Morty Turns Three Years Old

Morty is our boat dog! He lives a happy life on board Wisdom, enjoying life with me as a bachelor before I met Maddie, and now greatly enjoying life with Maddie in our lives.

I got him as a puppy, and he was tiny. He rode home in a cat litter box (in case he had an accident).

He quickly grew to like life onboard (as it was all he knew). He was a very relaxed puppy who liked to sleep and lay around all the time. He would play with his rope toys, but then quickly fall asleep.

When he was big enough to wear a chihuahua life jacket, I decided to take him out sailing. I expected him to run around the deck and fall into the water, but he stayed in the cockpit with me and never left my side. If I was standing, he was by my foot, if I was sitting, he was by my side. 

I kept a line tied to his life jacket, tethering him to the binnacle, but he never tried to run around the boat anyways. The truth is he would always lay by my foot and go to sleep while we sailed through the waves towards our destination.

As a young puppy, I kept him well socialized; always introducing him to new dogs so he could make new friends. One of his favorite friends is named Ginger, she's my parents dog, and they used to play together all day while I was at work.

He also learned valuable life lessons, such as "Don't fall into the harbor" and if he jumps into the water, he will get a bath as soon as I pull him from the water. He doesn't like baths, so he also avoids getting in the water.

On his first Christmas, Morty received his skull and crossbones collar. My mom got him an elf costume which he only wore for a few moments before he laid down to take a nap.

Life was good, we would go sailing on the weekends. Morty enjoyed his lazy days at anchor, sleeping in on the berth next to me! It was a simple life which we both enjoyed thoroughly.

This is around the time that Maddie came into the picture. There were some changes that happened right away, such as a more comfy bed, and long walks during the day while I was at work.

As a true boat dog, his leash is a sail tie.

Even though we changed the mattress in the V-berth, Morty still sleeps in the same spot after all these years. His spot is up in the peak of the bow, right next to the chain locker. I guess he likes the cool air that comes in the hoss pipe in the deck for the anchor chain. He has grown a bit since he first slept up there.

After Maddie moved in, the boat was further along in its preparation for longer voyages and that means that Morty got to go on longer trips with us. As usual, he enjoys relaxing near us as we sail along.

It's been three fun years so far, and he is an awesome boat dog. He's explored new waters and slept most of the way there!

Headsail Reefing

Roller furling headsails have the distinct advantage of limitless reefing. If you feel that your headsail is a bit over-canvased, simply pull in on the furling line to reduce the amount of sail area exposed. 

The goal of reefing is to produce a smaller sail that is nearly flat, that way any excess wind is spilled off and does not overpower the smaller sail. Roller furling does make the sail smaller, but baggy instead of flat. Foam luffs can help reduce the amount of bagginess, but it will still occur to some extent. While a smaller baggy sail may be more powered than an unfurled flat sail, the truth remains that the sail can simply be furled up even more, making the exposed sail that much smaller. While roller furling can't produce the best sail shape when partially furled, it does have the distinct advantage of being able to always make the sail smaller.

Hank on sails are known for their reliability and excellent sail shape. There are much fewer moving parts involved in setting a hank on sail as compared to all the mechanisms needed for a roller furling sail. The problem is sail makers don't have a method in place to reef your headsails.

When I talked with my sail maker about this, his suggestion was to purchase a smaller jib. This means that I would have to perform a headsail change during reefing conditions. This might be the standard operating procedure on board racing sailboats where there are plenty of crew to help execute a speedy headsail change and a limitless budget to buy all of these sails, but I don't have either of these faculties on my boat. I needed a way to reef my hank on sails that could be quickly carried out alone and not break the bank!

Yes, I had a juniper bush growing in my bow. It died because I forgot to water it for a few weeks (and maybe the salt spray).

The old staysail that came with the boat had a reef point in it, and this gave me the idea to have reef points added to my current headsails. I talked it over with my sailmaker and they decided to give it a try. They told me that most people with hank on sails are racers and the rings add too much weight to the sail, which is why they don't typically put reefs in headsails. I told them I would be fine with a bit of extra weight in the sail and they went to work installing the reef points in the sails!

The standard way to reef a hank on headsail is to:

Lower the sail into the deck
Attach the reef tack point to the deck
Attach the sheets to the reef clew point
Raise the reefed sail and adjust the sheet leads as needed

The problem with this in my opinion is when I lower the headsail, the boat becomes unbalanced. This will make the boat head into the wind as it has lost all lee helm from the headsail. The other issue is I would have to crawl all the way out onto the forepeak to switch the tack point during rough seas. I know I should reef before it gets bad, but at some point, I'm going to be caught off guard and need to do it in sloppy weather.

I have installed a downhaul system for the headsails so that I can lower them all the way from the mast in a controlled manner, never setting foot further forward in heavy weather. Why not rig something else up that will keep me at the mast where my halyards are when I need to put in a reef? I did just that.

