C-22 on the Great Loop

[hamburking]

Originally Posted by Scout 30

I guess it depends on how often you want to have to replenish your supplies & how much reserves you feel comfortable with. Bottom line, you can only carry what you can carry so you just have to plan around that. I think a tiller pilot would also be a good idea. This will be a great trip!

Agree about the tiller pilot. I've used raymarine (autohelm) 800 and 1000...both suitable for a c22. Very reliable.

One person does not need a lot of supplies. A few 4 litre jugs of fresh water, a good pile of cans and staples, and you are set. Once you get to a nice anchorage, cooking is something pleasant to do. Ice, cold drinks, and fresh food are the reason for going to port. A cold drink tastes so much better after a week with no ice.

Luxury is something to be sought after, but not too easily achieved.

If you aren't fit enough now for the trip, you will be when you finish. They say Joshua Slocum looked 10 years younger when he finished his historic trip. Sailing can be the fountain of youth.

[Hud3]

James,

I heartily agree with the suggestions that you get a tiller pilot.

If you don't want to spend the money right now, you can try a simple homemade "tiller tamer". I made up one for my ODay 222, and it allowed me to go forward to raise or lower the mainsail, and to sail hands-free in most of the wind and wave conditions I experienced on the Chesapeake Bay.

Cut a piece of cord about 30 inches long, and tie a small bowline loop in each end. Tie it to the tiller where you would put your hand, using a clove hitch. Attach the two loops to bungie cords. Attach the outboard bungie cord hooks to something near the rails on each side so that the tiller is held firmly in place. I used stanchions. You'll need to find the right length bungies for your setup.

Then you just adjust the clove hitch to position the tiller where you want it by loosening it and re-tightening it. Adjust the bungie tension to what's needed to control the tiller by taking turns around the stanchions or whatever works for you.

It's a pretty simple setup, but works surprisingly well. I could set the tiller amidships with it and go forward for whatever was needed. In close quarters, like a small tidal creek, I might have to walk back to the cockpit to make a small adjustment, but could avoid a panicked dash to avert disaster.

[hamburking]

Originally Posted by Hud3

James,
If you don't want to spend the money right now, you can try a simple homemade "tiller tamer". I made up one for my ODay 222, and it allowed me to go forward to raise or lower the mainsail, and to sail hands-free in most of the wind and wave conditions I experienced on the Chesapeake Bay.

The raymarine autohelm will cost under $500.
RAYMARINE Autohelm Series ST1000 Plus & ST2000 Plus Tiller Pilots | West Marine

The "tiller tamer", retail version is under $40.
DAVIS INSTRUMENTS Tiller Tamer | West Marine

I've used both with great success. The tiller tamer is surprisingly good, but with your swing keel, I'd still take the autohelm as my preference. You never said if money or power were a concern on your C22.

The autohelm will draw very little power (I guess under 1 amp). Do you have some way to top up your battery? A small solar panel would do. I've never been a fan of the "charging" outboards.

[haw1961]

I highly recomend captainjohn.org. This website is free and is dedicated to the great loop. There are places where your mast must be removed to fit under low bridges. There are also stretches with no fuel available so you need to know your range, and, make contingencies if you don't have the range. captainjohn.org covers everything you need to know, plus gives you the scoop on all the best stops and the best restaurants. Good luck and most important HAVE FUN!!!!!!!

[jmczzz]

Hub,
This is a very helpful description of a good solution to a temporary problem.
It also demonstrates insightful thinking about the situation. There are a lot of preparations and modifications to make. However, they can't be done all at once because of time and cash flow restrictions. Besides having like minded forum friends giving access to an extremely valuable knowledge base, there is a remarkable unspoken understanding by followers of this thread of the adventure's character.
Everyone has responded to this thread with good will and experience based information that is giving the benefit of several life times of cruising. I must honestly say it has become all our cruise.
Thanks to you and everyone for what has become a collective activity giving me the opportunity to be the conduit for all your energy and spirits.
Peace and Love, James

[FamilyVan]

Originally Posted by hamburking

I think your plan is sound. You'll have a great time.

I live on Lake Ontario, so can only speak about the great lakes portion. You'll want to be sure you are on the great lakes during the summer, as the water is brutally cold otherwise. The 1000 islands region is worthy of a layover, with lots of welcoming anchorages, other boaters, cheap canadian provisions, etc. If you plan on August on lake ontario, you'll be well setup for heading south in september, timing it to avoid getting too far south during the hurricane season, yet not freezing your fingers while you wait.

