Coming up next

• a journey report " Another try to get to Ramsgate "
• a portable charttable in the aft cabin on a Delanta 80
• a journey report" In 7 days from Roompot to London and back "

 

Well no wind at all

Yes flat as an baby bottom

self build: a Danbouy

In case you haven’t noticed,  I like to build things for the boat myself. When I was a student (which only ended two years ago),  I sailed Geronimo on a very low budget and often the maths came down to food, diesel or equipment for the boat. For sailing out on the North Sea (we are based on the Grevelingen Meer, which is a bit more protected) I like to have a danbouy onboard. But if you look them up in the chandleries they are always a bit pricey. So I had a go at building my own.

If you want to build your own Danbuoy, you need the following items:

• a telescopicboat hook  (to use as the stick) (for example floow the link)
• some PU foam
• a chunk of lead or steel (as the weight)
• a  day-glo  yellow or orange reflective vest (you can easily get them at a petrol station on the continent, as many countries require you to have one in the car in case of a breakdown)

 And for night cruises I recommend adding this C-LIGHT LIFEJACKET LIGHT to the list.

Start with the telescopic boat hook. Remove the hook itself and the cap at the end of it. Then you take the PU foam and glue it to the stick. It is the best to place the foam below the expanding part of the stick where you lock it, as that still allows you to regulate the length and so makes it easier to store. Once you have fixed the foam to the stick you have to find the right weight of lead so that the stick swims upright, i.e. sticking out of the water. 

There are two ways to achieve this:

Firstly, you can calculate it with Archimedes’ law. Or secondly, you can try it out until it works. I have done the Archimedes law and then tried it in practice, never been that much of a theoretician... When trying it in practice, take the stick with the foam and throw it into the water (you might want to tie it on to something in case you’ve got too much weight…). Now adjust the weight  at the bottom until the stick swims upright. After that you weigh  the metal needed. 

I then  moulded the lead to the shape of the end of the stick. To do this, you can use a gas cooker and an old pan to melt the lead (make sure you work somewhere well-ventilated) and then mould it in the right shape. 

Now you are nearly done. Simply stitch the reflective vest around the PU Foam and you have your own Danbouy.

If you want, you can add a light on top and fix it with a screw to the stick.

I even added a swimming ring and a flag (from the rest of the vest) 

 

gear test: Raymarine ST 40 BiData

Well, after nearly 25 years of service my good old VDO log reached the end of its lifetime. The instrument is corroded and worn out through the effects of sun and water drips in the casing.

So last winter I installed the Raymarine ST40 Bidata. You might wonder why I chose a Bidata and not a simple log?

 Well, I operate a NASA Target Sounder. It works, but I´m not quite happy with it, because if you have a small air bubble in the ”coupling oil” which sometimes happens on a rolling boat, then it can lose its readings. And, according to Murphy’s law, this tends to happen exactly in that moment when you go through  a shallow and narrow passage.

The installation of the Bidata instrument was quite easy, apart from  the fact that you have to drill two holes in the hull. I installed the sounder in the front section, i.e. before the keel. The log is installed next to the old log beside the keel. The manual recommends the installation of the log in front of the keel. But a couple of years ago I installed a NASA log in front of the keel and I didn´t get a reading from it except when I ran Geronimo by engine at a speed of 4 knots and there was no wind-drift at all. I don´t blame the NASA log for this, but it seems that the flow in front of the keel is somehow different for a Delanta 80 from what they have tested. The old VDO  log is installed next to  the keel and it works, so why search for a new spot that works if you already have one, right? 

You might be wonder why I  I haven´t kept the NASA log . The simple answer is, because the instrument was damaged in a winter storm. I guess something must have hit it, because the casing was broken and water had gotten inside, which the electronics took exception to. 

So what I like about the Raymarine log is that there are two flaps in the mounting unit you put through the hull, which should close when you have to remove the transducer, such as if it´s bunged up with something or algae have become tangled in it.That is a really nice feature. How often have you nearly flooded your boat, because the transducer was stuck and you really wanted to know the speed again ? I lost count of the number of times and while recently, since I have started diving, I rather  liked the idea of gearing up, diving down and giving it a good scrub, it’s not all that pleasant early or late in the season. ;-). I was actually lucky this year, because the transducer didn’t get stuck this year, and sadly / fortunately  I didn´t have to try the double flaps. 

Also note that it is recommended that you don´t paint the sounder transducer. Oops… 

After wiring everything up and once Geronimo was back in her natural element  (It always seems wrong  to see a ship on dry land) it worked. For accurate measurements, you  have to calibrate the log, and here is something odd:  Sometimes it “forgets”  the calibration factor. I’m still not sure why this happens, but it is quite easy to put it back in, just follow the instructions in the manual. 

