Nice choice of batteries, easy to replace most places in the world. Nothing like the crisp sound of a new sail, plus they really help the boat perform well.
Just a little heads up for you. Any load bearing penetrations through any porous materials ( ie Balsa) should really have a thickened epoxy bush at least 5mm around the penetration ie 10mm hole needs a 20mm bush. This helps spread the load and seals the porous substrate from any water ingress. Keep up the good work and enjoy! L.
nice one guys. the teak pad spilt because the hole is too close to the end grain. also as someone said the pad should be under the deck. all the load on that sheet is up not down, the pad should be used to distribute the load. even better is a big stainless washer that takes both legs of the u bolt. like you would have under a winch
My 2c of armchair wisdom! At 5.05 I would use a split pin on the clevis pin. In a high rattle location like this, my experience is circlips undo. Also an anti-topple spring under the block will stop the lazy block rattling and driving you mad! I like the high cut clew on the new jib for ocean work. The stresses on a deck hugger genny catching a wave are enormous.
Certainly true Willem, we're happy with the all solar set up - maybe if we ventured away from sunny areas of the planet it would be an issue but so far so good.
A few quick comments on the staysail sheeting points- 1. Chamfer(countersink) the holes in the deck and wood blocks. The butyl fills the cone shape and provides a much better seal. 2. Chuck a small Allen key into a drill and dig out some of the deck core (if cored), then fill with epoxy to seal the core, re-drill and mount your blocks. Tedious, but between the epoxy and the butyl, you're bullet-proof for life. I think the blocks of wood will be sufficient because they're teak (won't rot) and the loads on a small staysail are less than with a genoa.
Nice episode guys. Really loads of jobs done. It may be better to have a bigger block of wood but maybe that piece was just weak, should be ok though. Lovely new sail and I expect you know this but make sure you leave the leech line loose until the sail has been stretched in. If you put tension on it too soon you will end up with a hooked leech. Andy UK
It is difficult to say, if you had 200nm of light winds it might still have some stretch to go but you might just do one short trip in heavy air and that might stretch it out. Bottom line is avoid pulling it on too hard, too soon if the leach flutters. As it stretches into shape the leach should flutter less. Over time as it stretches more you will need to pull some leach line on but only ever enough to stop the flutter. Hope that helps a bit... Andy
Grrril you got yourself a fine ass Frenchman lol I luv it he knows his shit keep him lol and he better keep you cuz ur awesome!!!! Luv this content ty for sharing
One thing about having a boom on a stay sail is that you also get an effective kicker on the sail to account for different points of sail and different wind strengths. by replacing it with a fixed point, you have lost a lot of that control. Have you thought about fitting a twinning line via another block to the fixed point to give you adjustment on the leech? You could use it to depower in stronger winds or blade the profile if you want to
You don't really use it on that many different points of sail to make it worth it. Either reaching, in which case the single sheeting point is fine, or on its own downwind in strong conditions, in which case you could sheet it to the toe rail instead.
Thanks for the quick response. It sounds like you have thought it through. I guess you have a track for the main genoa. Looking forward to see her at sea :-)
I had teak pads under my winches and turning blocks. They all weather checked and caused leaks. I replaced them with shaped plywood pads that were glued and glassed over with epoxy. I then painted them with the same paint I used to paint the deck. I haven't had any issues since. You should also consider over sizing your holes a bit so you can get some epoxy coating on the inside of them and have room to have sealant squeeze into them a bit. Cheers. -s/v Wayward
Yankees are great, lovely cut, I have one on my tradewind and it often drives me along at 6 knots on its own. Lot easier to pull in if shorthanded. Boat is looking great well done.
Thanks so much Tom, Tradewinds are lovely boats! Yes, we find it easy to handle even in stronger winds. When that 30 knot gust comes out of nowhere, it just shrugs it off :) we like to each be able to sail the boat independent of each other as much as possible so that each can get rest off watch and the Yankee definitely helps with that - and reefing the main early of course.
Looking good. One point I noticed was the wiring on the batteries looked a little on the light side with perhaps a heavier gauge wire is needed. Could be fine and perhaps the true size didn’t show very well on camera. Loving the videos, keep it up :)
Thanks for the video! I'll be doing the same to my Tayana37 but I'll invest in lithium batteries and solar panels to support a lot of electronics. I want to have Linux as my onboard OS. Maybe I'll have a penguin stenciled onto the mainsail!
I know it's already been said, but I would go with high-density polyethylene (plastic cutting board material) instead of the wood. I'd also feel a lot better with a bigger /stronger backing plate. I hope it works out for you. Who knows, I maybe being over cautious.
@@SailingKittiwake , I've never had the issue come up. If you wanted to be certain I suppose a light to medium thread-locker should keep the nuts secure.
Great vid as always guys. Just wondered why 6 volt with all that internal resistance when charging, and why not AGM with faster charging, lower internal resistance and no maintenance? sail safe. Ant & Cid xx
Yep, I managed to get a bit of epoxy in there but lots of people oversize them by a lot then fill it with thickened epoxy. The balsa on the early Tayanas is special as its small blocks interspersed with resin so it's less susceptible to rot but still worth doing for sure,
The crack is most likely a closed checking ( hidden) that was expressed when the block was placed under pressure , if you go back and seal the block with epoxy then no problem.
guys - we have just gone through a similar process for batteries - I am not sure - but I suspect the gauge of your wires is significantly smaller than recommended.
