Blog

Changabang is back in Half Moon Bay. You may remember that the boat was in Richmond to get the hydrogenerator brackets installed. That was completed yesterday late afternoon, after which I spent much time in uncomfortable positions installing the hydrogenerators themselves.

This is the biggest upgrade and budget item on my list. I’m glad to see it’s done and is now ready for full on testing.

The sail home was long. I departed Richmond with winds blowing in the low 20s; so I opted for the 3rd reef. Once I got into the Bay it came down to 6 kts building back up to 18 kts. It was also flooding and the wind was on the nose. So I chose to motor because it was a dark, foggy night. I didn’t want to have to tack my way across the Bay. There was one scary moment when I realized that a cargo ship was crossing just ahead of me. It was so dark that I had not seen it. I don’t think we would have collided but it was a short call and I kept my eyes peeled thereafter. Passing under the bridge took forever as we were fighting about 2.5+ kts of flood current. With the fog we enjoyed drizzle all the way home almost.

Once I turned South the wind was down to 10-12 kts, and we were upwind. It was a long slog home as I only had the staysail up (the solent went in for repair and is not ready for prime time yet). It was 5:30 AM when I laid down in my berth.

That is all for now … More work tomorrow.

Things are raw lately. I’m known to indulge in self-deprecation. I just can’t shake it. Even when I was leading the race in the 2018 SHTP I felt like a loser. These feelings are still here with me, compounded with what I feel is a lack of appreciable progress and unwelcome surprises.

Note: lots of embedded Youtube video in this post.

Ups

Yesterday we doublehanded Changabang. I had just delivered the finished (and very well done) brackets for the hydrogenerator to the guy who will install them on CaB’s sugar scoop. We left under full main and staysail, and then decided to give the gennaker and the internal ballast a try.

It was a good and wet exercise to rig the gennaker at the bow when sailing upwind in 18-22 kts. We pumped water into the starboard ballast, and off we went. We were blasting along at 10-13 kts, on a happy boat, and with a reef in the main now.

As we were making good progress towards Hawai’i, it was time to furl up the gennaker, tack the boat (in the process forgot to handle the running backstays and the ballast (so had to tack twice to fix that)), and set course for home, blasting along.

I was elated. It was really the first time that I could say that we powered up CaB as she was designed to be. Of course, it was confirmed in the process that the plumbing for the internal ballasts is leaking; nothing that is unmanageable but still, it’s more stuff for the list. I also found out that the foot cord of the gennaker was not functional (the foot was fluttering), as it had slipped/retreated into its pocket. This required some surgery today; I also applied a few sticky tape patches where the sail cloth was damaged.

Lastly, we experienced the problem with the halyard again. This time, since I had fixed the brake of the furler, we could easily keep the sail up. But this required yet another trip up the mast.

And downs

Besides the puzzle of figuring out the leaks on the internal ballast, I had concerns about a keel bolt. Considering the story with the keel, I looked at it again today. And I do think that there is a leak there as well. I’ve stuck my tiny dehumidifier in there and will check again tomorrow. But that would be one piece of sad sad news, both in terms of concerns, time and budget hits.

To be fair I don’t think there’s any reason to be concerned about failure here. In fact, I’m considering departing like that. I’ll monitor developments though. It’s nothing like Webb Chiles’ hull splitting in two, Chichester leaving with half his body not functional and a boat poorly designed, … There are many tales like this. It’s not an excuse to leave things unchecked though …

Other developments

Today, after I got myself out of the keel well/pity potty, I also finished the wiring for the solar panels. They would be my backup plan for electricity generation: 275 Watts total. I still need to build the wires to connect them to the Watt & Sea converters.

And here’s me happy doing good speed, and keeping an eye on a Pillar Point’s fishing fleet. Both the whales and them were fishing. Obstacle course!

Winch maintenance is done! I had plans for today that didn’t materialize. Instead I noticed that the tank was half full again. So I topped it up, and with a bit of diesel left in the pour over filter, I decided to finish the winch maintenance.

There were three left to do: the mainsheet and the two primaries. I did the halyard winches a while ago. Both primaries had a plastic bushing that was broken. Luckily the service kit included these pieces. I also replaced all pawl springs. And of course cleaned everything in the bit of diesel, which leaves me with wonderfully smelling hands!

That job is off the list, yippee!

I am finally feeling like I am making tangible progress on the electrical front. Yesterday I spent the better part of two hours contemplating the inside of Changabang trying to figure out where I’d put the hydrogenerator converters. They need good ventilation; they shouldn’t be in the way; they would preferably stay out of possibly wet areas; as they heat up they shouldn’t make living inside impossible when it’s really hot, but the heat could be useful in the cold weather; wires to the battery should be as short as possible; the connection to the solar panels should be straightforward (should the primary MPPT fail); etc. I once again fell victim of “paralysis by analysis”.

Ultimately, I put one on each side of the engine compartment, with wires wiggled through existing holes (except for a couple holes I drilled into the battery box). One thing I realized is that they will charge the house bank only; so the engine will need to be started every so often to keep the starter battery going strong enough. It was part of the plan anyway: to keep the juices flowing in the engine’s many tubes and wires.

Next is finalizing the lug connectors with heat shrink (as I soon as I get the heat gun), and extending wires to the hydrogenerator themselves (as soon as I get the 14/3 AWG wires for that). Oh, and wiring the solar panels.

Brackets

While all that was happening I heard from my friend Noël, who had offered to help with the fabrication of the aluminium brackets that we will use to affix the hydrogenerators to Changabang’s sugar scoop. Good progress has been made!

Sails and sail hardware

When I put one of the partial battens back in its pocket last weekend, I broke the pocket. I had to trim the end cap of the batten itself (it was too wide, which is what tore through the aging pocket), apply a large pad of sticky tape, and give it another go. Hopefully this will hold long enough. In the process I lost my trusty Dyneema scissors to the muddy waters of the harbor.

I also tried to figure out why the furler brake was not working. It is supposed to hold the sail all neatly wrapped up, and wasn’t. The brake itself has a fuse, which was broken. I found a spare on the boat and replaced it. I’m to order another one from the folks at Karver, who also advised to replace the furler insert that guides the brake. It’s like I said, everywhere there are costs.

I’ve also ordered circlips for the batten cars. And I really should spend another $700 on the mast track gear but … pockets are running empty, especially considering all the pending open tickets (hydrogenerator installation and spare parts).

Track this!

I’ve opted to mount the YB3i vertically as that was the best spot on the boat. It remains to be seen if that will work well. I still need to wire it to the batteries (waiting for extension wire). I’m thinking that I will wire it to the load posts of the MPPT.

So far so good …