Tips, Tricks & Thoughts:
Tips
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Q&A Hydraulic In-Boom Roller Furling in Antartica
7 CommentsReading Time: 3 minutesFreeRead more: Q&A Hydraulic In-Boom Roller Furling in AntarticaVery experienced member Matthieu Chauvel asked: Does anyone have experience with hydraulic in-boom furling systems in below-freezing conditions (and/or proper heavy seas, 50 kts+)? Asking for owners of a yacht heading down to Antarctica that has what they (and the builder of course) say is quite a beefy, reliable custom system, but it hasn’t been […]
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Reefing Horn Hack
8 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree
Read more: Reefing Horn HackReefing horns are a nice simple way to secure the tack when reefed, but they can also foul the sail when hoisting. A PITA, particularly on boats with the halyard led aft to the cockpit. This simple hack using a piece of fuel hose with the same ID as the horn OD, that I had […]
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Spinlock 6D—One Size Does Fit All
7 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree
Read more: Spinlock 6D—One Size Does Fit AllOur friend Margaret, who is of the petite persuasion, wearing the Spinlock 6D we are testing here at AAC. One of our concerns with the new model was that with only one size, instead of three as the 5D we have used for years was available in, was that fitting a smaller person might be […]
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John Kretschmer Reefs Downwind
0 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree
Read more: John Kretschmer Reefs DownwindA few days after we published my article about the causes of the tragedy on Escape, I received this unsolicited email from John Kretschmer: I am writing to commend you for your recent piece,”Lessons from a Tragedy at Sea.” It’s sober but hopefully enlightening to many. You are spot on. The notion of coming up […]
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Susie Goodall Tells Her Story
4 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree
Read more: Susie Goodall Tells Her StoryWhile I’m no fan of the Golden Globe Race, or at least not in its present form, I am a huge fan and follower of Susie Goodall and was absolutely gutted when she lost her boat in the 2018 race, particularly since she was one of the few competitors to fit what I believe is […]
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Batteries And Generators Are Different Things
2 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree
Read more: Batteries And Generators Are Different ThingsIt drives me crazy when sales people suggest that installing their lithium batteries automatically means we don’t need a generator. Batteries are a storage device, generators are…wait for it…a generation device. They are different things. Sure, installing a larger capacity battery bank (of any chemistry) might mean that we can anchor for longer, or sail […]
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ABYC Bans Twin Busses For Lithium
2 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFreeRead more: ABYC Bans Twin Busses For LithiumTurns out that the new ABYC E13 standard for lithium battery installations on boats in effect bans separate busses for loads and charging sources. (Thanks to member Rick for pointing this out.) 13.7.2.1A BMS shall respond to any conditions outside the SOE by activating the output disconnect device. My guess, and hope, is that this […]
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Mirage 24
4 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree
Read more: Mirage 24This little boat on the mooring next to us, belongs to a young couple with a year-old baby, who get a lot of fun out of her. I’m told even the baby likes the boat. She has two berths, a galley and a head, and was designed by Cuthbertson & Cassian of C&C yachts, although […]
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Dead Ending Reefing Pennants
29 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteMembers
Read more: Dead Ending Reefing PennantsMost people dead end reefing pennants round the boom with a bowline, but that’s hard to tie tight and even harder to untie after it’s been under load. And don’t even think about using a buntline hitch unless you want to use explosives to untie it. There’s a better way: Login to continue reading (scroll […]
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Killer Dyneema Scissors
2 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree
Read more: Killer Dyneema ScissorsI have been doing a bunch of splicing of single-braid Dyneema (AmSteel) lately—lots of storm preparation. The stuff is seriously difficult to cut without making a mess of it, particularly when cutting single strands to taper the bury, but these scissors from D-Splicer do a lovely neat job and will even cut through a full […]
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This Won’t End Well
0 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree
Read more: This Won’t End WellIt seems like Brunswick Corporation is buying up just about every marine electrical and electronic company out there: Blue Sea, Ancor, Mastervolt, and more, and putting it all under the banner of Navico, which is a conglomerate itself comprising many hitherto independent companies. I know, they are on this acquisition spree with the goal of […]
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A Cruiser’s Way Stop Gets Hammered
3 CommentsReading Time: 2 minutesFree
Read more: A Cruiser’s Way Stop Gets HammeredPhyllis and I were fortunate. Being in the safe semicircle and well away from the centre of Hurricane Fiona, we had only gale force winds with gusts to around 50 knots. Our power was out for just 36 hours and even our internet came back on today. We were lucky, others were not. We are […]
