We have had recent comments obviously prompted by our posts of composite chain-plate installations and the Water Wife answered that our bi-rig was off the agenda and why. WW also announced that I would be putting up a post.
So here we go.
Regarding the Art of Motor Sailing, an analysis of engine driven verses sail driven costs will actually be attempted after we have a motor sailing vessel.
One serious outcome of spending so much time building is that a quite good appreciation of what will be required to live aboard for a few years and then cruise the world.
Cruise the world? Some people write it as RTW or CN – WTF? They mostly go the same way, miss 75% of Europe and Australia, 90% of Asia, South American, Africa, Canada, Greenland and 100% of the Antarctic coast. LOL, the last three are very excusable due to a serious lack of marinas and repair facilities. However CNs of the North American continent are now reasonably possible after 2 centuries of industrialisation.
The Water Wife and I would like to see some of the great lakes, rivers and canals of the world. Yes, we would love to do The Loop and the ICW but there is so much more. We would like to take our home on the lower reaches of the Mekong, tour the Indian/Pakistani coast into the Persian Gulf. Maybe the lower reaches of the ancient, giant Chinese rivers and visit Vladivostok. Then after a short cut through the Artic, North Atlantic oceans and the Baltic Sea, explore the canals of Finland, go via the canals and rivers of Russia to the Black Sea and travel via the Danube, Main and Rhine Rivers and German canals back to the North Sea.
Our boat has too much beam for the English and French canals but can travel across Scotland and anchor in ancient harbours on the Irish coast.
So if you are still with me, to cruise, I would like to say I value above all in mechanical things, robust simplicity.
I consider the design of our boat to have robust simplicity, because of its construction and easily driven hulls that draw less than half a metre. Yes, I hear the hecklers mainly from the US saying, “Balsa, what’s robust about that?”.
Well, when its encapsulated properly, it is very, very stiff, strong and you can float in it in all circumstances, except maybe a fire. I feel confident that a repair could be carried out in the worst circumstances using glass fabric, core from virtually any sort of material, underwater epoxy, a Leatherman and bare hands.
So far nothing can beat the robust simplicity of a well maintained, slow speed diesel marine engine and a fixed propellor, except of course having two sets.
Triangular pieces of cloth are undoubtedly the most effective up and down wind sails and in their purest form they don’t need booms of any kind. They do however need effective reefing and furling and especially a large genoa and a stay/storm sail in a serious blow.
So after all this ranting hopefully I have set the scene for our choice of robust simplicity in a rig.
Binary’s rig will be head-sails only.
The mast will be an aluminium extrusion, stepped on a compression beam located overhead and just forward of the bridge deck cabin/aft cockpit bulkhead. To keep the mast in line, there will be a single diamond and jumper set with swept spreaders . The stayed mast will have upper and intermediate shrouds to the composite chain-plates located outboard aft of each rear cabin bulkhead. These stays and the diamonds/jumper will be 13mm Dynex Dux. The adjustment lashings for each will be 6mm Dynex Dux.
Simple rigging and a mast shorter than the boat length will allow un-stepping and carrying the mast through rivers, canals and the associated bridges etc. All controls are planned to lead to the front cockpit.
If we can get the right mix of bushings on Alado Nautica’s Lifetime Roller Furling System, the forestays will be 13mm Dynex Dux with Blue Sea rigging screw adjustment. If this mix and match of bushings does not work out, the forestays will be 10mm wire with swageless Blue Sea fittings.
The forestay will carry two 44sqm genoas with an approx 8 metre foot overlapping the mast. Note The Alado Nautica’s roller furler can furl or reef up to two headsails and the self-containing double halyard sheaves allow downwind sailing with twin genoas.
The baby-stay with carry a 16sqm self tacking stay-sail on another Alado Nautica roller furler.
We don’t have a drawing of the rig, so this text description will have to suffice until we actually build the rig. Of course, as usual, please feel free to leave a comment if further clarification is required.
The Scrumble Project 