When you get to Kingston Ontario, visit me at Confederation Basin Marina, Dock G6..."Compromise". My name is Dave.

I might swing by next week. I'm doing a delivery Port Dalhousie- Brockville and might do an overnight in Kingston. I believe from previous posts we are both TBI alumni.

Sent from my SGH-I547C using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[jmczzz]

hamburking,
I'm sorry if I did not make it clear. Money is not a problem but must be managed and metered out because my income stream will be from a retired teacher's pension. Power is one of the items that needs updating. There are several steps, a refinement to the rather clumsy patched up wiring. The lights and wires are new, however they are not well organized and connections are of the yellow screw on type with a lot of tape. Presently there is one deep cycle 12 v battery. I believe the connections need to be converted to busses, the battery relocated forward, and a solar panel added. The Tohatsu does not have alternator. Longer range thinking may include an additional battery, and selector switch. Hopefully these can all be accomplished as needed and in due time.
James

[Scout 30]

For showering a black pump up sprayer works great. Just stick it up on deck in the sun & soon you've got hot water. Much better than a solar shower.


Chapin Cleaning/Degreasing Sprayer — 2-Gallon Capacity, Model# 22350XP | Handheld Sprayers| Northern Tool + Equipment

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by jmczzz

hamburking,
I'm sorry if I did not make it clear. Money is not a problem but must be managed and metered out because my income stream will be from a retired teacher's pension. Power is one of the items that needs updating. There are several steps, a refinement to the rather clumsy patched up wiring. The lights and wires are new, however they are not well organized and connections are of the yellow screw on type with a lot of tape. Presently there is one deep cycle 12 v battery. I believe the connections need to be converted to busses, the battery relocated forward, and a solar panel added. The Tohatsu does not have alternator. Longer range thinking may include an additional battery, and selector switch. Hopefully these can all be accomplished as needed and in due time.
James

I'm not an electrical expert by any means but I think adding a second battery is not necessary & will probably create more problems than it solves. With no alternator on your motor you'll be charging by solar cell alone. You can't just add a battery without adding enough solar cells & a controller to charge 2 batteries. The first thing I would do is purchase or convert all of the lights on the boat to LED lights. The current draw will be very slight & only at night. Other than that you just need power for your radio, chart plotter & tiller pilot if you get them. If you don't already have a built in radio I recommend one with a gps, dsc & an antenna at the top of your mast. Much better range than a hand held radio, although I recommend one for a backup, & if you get into trouble the Coast Guard can locate you quickly. Also, your radio will give you your location for navigation. Do not count on your cell phone to get you out of trouble!

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Scout 30

I'm not an electrical expert by any means but I think adding a second battery is not necessary & will probably create more problems than it solves. With no alternator on your motor you'll be charging by solar cell alone. You can't just add a battery without adding enough solar cells & a controller to charge 2 batteries. The first thing I would do is purchase or convert all of the lights on the boat to LED lights. The current draw will be very slight & only at night. Other than that you just need power for your radio, chart plotter & tiller pilot if you get them. If you don't already have a built in radio I recommend one with a gps, dsc & an antenna at the top of your mast. Much better range than a hand held radio, although I recommend one for a backup, & if you get into trouble the Coast Guard can locate you quickly. Also, your radio will give you your location for navigation. Do not count on your cell phone to get you out of trouble!

On our 19' boat we just have one group 24 deep-cycle battery. All our lighting, cabin and navigation, is now LED, and underway, I'm only powering a VHF (with a proper masthead antenna), a depthsounder, and an old handheld GPS. We currently use a cheap 15"x15" solarcell which has proven sufficient to keep the battery topped up. We have a backup handheld GPS that uses AA batteries.

Even before LED lighting and getting the solar cell, we found that the battery, when fully charged, would easily last a long weekend out, without discharging significantly. So I would say that having a decent solar charging scheme plus a small AC powered charger you can use at marinas is higher priority than a second battery.

I suppose that an autopilot would be a significant load and if you are using it often, maybe a second battery would be justified. Perhaps you'll be able to minimise the use of auto-pilot by some scheme for self-steering.

connections are of the yellow screw on type with a lot of tape

The twist-on connectors are very much frowned-upon (though I have used them for emergency or temporary). if the wiring itself is ok - heavy enough gauge and not corroded or damaged, you could just replace the twist-ons with crimped butt splices. I often use crimp-on cap splices, and then squirt sealant or goo into the open end.

