Skippers Notes
Equipment used on Alisee III and associated comments
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Boat, Below-decks, Engine, Drive train, Watermaker, Power Management, Batteries, Inverter Charger, Alternator, Solar Panels , Wind Generator, Telephone near land, Telephone middle of the drink, Self-Steering, , EPIRB, Anchor winch, Ground tackle, VHF, SSB, Weather fax, SSB Modem, Instruments, Chart plotter, GPS, Radar, Sonar, Propane, Refrigeration, Dodger/Bimini, Fans, Jacklines and Harnesses, Safety Gear, Dinghy, Night Vision
Boat - Beneteau Moorings 432 built in France in 1988 and charted for many years. 43 feet including swim platform and 13' 11" beam and 5'6" draft weighing about 26,000 pounds including 260 gal water, 55gal diesel etc. Hull speed 7.6 knots although flat wide section aft lets it easily surf faster (my record 11.3 knots). Sloop rigged, keel stepped, fin keeled with winged cast iron keel and spade rudder. Solid glass hulls and balsa cored decks, aft cockpit, with a starboard offset companion way. Goiot roller furler with 60' Z-Spar mast and boom with split backstays one serving SSB Antenna duty. Cruising Spinnaker, Triple reefed main.
Below-decks - Cherry wood and teak. Patterned yellow, blue and green upholstery over white vinyl with seat cushions covered in blue fleece (cleans and dries fast, doesn't show dirt or keep sand). 4 oversize hatches, 5 smaller hatches, 5 portals and side and roof lexan windows (bright inside). 2 big cabins each with head (holding tanked),sink and shower and a smaller captains cabin with sink. Freezer and Fridge, 3 burner propane stove/oven, two deep sinks, hot and cold pressure water as well as salt water. Full sized chart table and nav station. Large table surrounded by seats. Three hanging closets, with wet locker heated and vented. 5 large bookshelves and a tool area (owner maintained boat).
Engine - Year 2000 completely rebuilt (K. Wright, diesel mechanic) 1987 Perkins 4-108 diesel, 48 shp; as well as overhauling of all pumps and injectors. Fuel filtered by Racor 120AH and then further by Perkins standard filter. Fuel system repiped. 55 gallons of fuel with 0.75 gph in cruise at 7 knots and 0.95 gph in cruise with one injector stuck open (yes, it happened!). The engine quit a few times due to fuel starvation caused by dead algae coming off in paper sized sheets in the fuel tank, getting caught in the 'undersized' fuel tank intake tube, and being sucked in until it plugged it up tight. Think of too much toilet paper in the toilet and you'll get the picture. Use biocide religiously. Noise insulation is 2" of sound deadening foam and lead shield. Automatic extinguisher in engine compartment
Drive train - Standard Hurth Transmission with Centa flexible rubber isolation coupling and fixed pitch 3 blade18", Michigan style propeller. Flex-o-Fold 17" two blade folding prop kept as backup because while faster in calm waters, it did not have the thrust to push the boat to weather in heavy seas, something that is critical to safety. Letting the fixed prop freewheel lost only about 0.25 knots on the folding prop (vice 0.75 when locked).
Watermaker - Spectra 16 gallon per hour. Very reliable worked drawing 18-20 amps for two hours a day average to supply 3 adults and two children showers, drinking and washing water. Water very high quality. Saved purchasing water in Bahamas and other places, much of which is suspect, for example Georgetown where city well and aquifer is over-utilized by >500 cruising boats, the water is salty. Sometimes water purchase is 10cents per gallon and often it is not even available except by hauling it in 5 gallon containers from the nearest tap via your dingy. This piece of equipment extends your cruising range significantly, increases your comfort, and decreases your worries.
Power Management - Heart LINK 2000R monitored amp usage and ran regulator (for the alternator) and charger cycles to ensure the most efficient charging cycle. Very valuable in that batteries could be kept in top charge and the usage monitored closely. Solar panel would create over-voltages (17V) which would create errors in the unit if panels left on in full sunlight when batteries were full. Solar panel defused during these conditions solved problem.
