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!

Checking Off The List

This past winter, I was feeling kind of down due to the never ending project of making the rope fenders. I felt like everyday was wasted on making fenders and keeping the boat warm. 

I outlined a list of projects that I want to tackle instead of the rope fenders, and this year has been off to a great start! 

The list included:

Wedging the mast partners [Completed]
Make a sail bag for the jib (Josh)
New check stays with baggy wrinkles to avoid chafing the main again
Install solar panels on the transom [In Progress]
New house battery bank (our batteries are close to 10 years old and very dead) [Completed]
Build a wooden tender to Wisdom that fits on the deck
Install a Monitor windvane on the transom

As soon as the fenders were finished, I started knocking out the projects on the list rather quickly. As always on a boat, there will be an endless supply of new projects to do as well. 

Repair chafe on main halyard
Build a tiny house

The tiny house will be a studio for Maddie built on a trailer platform. This project will happen around the same time I build the wooden dinghy, since they will be using the same tools and materials. 

I was feeling some serious winter blues a few months ago, but now that the weather has changed (and I finally finished the rope fenders) I feel great with the projects getting completed!

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!

Window Shopping

The subfloor for the tiny house is complete and attached to the trailer base. The next phase will be to build the frames for the walls. In order to do this, we need to know which windows and where they will be placed. 

Every time I ask Maddie what she wants, I hear something completely different! This has been very frustrating to be since it mean's I can't continue building. The general premise of what she wants is the door located between the tires and the tongue, and many windows!

How big and where these windows will go is an ever changing story, so I decided it would be best to head to Home Depot and have Maddie pick out the windows she likes and evaluate the prices.

We were pleasantly surprised by the prices of the large sliding windows. Small single hung windows were over $200 per window and wouldn't let in that much light. I expected the price of the larger windows to be proportionally higher as well. We were very excited to see that huge sliding windows were only around $155 and would let in tons of light!

Once again, we began deciding on how many and where the windows would be placed. The final (as of this moment) decision is two massive windows on the sides, a smaller massive window on the back, and three small windows up in the lofted bed. No windows in the bathroom or kitchen.

Maddie has some time to change her mind yet. I told her the decision is not final until I cut the wood. Once I cut though, no more changes are allowed! 

Wedging the Mast Deck Partner

The mast may appear stiff and rigid, but it is best to think of it as a wet noodle! In order to get a wet noodle to stand up straight, you need to support it at different points along its length. 

Even though the stays pull down, it is best to think of them as "support points".

The top of the mast is "supported" by the cap shrouds.
The middle of the mast is "supported" by the spreaders and the lowers.
The bottom of the mast is "supported" by the mast step.

The more support points a mast has, the less strength the mast needs on its own; which translates into the ability to use a much lighter and thinner mast. The longer the span between support points, the stronger the mast needs to be. This is the reasoning behind double spreader rigs (2 support points in the middle) over single spreader rigs (1 support point in the middle). As you go adding more and more spreaders, you go adding more and more support (and complexity)! This allows the rig to be taller without adding much more weight.

One advantage of a keel stepped mast over a deck stepped mast is the keel stepped mast gets one more support point: the deck. As the mast passes through the hole in the deck, it is firmly connected to the deck structure; providing an additional support point and making the whole rig considerably stronger.

A keel stepped single spreader rig is as supported as a deck stepped double spreader rig, but without all the added complexity of intermediate stays. Less complexity directly relates to less to go wrong when underway.

Traditionally, the mast firmly connects to the deck is via wooden mast wedges. Nowadays, all sorts of contraptions exist to take the place of wood. I have seen starboard wedges, goo that solidifies (spartite), and countless of other inventions. While advancements in technology are great, it's important to understand why wood was used in the first place.

Wood wedges will hold in place and not slip out due to the high amounts of friction present in the space available. The cellular structure of the wood will crush if the load is too great, protecting the mast. The wood will greatly increase the pressure pushing on the mast to ensure that it is very snug!

Starboard wedges are made of polyethylene, the same stuff used to make dyneema. It is very strong and will not rot. This sounds like an excellent quality to have in a mast wedge! They are also rather hard and if they do dent or bend from an extreme load (the mast crushing down on them) they will not bounce back once the pressure is released. Wood will crush down like plastic wedges will, but it will also swell back up with the addition of moisture.

Spartite will offer a complete seal around the mast, preventing water from intruding (something wood can't offer) but it provides no pressure to the mast. It is also a nightmare to pull the mast! The spartite will not let go and can turn a complicated situation into a desperate situation. Mind you that the yacht owner is paying the crane by the hour to unstep the mast. If it takes a lot of more time due to the spartite, the owner will have to pay the crane for that additional time.

While wood doesn't provide leak protection, this can be remedied with a mast boot. 

When wedging, regardless of the wedge material, it is important to take various precautions. The sides of the mast are actually much weaker than the rounded sections. If you place a narrow wedge in the middle of the side of the mast side and drive it home into the deck, you can very easily buckle the side of the mast! Avoid this issue by using broad wedges on the side with much less tension as you drive them in with a mallet.

On the curved sections (front and back) of the mast, narrow wedges are preferred as they can be tightly packed to provide maximum support the mast/deck partner junction. 

When you are done, it should look like a nice ring of wooden wedges running around the mast as it goes through the deck.

When you cut your wedges, it is best to make the bottom too thin and slowly taper up to too wide. This way the wedge will slide into place and gradually apply pressure to a large section of the mast. If the taper is too great, the wedge will not be able to go in far enough and the support will act more as a pressure point instead of a pressure area.

If a wedge gets stuck before you can drive it home, try to remove it and plane the side a bit to allow it to pass all the way. If you can't get it out, try chiseling some off a corner to loosen it. If that doesn't work, you can go inside and tap the wedge out from the bottom. If you got the wedge close to home but it got stuck a bit early and you can't get it out, you can cut the top off to make it line up with the other wedges so it will fit under the boot. Just be sure the neighboring wedges are perfect to avoid too much pressure in one area.

I would caution away from using a saw to cut the top off a wedge in place, instead use a mallet and chisel. I score the bottom side of the wood, then chop down from the top, splitting the wood along its grain. The split will stop as soon as it reaches the score line. I repeat this process over and over until the top is trimmed off.

The last point to consider is what wood to use for wedges? As you may know, not all woods are created equal. The mast/deck partner is going to live under a boot, exposed to condensation a moisture from leaks, along with poor airflow. This adds up to a dark, moist area with stagnate air which is a breeding ground for rot! This is why it is very important to use a rot resistant wood, such as white oak.

When you buy your piece of lumber, make sure that it is white oak and not red oak. Red oak will rot away in a few weeks in this environment, where white oak will last a long time! Also try to get a rift saw plank, that way your wedges will have their rings oriented so that they run parallel to the mast. This way the pressure from the mast will simply compress the wood instead of splitting the wedges. 

I replaced my wedges because I noticed that the mast was shimming around at the deck. When we would ride up a wave, it would scoot back. When we would come down the wave, it would scoot forward. This instantly became a top priority for my winter projects list. 

The old wedges were long leaf pine, which is also rot resistant (I even reused some of the wedges), but you can see there simply were not enough of them in there to support the mast. Two of the wedges had fallen through the deck partner and were sitting down by the step. Two other wedges were completely loose, held in place by tape. You shouldn't use tape to hold them in, you should use pressure.

After wedging the whole mast, you can see how it is important to look under the boot to see what is really going on in there rather than assuming that it is all in order. Next time you inspect your deck partner, you will know what to look for to evaluate if it needs a little sprucing up or not.