@@SailingKittiwake- guys two majors concerns and most relate to current draw. I am not an electrician so provide this as anecdotal. guage of wire becomes a two way issue - on charging circuits and importantly starter circuit. From the video, your battery bank is a good distance from starter motor and the current draw can be upwards of 60 amps to crank it over. small cables, as you would well understand heat up badly and provide a really average increase in resistance over time -+ add a huge load to the battery. We have just rewired our yacht and the guide we used was Nigel Calder's manual ( page 207 -page 221) - and because we have crazy insurance obligations with respect to electrical work - we made sure what we did was to standard. Most fires from yachts are electrical in nature and bloody mess to sort out. ( you might be able to pick up a copy from EBAY UK - Nigel Calder's Mechanical and Electrical Manual. From your videos you seem to have a good grasp on most - this is one of those areas we the consequences of not getting it right could be really painful. On that note - have a look at the BALMAR SG200 monitor - new release - but first read through the smartguage.co.uk website. A really handy source of information is marinehowto.com - the guy is grumpy but really knows what he is talking about. cheers and if I can help in any way please stick your hand up.
Hi Ian, sorry for the delay - RUclips holds comments with links for review and I didn't check for yours. Maybe the wire gauge is because the batteries you're looking at don't start the engine - they're the house bank. We have a separate battery for the starter, and another separate battery for the bow thruster. Max draw on the house battery bank is probably 10 amps (the glow plug in the cooker). The starter battery is really near the engine. I love Nigel Calder's work - his book on diesel engines is really good. I'll keep an eye out for the book you mentioned.
Nice one you guys. I was wondering do you still have the Walker bay dinghy? If yes where are you going to put it? I'm guessing you sold it with Kittiwake.
@@SailingKittiwake I guess it would be hard to stow it on Skua anyway. Im looking for a similar size double ender myself and I love walker bay dinghies. I also want a wind vane so davits are out of the question so I guess I'll have to use an inflatable, which is not ideal but oh well.
Check out SV Prism, they have a walker bay. We actually had davits on Skua for a bit but found that we felt more comfortable with the dinghy on deck, both for security from theft and when underway. Although our davits were not exactly solid...
Check out SV Prism, they have a walker bay. We actually had davits on Skua for a bit but found that we felt more comfortable with the dinghy on deck, both for security from theft and when underway. Although our davits were not exactly solid...
Personally I would have kept the wind generator - you can never have too many sources of power - and one that works during the night is an added bonus. Yes they can be noisy - but you do get used to it.
How did you fit the U bolt under the deck, the pull will be up so consider something like the timber block under the deck rather than on it. Good sealing technique using the robber tape. Maybe something circular if you have a cutting saw for your drill from You can still have self tacking without the boom, a simple block at the clew and single sheet to a winch aft.
Hi Nigel, thanks for the tips - Kittiwake had a self tacking jib (storm jib but nearly big enough to be a staysail on a HT) with the arrangement you suggest but I always found that the sheets hooked the clew and we couldn't get it to set right. We've still got the block on the end of the staysail though so I'll play around with it. Though to be honest, the staysail is incredibly easy to tack even with a standard setup as it's about a metre of sheet to pull in to swap sheets.
Hi guys. I wanted to ask a quick question about the solar panels and charge controllers on your previous boat. What were there output and which charge controllers did you use, were they reasonably priced and how did they perform. I'm after getting some for my cat but not sure which ones to get. Thanks guys. Ethan
I would be concerned about deck rot later, because of cracked teak, and not sealing inside of deck holes. I recommend sealing inside of deckholes with epoxy, so there is no exposed core, as water eventually may end up there. And I would consider a solid stainless steel plate rather than teak block. 3/16 inch should be sufficient...
Cheers Ken, we can't wait to show you! If money was no issue then maybe we'd get higher spec ones, but the Trojans on Kittiwake were going strong so we trust the 6v golf cart technology and they're easy to maintain - a drop of water occasionally is all they ask for :)
I guess if budget was not an object there are a good number of options that might be tried. I would think replacement components for the six volt system would also be available from a variety of sources which means a good deal, I would think, when you are changing locations all the time. Have you looked into hydro generators to supplement solar as an alternative to the wind generator?
Just wondering if you have a cored deck? If so you really need to seal it with an epoxy barrier, especially if there is load on the deck fitting. Otherwwise you 're just inviting a soggy core.
Yes, the block is too small and what about sealing the timber and sealing the core or fibreglass fibres when you drill through the deck. The holes through the block could be a little larger to allow for sealing resin in the hole bore. The block will fall apart as it is now when under load, so maybe just make a fibreglass pad to your fibreglass boat and forget the timber maintenance. Yes also 9 degrees for the staysail and 11 degrees with the track towards 10 degrees as going aft for the genoa. Fair winds and take care.
Hi Edward, the 6v batteries are wired in series / parallel. They're pretty standard on a lot of liveaboard boats as they give a long life and handle the house system demands well.
I am no expert, but I think the underside of the stay sails' teak block needs a much bigger backing plate(s). The block attached to the u-bolt will be putting a lot of stress on that fitting and you need to spread the load.
Your explanation of how to not mess up the U bolt hole alignment was perfect. I get the impression the u bolt is too high above the deck and addressing that would be hard work - perhaps by extending the thread further up the shank would be a pain. I would have preferred something lower profile by adding a backing plate for a regular pad-eye would do the job. Just for kicks I visited www.harken.com/content.aspx?id=9096 and entered values for my favourite boat (pacific seacraft 37 similar to tayana) and the sheet load at 30kts came out at 1559 pounds. This assumes full headsail and of course I would have less than full sail well before 30kts. I did this because of the u-bolt backing plate you used!
