A real pleasure to sail...

[Joseph]

Gray,

Although I have a handheld depth sounder I decided that a sounder was essential when sailing unchartered waters and asked the Hutchins for advice. They recommended the Raymarine ST40 in its thruhull version. In retrospect I should have asked for the same unit but bidata (speed & depth). They installed the transducer as much forward and near to the center line as possible inside the starboard locker.

Today I installed the Forespar extension tiller and went for another spin in the lake. Much improved. What gave me some headaches today was the gaff halyard. The two portions of it that come off the block with a swivel at mid-gaff decided to twist on each other... I counted five turns. When I tried to douse the sail of course the gaff would not comedown due to the friction between these to portions of the line... Luckily last week I had rigged the gaff downhaul and a stronger pull from it brought the gaff down.  Initially I blamed the swivel in the block but on a more careful inspection it looked as if the gaff halyard had twisted some supercoil turns on itself, which caused the swivel at the block to not to untwist the turns created between the two portions of the halyard emerging from the block. I may have to lower the mast, untie the gaff halyard, release the supercoil turns and reattached it. Has anyone else had a similar problem with the twisting of the gaff halyard?

J.

[Craig Weis]

Joesph, Here is my Raymarine RC 435i Chart plotter with the Raymarine ST40 Bi-Data unit.
I installed both with in a few years of each other. Took me a week to figure out where to place the units on the bulkhead. Nothing popped through the inside of the bulkhead 'cept that tiny black thumb screw for the Bi-Data unit. Note the compus is on a stand-off teak ring and opposite side, away from electrical influences. The two wires powering the red lamp in the compass have been twisted together tightly in a vice and electric drill so they cancel each other out. The two 2 inch heads for the bi data unit are 6 inches in front of the keel [bottom of pic shows top-o-poured concreat of keel] and 3 inches eitherside of centerline. Speed head with paddle wheel on the port side. [The paddle wheel can be pulled out for cleaning and that plug inserted. Works well water is stopped by a flapper valve. Get about 1/2 a dixie cup of water that is toweled up.] Depth and temp on the starboard side. Extra wire that can't be cut is coiled around the heads. Had to cut that 16" x 16" hatch in front of the compression post for access. Drilled holes from inside out.

skip.

[gray]

Why near the rear? I was thinking that I would try one as far forward as my arm would reach through the locker in the cabin. Just thought it would be better to have depth information earlier rather than later (also easier for electric hook up?). Probably doesn't make too much difference but maybe you have a more compelling reason for recommending the rear of the boat? Also, anyone out there advise me on a make/model to get ( or avoid?)

[tmorgan]

Lazy Jacks are the best thing I have added to my Sun Cat.  I think that every time I sail alone and drop the sail.

[Joseph]

Skip,

Very impressive setup. Perhaps a bit too much for us "minimalists".  With the COG and SOG readily provided by the GPS, the COW and SOW provided by a traditional knotmeter are mostly of interest in long passages, to determine DR and measure the effect of currents and leeway. However one never knows when the GPS will fail and in retrospect I would have liked to have the ability to read the SOW in real time. It would have added to the traditionall feeling... although for that purpose nothing prevents me from tying knots in a thin 48 ft apart, attaching the line to a log (a real one), "heaving the log" overboard and counting the numbers of knots passing through my fingers in 28 seconds... Now that would be really in line with tradition... but of course, then the Raymarine sounder would have to be replaced by a real lead line marked in fathoms and in the traditional manner...

Jose.

[Rahn]

The Picture was taken in the North Channel of Lake Huron and the tent made cruising with the Suncat much more enjoyable. I upgraded to a Horizon Cat and am still using the tent.

[Tom Ray]

Do you have a pic of the tent on the big boat? And are you planning on selling it with the boat?

[Rahn]

The tent worked great for us, but it seems like wearing a suit that is 2 sizes too small. If I sell the Horizon Cat, I will either be out of sailing or moving back to a slip boat, though I've always wanted a Montgomery 17 and there is one available close by....



Here's one of my favorite pictures of a cove in the North Channel. I had to bribe my son to climb up on some rocks to get this picture (I charged his iPod)

[Tom Ray]

Nice pics, Rahn!