Batteries Lead Acid - Bank 1, starting 95AH; Bank 2, House, 2 x Surrette (Rolls) 285AH 8D's (190 pounds apiece). These were excellent batteries holding good voltage even when severely discharged. Bank two could be connected to the starter by a 350 A rated on-off switch. This was used more than once. We typically drew 160 AH per day with two kids and three adults.
Inverter/Charger - 120V Heart 2500 would produce 130 honest Amps of charging when on shore power. Battery 2 used as reference battery which caused battery one, which followed the same cycle, to not charge properly at times thus necessitating cross connects on average of once every two weeks to start the engine. Charger did create galvanic corrosion problems despite AC ground isolator. Large sacrificial zinc would corrode fast and in area of zinc the 60% copper ablative Petite bottom paint spalled off in an ellipse of 1.5 foot radius around zinc! Inverter produced modified sine wave voltage. Laptop chargers, ink-jet printers, TV's (slight hum), and all electric tools had no problems with this power. Only big use of inverter power besides chargers was the toaster. (Yes the $12 toaster drew 95Amps when doing its morning duties). No room fro a little microwave although it would have been nice. So would a dish-washer. (OK, OK, that's too much) It would have been great to be able to switch to 220 v input as well because a lot of the Caribbean Islands use 220. But . We would end up renting dockside transformers.
Alternator - Balmar 100Amp twin output (largest single belt pulley) . Allowed charging of both battery banks directly without 0.75 volt sucking battery isolator. Typically charged at <85 Amps. Engine run for 1.5 hours a day to meet refrigeration, lights, water-making (shower (to rinse salt off), dishwashing(dumb), and drinking water), 120 V inverter and other needs. Note the previous alternator was original 60A Motorola car alternator and regulator and was not up to the task. The engine compartment was modified to inlude 'metal dryer hose' which pulled air from the cool part of the bilge and was directed directly on the back of the alternator with a 12v computer fan. This lowered the alternator operating temperature considerable and thus increased the efficiency of the charge.
Solar Panels - 2 x 85 watt BP thin film panels observed producing 8A total in overhead, unshadowed Caribbean sunlight. Produced 40 AH per day max. Verdict, need two more just to compensate 24 hour 3A average draw for refrigeration let alone other needs. Created conflicts with wind generator as when voltage rose to above 14 volts it would cause auto feathering of wind generator to kick in which in some cases was producing many times more electricity. Real verdict get a small diesel generator.
Wind Generator - Air Marine like most other cruisers. The only one that will produce more than 15 Amps. Uses cubic curve generator to produce power as high as 40-50 Amps continuous in 35-40 knot winds (you better be at anchor). Otherwise produce an average of 3-15 Amps. Produced background noise which wasn't too bad except sudden accelerations in wind increased noise and although not too noisy it ended up psyching out the crew while sailing. Was turned off at night in respect of the quiet anchorage and sometimes during windy passages to keep the crews stress down. Verdict Great power but coupled with the solar panels only 3 days in a 9 month voyage were the alternate energy systems able to keep up with the 24 hour energy demand. (There were 35 knot winds during this period and we had 3 hooks down and buried.) Perhaps with a smaller crew and closer monitoring of energy this would have been better. Real Verdict: get a small diesel generator.
Telephone near land - Cell phone usage useless except in the States. Used GlobalStar portable phone which was $899 US plus $20 per month plus $1.19 per minute anywhere in North America. (Other deals more cheaply available) Very handy although sometimes there were one hour periods where the signal strength was weak. You've got to have it out, turned on, and the rotating antenna pointed to the sky, which can be a pain (It's not water resistant). Typically we left it out between 6 and 9 in the evening and told our important contacts (parents, accountants, visitors due in) how to reach it. It covered all Bahamas, Caribbean to Trinidad and North America but misses large bodies of water (see below for solution). Note $1.19 per minute is cheap compared to $5.00 per minute on phone cards in some Caribbean Nations. True 9600 baud data connection to Internet worked like a charm getting Yahoo email on the windward rail while beam reaching at 7.5 knots. Note that Internet Cafes were widely available at reasonable rates almost everywhere (Even lonely beaches in Anguilla where we bought our house, over the 'net!).
