Preparing For The Next Chapter

In a little over 6 weeks Avalon will be lifted out of UK waters, loaded on a truck and driven to Nieuwpoort in Belgium to start the next leg of the adventure.  

This was always our dream and her purpose. She was conceived and built with the sole intention of being our cruising home on the waters of Europe.

We have loved our time on the Gt. Ouse and at Ely especially and I very much consider Ely my second home with the friends and acquaintances we have made there.  It would be easy to stay, too easy.  With this in mind we have decided to continue to keep our mooring there even though we wont be there just in case!

How could we not?

This is just an easy 10 minute walk into Ely city centre.  The Chathreal can be seen in the background.

This is a panoramic shot from the roof of the boat.

The other picture is from the railway bridge on the right of the picture.

The next few blogs will be about the preparations of Avalon to comply with  EU waters and to equip Avalon with kit to better navigate bigger waterways   On this point there is (for my non EU readers) supposed to be a level playing field for all EU members in that a UK boat should be accepted in say France or Belgium or in fact any EU member state.  But NO!  each EU state can make it difficult to do things in another EU state.  So much for harmonisation!  I guess full harmonisation would mean 1000s of paperpusher and jobsworth jobs would go and so add to the unemployment figures.  Cynical Moi?

After this I will start a new blog with the help of Deb which will chronicle our journeys in Europe.  We both hope you will join us and follow our ramblings. This will be more of a Travel Blog than a Technical Blog. But check back as there will be boaty stuff as well I feel sure ;-).

Thanks for following so far.

Read More..

That 25th Anniversary St Michaels Festival and its Vendors Artists Artisans

We have done a lot of shows over the years. Weve done a lot of kinds of shows over the years; art shows, carving shows, boat shows, various festivals, etc. They all have things that we like about them. Among the types of shows that we do are Antique & Classic Boat Shows (see our previous post). They are special to us, because the boats classified as "antique" and as "classic" can make for some very interesting subject matter for us.

Of these kinds of shows, weve gone from our homebase in Maryland to Virginia, Florida, New York, Michigan, Minnesota, California and other places. We do have a special place in our hearts for the one held right here in St. Michaels, Maryland. This is its 25th year; its "Silver Anniversary". It is known as the biggest antique and classic boat show in the Mid-Atlantic states.

Perhaps it is because the show is at home that makes it so appealing to us. Being a serious event in our home area we get to see the interplay between the show and the surrounding community, especially St. Michaels. If you dont know St. Michaels, its much more than a nice place to visit. Its also not a bad drive from Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Annapolis, even New York. It has the Chesapeake Bay with its natural beauty, wildlife, scenery, historic places, museums, biking trails, boating, golf, etc., etc., etc.. It also has nice places to stay, great shopping and an ever growing selection of restaurants for a wide variety of palates (and budgets).

Certainly this is part of our favoritism for this show, but there is more. Every antique & classic show has special things about it. You can see certain differences related to the shows location. For example the famous Lake Dora, Florida show tends to have boats that are mainly under 30, because, for the most part, the boats come on trailers. They have a very large number of boats and they are from all parts of the U.S. and Canada. These tend to be "lake" boats, every one of them a great boat. Its held at a waterfront park with palm trees and Ibis.

The St. Michaels show also has a very large group of lake boats, but also many cruisers and motoryachts, because of its location on the Chesapeake, a body of water that supports ocean going and coastal vessels. Thus, there are boats from 8 to over 80 LOA. The environment at each show just has a different feel. St. Michaels has the feel of a coastal seaport.

...and the boats have a different feel...

Its held at The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum whose physical layout lends itself to this type of show with lots of grass for land displays and lots of docking space for the boats on display.

One of the things that I like best about the St. Michaels show is also its collection of vendors and artists. Antique & classic boats shows, if they have vendors, tend to draw high quality people with goods and services particularly suited to boaters and in some cases, specifically to those that love antique & classic boats. For example Jim Bassett is an engine expert and has original parts for older boats that are very difficult to find anymore. Since the boats are competing for best restoration to original condition, his parts, from step pads, to entire engines, could be the key to a great restoration. He also has things for boats of all eras and types and might have what you need to make your 1990s era boat work better.