Thanks for speedy reply our boat is similar in weight. We had same sort of problem the number 1 penny was massive an 8 meter foot . We had the club foot stay sail to. So we done away with the twin forestays and put a roller reefing system with a 6 meter foot for sail on that and we rigged a a dyneema removable first just behind that so we can still fly the big genny. When winds gets up drop it to the deck and use the roller feeding. Then gives you time to remove the dyneema stay back to mast if needed. Plus the bonus is we can fly a yankee on the dyneema as a twin head sail down wind set up if wind picks up start to reef the roller reefing in. Anyway my point is you might suffer in light winds like we did lucky for us the the big genny is hank on and a lighter weight. Our stay sail can come back as well to make tacking a lot easier. Hope I'm not telling a granny how to suck eggs lol but as you know we keep on learning new stuff every day best wishes. Martyn.
Luckily our boat came with a cruising chute for light winds. I think your setup sounds great, what diameter is the dyneema stay? We're also thinking about twin headsail setups but luckily our furler has twin luff grooves so could maybe do Genoa / Yankee or even rig one of the headsails with the staysail.
The dyneema is only 6 mm as you know its incredibly strong stuff plus the Hanks like new and nice and round no chaff. Twin groove is great be carefull not to have to much sail area on it there is a lot of pressure when wind gets up ,again as you know. Try furling in when to windy is a bit of a night mare I say that from experience. A friend of mine used a winch on his and twisted the foil 720 degrees before he realised. That's why I like to keep it simple less things to go wrong. Cruising chute ideal did it come with the boat? Its gunna be a lot bigger than the one on the Cat bless her, if you get it wrong it will lift you off the boat . Great sailing channel by the way I wish I done it at your age. No gps when in the 80s well there was but cost more the our boat.
Have a look at this you tube clip, Dolphin sails, down wind sailing. Everything is right about it especially with the extra halyard to hoist and retrieve the second sail.
@@SailingKittiwake Throughout the piece if the volume is set so one can hear the dialogue the music track will shake the walls. I suspect you are being fooled by the audio software in your laptop which is designed to protect the tiny speakers and your ears when wearing headphones. On a home system without limiters it is very different. (Not to mention an output power capability probably a 1000 times larger)
It's the rough deck which cracked up the teak, not the kit. My opinion :-) Edit: Looking a second time I noticed that the whole construction seems awkward as the teak is very thick and relatively small, it will go rub over the deck as the leverage is to big on the top side with stress to hold it tight to the deck. So better chose a bigger thinner plate where the buckle is welded to the plate. Of course you can always change it when it cracks but hope it will not damage the deck 😎
snif i wish i was there, i could have made good use of it. thanks i truly enjoy your channel. you two are honest and real for me. i continue to watch and learn. thanks for responding
No! The adhesive used is not the issue, nor will it help spread the load. Smoothing that deck surface would have done that. But I highly doubt that is why the board split. When screwing or nailing near the ends / edges of a board, you want to be as far as possible from the edge to keep it from splitting. A torque'd down bolt with a drilled bigger hole is even more so, especially if you overtighten it. The block of wood needed to be bigger, so that the holes were not so close to the edge. Like probably at least couple of inches bigger. And even if you had cut that block bigger and adequate amount, it still might have split. Just all part of using natural products which can have grown in weakness. If possible you want the end grains of that board running the long dimension across the board and not going straight to the near edge ... however in your case that is not possible considering you put U-bolt in diagonal across it. Really you do not want a wood block for that anyway.
Yes, and there are times you can nail / screw almost right at the edge and it not split either. But it happens often enough, that its best to simply attempt to avoid that from happening as much as possible.
Bad luck on the pad splitting. Although on a bigger pad, I always used to "shape" the back to suit the curve of the deck, with one as small as this, you shouldn't need to. It's either just a hidden fault in the teak, or maybe you could have drilled your clearance hole big enough. In that installation, I would be making sure the threaded part slid through the pad really easily, so you don't introduce any undue stresses when bolting down. Countersink the holes in the pad, top and bottom, and, if you can only fit a single nut on the bottom, maybe think about using nyloc. Personally, I would have thinned the pad sufficiently to fit 2 nuts on. Double-nutting means you don't feel the urge to overtighten; the second one being the locker. Just my opinion, btw, I respect your work - I usually had the benefit of a workshop :-))
Cheers Chris - that's a great point about the tolerances, maybe the sideways pressure as it was tightened split it. These comments are giving me lots of ideas for the replacement!
So far we've found it great, and have heard good things from other owners who've ditched the boom. Maybe if you're a super keen sailor and want that last 1/4 of a knot it's noticeable?
The metal spacer on the top of the teak block is too small and created a point load and dug into the teak. Make the spacer larger and match the bottom of the block to the curve of the deck. You can do this by affixing a flat piece of coarse sandpaper to the deck facing upwards and sanding the base of the block against the sandpaper deck until the block matches the curve. Otherwise use crush tubes on the bolts to limit the compression when they are done up, as the core in the deck may be compressing and changing the curve of the deck under load. Ideally you want a solid core anywhere you affix through a deck so this doesn't happen.
Where was the solar regulator at? Or do you plan to use the engine alternator to regulate the solar panels as well? And a good bit of advice young man, That wrench was giving you a wake up call, You should buy your self a carpenters full face shield, Not in case a wrench hits you but when your working in any enclosed area with batteries they can blow up, I know, because I blew one up and it was just one loose wire that caused that explosion.