Using the Bi Data instrument is quite satisfying. I normally run it at the setting where the speed is shown in large digits and the depth in small ones. However, when I navigate on a 5 or 10 m line,  I switch it to the display mode where the depth is shown in large digits instead. 

The Bi Data gives you the following information in the speed menu setting:

• ·         Current speed
• ·         Maximum speed
• ·         Average speed
• ·         Log
• ·         Trip
• ·         Water temperature

The depth menu gives you:

• ·         Actual depth
• ·         Minimum depth
• ·         Shallow alarm
• ·         Deep alarm
• ·         Anchor alarms (shallow and deep)
• ·         And an offset

I have been using the BI Data now for one year and I´m very happy with it. Apart from the minor snag  that sometimes I have to calibrate the log ( usually after I haven’t used it for more than two weeks). It has a compact display and it is perfect for every small boat. Also, you don´t need an extra fuse for the night light.

For its price (around 300 €)  you get a very good piece of equipment.

As I mentioned in my review of the Raymarine ST40 Wind, there is also the new I40 series of instruments. It seams that the I 40 series gives you the same data as the ST 40. It offers you now red backlight, the ST 40 has a green backlight.

http://www.raymarine.de/uploadedImages/Products/Instrument_Displays/i40/i40_bi_data_1.jpg 

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Coming up next

Coming up next:

• my personal review of the Raymarine ST 40 BI Data
• a self build Danbuoy from a boat hook

gear test: Raymarine ST 40 Wind

For the last couple of years I have used the Raymarine ST40 Wind anemometer, after I got rid of the NASA Target Wind, see my earlier post. 

Needless to say I am very happy with it. It can display the following information:

• ·         apparent wind speed and direction,
• ·         true wind speed and direction,
• ·         and it is able to talk to your autopilot to steer your boat to a selected apparent wind angle. (If you use the Seatalk communication protocol. I don´t use an autopilot, so I´m not able to comment on this feature) 

The installation was quite easy, apart from having to pull a cable through your mast, but that is another topic...  You just need to drill a 55mm hole for the instrument, at the spot where you are planning to mount it. Build it in, wire it up, and it is ready to go. 

To set up the the correct wind direction, you have to drive a minimum of two full circles with your boat. Two turns, but how? You might be wondering. In this, the manual is a little bit unspecific. So here are my attempts:

• ·         Follow the indicator itself, doesn´t work
• ·         Drive 2 turns slowly, doesn´t work
• ·         Drive 2 turns quickly, doesn´t work
• ·         Start upwind, doesn´t work
• ·         Start on a reach, doesn´t work
• ·         …….

If someone has been able to figure this out and calibrate the instrument properly, please leave me a comment on how it works. 

But you have the option to set the wind direction manually. So I put Geronimo on a beam reach and gave the ST40 Wind the right angle. Done, it works.

Operating the ST 40 Wind is quite easy, you simply switch it on and you have all the information you need on the display. You can change the menu just by pressing the up or down arrow. So you can set the menu to display

• ·         apparent wind
• ·         true wind (only available if the instrument can get the boat speed through Seatalk)
• ·         high wind speed alarm

A nice function is the locked apparent wind function. I like it, because I sometimes sail with friends who haven´t had a lot of practice in steering a boat. So what I do is:-

• ·         adjust the sails so she is running nicely,
• ·         tell them how to steer
• ·         and lock in this function.

So my guests can sail quite properly, because the wind instrument shows them when they have to get up or down wind.  Perfect!

I also like the fact that you can switch on the backlight on the instrument. In my old instruments you have to use a separate fuse for this.

In my opinion, the ST40 series of Raymarine is perfect for small boats. The instrument is quite small and you just need one fuse to switch it on. 

I recently looked on the Raymarine website and they have brought out a new small instrument series, the i40 series. I think these follow on from the new design of the whole I series. It looks like they have the same features as the ST series.

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Off topic: A small whale (common porpoise )

It is always luck to have a small whale as a companion. So this year we were quite lucky....
He likes to play with Geronimofor quite a while.

Comming up next is a gear test of the Raymarine St40 Wind

Off topic:The X marks the spot, where....

Why I love to sail at spring and autumn.....

because all is quite and you don´t see many yachties around. You are alone in small bays and harbours, which are very crowed in the summer.
So you can get calm and find your peace

gear test: heating

Jepp, it´s getting cold and wet outside. After a nice day of sailing in spring or autumn you might like  to have a warm cabin, allowing you to warm up and dry up things.
If you a lucky you have a Diesel heating onboard, but how do you heat in a small boat or a boat without central heating
In a marina you have your shore power to power a electric fan heater. But the problem with electric heating is that you get warm air quite quickly, but it is still wet. You don´t get rid of the humidity.
And what do you do if you are out at sea, at anchor,......?
So here is what the market offers:

1.  Heating bonnet for gas
For cooking I use a Origo 3000 alcohol cooker. For example at compass24 you will find the heating bonnet for gas cooker for 20€. I bought mine somewhere in a nice chandlery in England.

