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Carbon Fiber Masts and Lightning: Myths, Assurances And Risks
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Read more: Carbon Fiber Masts and Lightning: Myths, Assurances And RisksJohn explains why he feels confident that going with carbon fibre for our new mast has given us a stronger mast than could be built in aluminum, as well as a faster, more stable and safer boat. And all without any appreciable increase in lightning strike risk.
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Read more: Radio Fear
Morgan’s Cloud was anchored in a snug cove in Maine. We had tied everything down on deck and stripped the headsails from the furlers. Hurricane Kyle was bearing down on the coast with forecast 60 knot winds, gusting higher; no worse than we have ridden out many times before in high latitude anchorages, so we […]
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Read more: Carbon Fiber Mast, Costs and BenefitsSo, how much did the new carbon fibre mast for Morgan’s Cloud cost? John shares the bottomline.
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Read more: Keeping The Water Out—DetailsColin shares some tips on how to avoid water ingress…anywhere.
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Read more: Carbon Fibre Masts, Amateur Boat DesignJohn uses simple engineering and yacht design to explain why a carbon fibre mast delivers such astounding increases in performance and comfort.
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Read more: Badger Sunscreen ReviewA review of the best sunscreen we have found for boating.
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Read more: The Benefits Of Carbon Fibre MastsPictures of Americas Cup-class boat hulls breaking in half and their masts, supported by a plethora of rigging and spreaders, collapsing in relatively benign conditions, have given structures built of carbon fibre an undeserved reputation for fragility. John challenges this impression.
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Read more: What Has Worked So Far—On The WaterAfter sailing their new home a little, Colin gives their first impressions on the OVNI as a yacht in her own right, as well as on some of the equipment they added.
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Read more: Georgia On Our MindsGeorgia: moss-draped live oaks, barrier island beaches, charming towns, friendly people…an unexpected but fascinating cruising ground.
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Read more: The New Mast, Why?The most expensive and stressful part of our latest refit to “Morgan’s Cloud” was the replacement of her mast. So why did we do it? Simple, peace of mind.
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Read more: A Top Ten ListHere is a top ten list (well, nine is pretty close) of what we did during the refit that we really like:
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Read more: What Has Worked So Far—DomesticallyColin evaluates some of the equipment they chose for domestic life aboard, as well as the general layout on their new OVNI.
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Read more: Coastal Overnights—They’re Tough But They Get The Job DoneAfter spending much of the last four winters in Maine and Nova Scotia refitting Morgan’s Cloud, John and I agreed that a winter in the Bahamas would be just the ticket. So when the blazing fall colours and chilly temperatures of early October indicated that Penobscot Bay, Maine wasn’t going to remain the balmy summer […]
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Read more: Boat Refit OverviewSo, what did we do to our beloved Morgan’s Cloud that could possible take four winters of hard labour?
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Read more: Q&A: Homebuilding A Boat
Question: I am a novice at sailboat construction, but found a beautiful fiberglass hull on eBay and couldn’t resist the challenge of building my own [boat]. It’s 45’ LOA, 36’ LWL, 5’-3” draft, 14’ beam and 9’-6” depth of hull amidships. The hull is believed to have been built in the early 1970s, but there […]
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Read more: The “C” Word—CorrosionColin debunks some myths about corrosion on aluminum boats.
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Read more: Q&A: Issues With Teak Deck Replacement On A Metal BoatQuestion: We are hoping to draw on your experience with teak deck replacement on our steel sailboat…Despite our initial plan of just stemming the leaks for the short term until we sailed somewhere fun, they are just too bad and the deck has to go next spring/summer. While going through the process of finding someone […]
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Read more: Self-Sufficiency In PowerWhen building their OVNI, Colin and Louise remained true to their commitment to renewable power after so many years of both working in the environmental field by designing a power generation system that balances wind and solar.
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Read more: Q&A: Tef-Gel Versus Never-Seez
Question: I am intrigued by your high praise for Tef-Gel. I have not heard of it before, and in the past I have used ‘anti-seize’ for mooring shackles and installing stainless steel fasteners in aluminum. I am curious about your experience with ‘anti-seize’ versus Tef-Gel. In addition, I have had good luck using BP Blaster […]
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Read more: Q&A: Sailboat Stability Contradiction
Question: I recently had an interesting discussion about stability with a cruising yacht owner, and I thought this topic would be of real interest to any high latitude sailor. And I also suspect that you would have traversed this terrain long ago and have an opinion. After the 1979 Fastnet race, the Joint Committee on […]
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Read more: Back on BoardOur last extended cruise ended in the fall of 2003 when John and I hauled Morgan’s Cloud in Maine so that we could spend the winter at our house in Bermuda. We had a big decision to make: If we wanted to refit Morgan’s Cloud and keep on cruising, the house would have to be […]
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Read more: Q&A: Risk Management, Hurricanes
Question [received July 11, 2008]: We’re in St. John’s, Newfoundland, waiting to cross to Scotland. We’re just about ready to go and the weather forcast is good for leaving. However, Hurricane Bertha is just south of Bermuda. The current forecast is for her to weaken to 55 knots within four to five days, and stay […]
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Read more: The "S" Word—StabilityColin checks stability numbers for his OVNI 435 and is reassured. But there is more to sailboat capsize safety than the numbers.
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Read more: How To Home Build a Hard Dodger For an Offshore SailboatAfter reading about our hard dodger, very experienced liveaboard voyagers Lane and Kay Finley sent along a detailed description of their hard dodger, complete with photographs. The advantage of theirs over ours is that it is all hard with glass windows; much stronger and pretty much maintenance free. On the other hand, I like the larger expanse of window, fewer blind spots and curved shape of ours.
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Read more: The Real Hard MenLobster fishermen in the Bay of Fundy, man are they tough!