You wire it in between the solar panel and the batteries and it turns the solar panel's charge into charge for the 12v battery system. There's to main types - MPPT and PWM, MPPT being better but more expensive (but for us totally worth the money)
@@SailingKittiwake umm, If there 6 volt you cross at the batteries. as far as 12 volt. 24 volt or 36 volt that changes at the back of the solar panel. I know where the regulator go's because I have mine sitting here in the bedtroom not 8 feet from me, with the batteries all wired up and working. You didn't mentioned it or I missed it, that's why I asked the question. Like one of my friends, he uses car regulators where I use store bought regulators. I was just curious.
It’s nice to follow your preparations. One can learn from each others trials and, off course, errors aswell. I’m keeping a blog about my wooden koster Freja www.minseglats.com. In swedish though...
I understood that one tacks more often on a monohull than on a cat because on a Monohull you can get closer to the wind. You are used to sailing a cat.... I am no expert though!!!!
Hi William, for us it's not such a cat vs mono thing but more that we're out cruising indefinitely so we'll usually just wait for a better weather forecast and sail downwind.
I don't even own a boat yet, but recently came across a site where a surveyor went through the various problems he had seen in boats. It was fascinating. If the batteries are not in a plastic box to catch leaks and are not well ventilated maybe read up on it and have a think. "...the electrolyte (sulfuric acid) they produce must not be allowed to spill into the boat..." www.pcmarinesurveys.com/Marine%20Survey%20101.htm
I can tell you why the block split. You forgot the cover of the area you were bolting the block to. You need to shape all fittings to what ever area you are working on. Remember you can not change a hard fixed area to suet.
@@SailingKittiwake It cracked because the grain of the wood block was vertical (aligned with the stress you were applyin) instead of horizontal (perpendicular to the stress). It won't last long at the all and the crack will get bigger very soon. I also noticed you used plain nuts to hold it from below. Should use nuts fitted with plastic brakes.
If I were you I would replace that piece of wood, because it will come back to bit you in the near future. It won't last long and it will split and the nuts will come loose.
@@SailingKittiwake have a look at ryobi 18v tools they all run off the same size batteries which can be charged via 12V my friend has drill, multi tool, angle grinder spot light and air pump for dinghy, something to slowly build up as you need.
Every video something new taking you closer to sailing. You said due to surcomstance you will be doing 1 video every 14 days until your income via RUclips is adequate. Well you tube money from amounts of view and subscribers. Well video every 2nd week instead every week half your you tube earnings per month?
![44] Bluewater Sailboat GEAR Installation: Anchor, Dinghy & REFIT COSTS](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wv5mlwYdB6E/mqdefault.jpg)
![44] Bluewater Sailboat GEAR Installation: Anchor, Dinghy & REFIT COSTS](/img/tr.png)
![46] BOAT TOUR After A BIG REFIT | SAILBOAT TOUR (Tayana 37)](/img/1.gif)
Nice choice of batteries, easy to replace most places in the world.
Nothing like the crisp sound of a new sail, plus they really help the boat perform well.
Cheers Daniel 😊
The guy that installed that panel really preloaded it. Glad you didn’t get hurt taking it off.
When you said that the new solar panel was bigger, you weren’t kidding 😮. That thing is huge!
😁 that’s all our power sorted 😁
@@SailingKittiwake What is the wattage of that new panel?
It’s 330w 😊👍
@@SailingKittiwake Nice big panel. Might have to upgrade mine later this year too.
Go for it Pilgrim! Solar is the way forward :)
I love these sailing DIY vlogs you guys are putting out. You are such hard workers and make it look so easy.
Aw thanks Natalie! ❤️ It wasn’t easy at all, but so worth it 😊
You should bless your lucky stars to find such a good lady you have, bravo to you young lady!
Just a little heads up for you. Any load bearing penetrations through any porous materials ( ie Balsa) should really have a thickened epoxy bush at least 5mm around the penetration ie 10mm hole needs a 20mm bush. This helps spread the load and seals the porous substrate from any water ingress.
Keep up the good work and enjoy! L.
That solar looks massive(250w)? I second the AGM comments. That sail is just beautifull. Your boat is beautifull. Wish u lots of happy sailing!
Cheers! It’s 330w 😁 Thanks a lot.
You guys are inspirational. Thanks
Nah, we’re just normal people 😊 Thanks George 😊
Well done! Skua seems to be coming along nicely. Cheers and fair winds from Southern California ~
Thanks Randy! Fair winds to you 😊
All coming together ,looking great, well done
Thanks Howard 😊
nice one guys. the teak pad spilt because the hole is too close to the end grain. also as someone said the pad should be under the deck. all the load on that sheet is up not down, the pad should be used to distribute the load. even better is a big stainless washer that takes both legs of the u bolt. like you would have under a winch
Great new solar panel and batteries! Love the new Yankee! She's coming along just fine, keep up the great work! ⛵😎
Thanks a lot Ken! She's nearly there although as with all boats, she'll never be finished! :)
My 2c of armchair wisdom! At 5.05 I would use a split pin on the clevis pin. In a high rattle location like this, my experience is circlips undo. Also an anti-topple spring under the block will stop the lazy block rattling and driving you mad! I like the high cut clew on the new jib for ocean work. The stresses on a deck hugger genny catching a wave are enormous.
The wind generator also appeared to be shading your solar panel, which could be a reason as well for low output. Great videos!
Certainly true Willem, we're happy with the all solar set up - maybe if we ventured away from sunny areas of the planet it would be an issue but so far so good.
A few quick comments on the staysail sheeting points- 1. Chamfer(countersink) the holes in the deck and wood blocks. The butyl fills the cone shape and provides a much better seal. 2. Chuck a small Allen key into a drill and dig out some of the deck core (if cored), then fill with epoxy to seal the core, re-drill and mount your blocks. Tedious, but between the epoxy and the butyl, you're bullet-proof for life. I think the blocks of wood will be sufficient because they're teak (won't rot) and the loads on a small staysail are less than with a genoa.