Telephone - middle of the drink (you pick it) - We and most other world cruisers use Inmarsat Mini-M systems which have a gyro stabilized antenna and function 24 hours a day in any sea condition. This gives you telephone "like you have at home" except it's over $4.00 per minute and fax and data is only 2400 baud. Friends can call at any time and make you pay big-time. Big advantage, world-wide, crystal clear coverage, near 100% reliability even in nasty seas and bad weather, small antenna footprint.
Self Steering - Cap Horn from Oka, Quebec. Yves makes an outstanding product. This device connected directly to the steering quadrant, was beautiful to the eye, strong as hell, and took no room on the swim platform and it steered us through the Caribbean on all points of sail, in winds as high as 55 knots and seas of 20 feet. I looked at all the others, (Monitor etc. and in my opinion this has much better value and support and is better thought out) Recommendation Don't leave home without this additional crew, it was the most valuable piece of equipment, tied with the portable GPS. (Ya, Ya, I'm sure you've got a different opinion.)
EPIRB - NAT 406 GPIRB, integrated EPIRB and GPS unit. This encodes your position very accurately and on the second fix gives the rescue agency an accurate measure of the all-critical drift factor. As well we had an Alden Rapid-Fix 406 in ditch bag. That makes two EPRIBS. Nothing like a bit of redundancy.
Anchor winch - Maxwell 2200 Thank goodness for this heavily used piece of equipment. Had both a gypsy and capstan and could be used independently, up or down, 35 feet per minute. Very reliable and strong like bull.
Ground tackle.- 4 hooks that counted. 44lb Bruce and 35 lb CQR on the bow rollers. "Mr. Bruce" did 95% of the work (most anchoring was in clear sand) and he had 250 ft of 5/16 high test chain typically shot out at 5 to 1 (roller to bottom depth). The CQR was used in weed with 35 feet of 3/8 chain and 450 feet of 3/8 nylon three strand anchor rode. Would use a 10 foot snubber for the chain which had two rubber bungee springs for dampening. A 35lb Bruce was a spare used off the aft cleat in times where the boat had to be aligned nose into incoming swell or additional holding for rough weather. Lastly an 80lb storm kedge was kept dissembled and when it was used once it took 10 minutes of underwater digging to get it out. Both anchors had 25 feet of 3/8 chain and an extra anchor rode of 250 and 150 feet kept for their use. Note that we always dove our anchors to ensure they were properly set. Only a few times in over 30 feet of water did we not do this. Our deepest anchorage was in 35 feet. We dragged once when we set the Bruce in weed and it picked up a pulled up chunk of weed/sand which caught in the crux to prevent it from resetting. We liked our anchor set-up and it provide us with good flexibility. Every boat was using something different, it's totally subjective. The only common thing is that we all tend to use one hook, two is not necessiarily better unless there are gross swings due to currents.
VHF - we had a below deck (ICOM) and a waterproof handheld (Standard 350). The below deck was used for long distance communications as the antenna was located on top of the 60 foot mast. The handheld was used most often, normally for contacting marinas and as a radio for the dingy. It is highly recommended that you get a waterproof one as it will take much punishment just sitting out.
SSB - ICOM 710RT Supplied by Sea Tech Systems they did all programming and the detail crystal work that is beyond amateurs. This made it HF HAM capable and they provided extra hard-to-find connectors and did channel programming inside the unit. The remote control head was at the chart table and the actual RT unit some feet away in a locker. This was handy as it kept the clutter down. An ICOM 130 auto antenna tuner was used on one of the split backstays which was fitted with two antenna isolators about 40' apart. 3" copper ribbon was used to ground the units to a 100sq ft 'GUEST' ground plane of sintered bronze and then to the 50 sq feet of cast iron keel. The SSB did heavy duty in receiving weather faxes and seeing what friends were up to.
Weather Fax - Coretex Software coupled with SSB worked like a charm on the Toshiba Laptop even in very crappy receiving conditions. Auto monitoring and autostart and stop at end of each fax.
SSB Modem - Pactor II use to receive 'sailmail' email via laptop over the SSB.
