Blog - Page 20 of 25 - An attempt at circumnavigating Earth on a small sailboat

Current state of affairs

I think it’s time to take stock and see where I am. Have odds improved? Let’s start with time.

Time constraints

As indicated elsewhere timing calls for a departure mid October, which assumes an average boat speed of 7 kts. Granted Changabang is a fast boat and even a bump to a 7.5 kts average speed would allow us to depart 3 weeks later. So, there’s a bit of wiggle room with the start date.

Regardless, I am considering allowing one month for final preparation and loading. Before that Changabang will get a new bottom paint in the boatyard, for which I’m generously allocating one month too. That means that we need to be ready by mid August. Considering we’re about mid June, that leaves me with two months. I feel good that, based on what I plan to do, I will be able to leave this year.

What is left to do?

In the order of importance, I see the following: a safe passage making sailing vessel, a strong electrical system, redundancy in self-steering and navigation means. The rest I see as gravy.

A safe sailing vessel

From what I have been able to identify and experience, Changabang is doing solid in this category. The remaining weaknesses are: a (slow) leaking internal ballast system (it’s never good to have a leak in a boat); a keel bolt and damage that would benefit from further investigation. These two items can only be addressed when the boat will be out of the water, which is why I am allowing one month for the one week bottom paint job.

The running rigging is a bit of a weak point. I am not going to address it before leaving. My plan for now is to buy a spool of excellent line and replace as necessary.

What makes a sailing vessel safe is the ability of the skipper to handle the boat in all conditions. I am not going to be able to experiment in all the sailing conditions I will encounter. So this will be a weak point of my preparation, with hopefully strong improvements as I learn during the first few thousand miles.

A strong electrical system

Electricity generation will be left to Watt & Sea hydrogenerators, one to port and one to starboard. I’ll have a spare generator and about 4 propellers. I hope these will last the whole trip. The installation is not complete yet but should be in a couple of weeks. Testing after that, during a shake down cruise, will reveal if all is good.

Electricity is stored in 3 lead acid batteries. In a perfect world, I would have them tested for health, and I may still do that. But replacing them is unlikely What I will do though is purchase an additional battery. If those I have fail then I’ll swap them out.

I also have 275W of solar panels and a diesel engine with a 115A alternator. I’ll leave with about 80 liters of diesel, which would be good for about 20 hours of charging.

In conclusion, we’re almost ready here, unless the hydrogenerators fail the real life test.

Self-steering

Sadly I just discovered a major weakness in one of the two auto-pilots. They require a rudder angle sensor. The installers in France did something fairly stupid: they installed a non waterproof sensor outside! So I need to replace that, which will cost me about $600+. And I’d do well to have a backup but I don’t think I’ll spend that money.

I will try to get a used Lecomble & Schmitt auto-pilot for parts as well. I do need to replace the hydraulic oil in these two systems. The secondary system is old.

I plan to install an above deck autopilot too. So, all in all, the situation here is not too bad. With a spare rudder angle sensor it would significantly improve though.

Navigation

I do think that I have addressed this fairly well several months ago. So I’ll consider this as 90% complete.

Conclusion

I feel like a departure this year is still highly possible.

Spinnaker work

I think this is the third time trying the spinnaker alone. Still quite a dramatic undertaking but getting better. Videos ensue, including a time lapse of the dousing drama. Upwind work first, then spinnaker up, last dousing.

Raw

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.

What the old mainsail looks like! Do you see the logo at the top? Probably not.

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.

Powered up. Nice rooster tail!

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.

A view from under.

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!

Dirty job

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!

Wiring

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”.

Not as tidy as I would like but not too bad either.

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 …

Backstay block

As requested in the comments of the previous post … pictures of the backstay block.

Out with the new in the with the old

Yep, you read that right. I spent two full days to remove the new mainsail and replace it with the old Dacron mainsail. I’m being told it’s deep bellied so we’ll have to see how things look like out there. It’s some serious work to swap mainsails! Un-brick folded sail, remove batten caps, insert batten, close batten caps, remove active mainsail (many hours there), load new (the old) mainsail, re-rig everything, remove batten from old (the new one, do I have you confused) mainsail, fold, brick, etc, etc … I also took this as an opportunity to do a good cleaning of the batten cars, including filling them back up with ball bearings. Of course, many balls were lost in the battle (they are not captive). My wife came to help, which was really a blessing when re-installing those batten cars and folding/bricking the outgoing mainsail.

A few surprises were waiting for me of course: a batten packet is torn (this is for a partial batten so I hope we’re cool without it, until it gets fixed); the 1st and 3rd reef lines are now too short by several feet. And the new mainsail had 4 out of 6 battens damaged showing some electrical tape barely holding the shards together. I’m amazed I was able to pull them out with no problem.

Keep your eyes peeled

The other day, sailing up the Coast, I saw this.

Yeah, that’s the active backstay when going upwind. Notice how a pin has gone missing? Thank you to the previous guys for putting a safety dyneema lashing right there! I considered turning around; but I tacked, re-used the clevis pin from a block and we were back in business. I replaced it with a new clevis pin a few days later. I have no idea how this came loose. It was held together not by a clevis pin but a bolt and screw before.