Nice episode guys. Really loads of jobs done. It may be better to have a bigger block of wood but maybe that piece was just weak, should be ok though. Lovely new sail and I expect you know this but make sure you leave the leech line loose until the sail has been stretched in. If you put tension on it too soon you will end up with a hooked leech. Andy UK
Thanks a lot Andy, how long would you say to leave the leech line loose for? 200 NM seem about right?
It is difficult to say, if you had 200nm of light winds it might still have some stretch to go but you might just do one short trip in heavy air and that might stretch it out. Bottom line is avoid pulling it on too hard, too soon if the leach flutters. As it stretches into shape the leach should flutter less. Over time as it stretches more you will need to pull some leach line on but only ever enough to stop the flutter. Hope that helps a bit... Andy
Cheers Andy that's perfect.
Grrril you got yourself a fine ass Frenchman lol I luv it he knows his shit keep him lol and he better keep you cuz ur awesome!!!! Luv this content ty for sharing
Thanks guys coming along nicely 👍👏⛵🏴
Cheers Al! 🤗
One thing about having a boom on a stay sail is that you also get an effective kicker on the sail to account for different points of sail and different wind strengths. by replacing it with a fixed point, you have lost a lot of that control.
Have you thought about fitting a twinning line via another block to the fixed point to give you adjustment on the leech? You could use it to depower in stronger winds or blade the profile if you want to
You don't really use it on that many different points of sail to make it worth it. Either reaching, in which case the single sheeting point is fine, or on its own downwind in strong conditions, in which case you could sheet it to the toe rail instead.
Thanks for the quick response. It sounds like you have thought it through. I guess you have a track for the main genoa.
Looking forward to see her at sea :-)
I had teak pads under my winches and turning blocks. They all weather checked and caused leaks. I replaced them with shaped plywood pads that were glued and glassed over with epoxy. I then painted them with the same paint I used to paint the deck. I haven't had any issues since. You should also consider over sizing your holes a bit so you can get some epoxy coating on the inside of them and have room to have sealant squeeze into them a bit. Cheers. -s/v Wayward
Sweet sail!
Yes, so nice 😊
Yankees are great, lovely cut, I have one on my tradewind and it often drives me along at 6 knots on its own. Lot easier to pull in if shorthanded. Boat is looking great well done.
Thanks so much Tom, Tradewinds are lovely boats! Yes, we find it easy to handle even in stronger winds. When that 30 knot gust comes out of nowhere, it just shrugs it off :) we like to each be able to sail the boat independent of each other as much as possible so that each can get rest off watch and the Yankee definitely helps with that - and reefing the main early of course.
Coming up well, there's a lot of work there ;-)
Thanks a lot Andy, there certainly is!
Looking good. One point I noticed was the wiring on the batteries looked a little on the light side with perhaps a heavier gauge wire is needed. Could be fine and perhaps the true size didn’t show very well on camera.
Loving the videos, keep it up :)
Thanks for the video! I'll be doing the same to my Tayana37 but I'll invest in lithium batteries and solar panels to support a lot of electronics. I want to have Linux as my onboard OS. Maybe I'll have a penguin stenciled onto the mainsail!
Haha go for it! What year is your Tayana? Do you follow SV Ramble On and Return to Seasons? Both have very lovely Tayanas.
@@SailingKittiwake It's a 1988 ketch. I'll peek at those channels, thanks!
I know it's already been said, but I would go with high-density polyethylene (plastic cutting board material) instead of the wood. I'd also feel a lot better with a bigger /stronger backing plate. I hope it works out for you. Who knows, I maybe being over cautious.
Cheers Big Ron, I've heard that HDPE can creep over time so the nuts come loose - have you found that at all?
@@SailingKittiwake , I've never had the issue come up. If you wanted to be certain I suppose a light to medium thread-locker should keep the nuts secure.
Great vid as always guys. Just wondered why 6 volt with all that internal resistance when charging, and why not AGM with faster charging, lower internal resistance and no maintenance? sail safe. Ant & Cid xx
Wouldn't it be better to overdrill the holes on the deck and fill it with epoxy to prevent water from sipping into your balsa core? Cheers from Brazil
Yep, I managed to get a bit of epoxy in there but lots of people oversize them by a lot then fill it with thickened epoxy. The balsa on the early Tayanas is special as its small blocks interspersed with resin so it's less susceptible to rot but still worth doing for sure,
@@SailingKittiwake thanks for replay!
@@SailingKittiwake , don't fool yourself... It's dipped in resin and now it's also just waiting for osmosis to take place
The crack is most likely a closed checking ( hidden) that was expressed when the block was placed under pressure , if you go back and seal the block with epoxy then no problem.
guys - we have just gone through a similar process for batteries - I am not sure - but I suspect the gauge of your wires is significantly smaller than recommended.
Cheers Ian, what's the downside of the gauge we've got? More resistance and lower voltage getting to our electrical bits?
@@SailingKittiwake- guys two majors concerns and most relate to current draw. I am not an electrician so provide this as anecdotal. guage of wire becomes a two way issue - on charging circuits and importantly starter circuit. From the video, your battery bank is a good distance from starter motor and the current draw can be upwards of 60 amps to crank it over. small cables, as you would well understand heat up badly and provide a really average increase in resistance over time -+ add a huge load to the battery. We have just rewired our yacht and the guide we used was Nigel Calder's manual ( page 207 -page 221) - and because we have crazy insurance obligations with respect to electrical work - we made sure what we did was to standard. Most fires from yachts are electrical in nature and bloody mess to sort out. ( you might be able to pick up a copy from EBAY UK - Nigel Calder's Mechanical and Electrical Manual. From your videos you seem to have a good grasp on most - this is one of those areas we the consequences of not getting it right could be really painful. On that note - have a look at the BALMAR SG200 monitor - new release - but first read through the smartguage.co.uk website. A really handy source of information is marinehowto.com - the guy is grumpy but really knows what he is talking about. cheers and if I can help in any way please stick your hand up.
