DaySailer.org Forum

Although many of you may have seen this article, it's good reading for new sailors and those who would like to sail alone. It sure makes things easier. I was thinking about roller furling for my DSII but couldn't justify an attachment worth more than the boat,. Thought about the several articles on homemade roller furling, then came across this article. www.johnellsworth.com/writing/nautical/ ... alone.html

available at annapolis performance sailing. bottom of page

http://www.apsltd.com/c-1070-smallboatf ... stems.aspx

Great article, but i have to say he's just scratched the surface on the many little items that can greatly improve the sailing alone experience.

For instance:

Simple figure 8 knots in the end of each halyard to prevent them from getting out of reach in real windy conditions. Same applies to the main and Jib sheet lines.

Tiller-Tamer: A must for getting underway and docking.

Is there a sticky thread that outlines with pictures important items to note when sailing alone?

Since I got my DS1 back in April, I've been out on it about half a dozen times, all singlehanded. The weather's been so lousy up here in the Northeast, that's all I've been able to manage.

Everytime I go out, I learn a bit more and, depending on wind conditions, sometimes I learn a lot more.

I keep my boat on a small lake and launch from a shallow beach at a friend's house. There are boats moored just offshore so getting in and out is pretty tricky, especially when the winds are up.

Between controlling the sails, raising and lowering the CB, inserting the rudder into the pintles, (the blade doesn't kick up the way it's supposed to, so I have to get a couple of feet of water under me before I can install it), I really have my hands full, and launching when no one else is around to push me off, is really a pain.

I usually position myself just behind the CB trunk (midboom main sheet), and I've still got the original, thwart mounted, cam cleats for the jib, which were installed at 90 degrees to the centerline (facing the gun'ls) They're pretty awkward to reach from where I sit.

Yesterday, I removed the screws and rotated the cleats to a 45 degree angle to the trunk. That small modification made a huge difference in accessibilty.

I'll eventually mount new cleats on the CB trunk itself, once I design and fabricate a mounting pad to hold them. Rudy Nickerson, at D&R, says you can drill and tap mounting screws right into the trunk itself and I may try that, but I'd rather something a little more stable and secure.

The tiller tamer is a good idea and I intend to get one. Even doing little things while singlehanding (grabbing a bottle of water, adjusting the halyards, unsnarling the jib sheets when they hang up on the tabernacle ( about every other tack!), it only takes a second for the tiller to get away from you.

I was out yesterday, the winds were blowing from every direction, a good 10-20, with gusts to 30mph. My cell rang (wife, wanted to know if I was still alive) and just as I went to answer it (tucked in my PFD), a big gust came up and almost knocked me over. The tiller tamer would have come in handy in that instance.

I also intend to trim my tiller back a few inches (hits me right in the gut) and relocate my tiller extension as the handle always seems to hang up on the stern coaming, especially when I'm under duress (like sailing in gusty or omnidirectional winds)

I'm also trying to find some kind of netting that I can drape around or over the CB trunk to hold items that tend to move around while underway, (water bottles, snacks, cell phone, etc.) so they'll always be within arms reach no matter where I'm sitting.

Aside from the equipment mods, as I said, I'm on a big learning curve and every day I go out, I get a little smarter and more confident. I find that most of the problems I've had while underway are self induced, something I've rigged incorrectly, or not secured properly.

Yesterday my outhaul was routed incorrectly, and it took me about an hour to notice that I ran it through the reefing block on the boom, rather than the outhaul block. Last week, I forgot to knot my jib sheets, the week before, my vang wasn't cleated off, properly.

Maybe the next time out, I remember to do everything right. Then all I have to worry about is getting my feet tangled up in the mainsheet (I do that all the time).

Peterw11 wrote:I'll eventually mount new cleats on the CB trunk itself, once I design and fabricate a mounting pad to hold them. Rudy Nickerson, at D&R, says you can drill and tap mounting screws right into the trunk itself and I may try that, but I'd rather something a little more stable and secure.

I had a simple bracket made at a local shop: a square-U channel with slightly rounded corners and holes pre-drilled for the cleats and for two through bolts (bolted through the top of the CB trunk). This setup is plenty solid.


[click on picture to enlarge]

GreenLake:

Yeah, that's where I'm heading, although I thinking a flat strip of wood, (I have some mahogany left over from a deck project) mounted similarly to yours, on top of the CB trunk, but flat on the top, slightly wider than the trunk and concave on the bottom to match the trunk profile.

It would allow a nice flat surface on which to mount the cleats, but I may make it closer to the full length of the trunk, to serve both as a mounting pad and a decorative trim piece.

I plan to mount it with either SS or brass wood screws, perhaps with a bit of epoxy glue underneath for bond strength as the jib sheet stresses are in shear (laterally) as opposed to in tension (vertically).

Go to Pg 6 of the Daysailer photo section, pic on top, left, to see what I mean.

(I don't know how to add the pic to this post, sorry).

The loads that you would be expecting should be in the range of a 100-200 pounds or less. My reasoning is that on a DS, you can hold the jibsheet in your hand, and would not usually pull with more than a hundred pounds of force. A gust on a cleated jib sheet might short-term double that, but if it was really more, you'd bee in some trouble

That said, holding even this limited force by vertical screw is tricky, because if there's any way for the wood to "rock", you know intuitively that this type of configuration for the screw, from which things tend to work loose oer time with shifting loads. It's just like wiggling loose a nail. (Your epoxy may be very much required - and in that case, given the size of the area underneath the bracket, the screws are probably not even needed).

If the pull was in the lengthwise direction, matters would be different, but here the pull is in the short direction of the wood.

Because of the throughbolting a configuration as in my setup should be better able to translate the force from bracket to CB trunk - no way for the screws to wiggle loose. But that is hard to duplicate in wood.

The SS bracket cost me $75 to machine, but it looks like it could have been part of the boat from the beginning.

Many years ago I owned a Petrel, all aluminium boat, except the tiller and the cb trunk which oak. The trim top was about 3/4" wider than the top of the cb trunk and was a great place to hook the toes of my shoes when hiking out. If you go the route of glassing it on, you might consider going a bit wider to get this function as well.

On my DS II, I installed hiking straps, and it worked wonders for stability. Your design would allow you to hike without straps!