Where are PJ and CaB?

The YB3i has arrived. So it’s on the list for more wiring work. Speaking of wiring, I’m struggling with the electrical setup. Or more specifically, I spend a lot of time researching how to get things setup, what is needed, ordering stuff bit by bit. I’m still waiting for parts/tools, and I’m sure I’ve missed more stuff. But, it is said, I must get on with this wiring as I need it in place for when we will install the hydrogenerators brackets.

Hydrogenerator bracket (one each side, port and starboard).

What’s next then? Oh, I don’t know … Try to fly that MAXI spinnaker again?

Mid May update

I’ve seen lots of good (but slow) progress over the past couple of weeks. I did some sailing up the Coast, into San Francisco Bay and back home. I took out, repaired, and re-installed the code 0 halyard; these repairs are temporary at best, and I’m likely going to need to replace some of these halyards.

The solo mast climbing gear from ATN, Inc. is really paying for itself (it’s my 6th trip up). I also used it to install a Windex windvane (the old one had gone AWOL).

Sorting out a viable electrical system

I also started putting my teeth into the electrical system. In particular, I’ve made progress on the solar panel front; once a bunch of orders arrive I should be able to mount a bus, run a few cables, and have 3 mobile solar panels (i.e. I’m not going to permanently fix them).

As far as the hydrogenerators go, we’ve finalized the design for the bracket, which we’ll use to mount the hydrogenerators to the sugar scoop. Fabrication will start soon. In parallel I ran some testing on the possibly damaged hydrogenerator and converter (I’ll be sending the HG to France for fixing/revision but we think the converter is good).

Big!

I’ve started playing with the big headsails. I doublehanded Changabang with someone who knows what he’s talking about. In about two hours we hoisted the gennaker, the code O and the heavy spinnaker. Back home, I tried the gennaker with success. See video below and a screenshot of the electronics. This is still without using the internal ballast.

This is with the gennaker. We were doing steady 9-11 kts with true wind at 110. With 1 reef we were able to put true wind abeam.

But today I wanted to try the big spinnaker. It was much trouble to get set up for the hoist, what with the foot catching water, lots of water. In the end, when I pulled on the spinnaker sock halyard, it was really hard to pull it up. So I bailed out, sorted the sail at home; and now we wait for the next opportunity (that is, after a small tear is fixed).

Obstacle course

I somehow thought that sailing out of Pillar Point Harbor was going to be easy. I’m learning that it’s a bit of an obstacle course out there. As I exit the marina I have to contend with reefs (well signaled), crab pots, fishing boats, whales, kelp patches, and further cargo ships. When I come back docking is fairly straightforward. Except that lately, with the wind blowing from the South, I had to develop new techniques. Live and learn, and use fenders!

Wear and tear

As I start to get familiar with Changabang, she shows me plenty of little things that need attention. It really never stops! On a good note my partnership with the good fellows at PredictWind is being extended to include the hardware for tracking (YB3i); I’m down for the monthly bill. Good stuff. On this good note, stay safe!

A slow day

Big plans, slow execution … I spent more hours than needed for what was done today. A few things were accomplished so here goes for a quick update.

Sat comms

I mounted the wall mount for the GoPro, and downloaded a larger GRIB file: it (still) works! I used PredictWind‘s Offshore app.

Climbing up the mast

When I prepared for the 2018 SHTP I purchased lots of line and a 5:1 block and tackle system to go up Double Espresso’s mast. I had to lift my own weight all the way up, using weak biceps. I was not going to do this with Changabang’s 60 feet mast! So I splurged for proper equipment. After chatting with Etienne Giroire, the owner of ATN, Inc., I decided to purchase his mast climbing gear. I used it today to go to the second spreader. The quality is great, and the ease of use just the same. I was able to pull the gear out of the bag, read the instructions, and voila, I’m ascending! Maybe I’ll record this next time I go up because …

It’s showtime!

Ok, I’ve gone the modern way and bought a used GoPro for cheap. It’s a Hero5 Black, which is an upgrade from what I had with Double Espresso (the Hero5 Session). I took two videos with different mode today to see which one would work best. We think the second one is better. What do you think? On both I tried to move around the boat to get a sense of what things would look like.

Electron cornucopia

That is the promise of hydrogenerators, I suppose. For now, it’s really just a bunch of parts lying around at home. Thanks to the help of a few folks, we now have a design for the mounting brackets. Fabrication is next. On a side note, one of the hydrogenerators (the demo/used one from Watt & Sea) was damaged in transit. I hope it’s nothing but I think I will only know for sure when it’ll be spinning at 12 kts. The UPS claim was recently closed, and a payment is coming our way. So that’s kinda good news, maybe?

Today I poked at the electrical system, I mean, I barely scratched the surface. There are wires going everywhere! More time, much more time will need to be sunk into those wires, I’m afraid.

Water ballasts

As I was looking into the battery compartment, I was drawn into playing with the water ballasts. I tried to figure out how it works. It’s fairly straightforward so maybe I’ll give it a go next time.

Finally, I also did some minor cosmetic work (applying tape really).

And then drove back home …