Hi Ian, sorry for the delay - RUclips holds comments with links for review and I didn't check for yours. Maybe the wire gauge is because the batteries you're looking at don't start the engine - they're the house bank. We have a separate battery for the starter, and another separate battery for the bow thruster. Max draw on the house battery bank is probably 10 amps (the glow plug in the cooker). The starter battery is really near the engine. I love Nigel Calder's work - his book on diesel engines is really good. I'll keep an eye out for the book you mentioned.
Nice one you guys. I was wondering do you still have the Walker bay dinghy? If yes where are you going to put it? I'm guessing you sold it with Kittiwake.
Hey Buccaneer, we had to leave it on Kittiwake as shipping it to Spain would have cost more than we paid for it (we got a used one).
@@SailingKittiwake I guess it would be hard to stow it on Skua anyway. Im looking for a similar size double ender myself and I love walker bay dinghies. I also want a wind vane so davits are out of the question so I guess I'll have to use an inflatable, which is not ideal but oh well.
Check out SV Prism, they have a walker bay. We actually had davits on Skua for a bit but found that we felt more comfortable with the dinghy on deck, both for security from theft and when underway. Although our davits were not exactly solid...
Check out SV Prism, they have a walker bay. We actually had davits on Skua for a bit but found that we felt more comfortable with the dinghy on deck, both for security from theft and when underway. Although our davits were not exactly solid...
@@SailingKittiwake Many thanks 👍
Personally I would have kept the wind generator - you can never have too many sources of power - and one that works during the night is an added bonus. Yes they can be noisy - but you do get used to it.
It produced almost zero energy 😊 we’ve loved having 100% solar for the past 2 years, so we’ve stuck with it.
How did you fit the U bolt under the deck, the pull will be up so consider something like the timber block under the deck rather than on it.
Good sealing technique using the robber tape. Maybe something circular if you have a cutting saw for your drill from
You can still have self tacking without the boom, a simple block at the clew and single sheet to a winch aft.
Hi Nigel, thanks for the tips - Kittiwake had a self tacking jib (storm jib but nearly big enough to be a staysail on a HT) with the arrangement you suggest but I always found that the sheets hooked the clew and we couldn't get it to set right. We've still got the block on the end of the staysail though so I'll play around with it. Though to be honest, the staysail is incredibly easy to tack even with a standard setup as it's about a metre of sheet to pull in to swap sheets.
Hi guys. I wanted to ask a quick question about the solar panels and charge controllers on your previous boat. What were there output and which charge controllers did you use, were they reasonably priced and how did they perform. I'm after getting some for my cat but not sure which ones to get. Thanks guys. Ethan
Making great progress :-)))
Yessss! 😊 Thanks for watching Bill.
I would be concerned about deck rot later, because of cracked teak, and not sealing inside of deck holes. I recommend sealing inside of deckholes with epoxy, so there is no exposed core, as water eventually may end up there. And I would consider a solid stainless steel plate rather than teak block. 3/16 inch should be sufficient...
Did you move your jib blocks farther aft? I just changed my yankee for a bigger jib and had to adjust them.
Hey there! We actually moved them further forwards as they were set up for a huge genoa that we've stored away under the v berth :)
Trojan are the best.
I so can't wait to see her sailing. Was 6 volt a choice because of system requirements or was it a cost issue?
Cheers Ken, we can't wait to show you! If money was no issue then maybe we'd get higher spec ones, but the Trojans on Kittiwake were going strong so we trust the 6v golf cart technology and they're easy to maintain - a drop of water occasionally is all they ask for :)
I guess if budget was not an object there are a good number of options that might be tried. I would think replacement components for the six volt system would also be available from a variety of sources which means a good deal, I would think, when you are changing locations all the time. Have you looked into hydro generators to supplement solar as an alternative to the wind generator?
Lovely. Thumbs up🖒❣
Thank you!
Just wondering if you have a cored deck? If so you really need to seal it with an epoxy barrier, especially if there is load on the deck fitting. Otherwwise you 're just inviting a soggy core.
Yes, the block is too small and what about sealing the timber and sealing the core or fibreglass fibres when you drill through the deck. The holes through the block could be a little larger to allow for sealing resin in the hole bore. The block will fall apart as it is now when under load, so maybe just make a fibreglass pad to your fibreglass boat and forget the timber maintenance. Yes also 9 degrees for the staysail and 11 degrees with the track towards 10 degrees as going aft for the genoa. Fair winds and take care.
It's white!!! :-) Guys, just curious, those golfcart batteries, are those lithiums. or what?
Happy greetingz, Wim
congratulations kids you are doing great ! ( careful son we don't you hurt ! that thing smacked you pretty good didn't it )
Thanks Carl! Hehe that was painful.
Why 6 volt batteries ? I’m confused, better storage n more use of amp hours . Great video as usual
Hi Edward, the 6v batteries are wired in series / parallel. They're pretty standard on a lot of liveaboard boats as they give a long life and handle the house system demands well.
I am no expert, but I think the underside of the stay sails' teak block needs a much bigger backing plate(s). The block attached to the u-bolt will be putting a lot of stress on that fitting and you need to spread the load.