Photo courtesy of Anastasia Forrestal

I attached a 7mm piece of polyester covered dyneema to the deck tack point, up through the reef tack loop, back through the deck tack point, and then aft towards the mast. This lets me stand in front of the mast, lower the halyard while pulling in on the tack line (through a 2:1 pulley system). Once the tack is drawn down, I can cleat it off on a spring cleat and attach the reefed sheet lines to the reefed clew.

Once the tack and clew are attached, I can easily crank on the halyard to tension the luff again, producing a very flat reefed headsail. 

With the sail up and loaded, the foot will blow in the wind like a skirt. Simply rolling it up will get it out of the way and make it compact for the reefing lines to hold in place.

I also like to tie the clews together to help keep them from flopping around. A flying clew plate can cause a serious amount of pain!

The reef lines are simple to make. I took 1/4 inch 3 strand nylon and passed it through the reef holes, tying double fisherman knots on either side to keep them in place. The ends of the lines are crown knotted and backspliced to keep it from unraveling. Since these lines will be rubbing on the sails, it is imperative that the ends be fuzzy and not melted into hard points!

On a side note, I am using a snap shackle during the dockside test fitting of this sail. Never use a snap shackle in stormy conditions! If that shackle were to open up by accident, the sail is going to turn into a flag, balance will be lost, and it will be really hard to attach another sheet in its place. Always use a sheet that is tied securely with a bowline or a larkshead knot for any reefed sails.

Assembling the Wall Frames

Now that all the studs are cut, it is time to assemble the frames.

I began by laying the frames on the grass and nailing them together based on the design plans.

The plans originally started out as the "Moschata Rolling Bungalow" from The Small House Catalog. Then Maddie wanted to change everything around to the point where I decided to draft my own set of plans.

The assembly progressed quickly since all the wood was cut to length.

I did have to make a new tool to help twist the studs into position. Twist is a common form of warping that happens in lumber. The goal is to remove this twist before nailing the studs so that they remain straight in the wall. Simply twisting the board is too difficult, but with this board twister, it is almost effortless.

The tool simply slips over the twisted stud and provides a firm grasp on the lumber while offering a long lever arm to apply torque to the wood. With the board twisted into place, simply nail it to the correct location and release the tool. The nails will hold the board in place and in its appropriate orientation.

After a days work, all the frames were completed!

I coated the wood in tung oil to help protect them from moisture until the walls go up and the sheathing protects them from moisture issues. 

I then moved the frames under the carport to store them out of the elements until we are ready to set them up.

Mandatory Items to Carry in your Sailboat

Depending on the size of your vessel, there are certain legal requirements for equipment that you carry on board. As you may assume, as the length increases, so do the required items to be carried.

Yachts are separated into four categories depending on their length:

Class A: Boats less than 16 feet long
Class 1: Boats 16 feet long but less than 26 feet long
Class 2: Boats 26 feet long but less than 40 feet long
Class 3: Boats 40 feet long but less than 65 feet long

Each class builds upon the next in complexity of the items that must be carried on board.

Class A

Class A Boats are less than 16 feet long and must carry:

Certificate of Boating Safety Education (for the captain) (Unless you were born before July 1, 1972)

Certificate of Vessel Numbers

Registration Decal Displayed

PFD (Life jacket) for each person on board the vessel. (Children under 13 must wear their PFD at all times.)

One B-I Fire Extinguisher 

Backfire Flame Arrestor mounted on each gasoline motor

Ventilation system (1 blower per motor) (should be run for 4 min prior to starting motors)

Muffler

Horn, Whistle, or Bell

Visual Distress Signals (any of the below combinations)

3 Handheld red flares

1 Handheld red flare and 2 parachute red flares

1 Handheld orange smoke and 2 floating orange smoke for day, and 1 electric distress light for night

Navigation lights

Red and Green bow light, White stern light, White steaming light 1m higher than red and green bow lights

As always, there are exceptions to the rules:

Non-motorized vessels with no cabins or closed compartments that can store combustibles do not need to carry fire extinguishers and the captain does not need to have a Certificate of Boating Safety Education.

If you are under 7m (22.9ft) in length and are strictly oar or sail powered, a flashlight is all you need to carry to count as your navigation lights.

If you are operating your vessel in inland waters, such as rivers or bays, where the distance from shore to shore does not exceed 2 miles, you do not need to carry visual distress signals by day.