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Here Comes Fiona
4 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree
Read more: Here Comes FionaWe are just starting to feel the outer bands of Fiona here at AAC World Headquarters…our cottage in the woods. Thankfully, it looks like we are in the safe semicircle and so will likely avoid the worst of it, but we may be “off air” for a while. The photo is our J/109 stripped and […]
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Securing Mooring Shackles
0 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFreeRead more: Securing Mooring ShacklesOver recent years I have noticed that many mooring service companies, ours included, have started using wire ties instead of seizing wire to secure shackles. I always ask for seizing wire and even provide the wire when the mooring is commissioned in the spring. But even so, while checking today, I found wire ties. Fixed […]
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Mooring Check Hack
0 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree
Read more: Mooring Check HackWith hurricane Fiona heading our way I have just checked our mooring bridle attachment and swivel. To make this easy, even though the chain is quite heavy because it was sized for our last boat, I attach a spinnaker halyard to the bridle and hoist it up while it runs over the bow roller, as […]
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Dinghy Tow Rope Q and A
5 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFreeRead more: Dinghy Tow Rope Q and AA few years ago I wrapped the dinghy’s painter round the prop while manoeuvring to anchor in a very crowded anchorage. I don’t like towing a dinghy at sea but we had only come round the corner from a lunch spot and I forget to shorten up the line. My question is: would we be […]
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Sail Care Q&A
2 CommentsReading Time: 2 minutesFreeRead more: Sail Care Q&AWhat’s the best way to pack and store sails? I am unable to fold the hank on sails properly on deck, in a blow, solo. So I somewhat stuff it in the bag. Then on a nice and calm day, I will dry them by hoisting, and try to fold it as neatly as I can (not […]
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Why We Use Knots and Nautical Miles
4 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFreeRead more: Why We Use Knots and Nautical MilesA nice post over at Sailing Scuttlebutt on why we don’t use kilometres at sea and shouldn’t be using metres per second in marine forecasts. I couldn’t agree more.
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Wichard Self-Locking Shackles
5 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree
Read more: Wichard Self-Locking ShacklesWe had the jib off, so I just replaced all the standard Harken shackles our new furler came with with Wichard self-locking ones. We have been using these things for decades in places where wiring the shackle is not a good idea (spinnakers are expensive) and never had one back out on us. Highly recommended […]
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Hack To Stop The Headstay Pumping
7 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree
Read more: Hack To Stop The Headstay PumpingOn a lot of boats with a roller-furling foil, and particularly with no sail rolled on it, the headstay will start to pump once the wind gets up, sometimes to the point it gets quite alarming. Not only that, all that pumping can do real damage to the rig if left long enough. But there’s […]
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Nice Bags and No Hole Mounting
3 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree
Read more: Nice Bags and No Hole MountingI like these sheet and odds and ends bags from Blue Performance a lot, but I hate drilling holes in our boats. So I ordered these snap together fastener strips with adhesive backing to stick on the boat, and disks without adhesive to bolt the little mounting doodads the bags come with to. Seems to […]
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Harken Bosun’s Chair
2 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree
Read more: Harken Bosun’s ChairI let my much-loved and venerable Hood Sails bosun’s chair go with her when we sold our McCurdy and Rhodes 56. Just received this replacement from Harken. After a quick look over, I’m liking what I’m seeing a lot, but of course I will know more once I have used it and will share that […]
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Cruiser Under $20K, Bayfield 29
0 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree
Read more: Cruiser Under $20K, Bayfield 29My last post got me thinking about the importance of just getting out there in some boat, any boat, if we really want to go cruising and make a success of it. We can always buy a bigger and better boat later. With that in mind, there’s a Bayfield 29 we go by on our […]
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A Boat While You Wait To Go Cruising
2 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree
Read more: A Boat While You Wait To Go CruisingI came across this cool article on old small boats available for less than the cost of a good dinner out. One of these would make a great project while waiting and saving to go cruising: Learn some useful skills while fixing the boat. Then hone sailing skills. The O’Day Day Sailer for US$78 jumped […]
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Brion Toss Splicing Wand
2 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree
Read more: Brion Toss Splicing WandI have owned this great tool for at least 25 years. I don’t use it that often, but when I do, it saves so much agro. The photo to the right shows the way I was using it locked in a vice to Brummell splice 1/2″ Amsteel. No way my little D-splicer was going to […]
