danger and his nefarious gang.

Lots of symbolic appropriateness going on in this picture

Oh! Poseidon look kindly on IAZ,Ps new crew! I now shall recite to you this slightly modified age-old Goat Island Skiff plea. Amazing aquatic one, please receive it with benevolence:

May they enjoy fair winds and following seas,
High adventure and times of quiet relaxation,
May they always find the port before the storm,
and may she never abandon her crew in their most dire moment of need. 

Appropriate beverage-esque ceremony to follow.

I am happy to see this happen.

Thank you everyone, for everything.  Too many people to list, so many unknown peoples, it doesnt matter, thank you all.  IAZ,P has been such a wonderful experience in my life.  Please continue to follow GIS Amateur Style as we slowly segue fully into Sea Pearl 21 adventuring with "Scout" who has been featured in several previous posts, such as this one.

HUZZAH
HUZZAH
HUZZAH!!!

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Plywood Boat Plans | Sydney GTS43 Review

Plywood Boat Plans

The GTS43 was designed by Jason Ker and is intended as a racer/cruiser. Its pretty clear that by racer/cruiser they mean racer that has enough amenities below to accommodate the family for an occasional weekend cruise. But make no mistake, this boat is really all about performance. It caught my eye because the designer and builder have collaborated to create a unique and distinctive yacht that I think is going to attract a lot of attention among those who need a few amenities in their race boats.

The GTS43 looks fast under main, kite and staysl.

Jason Ker is not a household name in the USA but over the last twenty years this British designer has built an enviable reputation with his IRC racing yachts. The builder, originally based in Australia, has contracted with AD Boats in Split, Croatia to produce the GTS43 as well as the new GTS37. As you may know, this company also builds the Salona line of yachts. AD is owned by the Prevent Group, a multinational manufacturing corporation based in Wolfsberg, Germany that serves a variety of commercial and industrial markets. I think this is a business structure that we will see more of in the future. Yacht building has become so technology driven and capital intensive that for all practical purposes, the small independent boat builders are finding it harder and harder to survive.

The GTS43 represents a very different approach to hull design than more conventional racer/cruisers such as the Beneteau First or Elan lines. In the plan view it looks similar to other IRC inspired racer/cruisers, with a fine bow and wide stern. The same can be said of the boat in the profile view. But where those boats have full, or chined stern sections, the 43 has radically flaired sections aft.

Beneteau First 40. This Farr design incorporates what we think of as a conventional stern shape.
 Photo courtesy of Yachtworld.com

Elan 400  sports the currently fashionable chines.

Flaired stern on the GTS43.  

Why, you might ask, has Ker designed this boat with a stern that is so different from the more conventional Beneteau and Elan, or most other IRC racers. I think the answer may lie with his interpretation of the IRC rating system, or he may simply like the looks of this stern. I dont have a lines plan for this hull but we can make some judgments based on the photos. Lets deal with the stern first. The hull near the waterline is actually relatively narrow by todays standards so there is not a lot of reserve buoyancy there. This, combined with the somewhat slab sided midship sections of the hull leads me to think this boat may have a lower prismatic coefficient than a typical IRC racer. This means the boat will not require a lot of horsepower to get up to speed, but is likely to generate a bigger stern wave, which we refer to as induced drag as it moves through the water at hull speed. One benefit of the very wide stern is that the crew weight can be placed well outboard and aft, where it does the most good in heavy air. Here are some statistics:
LOA: 43 feet
Beam: 13.78 feet
Draft: 9.02 feet
Displacement: 15,320 pounds
Sail area (IJ+PE): 1,029 sq. ft.
Disp/Length: 86.0
SA/D: 26.8

This view provides an indication of the fine waterlines forward and the extreme flair aft. Photo courtesy of Sydney Yachts.

Maximum beam is carried all the way to the transom. The cockpit is spacious and side decks minimal.   

The high SA/D and low D/L indicate a powerful sailing machine that will demand a good helmsman and solid crew work when the breeze is up, but in return it will deliver stellar performance. Of course when its just you and the wife out for a sail, you may want to tuck in a reef and put the small jib up, which is a small compromise for such a high performance boat.