Instruments - All Raytheon Autohelm ST60 series, Wind direction/speed, Depth/Temperature, Boat speed, Type II course computer for ST6000 Autopilot (and remote control) with electronic compass and rudder angle indicator, RL70 20 nm radar and chartplotter with CMAP-NT vector charts of the Bahamas and Caribbean correlated to the 12 Channel GPS receiver. Uses Seatalk data buss to provide data to all instruments and laptop which uses Raytech navigator software with Maptech raster charts. (No, this stuff wasn't cheap) I purchased this system because it could be completely integrated and there were all the instruments I needed. While they make good gear the speed/depth instrument had an annoying habit of resetting itself at random times up to 5 times a day although the other instruments would not be effected. Also the radar/chartplotter would turn itself off during engine starts and at random times a couple of times a week. Low voltage? Probably, but I could never trace it. The depth sounder was worth its weight in gold in the Bahamas where every inch counts. I went through extraordinary efforts to ensure that at shallow depths it was accurate to the inch. Rarely did we sail in over 15 feet of water and more often in 10 feet of water. With 5'6" of draft, we often sailed at 7.5 knots and 3-4 feet under the keel. In many anchorages you would touch bottom at low tide, e.g. Marsh Harbour.
Chartplotter - Raytheon RL70 with CMAP-NT vector charts coupled with the GPS was accurate 99% of the time but in four cases, Allen's Cay in the Bahamas, the north-west corner of Guadeloupe (Dehaies), Dominica (Portsmouth) and the Grenadines (Tobago Cays), it had us sailing through the land about a quarter mile offset to the east at the 1.5 mile and less scales. I think it was finger trouble with the small scale overlays being inaccurately positioned on the larger scale charts. I reported this to the manufacturer. The chartplotter was used as a secondary aid to paper charts. It was good however because often it would go into much finer detail than the paper charts. At US$20-25 apiece we could not afford to buy charts of all the anchorages and sometimes we would go to areas we hadn't originally planned on. Entering the waypoints allowed the boats position and track to be plotted which provided good historical information to see how we were sailing as well as providing distance to go (We're over half way there!). Using Raytech navigator, it is able to overlay current weather wind and wave and tide predictions over the raster charts and plot your best course based on the boats point-of-sail polars. On long passages this enables you to optimize your boat routing, just like the ocean racers. Very trick, indeed.
GPS - Two were used, one for the Raytheon Chartplotter (12 Channel, very fast) and the other was a Magellan Handheld. The Magellan was much more intuitive to use and had a greater range of functionality. In fact it was the Magellan that we really depended on to do or navigating. Its screens providing course, VMG and SOG and the real time direction indictor was very handy. Reading a sailing publication (I forget which one) they rated the usability of the Magellan interface far superior to Garmin, eTrex, and others such as Raytheon. I read though that the colour screen were very difficult to read in full sunlight. Oh, yes I had a sextant and tables and yes it gathered dust.
Radar - I purchased the 20 nm version of Raytheons radar. It was extremely useful during night passages because in many areas there was a lot of large boat traffic (container ships and the like) and this showed how far away they were and whether or not they were on a collision course. One evening I had 9 active large ships within 10 miles simultaneously, all of them travelling over 15-20 knots. As well, Squalls, something which you must shorten sail for, showed up extremely well and you could plot their course and determine when you were going to get run-over. One night I spent 2 hours dodging squalls. A 40 nm radar would have been better because the beam is more narrow thus allowing finer definition of picking up targets in rough water (not for range).
Sonar - Interphase Twinscope - This is a forward looking sonar which scans from the waters surface down to directly under the boat. This allows you to see exactly what is happening ahead of you in the water. As well the sonar can scan side-to-side in the area in front of the boat to discover where breaks in reefs are or to allow you to pass between hazards. It also acts as a fish-finder and does chart the bottom as you pass along it. Its useful depth was 600 feet. In the main we could have done without this piece of gear which we bought to keep us running aground. Instead it would have been just as -worthwhile to purchase a less expensive fish-finder which traces bottom contours just as well.
Propane - we used one of our 2 - 10 lb tanks per month and we did a lot of cooking. It is amazing how far propane goes. In the middle of the Caribbean we had to switch to what is called cooking gas which is ½ propane and ½ butane. Propane in not available. There were no issues with the stove or the regulator.