We also have boat builders and restorers that have specific knowledge and abilities relating to older boats, especially wooden boats and their special requirements, including experience in the fine differences between a Century vs. a Garwood vs. a Trumpy Yacht. Among those experts are George Hazzard, Chad Brenner, Mast & Mallet, Will Ruhland, Jerry LeCompte, Dave Hannam and others. We have Chrome plating specialist Jim Wade and Rope specialist Jim Torbert.

We also have people that specialize in acquring original information, such as boat plans, catalogues and other documentation that help a boat restorer, amateur or professional to know the proper standards for the restoration to be done.

Then there are the Outboard specialists...

Basically, almost anything that you need for an older boat is available at this show. Most of these people also are specialists when it comes to modern boats, as well, and you will find that if you are a boater, most anything that you need is here at this show.

Another thing that I love about this show, and its great for anyone that wants to come to the show, but has fear that they are "dragging" someone else around, is "The Arts at Navy Point".

The Arts at Navy Point is basically something that occurred naturally in the shows development about 17 years ago, when the first vendors came. Among them were a good number of artists. Painter Grover Cantwell, who youll find in "the small boat building" was among them. We know because we were there, too and havent missed a show since.

There is a natural connection between the beauty of these boats and the arts. Bringing one of these boats back to its original condition really is an art. Since the time of the first vendors, artists have been in attendance in increasing numbers and we have literally had some of the best in the business over the years. This year we have a long list and it is not possible to include them all, but some of the names include Mary Lou Troutman, John Ritter, Russ Orme, Jim Kinnett, Rebecca Lowe, and many more...

There are also Artisans, those who are artists, but may build things, or practice artistry in whatever they do, including marlinespike artist Vince Brennan, or Wildlife Carver Bill Hickson or the many model makers, authors, furniture makers, and, again, too much to describe here.

I recommend that you go to http://intothings.com/boatshow/vendors.html to see a list of who is coming to this years show. Its very impressive!

Theres not much more to say except that this is one great way to spend Fathers Day. There is so much to see and do at the show, at The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum where its held and in St. Michaels that you wont be saying to yourself "Been there, done that"; Youll be saying "I cant wait until next year!"

Read More..

Alternator Modification

Ive been having trouble getting my house batteries topped up and getting enough amperage from the engine alternators even though they are now paralleled.  Also we have an electric combi oven on board and the original idea was that the oven would run through the inverter powered entirely from the amperage supplied by the 12v alternators.

For some reason despite my best calculations this simply didnt pan out the way I anticipated, so the option was to replace the house alternator with one of a larger capacity.

A bit of digging around on good old ebay and I managed to find a 215amp alternator which is 100amps more than the one originally supplied as the house alternator.  It was also fortunate that the mounting spigot was the same 55mm as the original.  I’m thinking this might be some sort of standard.

This is what the alternator setup looked like originally.

The new larger alternator obviously requires a much larger belt to drive it due to the extra load, so I ordered it with a PK7 pulley. That was the easy part!

This extra load could not be delivered by the original single V belt and the ratio was not sufficient spin it at optimum speed in the cruise RPM range. 

I then needed to get the larger drive pulley. Originally I thought this would be a simple job of just getting one off the shelf as you can with many other types of drive pulley. However the PK standard of pulley seems to be specifically used in an automotive situation and the engine manufacturers make their own pulleys to suit.

This left me with no choice but to get one made. Once again Canal World Forum held the answer as one of the members Tim Leach of Dutton Dry Dock offered to make me one for me.

I was able to get RPM and charge data for the alternator and the max over speed rating from the supplier so I was able to work out the drive ratio. I settled on 4.5:1 as this would provide a very high charge at tick over and maximum charge at cruise revs of 1300rpm but would not over speed it at maximum RPM which in reality is never used. Knowing the small pulley diameter I worked out the large one needed to be 235mm

The first job was to get the existing pulley re-machined to take a 50mm shaft.  