The cabin trunk is an interesting blister shape, with the aft ends of the cabin fairing into the wide cockpit coamings. The seats are tucked behind the cabin trunk, leaving lots of room in the aft half of the cockpit for working crew. The twin helms are located well aft, but it looks like there is enough space there for the helmsman and tactician.  The mainsheet traveler is located on the cockpit sole just forward of the helms, with the mainsheet winches within easy reach. This is another boat with an Admirals cup type mainsheet arrangement.

The rig incorporates a carbon fiber two spreader mast.  The mainsail luff length is about 60 feet and the foot is 19 feet. This is a big sail that will require some muscle to handle.  The jibs are non overlapping so tacking will actually be fairly easy. Notice the long, fixed bowsprit. It does not include an anchor roller so you may want to ask them to work on that when you place your order for a new GTS43.

I dont have any drawings or photos of the underbody of the boat, but Ker states that the keel incorporates a thin fin and bulb. My guess is that the rudder is also thin, deep and very efficient.

This is the keel on a Ker designed 46 footer. You can assume that the keel on the GTS43 is similar. Photo courtesy of Yachtworld.com

The bowsprit is not retractable.

The GTS 43 is  what I call a "live ballast" boat, which derives much of its righting moment from crew on the rail as shown here.

This boat has reasonably livable accommodations that would make cruising for a week or so tolerable for the family. The forward end of the boat has a snug v-berth which might be a good place for kids.
The dinette in the salon is smallish and offset well to port and the settee opposite is also situated well outboard. This leaves plenty of room amidships for packing chutes, which is important on a boat of this type. There are provisions for pilot berths above the dinette and settee. The nav station is large and has lots of storage space. The galley, opposite the nav station, is small for a 43 foot cruising yacht, but almost luxurious compared to the typical race-boat galley. There is a pair of private quarter cabins aft, each with a hanging locker and a pilot berth. Overall, while this is not what I would call a pretty interior, it is very functional. I could imagine spending a week or so aboard.

The v-berth looks fairly tight.

Lots of light and space in this limited but functional interior.

A single sink, two burner stove and limited counter space. 

It seems to me that the racing world is becoming more separate from cruising.  These days there are many forty foot daysailers on the market that make no pretense of being cruise-able.  This was almost unheard of twenty years ago. I give Sydney Yachts credit for attempting to bridge that gap and producing a racer that can be cruised even if its just for a week at the island. For more information about the GTS43 visit Sydneyyachts.com

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Pontoon Boat Plans | Finisterra is For Sale

Pontoon Boat Plans

All good things come to an end eventually and after three and a half years, 18,000 miles and a zillion wonderful moments aboard Finisterra, the time has come for us to turn the page and start another chapter. So we are reluctantly putting Finisterra up for sale.

Finisterra on a mooring in Catalina at the end of our last voyage to Mexico.

Finisterra has been the perfect cruising boat for us. Shes been tough, reliable and extremely comfortable to cruise aboard and we are going to miss her. Ive created a web site that describes the boat and equipment so if youd like to know more about her, visit her web site at finisterraspecifications.blogspot.com

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Dinghy Boat Plans | Tour du Leman 2009 Never again

Dinghy Boat Plans

The story so far: in 2006, I amazed myself by completing the Tour du Léman à lAviron in a mixed crew. In 2008, I set out to do the race "the hard way" without those big-engined blokes in an all-womens crew. Unfortunately, the weather got the better of us and we "swamped" after an hour and 20 minutes of battling through breaking waves.

Disliking unfinished business, the five of us returned to Geneva the next year, more practised, equipped with an electric pump, and with an updated flag.

Pump action
Getting an adequate pump was top of our "what to do differently next year" after our unplanned swim in Lake geneva in 2008. Not having a clue about what we needed or where to get it, I remembered that the German crew which had been prepping their boat next to ours in 2008 had been installing a rather impressive electrical pump system. Fortunately, I had taken some photos of us by our boat at this point, which had the Germans in the background, and with teutonic efficiency, the name of their club was on the side of their boat. Thanks to the wonder of the internet and my dodgy schoolgirl German, within 24 hours, I was in email contact with one of that crew, who spoke impeccable English, and explained the details of their pumping system.