Your explanation of how to not mess up the U bolt hole alignment was perfect. I get the impression the u bolt is too high above the deck and addressing that would be hard work - perhaps by extending the thread further up the shank would be a pain.
I would have preferred something lower profile by adding a backing plate for a regular pad-eye would do the job.
Just for kicks I visited www.harken.com/content.aspx?id=9096 and entered values for my favourite boat (pacific seacraft 37 similar to tayana) and the sheet load at 30kts came out at 1559 pounds. This assumes full headsail and of course I would have less than full sail well before 30kts. I did this because of the u-bolt backing plate you used!
I would use composite instead of that block of teak, it won't crack and it won't fall apart on you.
hehe...... the boat is pre-composite :) keeping it real! ;)
Just an observation u keep using your adjustable wrench upside down,,big part on top ,adjustable side on bottom.. hope it helps ..
Looking good lovely new sail a quick question how heavy is your boat all up ready to go cruising ? Cheers Martyn
Thanks Martyn. I think around 11-12 tonnes 😊
Thanks for speedy reply our boat is similar in weight. We had same sort of problem the number 1 penny was massive an 8 meter foot . We had the club foot stay sail to. So we done away with the twin forestays and put a roller reefing system with a 6 meter foot for sail on that and we rigged a a dyneema removable first just behind that so we can still fly the big genny. When winds gets up drop it to the deck and use the roller feeding. Then gives you time to remove the dyneema stay back to mast if needed. Plus the bonus is we can fly a yankee on the dyneema as a twin head sail down wind set up if wind picks up start to reef the roller reefing in. Anyway my point is you might suffer in light winds like we did lucky for us the the big genny is hank on and a lighter weight. Our stay sail can come back as well to make tacking a lot easier. Hope I'm not telling a granny how to suck eggs lol but as you know we keep on learning new stuff every day best wishes. Martyn.
Luckily our boat came with a cruising chute for light winds. I think your setup sounds great, what diameter is the dyneema stay? We're also thinking about twin headsail setups but luckily our furler has twin luff grooves so could maybe do Genoa / Yankee or even rig one of the headsails with the staysail.
The dyneema is only 6 mm as you know its incredibly strong stuff plus the Hanks like new and nice and round no chaff. Twin groove is great be carefull not to have to much sail area on it there is a lot of pressure when wind gets up ,again as you know. Try furling in when to windy is a bit of a night mare I say that from experience. A friend of mine used a winch on his and twisted the foil 720 degrees before he realised. That's why I like to keep it simple less things to go wrong. Cruising chute ideal did it come with the boat? Its gunna be a lot bigger than the one on the Cat bless her, if you get it wrong it will lift you off the boat . Great sailing channel by the way I wish I done it at your age. No gps when in the 80s well there was but cost more the our boat.
Have a look at this you tube clip, Dolphin sails, down wind sailing. Everything is right about it especially with the extra halyard to hoist and retrieve the second sail.
a good old plastic chopping board would have been better than the wood and you could glass it in if you need to.
Yep I would totally glass the block of wood.
Please mind the audio levels. This one goes from conversational to OMG and back.
They looked all level on our software. Which segment are you referring to?
@@SailingKittiwake Throughout the piece if the volume is set so one can hear the dialogue the music track will shake the walls. I suspect you are being fooled by the audio software in your laptop which is designed to protect the tiny speakers and your ears when wearing headphones. On a home system without limiters it is very different. (Not to mention an output power capability probably a 1000 times larger)
It's the rough deck which cracked up the teak, not the kit. My opinion :-)
Edit: Looking a second time I noticed that the whole construction seems awkward as the teak is very thick and relatively small, it will go rub over the deck as the leverage is to big on the top side with stress to hold it tight to the deck. So better chose a bigger thinner plate where the buckle is welded to the plate. Of course you can always change it when it cracks but hope it will not damage the deck 😎
hello did you sell the wind generator ?
We left it in the yard for someone to take. It wasn’t good at all.
snif i wish i was there, i could have made good use of it. thanks i truly enjoy your channel. you two are honest and real for me. i continue to watch and learn. thanks for responding
No! The adhesive used is not the issue, nor will it help spread the load. Smoothing that deck surface would have done that. But I highly doubt that is why the board split. When screwing or nailing near the ends / edges of a board, you want to be as far as possible from the edge to keep it from splitting. A torque'd down bolt with a drilled bigger hole is even more so, especially if you overtighten it. The block of wood needed to be bigger, so that the holes were not so close to the edge. Like probably at least couple of inches bigger. And even if you had cut that block bigger and adequate amount, it still might have split. Just all part of using natural products which can have grown in weakness. If possible you want the end grains of that board running the long dimension across the board and not going straight to the near edge ... however in your case that is not possible considering you put U-bolt in diagonal across it. Really you do not want a wood block for that anyway.
Thanks Kevin, strange that the starboard block worked perfectly and didn't split at all. Like you say, natural products and all.
Yes, and there are times you can nail / screw almost right at the edge and it not split either. But it happens often enough, that its best to simply attempt to avoid that from happening as much as possible.
Change the wood block....for a seamless job.....before it cracks under stress!
Get thicker battery cables!
How thick!
35mm
feastures agree heavier battery cables required.35mm might be oversize but much better than too small.