This part was done by a local engineering firm as it needed welding which I did. The shaft was left long to allow for design as it had to be made up in situe. Once the design for the pulley was finalised all the parts were sent of to Tim.

As the actual belt alignment could not be predetermined exactly the best solution was to use a Taper Lock pulley and hub. This design permits the pulley assembly to be mounted anywhere on the shaft then locked off.

Old system alignment

A week or so later the pulley assembly was returned to me along with a couple of spacers I also needed. I somehow managed to lose the key which I suspect has fallen overboard so I scavenged for a but of scrap and armed with nothing more than an angle grinder and file I soon made another.

 This bit of scrap turned into the new key

All the modifications done

One thing I didnt allow for was the bolt heads sticking out from the hub face and the original ones that would have stuck out from the rear of the pulley and sitting on top of the shaft fixing bolts, so I had to use countersunk bolts instead necessitating the back of the pulley to have holes counter sunk.  

Thanks once again to Garth at The Boat Yard Ely for the use of his countersink and pillar drill.

This is what all the new parts look like.

I then bolted the new shaft into place.

Then I positioned the new pulley and hub assembly on the shaft. Only 9 x M10 bolts!

Having previously fitted and connecting the new alternator I fitted the belt, set the alignment then locked the new pulley to the shaft.

Job done!

So what has all this achieved?  Well I now have over 300amps of charge with the 2 alternators working in parallel.  This means I will be able to charge my batteries much quicker and more deeply.  Theres a bit more this this as any battery expert will tell you. 

Also my electric oven draws roughly 220amps from the batteries via the inverter.  The basic maths on this is inverted power is 10v divided by the mains wattage. So 2200watts = 220amps at 12v out of the batteries.  10v is used to account for conversion losses.  Its not exact but it is pretty close and simple to do in your head. The previous setup wasnt quite able to supply this.  This means I can run my oven with the engine only and theres a hidden bonus in that any extra power from the alternators will go into the battery charging system so on initial tests I was running the oven and still getting a surplus 56amps of charge.  If the batteries are were even flatter there would be a theoretical 95amp spare available.

Conclusion is this has been a worthwhile modification. The next stage if necessary will be to add an external alternator regulator to increase the regulated charge voltage to 14.8v from the normal 14.4v  This is a better charge profile for my battery type.

Full details link

One final note.  I did a rpm check with the engine running at a shaft speed of 1035rpm the alternator was spinning at 4565rpm so the ration calculations were pretty spot on.

Read More..

an opportunity and its FREE

Some needful reading, does sixty-days seem a little light for stealing $230K, and in the "modern fascist movement driven almost entirely by racism, stupidity, and xenophobia" department...

I wont go into the many and varied reasons that it makes sense for folks sailing boats to have at least a working knowledge of basic navigation skills and that includes celestial.

Yeah, yeah I know Im a Luddite dinosaur.

On the other hand, if you happen to feel that learning how to navigate your boat without the aid of prone to failure electronic systems and devices that you can neither repair or fix youre in luck. Vanderbilt University has an online class (thats FREE!) and looks to be very good.



Hard to argue with free.

Listening to Typhoon

So it goes...

Read More..

Update to A Job That Well Remember

The opening of IWC Schaffhausens New York City Flagship Boutique has been announced by IWC on their website as of today. We are proud to have created the half-hull on the north wall. It is over 8 tall and represents a Volvo 70 Class racing sailboat. If you get a chance, stop by 535 Madison Ave. New York, New York and take a look. For now, check out their announcement at http://www.iwc.com/en-us/news/iwc-schaffhausen-takes-a-bite-out-of-the-big-apple/

Read More..

Maïca and her sisters a classic Illingworth design

There are not many ocean racing characters whose exploits and achievements rival those of Captain John Illingworth. He was already a well-known and successful yacht racer before the war, but it was in the 1940s and 50s that he virtually dominated the British ocean racing scene, as well as being hugely influential in the development of the sport in other countries, especially France and Australia. (photo: Mandragore, a transom stern Maïca class)

His most famous yacht, Myth of Malham, was nominally designed by Laurent Giles, but it is no secret that Illingworth himself conceived the general outline of the boat, with its abruptly short ends, relatively light displacement and, above all, its groundbreaking rig with big masthead foretriangle and high aspect ratio mainsail. Jack Laurent Giles begged to be allowed to draw longer overhangs, but was firmly overruled. He complained that the proposed mainsail was too short on the foot and looked more like a flag than a sail, but Illingworth insisted, and Myth of Malham went on to be one of the most successful ocean racing boats of all time.