Unfortunately, as this relied on using a small motor-cycle battery for power, we were stumped because you simply cant take those on planes. Further research then revealed that all water pumps assume that you are in a boat that has a motor to power it. And even the 2 tall girls in our crew didnt have the relevant voltage output. In the end, I found that there is just one type of pump which runs on D batteries – and swiftly bought one.

No, not again?
The weather was distinctly murky when we set off, and as we headed out along the Swiss shore, the water was worryingly choppy. Wed built up the bows of the boat as much as possible with plastic sheeting, bits of wood and a lot of gaffer tape, as well as taping over our riggers with a marvelous product Id discovered whilst a friend was moving house – its like sticky tape, but about 2ft wide, and is used for putting over stair carpet so removal men dont mess it up whilst carrying stuff up and down stairs in dirty shoes. 

After a couple of worrying hours, hoping the waves didnt get any worse, we were hugely relieved when the water flattened out so that we could revert to rowing square blade, which almost totally eliminates issues with blisters or painful wrists. And some time mid afternoon the sun also appeared for a while, which was particularly welcome, as it shone from behind us, for easing my increasingly painful back.

Why, thank you, sirs!
Before the race, wed been contacted by a mens crew from Swansea University Boat Club who were competing in it for the first time, seeking tips. Like many university rowers, they were not scullers, and so had elected to do he trace as a coxed four instead of as a coxed quad. Which was a level of added challenge that even multi-veterans of the event wouldnt contemplate.

Paddling square blade in perfect conditions.

The had had some red all-in-ones with large black spots on made specially for the event. We never found out why they wanted to look like ladybirds, but it was a fun look nevertheless, and why not.

Despite being big strong boys, at least partly because they were rowing sweep,  
we found that we were a similar speed to them, and with almost all crews using the "swap the cox every 30 mins" strategy, we often found ourselves pausing near them for the undignified scramble up and down the boat. At one swap, somewhere near Montreux, we were so close that they called across "Ladies, we dont want to give you big heads, but we think your sculling is beautiful!". Big smiles all round i our crew! And here is a simple but important thing about compliments: when youre under physical pressure, theyre incredibly powerful. Honestly, that nice little comment kept us buoyed up for ages. Thanks, guys!

Talking to these men after the event, it turned out that theyd been using quite a complex strategy which meant that they not only swapped the cox every half hour, but also changed the whole crew round so that each man swapped sides (another issue with doing long-distance events sweep not sculling) and the "burden" of stroking was shared equally. You can see the logic in it, but it did make the changes time-consuming, particularly as one ember of their crew was about 67" whilst the others were normal-sized, and so there must have been quite a lot of adjusting feet each time everyone moved round.

We took a totally different approach. We arranged the crew in height order, with the tallest in the stern and the shortest (thats me) in the bows. Although "middle 3" rowed in 2 different positions, depending on who was coxing, they were therefore sharing a seat with someone who was reasonably close to them in leg length, and so we didnt have to adjust stretchers at all. Of course, this did mean that the tallest girl stroked 80% of the race, but shes a country vet, hard as nails, and actually thrived in leading us all on from  the front. The Welsh guys were totally in awe of this concept.

We were being followed
As always, the race organisers at Société Nautique de Genève allocate a motor boat to follow each rowing crew in this event, to provide safety cover. The cruisers are all privately owned, and belong to the cruiser section of this multi-watersport club, but we had always thought that traipsing up to the top of the lake and back for 16 hours was pretty darn kind of them. But we later came to understand that they actually quite enjoyed it.

We particularly liked our support crew this year. At the start of the race, when all the rowing boats are quite close together, all the cruisers stood off, traveling up the middle of the lake, so they didnt wash us down. But a few hours in, when there was more space, they gently approached us at one of our swap pauses, and shouted out "Hello ladies, we are here for you!"