Bad luck on the pad splitting. Although on a bigger pad, I always used to "shape" the back to suit the curve of the deck, with one as small as this, you shouldn't need to. It's either just a hidden fault in the teak, or maybe you could have drilled your clearance hole big enough. In that installation, I would be making sure the threaded part slid through the pad really easily, so you don't introduce any undue stresses when bolting down. Countersink the holes in the pad, top and bottom, and, if you can only fit a single nut on the bottom, maybe think about using nyloc. Personally, I would have thinned the pad sufficiently to fit 2 nuts on. Double-nutting means you don't feel the urge to overtighten; the second one being the locker. Just my opinion, btw, I respect your work - I usually had the benefit of a workshop :-))
Cheers Chris - that's a great point about the tolerances, maybe the sideways pressure as it was tightened split it. These comments are giving me lots of ideas for the replacement!
But, they say for tayana 37 if u want to have any use of that staysail, u need that boom.
So far we've found it great, and have heard good things from other owners who've ditched the boom. Maybe if you're a super keen sailor and want that last 1/4 of a knot it's noticeable?
@@SailingKittiwake, i'am not that super keen sailor 😉 but i heard it say by some tayanas owners. If it works ok, i would ditch it too.
The metal spacer on the top of the teak block is too small and created a point load and dug into the teak. Make the spacer larger and match the bottom of the block to the curve of the deck. You can do this by affixing a flat piece of coarse sandpaper to the deck facing upwards and sanding the base of the block against the sandpaper deck until the block matches the curve. Otherwise use crush tubes on the bolts to limit the compression when they are done up, as the core in the deck may be compressing and changing the curve of the deck under load. Ideally you want a solid core anywhere you affix through a deck so this doesn't happen.
Spiffy!!
Thanks Mike 😊
you need a bigger pad of teak, you want to be at least 2.5~3 cm away from the edge with your hole locations.
Solar panels always comes off easily when one use the nose tool...
ur backingplate should be on the inside of the boat not outside hopr u dond pull it out nice video
There's 2 "backing plates", Installed properly, as they are, they sandwich the substrate.
Where was the solar regulator at? Or do you plan to use the engine alternator to regulate the solar panels as well? And a good bit of advice young man, That wrench was giving you a wake up call, You should buy your self a carpenters full face shield, Not in case a wrench hits you but when your working in any enclosed area with batteries they can blow up, I know, because I blew one up and it was just one loose wire that caused that explosion.
Thanks for the tip! We used a Victron MPPT which is also what we had on Kittiwake and it's always worked a treat.
@@SailingKittiwake what is a MPPT? Richard
A MPPT is a type of charge regulator.
You wire it in between the solar panel and the batteries and it turns the solar panel's charge into charge for the 12v battery system. There's to main types - MPPT and PWM, MPPT being better but more expensive (but for us totally worth the money)
@@SailingKittiwake umm, If there 6 volt you cross at the batteries. as far as 12 volt. 24 volt or 36 volt that changes at the back of the solar panel. I know where the regulator go's because I have mine sitting here in the bedtroom not 8 feet from me, with the batteries all wired up and working. You didn't mentioned it or I missed it, that's why I asked the question. Like one of my friends, he uses car regulators where I use store bought regulators. I was just curious.
It’s nice to follow your preparations. One can learn from each others trials and, off course, errors aswell. I’m keeping a blog about my wooden koster Freja www.minseglats.com. In swedish though...
Cheers Rolf! We'll have to learn Swedish :)
I understood that one tacks more often on a monohull than on a cat because on a Monohull you can get closer to the wind. You are used to sailing a cat.... I am no expert though!!!!
Hi William, for us it's not such a cat vs mono thing but more that we're out cruising indefinitely so we'll usually just wait for a better weather forecast and sail downwind.
You could flood that crack with super glue.
An aluminum block rather than teak would be the ticket
Not as budget-friendly as the teak we had lying about 😁
I don't even own a boat yet, but recently came across a site where a surveyor went through the various problems he had seen in boats. It was fascinating. If the batteries are not in a plastic box to catch leaks and are not well ventilated maybe read up on it and have a think. "...the electrolyte (sulfuric acid) they produce must not be allowed to spill into the boat..." www.pcmarinesurveys.com/Marine%20Survey%20101.htm
I can tell you why the block split. You forgot the cover of the area you were bolting the block to. You need to shape all fittings to what ever area you are working on. Remember you can not change a hard fixed area to suet.
If you soak it in fresh water a few hours it won't crack either..
@@TheDrloboski Sorry mate that small block needed to be shaped. A larger length you could soak it, but steam would be better.
I think it was actually shaped too much and the hollow cracked it.
@@SailingKittiwake It cracked because the grain of the wood block was vertical (aligned with the stress you were applyin) instead of horizontal (perpendicular to the stress).
It won't last long at the all and the crack will get bigger very soon.
I also noticed you used plain nuts to hold it from below. Should use nuts fitted with plastic brakes.
@@SailingKittiwake Well, what ever good luck.
If I were you I would replace that piece of wood, because it will come back to bit you in the near future. It won't last long and it will split and the nuts will come loose.
Yep it'll get replaced next time we've got access to power tools (hand sawing that old teak is a pain!)
joseph muscat I totally agree, it’s already cracked! Glad your gonna replace it.
@@SailingKittiwake have a look at ryobi 18v tools they all run off the same size batteries which can be charged via 12V my friend has drill, multi tool, angle grinder spot light and air pump for dinghy, something to slowly build up as you need.
Drilling that hole so close the edge of the block is not good, either. Make the block a little larger next time.
Eye Protection? Freak things happen as you can see.....
👍
Every video something new taking you closer to sailing. You said due to surcomstance you will be doing 1 video every 14 days until your income via RUclips is adequate. Well you tube money from amounts of view and subscribers. Well video every 2nd week instead every week half your you tube earnings per month?