Refrigeration - custom made ultra modern system by 'Freddie the Fridge' of North Shore Refrigeration, North Vancouver replacing a complex, leaky, engine driven Frigoboat system.. Drew 8 Amps while running and averaged ½ to 2/3 that on a daily basis in the hot, hot Caribbean. The system was ultra reliable and the only issue was that the battery got low a couple of times and the compressor would not start up due to the fact that the initial starting load dropped the voltage to below the threshold voltage for operation of the compressor computer. This was solved by ensuring that the compressor was hooked as close as possible to the battery. It was critically important to have adequate insulation in the freezer section. I added 2 " of pink Styrofoam for a total of 5 " in the freezer. This kept the freezer at minus10 degrees Celsius which was critical for frozen meats and ice (which we typically purchased in 10 pound bags because it took too much power to make it on board but easier to keep). Yes, you will use a lot of ice to keep your water and other beverages cool.
Dodger/Bimini - Custom made by Tidewater Canvas in Oxford, Maryland. Blue Sunbrella. While this colour radiated some heat when beat on by the sun it was not unbearable. The Dodger was reinforced with stainless rod so that it could hold the load of the two solar panels. There were two roll up windows and covers fro each. The bimini also used stainless with no straps. It was setback 1.5 feet from the dodger and about 6" higher. A detachable cloth connected the two. The gap allowed the skipper to stand up on the cockpit seats and look over the bimini and the gap allowed airflow from over the dodger to pass under the bimini whisking away heat. When all zipped up the rain did not enter the cockpit (unless it was a deluge (i.e. a squall)). Sides will be added later. The sun would have been unbearable without this protection. White would have reflected the sunlight better.
Fans - One per person in the berths and two or three in the living area. This kept things bearable. A wind-scoop installed in the forward hatch provided excellent through flow of cooling air when at anchor. Air conditioning not feasible without a generator.
Jacklines and harnesses - made of round white plastic coated stainless wire, These were located out of the way of feet and did not provide a wear hazard. Wire at 35 feet one jack-line acted as a fine security cord for the dingy. Wichard shackles for the 6 foot elastic harness lines and west marine combination inflatable PFD/harnesses were used.
Safety Gear - lifelines were surrounded in 2" square netting all around the boat except for bow roller area. Zodiac 6 man liferaft on deck, 2 EPRIBS, HH VHF, HH Watermaker, flexible solar panels for rescue battery charging. Light sticks, survival candy, fishing gear, binoculars, signal mirrors, space blankets, $US 200 cash, suntan lotion, burn cream, polysporin, band-aids, triangle slings, sewing kit, matches, lighters, paper and pencils, extra plastic bags, tape, extra batteries. Parachute flares, smoke flares, others according to the legal requirements for a 45' boat. Inflatable, throwable, "Rescue Sling" with lifting tackle. Horseshoe ring with MOB pole, drogue, strobe. 350' Jordan series drogue rated to 45,000 lbs force for use during storms or hurricanes and special stainless steel plates were through bolted to the hull as a proper attachment point for the ¾ inch shackles.
Dinghy - Started with a 12 foot folding "Porta-bote" that had served us for years in the San Juan Islands but it was unstable to tow in large winds and seas and had an annoying habit if flipping and submarining. Purchased an "AquaPro" from New Zealand. 10 feet aluminium rigid bottom inflatable. Later determined that in the Caribbean prices are about 2/3 of that in the US, but we needed it in the Bahamas. It was both light and strong and stable. Would plane with our old Evinrude 8 hp with two adults. It could have used its 15 HP max rated engine to make possible to plane with the whole family but the engine would have been too heavy for one person to lift onto the transom of the boat and then to the rail where it would be during passages.
Night vision - An ITT generation III night vision monocular was used to provide vision at night. It was especially useful on night passages to assess the sea state of the surrounding water. As well you could easily see navigation markers over the horizon ( ! ) to aid in locating your position. Plus you could see the real size of that ship showing up on a collision course on the radar. The scope worked very well, amplifying ambient starlight (not infrared). It operates 3000 hours on 2-triple a batteries (now that's efficiency). Verdict - good aid, but not necessary.