In 1958 Illingworth opened his own yacht design business, in partnership with Angus Primrose. Together they created some of the most attractive and weatherly boats of the era. Illingworths role was to conceive the design in general, the rig, and the details of deck and interior layouts, while Primrose gave the hulls their sweet and efficient lines for speed, good seakeeping and beauty. (photo: Saba, a superb example of a counter stern Maïca)

Many of the firms early clients were French. Illingworth spoke fluent French and loved the country. He encouraged and assisted in the founding of the enormously influential Glenans sailing school, where hundreds of young Frenchmen learned to sail – and to become instructors themselves. He was commissioned to design a yacht for the Glenans school, the building of which was put under the supervision of Philippe Harle who worked at the Glenans at the time. This experience so stimulated Harle that he immediately gave up his job at the school and set up as a yacht designer himself.

The first of what became known as the Maïca class was commissioned by French yachtsman Henri Rouault who had admired Illingworths earlier successful racer “Belmore” and asked for a smaller version. She was built by Burnes of Bosham and launched at Easter 1960. At the suggestion of Rouaults sister, a nun, the boat was named after her convents former Mother Superior, a decorated heroine of the wartime resistance, who was known by the nickname “Maïca”. (image: drawings for the transom stern Maïca)

The original Maïca, like the Belmore design, had a transom stern. She was so admired and so successful, winning the RORC Class III championship in 1962 that soon further examples were built in Britain and in France, but when Illingworth sold the plans for the Maïca to Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie at Cherbourg, Felix Amiot, the owner of the yard, insisted that the design should be modified with a counter stem. Apparently this was because M. Amiot wanted a Maïca for his own personal use and he preferred the elegant look of a counter stern.

So Illingworth and Primrose produced plans for a “Maïca à voûte” (counter stern) and in 1963 CMN started to build this version employing a novel method of construction that made series production viable - cold moulded mahogany. (image: drawings for the counter stern Maïca class) A first lightweight layer of 1cm planks was laid longitudinally over formers, then two diagonal layers of planks, each 4cm wide, at right angles to each other. When the glue had cured the hull was simply lifted off the formers and turned right way up for decking and fitting out.

CMN built 38 Maïca class yachts, about half of which are known to be still sailing and in superb condition. (photo: Maïcas awaiting delivery at the CMN yard in Cherbourg) The CMN Maïcas were mostly sold to French clients, (one was ordered by the Greek ambassasor to Paris), but many went to customers from Britain and other countries. Some of these boats were among the most famous offshore racers of their day - and many were scoring notable wins even ten years after the introduction of the class

With so many international racing successes and long voyages, the class also made a name for itself in Mediterranean waters and it was not long before a couple of Italian yards obtained licences to build slightly modified versions. One Italian version, of which I believe over a hundred examples were built, was in GRP with a modified fin keel and skeg underwater profile.

Maïca class by Illingworth and Primrose

LOA: 10.08m (transom), 11.06 (counter)
LWL: 7.32m
Beam: 2.74
Draft: 1.74
Displacement: 5300Kg (approx)

(photo: The elegant stern of one of the counter stern Maïcas, recently sold by Sandeman Yacht Co.)

Links:
Class Maïca (Acknowledgements to this French website for much of the history and most of the above photos)
Saba - a French owned Maïca.
If you want to sail a Maïca, see Sabas cruising and regatta programme

Read More..

some scowish goodness

What some drugs should cost (or how youre being ripped off), a bit of needful reading you may have missed, and the word for today is "churlish".

So, yeah, about scows being non-competitive against state of the art pointy front boats...



Listening to Aretha Franklin

So it goes...

Read More..