As darkness fell, they continued to keep nicely out of the way, but when we stopped to swap, and they saw the lights on our boat stop moving, they did approach a couple of times,  turn their powerful searchlight on us, and ask "Are you OK?", to which we replied with cheerful waves. The only slight snag with this was that, on swapping into the coxing seat after 2 hours rowing, the cox often needed to relive herself (using a receptacle of which no more will be said), and whilst dropping ones shorts in front of ones friend was a necessary evil, it didnt mean one was entirely comfortable having ones are bottom illuminated. However, they fairly quickly understood the situation, and stopped using the searchlight.

After the race, we sent them a card to thank them for being a great support boat, and some months later they sent the above photo, with several others which finally revealed that following rowers round the lake was actually a jolly good excuse for a cruise. (Note that the French word for "safety" is "securité", hence the caption. It wasnt that we were at risk of being kidnapped...)

Through the marks and round the bend
One of the rules of the race states that all crews have to get past a specific point at the top of the lake in 9 hours, or they will be asked to retire. As wed only just got to that point within the cutoff in our mixed crew in 2006, we were quite concerned that we might not make it in our womens crew, and be forced to stop, even if we were going well. We talked to the organisers about this, and one of them (probably speaking off the record), winked at us and said "Dont worry, for you we will stop the clock." You can see why I think this is just the nicest event ever.

Heading away from Le Bouveret, the 9 hour cutoff point.

As it turned out, we neednt have worried. We had with us a list of the times wed taken to each way point round the course in our mixed crew, and to our surprise, soon found that we were actually beating these each time. We concluded that although the blokes had provided good power, they were also heavy when coxing and at least some of them had caused excessive faffing at change points.

Another problem wed had that year was that our GPS had stopped working and without it we were unable to find the waypoint at Sciez in the dark. Equipped with a new GPS this year, w wondered why wed ever had a problem, and rounded this point exactly in parallel with the Welsh ladybird men. Im sure the timekeepers there must have thought some French equivalent of "I dunno, you stand here for hours and suddenly 2 crews turn up at once".

Never again
The final 3 hours 15 minutes from Sciez to the finish were hard. My back was a wall of pain, and ensuring that you avoid unlit yachts in the dark when coxing is quite stressful. Eventually, though, we reached the stretch of dual carriageway that runs past the club, and which has very obvious street lights along it. Id remember this but taking ages in 2006, but this time it whizzed past (its actually only about 3km), and after a little bit of shouting on the finish line "Somme nous finis?", "Yes, you have finished!" we were finally the first British womens crew to row round Lake Geneva.

Stéphane, the lovely chief race organiser, was at the landing stage to pull us into the landing stage, at which point I said, somewhat in the manner of Steve Redgraves "If you ever see me in a boat again you have my permission to shoot me" utterance after winning 2- at the 1996 Olympics (and we all know what happened after that), "Dont ever accept an entry from me for this race again, that was SO painful." Of course, he just smiled, and said "You will be back." 

And, of course, he was right.

The 2008 flag had to be updated for 2009 because one
 crew member had changed clubs,
hence the addition of the Rob Roy dark red fringe.

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Boat Plans Nz | Cabo is back!

Boat Plans Nz

The harbor in Cabo is choked with boats of all types, except cruising sailboats.

The dark hulled Atessa  is the big boat in the harbor right now.

Four years ago we sailed the Honcho into the harbor at Cabo San Lucas and discovered that the place was empty. It had been hit hard by the recession in the USA and at the time I estimated that 70 percent of the slips in the harbor were empty. The bars and restaurants that I had frequented in the past were closed or barely hanging on, and the people I talked to bemoaned the bad economy and lack of jobs.

That was then. In the wee hours of Monday, January 20th, 2014 we entered the harbor once again and were presented with an entirely different situation. The place is packed with sportfishermen, day boats, party boats, dinner cruise boats, luxury yachts from around the world and a zillion pangas. I think we got the last available forty foot slip in the harbor. It was heartening to see the town bounce back from what was a devastating recession here. Of course we were not pleased with the prices for a meal around the waterfront were the tourists go, but overall, its great to see the economy in this part of Mexico rebound.