Class I

Class I boats are longer than 16 feet but less than 26 feet in length and must carry:

Certificate of Boating Safety Education (for the captain) (Unless you were born before July 1, 1972)

Certificate of Vessel Numbers

Registration Decal Displayed

PFD (Life jacket) for each person on board the vessel. (Children under 13 must wear their PFD at all times if the boat is under 21 feet in length)

Throwable Type IV PFD

One B-I Fire Extinguisher 

Backfire Flame Arrestor mounted on each gasoline motor

Ventilation system (1 blower per motor) (should be run for 4 min prior to starting motors)

Muffler

Horn, Whistle, or Bell

Visual Distress Signals (any of the below combinations)

3 Handheld red flares

1 Handheld red flare and 2 parachute red flares

1 Handheld orange smoke and 2 floating orange smoke for day, and 1 electric distress light for night

Navigation lights

Red and Green bow light, White stern light, White steaming light 1m higher than red and green bow lights

As always, there are exceptions to the rules:

Non-motorized vessels with no cabins or closed compartments that can store combustibles do not need to carry fire extinguishers and the captain does not need to have a Certificate of Boating Safety Education.

CLASS II

Class II boats are longer than 26 feet but less than 40 feet in length and must carry:

Certificate of Boating Safety Education (for the captain) (Unless you were born before July 1, 1972)

Certificate of Vessel Numbers

Registration Decal Displayed

PFD (Life jacket) for each person on board the vessel. 

Throwable Type IV PFD

Fire Extinguishers (any of the below combinations)

Two B-I Fire Extinguishers

One B-II Fire Extinguisher

One B-I Fire Extinguisher and one fixed mounted fire extinguisher system

Backfire Flame Arrestor mounted on each gasoline motor

Ventilation system (1 blower per motor) (should be run for 4 min prior to starting motors)

Muffler

Horn, Whistle, or Bell

Visual Distress Signals (any of the below combinations)

3 Handheld red flares

1 Handheld red flare and 2 parachute red flares

1 Handheld orange smoke and 2 floating orange smoke for day, and 1 electric distress light for night

Navigation lights

Red and Green bow light, White stern light, White steaming light 1m higher than red and green bow lights

As always, there are exceptions to the rules:

Non-motorized vessels with no cabins or closed compartments (open boats) that can store combustibles do not need to carry fire extinguishers and the captain does not need to have a Certificate of Boating Safety Education.

Diesel motors do not require a blower, but passive ventilation is needed.

CLASS III

Class III boats are longer than 40 feet but less than 65 feet in length and must carry:

Certificate of Boating Safety Education (for the captain) (Unless you were born before July 1, 1972)

Certificate of Vessel Numbers

Registration Decal Displayed

PFD (Life jacket) for each person on board the vessel. 

Throwable Type IV PFD

Fire Extinguishers (any of the below combinations)

Three B-I Fire Extinguishers

One B-II and one B-I Fire Extinguisher

Two B-I Fire Extinguishers and one fixed mounted fire extinguisher system

One B-II Fire Extinguisher and one fixed mounted fire extinguisher system

Backfire Flame Arrestor mounted on each gasoline motor

Ventilation system (1 blower per motor) (should be run for 4 min prior to starting motors)

Muffler

Horn, Whistle, or Bell

Visual Distress Signals (any of the below combinations)

3 Handheld red flares

1 Handheld red flare and 2 parachute red flares

1 Handheld orange smoke and 2 floating orange smoke for day, and 1 electric distress light for night

Navigation lights

Red and Green bow light, White stern light, White steaming light 1m higher than red and green bow lights

As always, there are exceptions to the rules:

On non-motorized vessels with no cabins, the captain does not need to have a Certificate of Boating Safety Education.

Diesel Motors do not require a blower, but passive ventilation is needed.

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A handy checklist is available to make sure you have everything you need on board

http://dnr2.maryland.gov/boating/Documents/Required_Equipment_Checklist.pdf

I also recommend reading through the USCG documentation on vessel requirements 

http://www.uscgboating.org/images/420.PDF

A Good Lock

When security is important to you, locking everything up becomes a necessity. Most pad locks will not survive for long in the marine environment and will need to be replaced due to corrosion issues. 

I never gave the pad lock on my boat much thought, as it was there when I bought the boat and it is used everyday without issue. I saw an article a few days ago about "Searching for the perfect boat lock" and that's when it struck me how lucky I am to not worry about such things.

I don't know how old my lock is, but it was exposed to the elements for 3 years while the boat sat for sale, waiting for me to find her. There was no cover over the lock and it was exposed to rain, sun, winters, and summers. When I bought the boat, I turned the key and the lock opened up without a hitch; just as it has done everyday since.

I am not saying that this is the "best lock in the world", simply that this is a good lock that works day in and day out.

The lock is made by Abus, and is not readily available. When I had copies of its key made, the locksmith had to call around to see who had blanks for this key. I have seen these locks for sale from time to time at West Marine and small locksmith shops.

Abus does make "Marine Padlocks" that have all sorts of seals to keep moisture at bay, but this simple No 55/40 seems to work just fine. If you are having lock issues, consider an Abus lock.