Companionway Slats

Sailboat companionways are an interesting doorway to land lubbers. They sometimes create some confusion, but I can assure you that every part of them serves a purpose.

The sliding hood is very important. Without it, the companionway would need to be much taller and it would be hard to fit that on a smaller sailboat. It also serves to keep water and spray out of the companionway and cabin. If a storm quickly approaches, simply sliding the hood will greatly reduce the amount of water that will ingress the cabin. It also allows good ventilation of the cabin by removing the slats and closing the hood.

The slats are the next point of contention. Doors would be much easier, and do not need to be stowed when the companionway is open, why must we have these boards? The boards serve many purposes:

They are stronger than doors
They protect against water entry to the cabin
They can be removed in stages
They work

Doors are convenient, but if a wave hits them, they will burst open and allow the force of the wave into the cabin. Boards will help resist this force! 

Doors are either open or closed, they can't be anything in between. Slats offer many options. Have all the slats in and the companionway is shut. Take the top one out and you can get air flow through the cabin while keeping rain out. Take out all the slats and it's an open door. Leave the bottom slat in and you have insurance against wave ingress into the cabin. If a wave boards your yacht and the companionway is open, all of that water is going into the cabin. Leave the bottom slat in and you have greatly reduced the amount of flooding below. 

The bevels on slats help keep out water. When a wave smashes into them, they will squeeze down on each other and close the gaps, yet they can be removed with one hand. You can't do that with a door!

In time, you will find that you don't have to remove all the slats to get through the companionway. We usually only take out the top one and step over the lot of them. This makes for quick and easy entry and exists while still having the protection offered by the slats.

It may seem cumbersome at first, but with practice, companionway slats will become second nature and you'll be able to do it in the dark! 

If you are in the market for a new yacht or are building one yourself, try to find one with some taper to the companionway opening. Parallel sides will cause the boards to get stuck and bind as you try to put them in or take them out. Some degree of taper will reduce this problem and make the process of inserting and removing the slats very easy. If you are already the proud owner of a yacht and you have parallel sides on your companionway, try keeping the sides of the slats lubricated with soap. This will help them to slide more easily without binding as often. 

As always, practice makes perfect! Do resist the temptation to switch from slats to doors. There is a reason they have been the standard form of closure on sailboats for many years, it's because they work!

Solar vs. Wind vs. Hydro

In the realm of alternative energy production, there are three main players: Solar, Wind, and Hydro.

Each of these systems has its advantages and disadvantages, making none of them a magic bullet on their own. When used in combination, they will overlap and cover for each others downfalls.

To be happy with any of these, you must understand what they can do and what they can't do. If you want it to do something that it can not, you will be very displeased. Learning how to work within the limitations will lead to a very pleasant cruising life.

Solar works by converting the suns radiant energy into electricity. It works completely silently without any moving parts! While this sounds incredible, it does have its limitations. Solar panels need direct sunlight to work their best. If a shadow is cast over a small portion of the panel, its energy production will drop drastically. They also do absolutely nothing during the night hours, as well as on cloudy days.

While cloudy days and darkness will limit your ability to keep your batteries topped off, solar generators can help alleviate this issue by helping to bridge the gap until the sun returns and you can resume producing power. A comprehensive evaluation of different solar generators, as well as a look into "what is a solar generator" can be found by following this link:  http://www.allthingsboat.com/best-solar-generator-reviews/

Source: http://d19vj6yy87fjj8.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/wind_generator_cruising_boat.jpg

Wind works by converting fast moving wind into electricity. These devices have many moving parts and are anything but silent. The quiet ones sound like a wispy whistle howling through the air while the loud ones sound like a helicopter. They do wonders for night cruisers, as they can produce loads of electricity on an overnight passage to keep the electronic autopilot energized. The problems with wind generators is they require fast moving apparent wind to operate; this means you will not generate any electricity in a protected anchorage or while sailing downwind. If you only have a wind generator and stay an extended period of time in a quiet creek, you can expect your batteries to run down after a few days. While sailing downwind on long crossings, you may find that the light apparent wind will not be enough to produce the necessary amounts of electricity your vessel demands.

Source: http://www.wattandsea.com/sites/default/files/Hydro-cruising-5-617x292.jpg

Hydro is a relatively new player on the scene, it works via a similar concept to the wind generator, but the blades run through water instead of air. These units will produce massive amounts of power under the right circumstances. Hydrogenerators require a lot of boat speed to produce their power, so sailing downwind in the trades will produce plenty of power, even with the light apparent breeze; while ghosting along on a quiet day will not produce much power.

As you can see, none of them work perfectly all the time. If you have all three, you will always be able to rely on at least one of them to produce enough power to meet your needs.

The electric motor we installed from Electric Yachts also works as a hydrogenerator. As we sail quickly, the water rushing past the propeller causes the prop to spin, which in turn spins the motor. In these situations, the electric motor functions as a massive generator, cranking out the amps! 

When we did our summer trip in 2015, we only had a Hydrogenerator (the electric motor) and it did supply us with our needs for electricity when sailing quickly. The problem was we were not always moving fast enough to generate enough to meet our needs. A few consecutive days of light airs would cause our batteries to run down. We are now in the process of installing solar panels to help fill in some of the gaps. 

If you ever feel like charging your batteries through alternative methods, consider the pros and cons of each system. If you can accept each system for how it works and live happily with the energy produced within its constraints, you will be able to maintain your battery bank while supplying your electrical needs without the use of fossil fuels!

An Argument Against Gloves and Headset Communicators

Every once in a while, you will see a couple pull into an anchorage wearing gloves and head set walkie talkies. This is our cue to get out the boat hooks and prepare to fend off!