The last time we were here, a slip for a 35 boat cost about $125.00 per night. This time we put the 42 foot Finisterra in a slip for $79.00 per night. Still not cheap, but acceptable for a couple of nights. There has been quite an uproar recently in the US about a recent crackdown by Mexican authorities on foreign boats that are temporarily in the country. I wont go into the details of it because they are available on Lectronic Latitude, but basically, some boats that didnt have all their paperwork in order, and some that did, were impounded by AGACE, Mexicos rough approximation of our IRS, until the paperwork is straightened out or taxes paid. The problem has been with boats that have all the proper documentation but because mistakes on the part of AGACE, and due in part to foreign owners not having all the documents available at the time AGACE inspected their boats, the boats were impounded. I noticed several boats in the marina with "Embargo" notices taped to them, so this is a real and serious issue. Before leaving California and upon checking Finisterra into Mexico, we made very certain that we had all the paperwork and understood the new rules and so as far as I know, were in good standing with AGACE. In the US, this controversy has already resulted in the cancellation of at least on race to Cabo and I know of several boats that are sitting out this cruising season in California because of the controversy. All the Mexican officials Ive spoken to have downplayed the situation, saying the inspections were not well conducted and that AGACE will handle things better in the future.

Enough about embargoes and officials. Weve been enjoying wandering around the bustling town, dining on fabulous cuisine in high end restaurants, and equally fabulous meals in smaller places outside the tourist areas.
We checked out the beach and the new cultural pavilion downtown and marveled at the vast number of fish being caught in the local waters.

The barrels are full of fish parts. Pelicans and gulls live like kings around here.

While here I checked all the systems aboard the boat. The only issue we had on the trip south was the refrigeration system. It stopped working in Ensenada, then mysteriously came back from the dead a couple of days later.  Its working now so Ill wait until we get to La Cruz before digging into the system. We also thoroughly washed the boat which had acquired a thick layer of gritty dust in Ensenada, the result of a Santa Ana wind that blew hard the day before we departed.

A remarkable bird, the pelican...

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Boat Trailer Plans Australia | Cockpit Table

Boat Trailer Plans Australia

Ive been busy with work during the month of July so getting things done on the boat has been a challenge. But I did finally finish the new cockpit table and get the Garmin GPS installed.  We also have a new 120% genoa aboard, but havent set it up on the furler yet. Lastly we took the liferaft and MOM unit in for servicing.

The reason for the new cockpit table is that the original one took up too much space and we got tired of it being in the way. The new arrangement works much better for actually sailing the boat and provides a place for the new GPS.

The process began with removal of the original table. The photo below shows the standard arrangement for the B423. You can see that it pretty much fills up the cockpit forward of the steering pedestal. It is fitted with large drop-leaves that make for a very spacious dining table when they are deployed and for many B423 owners its a good arrangement.

The lid fits loosely on the table and encloses a deep stowage bin. Notice the slip pin hinges for the drop-leaves.  

Plenty of room with the table removed

Removing the table reveals the spaciousness of the cockpit. I filled in the holes left by the mounting bolts. Later I installed a teak foot rest which concealed them. The table legs are nicely made of stainless steel and are plenty strong so I kept them for use on the new table.

Table base incorporates a solid, if slippery footrest. The blue tape covers the forward hinge which had an uncanny ability to snag clothing.

The next step was to mock up the new table. I wanted it to be smaller than the original table, incorporate the new GPS and provide solid hand-holds. I took a template off the forward side of the pedestal and entered those dimensions into the computer because I wanted the new table to follow the contours of the pedestal. Then I played around with different shapes until I had something that looked like it would work. I made a mockup out of particle board and check fitted it.

Particle board mockup. 

The new shape looked good, but the original table leg assembly was not tall enough. I wanted the table to be high enough that we could see the new GPS even when standing at the wheel. So while the leg assembly was in the shop getting modified I laminated up a mahogany riser and fabricated the table itself out of 3/4" StarBoard.