[hamburking]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

I suppose that an autopilot would be a significant load and if you are using it often, maybe a second battery would be justified. Perhaps you'll be able to minimise the use of auto-pilot

I used a raymarine autohelm 1000 on a C&C25. Originally equipped with 2 batteries, which died, I replaced with one good new one (group 24). I used a handheld vhf, and a garmin gps60 plugged into a 12volt socket. I had an AC charger for the battery, no solar, no engine charging (outboard engine). I would go for 3/4 days at a time, with lots of battery power leftover. I had LED lights, and a Davis mini amp mega light for an anchor light. The autohelm would be running all day, and the anchor light all night. In addition, a portable dvd player (plugged into 12v) was in constant use by my small kids. Only after 6 days out would the battery volts start looking low, and never under 12.2.

I use an ST2000+ now. Current draw in use is 1.5 amps when adjusting course, 0.5 amp at rest. The total power draw will depend on the sea conditions, the balance of your rudder, and the trim of your boat.

However, I feel safe to say that you should be able to go for 5 days at a time without needing a recharge. Rather than add a second battery, which weighs a ton, and still needs to be charged...add a solar panel. A few small ones are better than one big one on a small boat.

Also, on a route like the great loop, there is going to be a lot of motoring. Why not just charge from the outboard. Most longshaft sailboat motors have a 12 volt charge cable. You don't mention what outboard you have, but a 4 stroke will get you much greater range than a 2 stroke. I got about 3 hours per gallon at cruising speed with a 1985 Honda 100 (9.8hp). This could be improved with the high thrust prop and lower rpm. The biggest hassle was refilling the tank from gerry cans while at sea...although in hindsight, a simple syphon hose would have saved me a ton of trouble.

[secrabtree]

I have a few comments on hamburking's comments. First - my experience with the C22. In addition to being national commodore in 1973 and racing C22s 1973-1985 (mine and borrowed), I extensively cruised my C22, mostly in San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-SanJuaquin delta, but some coastally and in lakes in CA, OR, and WA, as well as one trip in the San Juan Islands - before affordable GPS.
hamburking's comments are good and also applicable to the C22. 'd like to reinforce a few.
Solar panels - Auto parts stores and West Marine sell small panels meant for trickle charging. At least one is a very good idea, a few would be good.
Outboard - 4-strokes give greatly enjanced range. Get one that uses an external tank, not one with the tank in the head. External tanks hold MUCH more fuel then the ones in the OB head. And, have you ever tried filling an OB head while on choppy water, even 6" chop?
When he said "I would go for 3/4 days at a time" I'm sure he meant "3 or 4 days" and not "18 hours" (3/4 days). In the days before LED lighting and most of the other low draw equipment he mentions, or solar charging, I had gone out for a week at a time. To save power from the main battery we used small battery powered headlights for reading, a 6V dry cell battery powered anchor light that automatically turned on in the dark and off in daylight (Guest). Main battery was useed only for running lights (seldom ran after dark), VHF, and for the few times that we required the cabin lights on. We tried to prepare and serve meals in daylight hours. We had no autopilot and I don't really think one is required, though at times nice when one is singlehanding.
Contrary to most posters I don't think GPS is necessary (though cheap enough now) but it can be useful.

[Scout 30]

The OP already posted that he has a Tohatsu & a Johnson. I wonder if it would be possible to retrofit the Tohatsu to be able to charge a battery. That would be convenient but certainly not necessary. In these days of LED lighting portable battery powered lights work really well. I'd even take some portable battery powered running lights for spares. You could actually run everything you need for the trip with AA batteries.

[FamilyVan]

You can get a GPS for about hh $100, pretty good for the functionality they offer. Sure if you get into navionics, big screens and fancy chartplotters, there cost- benefit ratios drop considerably, to the point I think they're a waist of money for most.

But a monochrome Garmin etrex for 100 bucks would be a worthwhile purchase in my opinion.

Sent from my SGH-I547C using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Lake-Effect]

Hamburking, thanks for the info on the current consumption of your auto-pilots. I thought they took more current than that.

Originally Posted by FamilyVan

... a monochrome Garmin etrex for 100 bucks would be a worthwhile purchase in my opinion.

A wise fellow Our first GPS is exactly that - a Garmin etrex vista monochrome from ebay. It has rudimentary charting when you need it. We also have now a Lowrance Globalnav bought at a flea market for $15.