 

It works with the Origo cooker. It is able to heat up the main cabin of a Delanta 80 from 8°C up to 20°C in nearly 25 minutes. If you want to sail you can fix it with the clamps of your cooker and you have nice, warm cabin in next to no time. What abot the humidity?? Well this doesn´t help if you are using  an ethyl alcohol cooker, but it is warm and it keeps the heat for a little while after you turn off the cooker. 

2. A petroleum heater.

A very cheap offer is this petroleum heater. You can get it at compass24 or awn.

But man, this is a hulk of a petroleum heater. My parents use it on their boat, a Dufour 31, and it is masive! My father is always complaining, when he has to set it up, because it it stored somewhere in the front cabin under their bed. But it gives you heat quickly, and you can actually feel how the humidity gets less. 

A couple of years ago in winter, we had a broken water pipe at the house of my grandparents while they were both in hospital, because the central heating failed. Well we ended up in a really frozen house and we used this petroleum heater to heat a large dining room, while we worked to get rid off the frozen carpets. It was excellent, the room was really warm in no time and we had a point of refuge in the house.

To use it on a boat, well it is quite big and you have to make sure that you have a good ventilation because of the petroleum smell and the potential for carbon monoxide poisoning. It has a very big petroleum tank (5,2 liters) so it should give you a couple of warm days. 

There are also smaller petroleum heaters on the market, you just have to search online to find a few examples.

3. Gas heater

Since a year I also use the small gas heater from compass24. 

And I really love that thing. It is powered by small butane gas cartridges which give you heat for nearly 2 hours at maximum setting. My first trail of thie neat little gadget was to heat up the winter garden of my father-in-law in winter, and for it´s size it did a really great job. 

You can feel how the humidity vanishes and the cabin gets really comfortable in no time. My wife also loves it, because it is really a pleasent heat. This gas heater gas a C02 guard, so it switches of if there is insufficient ventilation. But I do not operate this at night, because it an "open fire".  An, get a good slepping bag and you should need little extra heating overnight.

I´m working on constructing a mechanism for clamping it down so we can set up and use it during sailing, similar to cooker heating bonnet.

Wehn I´m done, I will post it to you.

Gear test: NASA Target Wind

I used the NASA Target Wind on my boat for nearly 10 years. Well it worked, but nearly every autumn or winter, when the winter storms came, I lost the damm wind propeller (wind anemometer cup).

  

There had been different causes, which made them to fell off:

• mostly the securing ring went off and the propeller drops off
• 2 times the shaft where you stick the propeller on broke off. Once I brazed a new controll unit in the mast unit. As it happend again I bought a completly mast unit without the cables and brazed again the cable on, in the hope that thing works longer. The new mast unit looked like as it where the same of NASA Clipper Wind. I think 3 years later, the shaft was broke of again.

And that is the fact what makes me quite upset with the NASA Target Wind, nearly every year a new propeller, which costs you 30€. I think the mast unit was around 60 to 70€. Than you have to climb up the mast or lay down your mast to replace that thing.

On the plus side the NASA Target Wind is the cheapest on the market and it works. It gives you the basic information about wind strengh and direction (just scale, no digit angle as you see on a Target 2 below) . For crusing a boat, in my opinion all you need. The alignment for the wind direction is quite easy, just turn your boat in the wind, and make the alignment setup written down in the manual and it works.

 

If you want a cheap unit that works, you are fine with the NASA Target (2) Wind. In every good chandlery you get the spare parts you need, like a wind anemometer cup ;-) or on the website of NASA Marine.

 

Where to start with.... Geronimo

Well Geronimo is the second boat that I own. She is a Delanta 80 build in 1980 LOA is 8m. I sail her now nearly 15 years and own her for 10 years. She is a very fine ship, a little to light for her size, but she handles very well even in strong winds. She can take up 4 person, besides her main cabin she got also a aft cabin.
I can easly handle her alone, even if her steering (by wheel) is kind of bit wobbly. As I sail her sometimes alone I trimmed her upwind, as a safety measure. All ropes are lead to the cockpit.
She has a very fast design and I like to surprise bigger boats with her speed, she is cabable off.
She has following sails:

• Genua I (Elvstroem)
• Genua II (Holm)
• Jib (Moritz)
• Storm Jib (de Jong)
• Booster (Elvstroem)
• Spinnaker

In the pictures you will find a layout of a Delanta.