The mahogany riser puts the table at a convenient height. The post that the GPS is mounted on can be adjusted for height and it swivels. The cable is routed down through the post and fed into the starboard table leg. From there it passes through the deck and into the aft cabin. 

With the GPS mounted high enough for good visibility from the helm, it was too high to be convenient when sitting in the forward part of the cockpit, which is why I incorporated a pedestal that can be adjusted higher or lower and swivel for good visibility from anywhere in the cockpit. When were at sea, we almost never stand or sit at the helm. When youre on watch alone, the autopilot will always do a better job of steering the boat than a human over the span of an entire watch. The best place to stand watch is in the shelter of the dodger. On the Beneteau 423 that presents a problem because all of the instrumentation and controls are on the "dashboard" at the helm. The new GPS solves the navigational aspect of the problem and it will display AIS information as well. The handheld remote for the autopilot substitutes for the controller at the helm. The new TackTick sailing instruments are wireless and the displays can be located anywhere. So with this system in place we can navigate and control the boat from the most comfortable spot in the cockpit. This gets real important when youre punching into a head sea on the midnight watch and youre the only person on deck for three hours on a windy and moonless night.

On the left is a 2011 Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, to the right is a 2009 Cakebread Cabernet.

Once the unit was installed we had to check fit the drink holders. They worked like a champ! I have been planning to add a fold-down dining table which would be attached to table leg assembly but for now, were pretty pleased with the current arrangement.


                                                                 The Rescue Pod

Switlik Rescue Pod 4
Switlik refers to it as an "Emergency Floatation System" rated for 4 people. It would be extremely cozy for four, but reasonable for two.

Finisterra has a Switlik Rescue Pod for a liferaft, which is fine for coastal cruising in the temperate and tropical regions where the Finisterra will be traveling. It was time for a checkup so I took it to Avalon Rafts in Wilmington, California. Everyone who owns a raft or races offshore has taken a Safety At Sea course and seen raft deployment demonstrations, so you have a general idea of how they work and how they are equipped. But few of us have deployed our own raft, so we hung around and went through every detail of our little pod. It was something of an eye opener to see exactly how it works, what happens when things go wrong, and what the equipment bag really has in it. It has caused me to revise the equipment and supplies we carry in our ditch bag and I feel a lot more prepared in case we ever have to deploy the raft in a real emergency. If you plan to do any truly offshore work, one look at the Pod when its deployed will convince you to opt for a real liferaft.

The Pod is, as you can see in the photos, basically a flat disc. That means that in has a 50% chance of inflating upside down. It has a righting line across the bottom, so it can be righted, but if you have a Pod, keep in mind that the first thing you may be required to do once youve launched it, is to get in the water and pull the thing upright. It looked pretty easy in the comfort of Avalons shop. It might be a different story in 15 foot seas and 40 knots of wind.

I snapped the photos below with my phone so they are not very good quality, but you can see fairly well what the rescue pod is like.

This is how the raft looks after its hit the water and inflated. The CO2 canister is in the background. It normally remains attached to the raft. The pressure relief valve is the donut shaped part in the foreground. The drogue or sea anchor is the white thing on the left. Equipment visible inside the raft is stored in the equipment bag.

The person standing in the background provides a good indication of the size of the Pod. This is a single chamber raft, which means that if it is punctured, it turns into a large trash bag pretty quickly. So be sure that you throw it clear of any sharp objects and try not to accidentally stab it while getting aboard. The unit comes with a repair kit, suitable for fixing two holes. Unfortunately the instructions are printed on a little piece of paper and carefully packaged with the kit in a small plastic bag. So be sure that when you do get that puncture, youre in a clean, dry place and have plenty of time and good lighting so you can read the instructions, which call for cutting the hole large enough to slip one part of the "clamshell" inside the the air chamber then clamping the other half to it. Stay calm while the air is whistling out of the hole and youre reading those instructions.

Standard rescue pod equipment include a surprisingly effective manual pump, combination strobe and flashlight, puncture repair kit (in the plastic bag), and a relief valve cap (the white thing below the repair kit).

Ill post our revised ditch bag equipment list in another day or two.

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