Sailing gloves are marketed towards people who don't sail often and need protection from rope burn. They say that sailing gloves will protect your hands if you don't have the callouses developed from frequent line handling. In the winter, my callouses go away, and once it warms up, they come right back. If you handle the lines properly, you will not have pain on your fresh hands until the callouses return.

You never want to let a line slide through your hand. Callouses will not protect you from the burn that will develop as your skin is chafed away! Instead, let the lines pass through your hands in a controlled manner and no gloves or pain are needed. I hold the line and pay it out using two hands, never letting the line slide.

The second thing that I consider the red flag are the headset walkie talkies. These are wonderful devices that allow you to communicate effectively even if wind and dodgers are in the way! This does not replace going through the plan with each other before the maneuver is executed. Maddie and I always go over the whole plan before coming into an anchorage or jibing to make sure we are both on the same page even though we do this time and time again! 

These people with the headset walkie talkies will pull into an anchorage and talk back and forth while they are in action. Neither of them are on the same page, and the ease of communication simply ensures that they both hear those words that would typically be whispered into thin air. This leads to arguments that everyone can hear in the whole anchorage.

We have found that these people are not willing to accept help and would rather do it themselves. This is why we simply get the boat hooks out to fend off if they come too close. 

Since they don't sail often (hence the gloves) they don't know what parts of their gear are broken, and all these surprises escalate the situations that are clearly discussed between them. 

If you feel the need to wear sailing gloves and walkie talkies when you go out sailing, consider that people have been sailing for thousands of years without them. Instead of more gadgets to fail and need repairs, consider learning how to properly handle lines and to discuss everything before you execute a maneuver. This way simple hand signals will suffice and no one else in the anchorage will be expecting an entertaining show when you arrive. 

Reef Clew Line Setup

When setting up your reef lines, you have many choices. 

Single Line Reefing
Double Line Reefing
Slab Reefing

I want to discuss the clew lines which are run in a similar fashion through the sails in all of these different systems. The standard way of running the clew lines involves running the clew line from a fixed point on the boom, up through the sail's clew cringle, and down the other side of the sail. This will pull the sail down to the boom when reefing, but it will also bunch up under the cringle and get pulled into the cringle by the reef line. This can pull a chunk of sail through the cringle with the line and make a nice hole in the leech. To fix this problem, the clew line can be run a different way and avoid the whole problem all together.

Standard reef line setup

Alternate reef line setup

The alternate way to run the clew reef line is to pass it up between the boom and sail (putting the line on the same side as the cheek block), through the cringle, over the leech and back down the same side to the cheek block. This will cause the sail to be pushed to the side of the boom as the reef is being drawn in. Since the sail is out of the way, it will not bunch up and get pulled through the cringle. While this sounds wonderful, it will cause more wear on the leech of the sail, leading to chafe issues which are easily remedied with chafe patches.

The sail will be dumped to the side of the boom, avoiding any risk of it getting caught in the cringle and torn. It is helpful to have lazy jacks to collect the sail as it gets tossed to the side.

Choosing a Dinghy

Dinghies come in two flavors, hard and inflatable. When you look at a popular dinghy dock, it would appear that inflatable dinghies dominate the scene. Each type of dinghy has its advantages and disadvantages, it's just a matter of figuring out which advantages are important to you and which disadvantages you can live with. While inflatables are very popular, you should still decide for yourself what your needs are before you buy an inflatable like everyone else.

The major points of difference between the two camps have to deal with stability and propulsion.

Hard dinghies are easier to propel through the water, but are much more tender.

Inflatable dinghies are extremely stable, but are not as easy to propel through the water.

Hard dinghies are easily rowed in light weather, and can still be rowed with strenuous effort in heavy weather. Inflatable dinghies on the other hand can only be rowed when there is no wind present. If there is any wind, you may find it impossible to row towards weather. To combat this pitfall, inflatables are propelled via outboard motor.

Stability is the other great difference between the two camps. Hard dinghies are very tender and can tip if care is not taken when boarding or standing. Inflatable dinghies are extremely stable, allowing you to stand up and walk around on them without any fear of capsizing. If you stood on the gunwale of a rigid dinghy, the boat would tip over and swamp. Doing the same on an inflatable dinghy would be totally acceptable. You could easily stand on the gunwale and be fully supported by the inner tube's volume of air.

There are some other minor differences between the two that also play an important role in deciding which to use, these deal with longevity. Inflatable dinghies will be eaten up by the sun and begin to leak out air after a few years of use. Sand is another nuisance in inflatables, it will work its way into the folds in the fabric and chafe small pinholes in hard to repair areas. Hard dinghies on the other hand will hold up quite well in the sun and will not be destroyed by the ingress of sand. Hard dinghies will also do very well with frequent beach landings, though the bottom paint will suffer as well. 

Lastly, outboard motors on dinghies are a frequent topic of complaint from all of my cruising friends. At some point, repairs or replacement of their outboard will stir up furious emotions from within them. 

Finally, storage is a factor when it comes to dinghies. Soft bottom inflatables, which are not as popular as RIBs (Rigid Inflatable Boats), can be deflated and rolled up. This allows them to be stored tucked away in a lazarette when underway. RIBs and hard dinghies need to be stored somewhere on the boat, and they do take up a considerable amount of space. Some popular storage areas are in davits on the stern, or overturned on the deck. 

When you are looking for a dinghy to complement your cruising boat, look at the pros and cons of each. If you are torn between inflatable or hard, you can use this simple question as a tie breaker: 

Do you want to stress about outboards and sand or do you want to enjoy the beach?